[OregonLive.com] Rockets fill in the blanks

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Rockets fill in the blanks
Sunday, March 13, 2005
JIM BESEDA
The Oregonian

Most NBA teams try not to make more than one or two significant changes during the season.

The Houston Rockets have been an exception.

And that was even after the Rockets made one of last summer's blockbuster deals, acquiring Tracy McGrady from Orlando.

The Rockets, now a significant threat to advance deep in the Western Conference playoffs, have used 22 players this season -- surpassing the previous franchise record of 19.

They still were tinkering with the roster at the Feb. 24 trading deadline, when they acquired Mike James from Milwaukee and picked up Vin Baker and Moochie Norris from New York. Before that, they got David Wesley from the New Orleans Hornets and Jon Barry from the Atlanta Hawks.

The biggest difference between the Rockets team that started the season 6-11 and the one that rallied from a 16-point deficit at Seattle to beat the SuperSonics 97-95 on Tuesday is that there is better balance at both ends of the court. That, and everybody seems willing to buy into what coach Jeff Van Gundy has been preaching.

"In the beginning, we were all trying to understand what Jeff wanted from us -- playing as a team, sharing the basketball, accepting our roles and things of that nature," forward Juwan Howard said. "When you have a new group, guys have come from different systems and have played a certain way where maybe they were more of a focal point on other teams.

"Now, guys come to a team where you play with two superstars like Tracy and Yao (Ming), and there were adjustments that everyone had to make within their games. It took some time. We knew it wasn't going to happen overnight."

After a rough opening month, the Rockets started to click in late December. Some of that was because McGrady and Yao started playing off each other better, but most of the credit goes to Van Gundy and general manager Carroll Dawson. Van Gundy identified the holes in the roster, and Dawson filled them.

"This organization worked very hard to try to find the right group of guys that would blend well together and give Jeff what he was looking for," Howard said. "Jeff has been very excited about this group. He has told us that repeatedly, and it's good to know he's happy.

"We lost some good players, some good people, some good character guys, too. But we replaced them with some guys who have come in and helped us."

There are several reasons teams don't like to make in-season changes. Players sometimes struggle in new surroundings. Or they disrupt team chemistry. Or they never seem to fit in. Or all of the above. When that happens, it can almost seem as if a team is starting training camp over again.

Yet, for all the changes Houston has made this season, the assimilation of the new players has been smooth.

"Actually, you know what? It hasn't been that difficult, because the guys they brought in were true professionals," McGrady said. "We're not worrying about having those guys trying to catch up. They've done a great job of learning our system and catching on quickly, so we're just going out and concentrating on playing basketball, and that's it."

McGrady has taken more of a leadership role and has been more aggressive -- he averaged 16.8 shots a game in November, but he took more than 23 shots a game during December and January -- and that has helped. But he also said Barry, James and Wesley have helped make the game easier for him and Yao.

"The guys we've added during the season make us more threatening from the perimeter, more of an up-tempo team, and a better defensive team that is quicker at the defensive end," McGrady said. "And when teams send double teams at me or Yao, those guys that we brought in are guys who can knock down the open jumper, guys that are tough mentally, and guys who know what it takes to win ballgames."

Barry, playing for his eighth team in 13 seasons, was asked how the Rockets stack up against his brother Brent's team in San Antonio -- the favorite to win the Western Conference title.

"We're not worried about anybody else but ourselves," Barry said. "If this team plays to its capabilities, I think we all believe that there isn't anybody that we can't beat."

Going into today's game at Sacramento, the Rockets (36-25) ranked fourth in the NBA in fewest points allowed (91.9) and third in opponent's field-goal shooting percentage (42.8). They also were sixth in the conference standings, two games behind fifth-place Sacramento and four games behind fourth-place Dallas with 21 games remaining.

"You've never got it solved until you win it, so you're constantly looking to improve," Van Gundy said. "But we have more quickness now, more passing, we're much better offensively. And defensively, we're all right.

"Rebounding for us has been the thing that has been up and down. We were really bad early, fairly good for the next six weeks, really good when we won eight in a row, and really bad in the first five games after the All-Star break. To me, when we rebound, we win. When we don't, we're not as successful."

The Rockets close a four-game swing with games today at Sacramento and Monday at Golden State, then return home to play the Trail Blazers on Wednesday.

"We're in a fight for our playoff lives," Van Gundy said. "Games to us are much more critical. We have to win. Hopefully, we can just keep improving, and I think we can if we have the right mind-set."

How comfortable are the Rockets with what they're doing and where they sit in the standings?

"I think sometimes comfort . . . we use that word, but comfort can be a bad thing," Van Gundy said. "You never want players comfortable. You want them confident, you want them driven, you want them on edge. You want them all those things, because I think those things lead to winning.

"You need passionate, energetic play, and I think Tracy and Yao, their edge will be our edge. If they have the edge to them, then I think it will follow that we'll have an edge."

Jim Beseda: 503-221-8380; jimbeseda@news.oregonian.com