Actually - it was designed by an academy award winning designer.
Execution of that directive fell to Eiko Ishioka, who won an Academy Award in 1993 for costume design in Bram Stoker's Dracula. Ishioka initially signed on to design uniforms but came up with a logo that was adopted by Rockets owner Leslie Alexander.
"What Eiko saw was the amount of upward motion that is unique to basketball and characterizes the sport," McDougall said. "When you look at the logo, you get the same feel of upward motion that the sport gives you."
I have a .jpg of a jersey design that has been floating around a couple of sites. Anyone wanna host?