• Home
  • popular
  • EVENTS
  • submit-new-event
  • CHARITY GUIDE
  • Children
  • Education
  • Health
  • Veterans
  • Social Services
  • Arts + Culture
  • Animals
  • LGBTQ
  • New Charity
  • TRENDING NEWS
  • News
  • City Life
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • Home + Design
  • Travel
  • Real Estate
  • Restaurants + Bars
  • Arts
  • Society
  • Innovation
  • Fashion + Beauty
  • subscribe
  • about
  • series
  • Embracing Your Inner Cowboy
  • Green Living
  • Summer Fun
  • Real Estate Confidential
  • RX In the City
  • State of the Arts
  • Fall For Fashion
  • Cai's Odyssey
  • Comforts of Home
  • Good Eats
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2010
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2
  • Good Eats 2
  • HMNS Pirates
  • The Future of Houston
  • We Heart Hou 2
  • Music Inspires
  • True Grit
  • Hoops City
  • Green Living 2011
  • Cruizin for a Cure
  • Summer Fun 2011
  • Just Beat It
  • Real Estate 2011
  • Shelby on the Seine
  • Rx in the City 2011
  • Entrepreneur Video Series
  • Going Wild Zoo
  • State of the Arts 2011
  • Fall for Fashion 2011
  • Elaine Turner 2011
  • Comforts of Home 2011
  • King Tut
  • Chevy Girls
  • Good Eats 2011
  • Ready to Jingle
  • Houston at 175
  • The Love Month
  • Clifford on The Catwalk Htx
  • Let's Go Rodeo 2012
  • King's Harbor
  • FotoFest 2012
  • City Centre
  • Hidden Houston
  • Green Living 2012
  • Summer Fun 2012
  • Bookmark
  • 1987: The year that changed Houston
  • Best of Everything 2012
  • Real Estate 2012
  • Rx in the City 2012
  • Lost Pines Road Trip Houston
  • London Dreams
  • State of the Arts 2012
  • HTX Fall For Fashion 2012
  • HTX Good Eats 2012
  • HTX Contemporary Arts 2012
  • HCC 2012
  • Dine to Donate
  • Tasting Room
  • HTX Comforts of Home 2012
  • Charming Charlie
  • Asia Society
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2012
  • HTX Mistletoe on the go
  • HTX Sun and Ski
  • HTX Cars in Lifestyle
  • HTX New Beginnings
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2013
  • Zadok Sparkle into Spring
  • HTX Let's Go Rodeo 2013
  • HCC Passion for Fashion
  • BCAF 2013
  • HTX Best of 2013
  • HTX City Centre 2013
  • HTX Real Estate 2013
  • HTX France 2013
  • Driving in Style
  • HTX Island Time
  • HTX Super Season 2013
  • HTX Music Scene 2013
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2013 2
  • HTX Baker Institute
  • HTX Comforts of Home 2013
  • Mothers Day Gift Guide 2021 Houston
  • Staying Ahead of the Game
  • Wrangler Houston
  • First-time Homebuyers Guide Houston 2021
  • Visit Frisco Houston
  • promoted
  • eventdetail
  • Greystar Novel River Oaks
  • Thirdhome Go Houston
  • Dogfish Head Houston
  • LovBe Houston
  • Claire St Amant podcast Houston
  • The Listing Firm Houston
  • South Padre Houston
  • NextGen Real Estate Houston
  • Pioneer Houston
  • Collaborative for Children
  • Decorum
  • Bold Rock Cider
  • Nasher Houston
  • Houston Tastemaker Awards 2021
  • CityNorth
  • Urban Office
  • Villa Cotton
  • Luck Springs Houston
  • EightyTwo
  • Rectanglo.com
  • Silver Eagle Karbach
  • Mirador Group
  • Nirmanz
  • Bandera Houston
  • Milan Laser
  • Lafayette Travel
  • Highland Park Village Houston
  • Proximo Spirits
  • Douglas Elliman Harris Benson
  • Original ChopShop
  • Bordeaux Houston
  • Strike Marketing
  • Rice Village Gift Guide 2021
  • Downtown District
  • Broadstone Memorial Park
  • Gift Guide
  • Music Lane
  • Blue Circle Foods
  • Houston Tastemaker Awards 2022
  • True Rest
  • Lone Star Sports
  • Silver Eagle Hard Soda
  • Modelo recipes
  • Modelo Fighting Spirit
  • Athletic Brewing
  • Rodeo Houston
  • Silver Eagle Bud Light Next
  • Waco CVB
  • EnerGenie
  • HLSR Wine Committee
  • All Hands
  • El Paso
  • Avenida Houston
  • Visit Lubbock Houston
  • JW Marriott San Antonio
  • Silver Eagle Tupps
  • Space Center Houston
  • Central Market Houston
  • Boulevard Realty
  • Travel Texas Houston
  • Alliantgroup
  • Golf Live
  • DC Partners
  • Under the Influencer
  • Blossom Hotel
  • San Marcos Houston
  • Photo Essay: Holiday Gift Guide 2009
  • We Heart Hou
  • Walker House
  • HTX Good Eats 2013
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2013
  • HTX Culture Motive
  • HTX Auto Awards
  • HTX Ski Magic
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings 2014
  • HTX Texas Traveler
  • HTX Cifford on the Catwalk 2014
  • HTX United Way 2014
  • HTX Up to Speed
  • HTX Rodeo 2014
  • HTX City Centre 2014
  • HTX Dos Equis
  • HTX Tastemakers 2014
  • HTX Reliant
  • HTX Houston Symphony
  • HTX Trailblazers
  • HTX_RealEstateConfidential_2014
  • HTX_IW_Marks_FashionSeries
  • HTX_Green_Street
  • Dating 101
  • HTX_Clifford_on_the_Catwalk_2014
  • FIVE CultureMap 5th Birthday Bash
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2014 TEST
  • HTX Texans
  • Bergner and Johnson
  • HTX Good Eats 2014
  • United Way 2014-15_Single Promoted Articles
  • Holiday Pop Up Shop Houston
  • Where to Eat Houston
  • Copious Row Single Promoted Articles
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2014
  • htx woodford reserve manhattans
  • Zadok Swiss Watches
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings 2015
  • HTX Charity Challenge 2015
  • United Way Helpline Promoted Article
  • Boulevard Realty
  • Fusion Academy Promoted Article
  • Clifford on the Catwalk Fall 2015
  • United Way Book Power Promoted Article
  • Jameson HTX
  • Primavera 2015
  • Promenade Place
  • Hotel Galvez
  • Tremont House
  • HTX Tastemakers 2015
  • HTX Digital Graffiti/Alys Beach
  • MD Anderson Breast Cancer Promoted Article
  • HTX RealEstateConfidential 2015
  • HTX Vargos on the Lake
  • Omni Hotel HTX
  • Undies for Everyone
  • Reliant Bright Ideas Houston
  • 2015 Houston Stylemaker
  • HTX Renewable You
  • Urban Flats Builder
  • Urban Flats Builder
  • HTX New York Fashion Week spring 2016
  • Kyrie Massage
  • Red Bull Flying Bach
  • Hotze Health and Wellness
  • ReadFest 2015
  • Alzheimer's Promoted Article
  • Formula 1 Giveaway
  • Professional Skin Treatments by NuMe Express

