Rockets guard Tracy McGrady is recovering slowly from injuries to his shoulder and knee.

He will play the season with an arthritic left shoulder, and his knee is still far from one-hundred percent.

"My knee is about 75, 80 percent right now," McGrady said. "It took longer than expected. I was expecting to recover 100 percent in four months, but the doctor told me it would be six months or even more. My shoulder had, after surgery, kept bothering me. I had another MRI and discovered I have arthritis in there, so I have to have surgery again on my shoulder. That?s something I have to deal with again this season, but my knee should be ready by opening night (Oct. 29)."

McGrady will not need shoulder surgery until next off-season, but that the condition could hinder his play.

"It?s not anything that is going to keep me out of games, but it?s going to bother me," he said. "I played through it last year. I didn?t realize how bad it was. I?ll be ready to go."

According to the Houston Chronicle, center Dikembe Mutombo said last week he would wait for the Rockets to make planned roster maneuvers to move beneath the luxury tax threshold to sign.

?Eventually, we?re going to need somebody behind Yao,? Coach Rick Adelman said, specifically citing matchups with Shaquille O?Neal and Greg Oden. ?When you?re playing the Shaqs of the world and now Portland with their young big guy (Oden), just size alone hurts you when Yao is out of the game. We?ll address that as we go. I feel good about the depth everywhere, but when you play a big guy, it?s really hard for Carl (Landry) and Chuck (Hayes) and Luis (Scola) to try to play some big strong, physically dominating player.?

After a long wait, rookie Joey Dorsey has officially signed a contract with the Houston Rockets on Monday.

"I was worried,? said Dorsey, who signed a contract that could be worth as much as $3.5 million over four years if the Rockets pick up each of the last two seasons of the contract. ?I went through summer league and all offseason without a contract, so I was getting a little worried. They called me this morning and said it was done. I was shaking while I signed it, like, ?I can?t believe I?m signing.? ?

In addition to signing Dorsey, the Rockets on Monday officially matched the Charlotte Bobcats? offer sheet to Carl Landry and signed guard Von Wafer and center Marcus Campbell to the training camp roster.

Tracy McGrady is still ailing from off-season knee surgery and will play out the 2008-2009 season with an arthritic left shoulder, but the Rocket forward claims he'll be ready to go when the season starts, the Houston Chronicle is reporting.

"My knee is about 75, 80 percent right now," McGrady said. "It took longer than expected. I was expecting to recover 100 percent in four months, but (ellipses) the doctor told me it would be six months or even more. My shoulder had after surgery kept bothering me. I had another MRI and discovered I have arthritis in there so I have to have surgery again on my shoulder. That?s something I have to deal with again this season, but my knee should be ready by opening night (Oct. 29)."

McGrady said he will not need that surgery until next off-season but that the condition could hinder his play.

?It?s not anything that is going to keep me out of games, but it?s going to bother me,? he said.

?I played through it last year. I didn?t realize how bad it was. I?ll be ready to go.?

The Houston Rockets have come to an agreement with rookie Joey Dorsey on a contract, the Houston Chronicle is reporting.

Dorsey is expected to sign a four-year, $3.5 million contract, with each of the last two seasons at the team?s option.

The deal, using a portion of the mid-level exception money left available after the signing of Carl Landry, will avoid a repeat of the protracted restricted free agent negotiations with Landry.

Though Dorsey was chosen with the third pick of the second round, the contract was structured similar to a first-round draft choice. The difference is that the Rockets will have the option to pick up another season of the contract after the second and third seasons, rather than before those seasons as with first-round picks.

Rockets' forward Shane Battier will miss up to four weeks of action because of an inflammation in his left foot, according to Associated Press.

He is expected to miss most of the preseason.

Battier had surgery May 9 to remove bone spurs from his left ankle, and Houston says the foot inflammation occurred during rehabilitation.

Rockets guard Rafer Alston has undergone tests to rule out a potential heart condition, according to a report posted on Sports Illustrated.

"Rafer had a few extra tests on his physical," Rockets general manager Daryl Morey told SI.com. "Everything came back negative. They were precautionary."

Morey declined to comment on the nature of the tests.

Less than twenty four hours after the Charlotte Bobcats signed Carl Landry to a three year offer sheet - with the third year being a team option - Rockets' GM Daryl Morey announced that Houston will match the deal.

"We?re really excited to have him back," Morey says. "We wanted to sign him long-term out of the draft last year; because we didn?t have mid-level, we weren?t able to get that done. So now we?re excited to get that done, and we?re going to have a great set of players in for training camp."

"We had a lot of time obviously to think about what range of money we would match and this fell into that. Also, training camp coming Monday, we want to get him in here and get the physical finished and get him here starting Monday for camp. There was a chance that this could drag out and we didn?t want that to happen. We felt like we had to get Carl in at a number that didn?t hurt our ability to maneuver long-term and we feel like this does that, so we were willing to wait and I?m pleased. I?ve said all along that it?d be nice if someone would just sign him so we could match and get this over with."

Rockets' GM Daryl Morey recently told the team's web site that he hopes to have rookie Joey Dorsey signed by the end of the week, according to Eyewitness News.

Morey said that Joey is close to signing. By the end of the week, we should have that finished.

"We're looking forward to having him join. It will likely be a long-term deal that keeps him here for a good stretch," he added.

Dorsey was originally selected by the Blazers with the 33rd overall pick.

The Charlotte Bobcats have extended an offer to restricted Rockets free agent Carl Landry, leaving Houston with a week to match the offer or lose the forward, the Associated Press is reporting.

"We saw an opportunity to possibly get a guy that can play both big spots, probably more so the power forward," general manager Rod Higgins said. "He's versatile enough to play the center position in a pinch."

Houston have been trying to sign the former second round pick all summer, but have not been able to come to an agreement on the contract.