Chron- Eric Piatkowski sprained his left ankle

Rockets summary

Phasing them in

The Rockets will play many more of their regulars when they meet the Supersonics tonight in Little Rock, Ark., but they might not be able to use the rotation coach Jeff Van Gundy planned.

Guard/forward Eric Piatkowski sprained his left ankle in Thursday's practice and is questionable to play tonight. Forward Eddie Griffin, who was held out of Wednesday's game at Seattle with a sore left foot, did practice Thursday.

Center Yao Ming is scheduled to see his first playing time of the preseason.

Guards Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley and forward Jim Jackson did not play Wednesday so Van Gundy could look at other portions of his roster and rest the bulk of his rotation for the rest of the week's schedule. Each is expected to play tonight.
So little time

It might be difficult to judge just how much progress the Rockets have made in the first week of training camp and preseason games. They were whipped in consecutive games to start the preseason but held their regulars out of most of the Portland-Seattle back-to-back.

Still, getting crushed on consecutive nights was enough to have Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy sensing the rapid approach of the regular season just days after the start of the preseason.

"It gives you a benchmark from where we're at," Van Gundy said of the preseason games so far. "Where we're at is nowhere.

"I think the good part of playing back-to-back games, you do see where you're at in some areas, notwithstanding some of the players playing. You see how you're coming along. We have 21 days, and we have a long way to go. We have to maximize each day. There's going to be some days off, but other than that, we have to be very productive.

"We're trying to keep up at a pretty good pace without going too fast. It's a fine line, but you can't wait to go on to the next thing until you have something perfected, because you never get things perfected. You need games. The great thing about games ... it's not like a lot of jobs where you don't get an instant result. Here, you get an instant result. The preseason, as much as winning, it's important to make improvements."

The regular-season schedule brings another reason for a sense of urgency. The Rockets' November schedule is loaded with road games, a particular concern for a team that was weak away from home last season, especially early in the campaign.

"You get paid to win the whole year," Van Gundy said. "You have to be ready. Ten of our first 15 are on the road. Last year, we really struggled on the road. We were 15-26 (on the road), and a lot of our guys' production had huge drop-offs between home and the road. The great players -- if you study their home and road stats -- it's unbelievable. It doesn't matter if you're playing back-to-back, home-road, road-road, time-zone change -- their numbers, you can't tell."

 

Well-traveled Muoneke hoping to stick with his hometown Rockets
By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- The house, it seemed, was filled with every Nigerian in Houston. A young and gifted giant from Lagos was doing wondrous things for the University of Houston, and Nik Muoneke had invited every countryman he knew to watch college basketball with him and his 6-year-old son, Nnadubem, and to share their joy.

Nnadubem "Gabe" Muoneke had never felt so proud, never so sure. Not knowing he would grow into a thickly muscled 6-foot-7, he decided that night he would become a basketball player. He would carry that first image of Hakeem Olajuwon with him and remember the way he felt that night.

Muoneke's determination, Olajuwon's legend and Houston's Nigerian community continued to grow until now, almost 20 years later, it seems every Nigerian in Houston -- in a group some 300,000 strong -- is ready to celebrate again.

"My people are very interesting," Muoneke said. "They come out, 'Gabe has signed with the Rockets. Gabe has signed with the Rockets. He's the next Hakeem.'

"They're not too informed exactly about how it works."

Aside from sharing their homeland and national pride, Muoneke is not the next Olajuwon. He will not replace Olajuwon as the greatest player in Rockets history. A free-agent pickup, he is playing with a non-guaranteed contract while hoping to earn a place on the roster.

But even more clearly than it seemed that night in 1984, Muoneke feels certain he is exactly where he should be. All of his travels and travails seem to have brought him home at just the right time with the right team and in the right town.

"You have to be thankful when people are cheering for you," he said. "I've gotten a lot of calls. There are Nigerians I didn't even know were Nigerian who I've known for a long time.

