As of Nov. 9, the Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks are atop the division with their respective records standing at 4-2. In what has been one of the most competitive divisions in recent memory, the Spur, and Hornets find themselves struggling to remain afloat. Eventually both teams will find their games as the season progresses, the Spurs more-so, but the complexity of the division would alter with a new "acquisition," the Rockets are rumored to acquire on the 18th, former all-star Tracy McGrady.

Yeah, yeah, he's not really a new acquisition, but with how much time he's missed last season, and this year in training camp, preseason etc.  McGrady finds himself a stranger on the new look run and gun Rockets. Before we divulge into the type of impact he will have on the Rockets granted he is healthy, there seem to be conflicting reports to whether McGrady will indeed return on the supposed marked date.

The news was originally broken by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, claiming that Tracy has targeted Nov. 18 versus Minnesota to make his return from micro-fracture knee surgery. It was partially confirmed by McGrady later as he posted on his personal website, tmac.com on a blog that he's ready to go, and feels the doctors will clear him much sooner, rather than later.

But then the Houston Chronicle had Darly Morey commenting on the situation claiming that no date had been set, and the organization and doctors have yet to agree upon a time in which they'd both feel comfortable with McGrady returning.

So who to believe?

It's been a cat and mouse sort of game the entire off-season. Immediately after the surgery, the consensus was the returning post all-star break would be the goal, as that's the general time-frame for one to recover from such an extensive surgery. With more months of rehabilitation in Chicago with Tim Grover, the "expected return date" shortened to sometime in January, in which Morey had been quoted as saying a rough time line in which he'd return.

Then not even a month later it seemed McGrady would be returning within the first month of the season, if not in time by training camp and the first game of the season. While that seemed a bit lofty, it even seemed Morey was coming around. Then when media day and pre-season approached, most fans even expected McGrady to announce he'd be there to start the season. But the Rockets organization announced that they had agreed upon a date, Nov. 23 to be exact, in which McGrady would receive an MRI, and that they'd proceed from there.

McGrady never initially confirmed the MRI, so there was some confusion to the stories behind the two. Now McGrady is saying one date, and the Rockets organization is saying another.

Personally I feel McGrady is overplaying his current condition, while the Rockets are trying to downplay it. Nov. 18 might seem too soon, but a week after wouldn't be too far out of the possibility. But this time, unlike last season in which McGrady announced to the media of his decision to go for surgery, the Rockets have control, and they will decide when he chooses to come back. Not the other way around.

At the very least, McGrady will come back sooner, rather than later, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him on court within two weeks, maybe even the rumored date, which is just over a week away.

So the exact date isn't official, but it's becoming clearer Tracy is ready to make his return to the basketball court. And with anyone's return to the court, the speculation begins.

The first question is, how much of his game has he lost? Based on last season, one could infer, his days of being an all-star are long past him, and anything more than being the most expensive role player in the league would be wishful thinking. 

The optimist would look at the sort of games even last season, where he was clearly injured and out of shape and the type of games he was able to produce when he was able to get rest or receive shots before the game. You can point to the 26-point game against the Celtics, followed by the 30/8/8 game against the Blazers, the 27 points against the Suns, the 16 point fourth quarter against the Wizards, or the week in which he averaged nearly a triple double and 20 points per game.

He had other games in which he showed flashes of his former self, but in general, his inability to move on the perimeter both offensively and defensively made him a liability on the floor, the cause for him opting for micro-fracture knee surgery.

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