Rockets’ Taylor Dislocates Shoulder

Following an off-season in which he worked himself into the best shape of his career for the purpose of avoiding injuries, Houston Rocket forward Maurice Taylor will be out indefinitely after dislocating his left shoulder Saturday on the second day of training camp.

Taylor did not initially appear to have any fractures but is undergoing additional tests.

If damage is found in cartilage or muscles, Taylor probably will miss several weeks -- if surgery is required, much longer.

“We feel very, very badly for Mo, because he put in a lot of work in the off-season to get himself down,” Rocket Coach Jeff Van Gundy told the Houston Chronicle.

“You feel bad for the guy,” Van Gundy said. “It was a freak, buzzard’s luck thing. We were just jogging through stuff, and [Taylor and 260-pound center Peter Cornell] just bumped shoulders.”

Taylor has been hurt before each of the three seasons since he signed a six-year, $48-million contract with the Rockets.

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The Denver Nuggets are considering offering a tryout this week to former rebounding champion Dennis Rodman.

“We might bring him in for a day for a tryout,” General Manager Kiki Vandeweghe told the Denver Post. “We’re just looking around. We’ve kind of kicked the idea around a little bit.”

Rodman, 42, hasn’t played in the NBA since the 1999-2000 season with the Dallas Mavericks.

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The Memphis Grizzlies exercised the fourth-year options on the contracts of former rookie of the year Pau Gasol and swingman Shane Battier.