    Jeremy Lin's The Key

    Jeremy Lin needs to be set free: Whether McHale likes it or not, he's key to new Dwight Howard Rockets

    Chris Baldwin
    Sep 28, 2013 | 5:58 am

    Jeremy Lin isn't the headliner, the curiosity or the phenom anymore. He's slated to speak third from last at the Houston Rockets Media Day. He's an appetizer before Dwight Howard and James Harden close the show in a near overflow interview room.

    But at least Lin gets a talking part. Omer Asik — who is supposed to believe he is one of the most vital Rockets even though the team signed Howard for $88 million to take the starting center spot — is not put up on the dais in the interview room. Instead, Asik does his media briefing in a bare hallway of the refurbished Toyota Center after leading four reporters through a gauntlet of picture taking that includes at least seven stops.

    "You guys are still here?" Asik asks after the reporters wait out stop No. 6.

    We are. And so is Jeremy Lin. At times, it seemed like Lin's return to Houston — the righting of what general manager Daryl Morey's called a Christmas Eve cutting mistake — would be shockingly brief. Trade talk swirled around Lin, the strange obsession with backup point guard Patrick Beverley (he of the 5.6 point per game career scoring average) built and the Houston Chronicle even broke out a dumb poll that breathlessly asked who the team's starting point guard should be.

    Yes, Jeremy Lin is back. He also just so happens to be the key to the most intriguing team in the NBA.

    All the while, Lin kept working on his defense, his jumper and his left hand in a serious summer that left no less a legend than Hakeem Olajuwon praising his skills.

    Yes, Jeremy Lin is back. And he's a clear, starting NBA impact player. He also just so happens to be the key to the most intriguing team in the NBA.

    It's hard to argue when Rockets general manager Daryl Morey calls Howard and Harden "two of the Top 10 players in the league" (sorry Dwyane Wade, it's true). Yet as good as Harden and Howard are, it's even harder to argue that either is the equal of LeBron James or Kevin Durant. The Rockets aren't a team that can roll out a Mario Chalmers at point guard and win a title.

    To taste championship champagne, Howard and Harden need Jeremy Lin at his best. Which means that Houston's new incredible duo — not to mention head coach Kevin McHale — must allow Lin to be the team's main distributor.

    "I think for me, I have to be a point guard," Lin says. "I have to make sure everybody gets the ball. There is a little bit of a different role, but I want to be the same attacking, relentless player I've been in the past."

    As talented as Harden is, and as good of a passer as he can be, do you really expect that the guy who loves to play Hero Ball is always going to keep the ball moving?

    These Rockets need a creative, pass-first point guard. They just happen to have that type of player on the roster — if only they use him.

    Kevin McHale, The Believer?

