Chron: Moochie has much to prove & Rockets Summery

Norris has much to prove
Point guard's preseason opener one best forgetten
By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle

SEATTLE -- If the first step is a point guard learning to think like his coach, Moochie Norris has that part down.

But Norris described his offensive play in the preseason opener Tuesday as "horrific." Later, Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy called it "horrific."

They would like to agree on something else, and Norris settled down enough in the second game on Wednesday to guide the offense with a relatively steady hand -- and give the Rockets something more pleasant to talk about.

With all of the Rockets' starters watching, the SuperSonics rolled to a 98-78 win on Wednesday with Rashard Lewis scoring 35 points in 28 minutes.

A night after they were led by Gabe Muoneke, Alex Scales led the Rockets with 16 points.

If there is a position battle on the team, it could be at the backup point guard position, where Norris is trying to bounce back from a season barely better than his showing in Portland. Free agent pickup Mike Wilks could be ready to give him a run.

The Rockets would like to first rehabilitate Norris' game and figure out what to do with Wilks later.

Even when handling the ball as if it were radioactive on Tuesday, Norris showed the benefits of his summer conditioning program. Though he had eight turnovers, seven in his first few minutes on the court, Van Gundy actually praised his play overall.

On Wednesday, though, Norris played 24 minutes without a turnover but made just one of seven with five free throws for seven points.

When he spoke to Norris, much of the conversation turned to what Van Gundy thought he did well, with his primary criticism centering on Norris' tendency to let a few mistakes run into, for example, seven turnovers in eight minutes.

"He played a horrific offensive game, eight turnovers. I mean really bad," Van Gundy said about the game in Portland. "He tried to do everything right. I have no problem with a guy making a full effort (but) having a bad offensive night. He did many good things defensively. I would have more of a problem if the effort wasn't there."

Norris said it "was just one of those nights."

"I was pretty much in control of what I was doing," he said. "I was just having trouble holding on to the ball. The ball was slipping out of my hands.

"My coaches really let me know everything is OK (and) that I should stop beating myself up, which I was. They were telling me I had one of those nights, but you have to ask yourself if I can play defensively the way I was playing when the ball is not going in. Can I help my team on the other end?"

Wilks also was able to apply the pressure Van Gundy demands of his point guards but was became careless with the ball. Wilks did not come close to Steve Francis' numbers but showed enough to look like he belongs.

"Mike did darn good," Van Gundy said. "He's an NBA guard. I like him. He's smart. He loves basketball. He prepares diligently. You can't have enough people like that on your team."

Wilks showed that at Rice and played enough with the Bucks and Hawks last season to have a pretty clear idea of what it will take to make a team. But he said he tries not to think about playing his way onto the team, rather than just playing.

"You do both," Wilks said. "You have to try to understand the best you can what the coach is looking for. Right now, my understanding is our overall goal is to be a defensive team, a low turnover team, a rebounding team, a team that plays inside out and a team that takes the best shot. As a point guard, those are my goals. I want to play good one-on-one defense and team defense. I want to take care of the ball so we're low on turnovers, getting us into our sets and getting our scorers the ball."

With at least three seasons left on his contract, Norris likely does not have to worry about making the team. But under the circumstances, he can't help but think that way.

"You always have to prove yourself," Norris said. "Every year there could be a new guy coming in, or they could feel it's time for a change."




Moochie didnt look have as bad as he did last night.


Rockets summary

Practice matters
If it was not already clear how much Jeff Van Gundy values practice, he held three starters out of Wednesday's game, partly to save them for workouts today in Seattle. Cuttino Mobley and Jim Jackson did not dress for the game; Steve Francis did not play.

Forward Eddie Griffin had a sore left foot and also did not play.

Some of the unusual rotation -- with a starting lineup of Kelvin Cato, Gabe Muoneke,, Eric Piatkowski, Bostjan Nachbar and Moochie Norris -- was to give minutes to a variety of players. But Van Gundy said he also had today's practice with Yao Ming and Friday's game, the third in four nights, in mind.

"I want to have a great practice with Yao (Thursday,)" Van Gundy said. "I don't like playing four days under the strain of playing back-to-back. Hopefully we'll ... have a great practice and move on."

The Rockets' first preseason games have showed that they need as much time on the floor as possible. But first, they need to get on the practice court.

"I love practice," Van Gundy said. "We're going through a lot. I think we're probably further behind than any team because of me trying to figure out what they do well, sort of an experimental-type thing."

Time for all
Coach Jeff Van Gundy went into the trip planning to play his players with non-guaranteed contracts as much as possible.

"You play to win without the minutes being what they normally would be," Van Gundy said. "A few of them have been here ever since the eighth of September. They made training camp good. They made voluntary practices good. When you ask a lot of someone, they deserve something in return.

"They played with confidence. They played with hunger. They played like they belonged. If you're an NBA scout and you were watching Mike Wilks, Alex Scales, Gabe Muoneke and Peter Cornell, you would say, `I could see them being on NBA team.' "

Van Gundy said players with non-guaranteed contracts are as likely to make the team with their play in practice as in games. But if that is not enough, exposure in preseason games could earn a look somewhere else.


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pointless post of the night. Seriously. This is preseason. AND, sorry to hear that you think all we need on the floor to win is Yao.