Daryl Morey expects the Rockets to fight for a playoff berth.

"I think our goal for this year ... is we fight for a playoff spot, even though it's one of the most challenging years to do that,” said Morey. “The West is strong and if we were to make the playoffs, it means a lot of good things will have happened. Namely Jeremy Lin, Omer Asik or somebody else emerges to become an All-Star.

"I think that's a stretch goal, but were not going to go into the year saying we're not going fight. Along the way we'll keep trying to take advantage of every opportunity to make moves that will make us better."

Morey loaded up on draft picks, young players and cap space in a failed bid to acquire either Dwight Howard or Andrew Bynum this offseason.

"The moves we made were designed to be the right moves whether we pulled off a bigger trade or not," he said. "We want every player on the team to be one who has a chance to become an All-Star level player or give us the cap flexibility to sign that kind of a player.

"This trade didn't work out. We took a hack, and it didn't work out. But it doesn't mean we're abandoning our plan.”