FanHouse TracyMcgrady

This wouldn't be the first time Tracy McGrady announced his plans to the world before discussing them with his team. (It probably will not be the last, either.) Last season, the Rockets learned McGrady had decided to undergo season-ending microfracture surgery through the media. This time, McGrady is telling reporters -- Yahoo! Sports, specifically -- that he plans on making his season debut on Nov. 18 against Minnesota.

Rockets GM Daryl Morey, though, told the Houston Chronicle that McGrady won't play until he's been checked out in a full practice. The next Rockets full practice is slated for Nov. 23. Which is after Nov. 18.

A to Z.

It sounds like the 1952 NBA All-Star Game, which featured Paul Arizin and Max Zaslofsky.

It sounds like the 1971 champion Milwaukee Bucks, who had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Zopf.

It sounds like the history of Lithuanian centers, from Arvydas Sabonis to Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

It also sounds like a good way to take a look at the 2009-10 NBA season:

FanHouse previews all 30 NBA teams in advance of the 2009-10 season.

There is a scene in Major League where the manager relates how ownership essentially has stacked everything she can against the team. They have no hope, because no matter what happens, they'll only be released as soon as it's convenient in pursuit of moving the team. Essentially, there is no reason for hope, no reason for effort, no reason for showing up to play. Tom Berenger's character looks up and says, " Well, I guess there's only one thing left to do ... win the whole (expletive) thing."

And that's pretty much where the Rockets are this season, barring the psychopathic sexbomb owner, threat of relocation, and the fact that they play a much more strenuous sport.

Not only has Tracy McGrady recovered quickly from microfracture surgery, he has recovered so quickly he might not miss the first practice of the 2009-10 season. Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle reports that McGrady will be in Houston ready for practice Tuesday. Mac had microfracture surgery last February. Recovery typically takes upward of a year, and certainly more than eight months.

The biggest free agent on the market this year just got inked. Kind of. Though he wasn't going anywhere, Daryl Morey's been working without a contract since the end of last season. And today, the Houston Chronicle reports, the Rockets have finalized a deal that will keep him with the team through 2013.

So given the new timeline for Morey and his prior success, what are the odds Morey nabs an Executive of the Year award by the time his next contract is up?

In 2007, Rockets star Tracy McGrady traveled to Darfur refugee camps in Chad in order to educate himself about the crisis and film a documentary. Since then, he has also presented a plan to build schools to facilitate the education of the refugees. He has been been a constant advocate for aid to Darfur, and has inspired other NBA stars to speak out as well. McGrady even changed his jersey number from No. 1 to No. 3 to promote the cause.

The hour-long documentary, Three Points, has now been released on Hulu. Hulu's Rebecca Harper also has an interview with McGrady, where he reveals that seeing a public service announcement on Darfur featuring Sudanese Bulls forward Luol Deng provided the final impetus to take up this project.

Who doesn't like a list, especially on a Monday morning when that's about all you can handle?

Less than 10 months after receiving a three-year contract extension worth approximately $27 million, Stephen Jackson now says he doesn't want to play for the Warriors anymore.

It's a pretty sudden turn for Jackson, who said at the time of the re-signing that he wanted to play the remainder of his career in Oakland. That kind of fickleness, when it comes from your captain and best player, can be a real headache for a team.

It got us to thinking about some of the NBA's high-maintenance players, the needy and delicate ones you must handle with extreme care. Whether it's their personality or game, here are five players who can make it very difficult for any franchise.

Once Yao Ming was ruled out of the 2009-10 season after surgery to repair his broken left foot, Tracy McGrady was cast away from the thoughts of most. Mac underwent microfracture surgery in February, speculatively ruling him out until the middle of '09-10. But without Yao, the season seems doomed to begin with. This will potentially be Mac's final campaign in Houston, and given the state a Yao-less, McGrady-less Rockets will likely find themselves in by the time Tracy is cleared, there's really no use to having him, is there?

This can all be nullified, however, if McGrady comes back early in the season and saves Houston from doom. And that's exactly what it appears may happen.

In our inaugural edition of the NBA Twitter mailbag, we've got some interesting topics to get us started. How will Shaq's ego fit in Cleveland? Is Kevin Durant getting the attention he deserves? And what's left on the Celtics' summer to-do list?

These questions and more, answered for you below.

HOUSTON -- Unexpected achievement in the face of incredible adversity isn't quite how the Houston Rockets saw their playoff run unfolding.

But that was certainly the theme that carried the Rockets, minus injured stars Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady, to within one game of reaching the Western Conference finals this season. One amazing night by McGrady or just the presence of aging Dikembe Mutombo in the paint might have been all the Rockets needed to avoid a Game 7 Semifinals in Los Angeles and overcome the Lakers.

It wasn't meant to be, but still it was enough to re-energize a franchise that seemed in serious trouble a few weeks ago because of it's often-injured stars and nondescript supporting cast. The Rockets hadn't been out of the first round of the playoffs in 12 years prior to this season.