Chronic ROCKETS NOTES: Updates on Alexander, Lucas, Francis

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/5183444.html

Owner watches as team goes to work

By FRAN BLINEBURY and JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

Rockets owner Leslie Alexander took his place watching a training camp practice Tuesday, as has long been his custom.

The difference? He enjoyed it.

Alexander did not know if Rick Adelman's style would be better for the Rockets than Jeff Van Gundy's, but he did know it was more fun to watch.

"Guys are playing hard, hustling," Alexander said. "It's a different kind of camp than Jeff's.

"There's more emphasis on playing than drills. And the coach is teaching them new things, so they have to listen real hard because it's different.

"I don't think I know enough to know one is better than the other. Hopefully, it's better because there is a new coach, and you hope his system works. Or maybe they're the same. I really have no idea."

But he was certain he enjoyed watching.

"It's much more fun to watch guys play — see them shoot, see who shoots well — than to watch drills," Alexander said. "Drills are really boring. I'm not saying they're not really needed, but they're boring."

Take what comes

In the middle of the summer, when John Lucas III asked the Rockets to trade him, the last place he expected to be in October was at training camp.

"I'm here," Lucas said. "It's basketball season, and it's training camp time, and this is what I do. So I'm here to make the best of the season."

Lucas, who played sparingly last season for the Rockets, looked at the offseason acquisitions, counted up the seven players under contract who could play point guard, then asked general manager Daryl Morey to move him.

"It was nothing against the Rockets," Lucas said. "I can just see the situation with so many people who play my position.

"I want to play. I don't want to be stuck someplace where all I do is sit. It was fun to be out there today. I love the new coaching staff.

"Do they have a place for me? Who knows? I'm just here to play. It is what it is."

Francis at home

He had been gone for three seasons, but on his first day back on the court in a Rockets practice jersey, guard Steve Francis knew he was back home.

"Well, not here exactly. Not in Austin," Francis said, laughing. "But it does feel good to be back in Houston with the Rockets.

"I never moved. I can say it was because of no state income tax. But I really love the city. I can't deny that.

"I've been treated well by everybody, and it just feels right to be playing here again."

Love that James

The praise heard in Austin on Tuesday might not have come from the most expert observer, but it was praise. And the speaker, if not a coach or a player, does have quite a bit of pull in the Rockets organization.

"Mike James looked great," Rockets owner Leslie Alexander said after Tuesday's practice. "He shot the ball really, really well, made almost every shot."

But James did not seem concerned with praise, no matter its source.

"Hey, you know, they brought me back," James said. "I'm pretty sure I caught their eye when they traded for me. I can't worry about that. I'm not focused on who is saying I'm good, who's saying I'm bad. The only thing I'm focusing on is what I'm doing on that court."

Odds and ends

With Yao Ming not expected at practice until Friday, coach Rick Adelman used lineups featuring centers Dikembe Mutombo and Jackie Butler more, but also without a center, using power forwards in the middle. ... Center Dikembe Mutombo, who does not play in the offseason, to coach Rick Adelman about his first practice: " 'I survived.' That's what he told me," Adelman said. "I told him, as much a veteran as he is, he should have signed late if he didn't want to run." ... By the numbers: Rick Adelman and center Dikembe Mutombo are heading into their 17th seasons as a coach and player, respectively.