"The community is huge. Even if I'm here just for camp, I'm going to represent them the best I can and not do anything demeaning to my people, especially in a city like this, a hub (for Nigerians) in the United States. It's been great to hear from those people and to know they're backing me up. Some of them know it might not be permanent, but they're thankful I'm here."

Muoneke might be a long shot to stick with the Rockets, but the odds are nowhere near as long as the road traveled to get this far.

Since he starred at Cypress Falls High School and then the University of Texas, Muoneke has ...

No. This he has earned the right to tell, after taking a deep breath for a running start.

"I came out of school," Muoneke starts, "Vancouver summer league to Italy. Got cut in Italy. Italy to Turkey. Turkey -- didn't get paid. Turkey to Argentina. Back to school to finish my degree. NBDL (National Basketball Development League). NBDL back to school to NBDL. NBDL to Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico to the Philippines to the NBDL. NBDL to Spain. Spain back to Puerto Rico. And Puerto Rico to here."

Mix in a summer with the Nigerian national team, and Muoneke returned to Houston to train while hoping for another chance at making an NBA roster.

The stakes, however, have grown. He could have packed his bags again. There might be a few pages left in the passbook to stamp. But in the past year, he was married, and his wife, Boketsu, was due to deliver their first child in late September, roughly when his career threatened to take him far from home.

But while training at the Rockets' Westside Tennis Center facilities, Muoneke showed off a body slimmed by 22 pounds to 240, still powerful for a small forward. With quickness gained from the sleeker physique and with an improved shooting touch, he earned a chance.

"I came back from Puerto Rico and said, `I'm getting a little older. I need to start thinking about the future,' " Muoneke said. "I changed my diet. I started running every day. I wasn't trying to make an impression, but I was told once when you're on the court, act like somebody is watching. I came here just to lose weight and work out, preparing myself to go back overseas. Somebody asked for my number, and I got a call.

"It was a huge blessing. My wife was pregnant. I didn't want to go overseas when she had the baby. It looked like that was going to happen. When they called me, it was a no-brainer."

The next step, of course, would be to make the Rockets' regular-season roster. The last cut last season by a Pistons team overstocked with guaranteed contracts, Muoneke again is trying to find a place on a team with four players capable of playing small forward -- Jim Jackson, Adrian Griffin, Eric Piatkowski and Bostjan Nachbar -- who are certain to make the club.

But in the Rockets' first two preseason games, Muoneke has showcased how far his game has come since he was an enforcer at Texas. He has shot with confidence from the perimeter, finished a break smoothly against the Trail Blazers, and offered his usual defensive and rebounding tenacity.

In the two games, he has scored 20 points on 5-of-10 shooting in 42 minutes, starting as an undersized power forward in Seattle because of the injuries to Maurice Taylor, Eddie Griffin and Torray Braggs.

"He's probably not as fluid with the ball as most threes in the league," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "He's got himself weight-wise in the right place. He's shooting the ball well. He's doing fine."

Whether "fine" will be enough is uncertain. But once known for a quick-twitch temper, Muoneke seems grounded and at peace.

Olajuwon went through a similar transformation. But even if in many ways Muoneke will not become the next Hakeem, to so many of his countrymen again sharing the pride Muoneke felt in his living room 20 years ago, he already is.

"I remember my father telling me, 'Gabe, there is a Nigerian playing at U of H,' " Muoneke said. "When I saw him, I couldn't believe it. When I saw him play, I just flipped. I just said, `I'm going to play basketball.'

"I've always been taught God's time is the best time. It's more than being an athlete. It's being a complete man. The experiences I've had in basketball made me prepared to meet my wife. I must say meeting my wife and having my son were two of the biggest blessings I've had in life. Ever since then, I've been totally dedicated to them. My eyes are totally on them. It's made me stronger with a stronger mindset.

"Now I'm here with confidence. I'm just really happy."