The Houston Rockets are playing for . . . this season.

That's the surprising message trading for 37-year-old Marcus Camby and 37-year-old Derek Fisher in separate deals sends to a team that wondered if general manager Daryl Morey was going to implode the roster yet again. Instead Morey went so far against form that one has to wonder if Rockets owner Leslie Alexander urged Morey to make a move to ensure this team gets into the playoffs.

With the way the other Western Conference "contenders" for the final playoff spots are self destructing (see Portland blowing up its roster after getting blown out by those Knicks, see Minnesota lifeline Ricky Rubio blowing out his knee), the 24-20 Rockets probably would have made the playoffs even without these moves. But adding Camby and Fisher should remove any doubt and give Houston a better chance to move up in the standings — and out of a first-round matchup with the No. 1 seed Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Rockets didn't give up anything significant to add an experienced 7-footer who still knows how to block shots and rebound (Camby) and a veteran point guard capable of hitting the occasional big shot (Fisher) if he ever ends up suiting up for Houston. Instead, Morey just took some of the pieces he acquired in trade deadlines past — center Hasheem Thabeet and point guard Jonny Flynn for Camby; forward Jordan Hill for Fisher and a late first-round pick — and turned them into complementary win-now parts.

Does this guarantee the Rockets will have a chance to win a first round series?

Not even close. Houston will still be an underdog against whoever it faces in the playoffs. But the Camby trade in particular makes the Rockets a tad more threatening.

Coach Kevin McHale desperately needed another big man option and Camby — a pro who's long chosen to make the Houston area his offseason home, one who will embrace this move — still knows how to make winning basketball plays. He'll be invaluable on those all-too-frequent nights when Sam Dalembert fades away.

The Rockets might try to buy out Fisher, but the old guard might not be so willing to give up $3.4 million guaranteed next season. If Fisher balks at a buyout, Kyle Lowry's health situation doesn't make having another point guard option unappetizing either.

Alexander's team did not have a headline day. The Rockets are not going to shift this town's sports obsession from the Houston Texans anytime soon (good luck with anyone doing that in the next five years). There were no headline deals to be had on this NBA trade deadline day though.

Once Dwight Howard guaranteed Orlando another season of Shakespearean indecision, there was no franchise-changing player to be had.

In a day of little deals, the Rockets pulled off one of the more effective win-now ones. They got the Camby Man. It doesn't push them closer to being a legitimate contender.

It does make the rest of this season and the playoffs more interesting. This is a Texans' day too, but there will be a little excitement when the Rockets are back in the playoffs for the first time in three years this April.

Alexander understands this. Morey did what he had to do. Baby steps count too.