    On this Media Day, essentially the first day of these new contender Rockets, a day that has TNT's Craig Sager waiting for interviews in his own room down the Toyota Center hall, McHale says almost all the right things about Jeremy Lin. Even if he does sort of dismiss that New York Linsanity run as something of a fluke.

    "If people hadn't seen him that month, or five weeks, in New York, people would say that it was a heck of a rookie year for the kid," McHale notes of Lin's 13.4 points per game, 6.1 assists per game, all-82-games-played first Rockets season.

    The Dream can already see it. The question is: Can McHale?

    McHale's belief — or lack of it — in Lin will go a long way toward determining Houston's fate. Hakeem's seen what Howard and Lin can be, telling Fox 26's Mark Berman that the combination is "very deadly." ESPN's deemed the Rockets' backcourt the best in the NBA.

    But none of this holds up if Houston simply becomes all Harden and Howard. If Dwight Howard is going to return to his Orlando days dominance, he needs to have Lin penetrating and throwing him plenty of passes as well.

    Both Howard and Lin independently bring up a play from their summer workouts in Aspen with Hakeem, when Lin throws a ball way too high for Howard and the big man skies up and dunks it anyway. To Howard, it's a sign that his balky back and aching body are whole again, that he can almost fly like that NBA Slam Dunk Superman again.

    To Lin, it's . . . well, it's a game changer.

    "It was a terrible pass," Lin says. "And he just went up and still threw it in. I was like, 'Oh, wow. That's good for me.' "

    Howard only needs to ask Tyson Chandler how good playing with a free Jeremy Lin can be for a big man. The Dream can already see it. The question is: Can McHale?

    If Jeremy Lin's treated like a true NBA starting point guard, if he's trusted like his potential and game screams he should be, the Rockets will become a true trophy threat. If not? If Lin's minutes are yo-yoed around again, if he's still treated as more of a curiosity than a difference maker?

    Well, these Rockets of Harden and Howard will still be damn entertaining. They just won't be on any sort of title path.

    "We have a chance to do something special if we stay together, stay focused," Howard says.

    And if they don't forget the third wheel. The two Top 10 players are the foundation. But these two Top 10 players can't drive the Rockets to glory by themselves.

    "Coming back to the same city as (the year) before is a big step for me," says Lin, a 25-year-old who's lived a vagabond pro basketball life. "I haven't done that since my junior to senior year of college."

    Somehow, through it all, Jeremy Lin is back. Now, the Rockets just have to use him right.

    Jeremy Lin isn't the headliner, but his play will go far toward determining how good the Houston Rockets become.

    Jeremy Lin Thunder
      
    Photo by Christian Petersen Getty Images
    Jeremy Lin isn't the headliner, but his play will go far toward determining how good the Houston Rockets become.
    unspecified
    news/sports

    pucker up

    Growing pickleball franchise smashes into Houston with 2 locations

    Jef Rouner
    Apr 29, 2025 | 5:30 pm
    Two men play pickleball on a Picklr court.
    Photo courtesy of The Picklr
    A Picklr court campus similar to the ones soon to open in Houston.

    Pickleball is one of the hottest sports sweeping the nation, and one of the biggest names in the game is setting up two new facilities in Houston. Picklr is scheduled to open indoor sports campuses in Cypress and The Woodlands in the coming months.

    “Bringing a pickleball facility to Cypress will not only provide a fun and engaging recreational outlet for residents of all ages, but will also foster a sense of community and promote a healthy and active lifestyle,” said Steve Nguyen, owner of The Picklr Cypress.“This facility will serve as a vibrant hub for social interaction, skill development, and friendly/competitive competition, enhancing community bonds and offering a welcoming space for everyone to enjoy.”

    Although the game is approximately 60 years old, pickleball saw a massive spike in popularity following the pandemic when people were looking for fun group activities with easy points of entry. Though a racket sport like tennis, it is far easier and slower thanks to using perforated balls, smaller courts, and lighter paddles. This means the game is open to players of all ages, and was originally most popular with retirees. Now, there are roughly 5 million players across America, with players under 24 making up the majority. Houston even has its own professional team, the Hammers (not the Texas Hammer; that's this guy).

    The court in Cypress will be located in the old ASI Gymnastics building at 8920 Barker Cypress. It's a relatively modest facility with only six courts including a practice court. By contrast, The Woodlands location will be much more opulent. At 66,517 square feet, it will have 20 courts, 4 private event spaces (one with an exclusive viewing area), as well as a shower, changing room, dry bar, and kitchenette. Picklr The Woodlands will be located at 16590 Interstate I-45 South.

    These locations are the first for Picklr in Houston. They have twelve locations all throughout Texas, including in Round Rock and McKinney, and many more nationwide. Picklr locations operate on a membership model similar to a gym. Memberships run $159 a month for adults and $89 for minors, with unlimited access to open play, league play, and tournaments , as well as four free clinics a month. Additional coaching is available.

    There is currently no set opening date for the two Houston-area Picklrs. Players interested in learning more may sign up for updates at ThePicklr.com.

    pickleballopenings
    news/sports
    CULTUREMAP EMAILS ARE AWESOME
    Get Houston intel delivered daily.
    Loading...