Joey Dorsey News

Developing chemistry is an ongoing process in the NBA D-League. The Rio Grande Vipers are no exception as they prepare to play their third season opener - and their first with their affiliation with the NBA's Houston Rockets.

Prior to tipping off his third season at the helm of the Toros, coach Quin Snyder laid out the blueprint for overcoming his team's lack of size.

Mike Harris scored a game-high 28 points and Houston Rockets assignee Joey Dorsey had 17 rebounds as the Rio Grande Valley Vipers split their weekend season-opening road series against the Austin Toros with a 109-102 win on Saturday night.

These hard-playing Rockets, who now have their first two-game losing streak of the season, are not a particularly stingy bunch.

The Rio Grande Valley Vipers' opening day roster features a good mix of veterans and rookies after the team made its final two cuts on Wednesday.

As one of the Charlotte Bobcats' last cuts, Antonio Anderson needed a couple of days to regroup before thinking basketball again.

Prior to the Houston Rockets lackluster effort against the Sacramento Kings, Daryl Morey and the organization cut ties with energetic, but sporadically played Pops Mensah Bonsu.

The Kings did not intend to taunt the Rockets, but they did. Hours after the Rockets sent Joey Dorsey to the D-League and Pops Mensah-Bonsu to waivers, making the undersized Rockets even smaller, the Kings destroyed them on the boards for a half.

Joey Dorsey has not played this season. He averaged 9.7 points and nine rebounds in seven games with the Vipers last season.

Tracy McGrady has not returned full-time to Rockets practices, but he did go overtime this week.

The Rockets told guard Will Conroy he will be waived later today, reducing the roster to the required 15 players, Conroy said Thursday.

Without Yao Ming, one of the big questions facing the team is the frontcourt. Here's a rundown of the big guys.

In 2007 in an interview with Stephen A. Smith, Rockets Guard Tracy McGrady claimed it was "his team, and how far we go is ridin' on my shoulders," most famously finishing off his comments proclaiming "It's on me!" Those words couldn't be any more accurate coming into a Rockets season filled with low expectations.

For a few hours each day, Garrett Temple is an NBA player, free to focus on the usual challenges.

With the Rockets stumbling their way to within 17 points of the Indiana Pacers, Pacers coach Jim O'Brien thought he might like to see a layup.

The questions Joey Dorsey thought he had left behind in his sedentary rookie season were back, but he could not blame friends and family for asking.

The Rockets' 37.8 percent shooting and 18.8 percent shooting from the 3-point arc, were their worst of the preseason, but Rockets coach Rick Adelman said the team's execution led to the poor shooting.

With Dwight Howard and Mickael Pietrus taking the night off, the Orlando Magic took care of business against a Houston Rockets team missing Tracy McGrady, Shane Battier and Luis Scola .

Who needs Yao Ming versus Dwight Howard? We've seen that. Howard is now heralded as the league's best center, celebrated in NBA commercials and video games, slapping Superman symbols on everything from his laptop to his Conquest XV armored car.

The seven-month countdown ends Wednesday. The Houston Rockets will play in the Rio Grande Valley for the first time since 1975 when they square off in an exhibition game against the Boston Celtics.