# 2011–12 Houston Rockets season

The 2011–12 Houston Rockets season was the 45th season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the 41st based in Houston. This was the first season since 2001-02 without Yao Ming, who retired from the NBA on July 9, 2011. The off-season saw team draft a pair of first-round picks, forward Marcus Morris from Kansas was drafted 14th overall and Madrid sensation Nikola Mirotić was drafted 23rd overall. Forward and 3-point specialist Chandler Parsons from Florida was taken with the 38th pick in the second round. The season is most memorable when ex-Celtic and former Timberwolves general manager Kevin McHale was hired to be their new head coach for the upcoming season. The Rockets finished with a 34–32 record, missing the playoffs.

## Key dates

* June 23: The 2011 NBA draft took place at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
* July 9: Yao Ming announced his retirement from professional basketball.

## Draft picks

| Round | Pick | Player | Position | Nationality | College/Team |
| 1 | 14 | Marcus Morris | PF | United States | Kansas |
| 1 | 23 | Nikola Mirotić | PF | Spain | Real Madrid |
| 2 | 38 | Chandler Parsons | SF | United States | University of Florida |

## Pre-season

Due to the 2011 NBA lockout negotiations, the programmed pre-season schedule, along with the first two weeks of the regular season were scrapped, and a two-game pre-season was set for each team once the lockout concluded.
2011 pre-season game log :
Pre-season: 1–1 (home: 1–0; road: 0–1)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
1
December 17
San Antonio
W 101–87
Luis Scola (20)
Jordan Hill (13)
Kyle Lowry (5)
Toyota Center 12,859
1–0
2
December 21
@ San Antonio
L 95–97
Marcus Morris (20)
Jordan Hill (8)
Jonny Flynn (6)
AT&T Center 17,323
1–1 :
2011–12 season schedule :

## Regular season
### Standings

| Southwest Division | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Div | GP |
| c-San Antonio Spurs | 50 | 16 | .758 | – | 28‍–‍5 | 22‍–‍11 | 12–4 | 66 |
| x-Memphis Grizzlies | 41 | 25 | .621 | 9.0 | 26‍–‍7 | 15‍–‍18 | 7–8 | 66 |
| x-Dallas Mavericks | 36 | 30 | .545 | 14.0 | 23‍–‍10 | 13‍–‍20 | 8–5 | 66 |
| Houston Rockets | 34 | 32 | .515 | 16.0 | 22‍–‍11 | 12‍–‍21 | 6–8 | 66 |
| New Orleans Hornets | 21 | 45 | .318 | 29.0 | 11‍–‍22 | 10‍–‍23 | 3–11 | 66 |
Western Conference :
| # | Team | W | L | PCT | GB | GP |
| 1 | c-San Antonio Spurs * | 50 | 16 | .758 | – | 66 |
| 2 | y-Oklahoma City Thunder * | 47 | 19 | .712 | 3.0 | 66 |
| 3 | y-Los Angeles Lakers * | 41 | 25 | .621 | 9.0 | 66 |
| 4 | x-Memphis Grizzlies | 41 | 25 | .621 | 9.0 | 66 |
| 5 | x-Los Angeles Clippers | 40 | 26 | .606 | 10.0 | 66 |
| 6 | x-Denver Nuggets | 38 | 28 | .576 | 12.0 | 66 |
| 7 | x-Dallas Mavericks | 36 | 30 | .545 | 14.0 | 66 |
| 8 | x-Utah Jazz | 36 | 30 | .545 | 14.0 | 66 |
| 9 | Houston Rockets | 34 | 32 | .515 | 16.0 | 66 |
| 10 | Phoenix Suns | 33 | 33 | .500 | 17.0 | 66 |
| 11 | Portland Trail Blazers | 28 | 38 | .424 | 22.0 | 66 |
| 12 | Minnesota Timberwolves | 26 | 40 | .394 | 24.0 | 66 |
| 13 | Golden State Warriors | 23 | 43 | .348 | 27.0 | 66 |
| 14 | Sacramento Kings | 22 | 44 | .333 | 28.0 | 66 |
| 15 | New Orleans Hornets | 21 | 45 | .318 | 29.0 | 66 |

## Player statistics
### Regular season

Houston Rockets statistics :
| Player | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
| Luis Scola | 66 | 66 | 31.3 | .491 | .000 | .773 | 6.5 | 2.1 | .5 | .4 | 15.5 |
| Goran Dragić | 66 | 28 | 26.5 | .462 | .337 | .805 | 2.5 | 5.3 | 1.3 | .2 | 11.7 |
| Samuel Dalembert | 65 | 45 | 22.2 | .506 | .000 | .796 | 7.0 | .5 | .6 | 1.7 | 7.5 |
| Patrick Patterson | 64 | 1 | 23.2 | .440 | .000 | .702 | 4.5 | .8 | .4 | .6 | 7.7 |
| Chandler Parsons | 63 | 57 | 28.6 | .452 | .337 | .551 | 4.8 | 2.1 | 1.2 | .5 | 9.5 |
| Courtney Lee | 58 | 26 | 30.3 | .433 | .401 | .826 | 2.7 | 1.5 | 1.2 | .4 | 11.4 |
| Chase Budinger | 58 | 9 | 22.4 | .442 | .402 | .771 | 3.7 | 1.3 | .5 | .1 | 9.6 |
| Kyle Lowry | 47 | 38 | 32.1 | .409 | .374 | .864 | 4.5 | 6.6 | 1.6 | .3 | 14.3 |
| Kevin Martin | 40 | 40 | 31.6 | .413 | .347 | .894 | 2.7 | 2.8 | .7 | .1 | 17.1 |
| Jordan Hill$^†$ | 32 | 7 | 14.7 | .504 | .000 | .641 | 4.8 | .4 | .3 | .7 | 5.0 |
| Marcus Camby$^†$ | 19 | 13 | 24.1 | .484 | .400 | .423 | 9.3 | 1.7 | .9 | 1.5 | 7.1 |
| Marcus Morris Sr. | 17 | 0 | 7.4 | .296 | .118 | .750 | .9 | .2 | .1 | .1 | 2.4 |
| Terrence Williams$^†$ | 12 | 0 | 15.1 | .351 | .421 | .500 | 2.3 | .8 | .3 | .1 | 4.5 |
| Jonny Flynn$^†$ | 11 | 0 | 12.3 | .293 | .222 | .786 | .7 | 2.5 | .3 | .1 | 3.4 |
| Earl Boykins | 8 | 0 | 13.9 | .333 | .222 | .867 | 1.4 | 2.1 | .1 | .0 | 4.9 |
| Greg Smith | 8 | 0 | 8.6 | .636 | | | 2.5 | .1 | .3 | .6 | 1.8 |
| Jeff Adrien | 8 | 0 | 7.9 | .438 | | .583 | 2.8 | .1 | .0 | .3 | 2.6 |
| Courtney Fortson$^†$ | 6 | 0 | 8.2 | .300 | .222 | .667 | 1.2 | .8 | .5 | .0 | 3.0 |
| Hasheem Thabeet$^†$ | 5 | 0 | 4.6 | 1.000 | | | 1.4 | .0 | .0 | .4 | 1.2 |
* $^†$ Denotes player spent time with another team in the season. Stats reflect time with the Rockets only.