JONATHAN FEIGEN: Rockets shift focus with opener ahead & Rockets summary

Oct. 28, 2003, 12:40AM


Rockets shift focus with opener ahead
By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle

Perhaps the Rockets were tired of talking about Eddie Griffin. Perhaps they were tired of Eddie Griffin. These days, it's hard to tell.

But for all the attention to Griffin's apparent determination to destroy his career and maybe more, he seems to have become irrelevant to the Rockets. They might think of him or offer even offer him their support.

But by Monday, with Thursday's season opener looming, it had grown difficult for them to focus on something else, particularly on a player who had so steadfastly chosen not to join them.

"That question is so old," guard Steve Francis said when asked if he had spoken to Griffin.

It was a don't-go-there response one day after the question was new and he was effusive.

"He's a grown man," Rockets forward Kelvin Cato said about Griffin. "I don't worry about his situation. I don't focus on that. I'm trying to focus on Thursday."

While Griffin faces accusations that he beat and fired a weapon at a woman at his home on Saturday, as well as a police investigation into the incident, the Rockets said they were determined to not let his problems become their losses. He cannot help them. He was placed on the suspended list Monday. They wanted to make sure he could not hurt them.

"I think they're concerned about Eddie and his well-being," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "But they have a job to do. If we don't play well, it's going to have nothing to do with distractions or whatever excuses we can make for ourselves. It's going to have to do with we didn't play well.

"That's been an ongoing (theme.) You could find an excuse to lose every game. `I had a cold. My eggs weren't cooked right.'

"We should play well. We need to be held accountable for our performances, myself, the team. If we don't play well, we have no one to blame but ourselves. We have more than enough to win with. I think everybody in this league has enough talent to win. We'll find out as we go along if we have enough team to win with and enough toughness to win with -- the ability to handle adversity."

The Rockets have already had injuries they did not face last season. Griffin brought adversity they did not anticipate.

Indefinitely suspended since Oct. 16, Griffin saw his suspension made official Monday. The move accomplishes nothing unless they follow it with another roster move. That is a possibility. But even if they eventually fill their last spot on the active roster, they could have shifted Griffin to the suspended list then.

Instead, they placed Griffin on the suspended list largely because -- given Griffin's repeated absences and the weekend incident at his home -- there was no point in having a suspended list if Griffin did not land there.

"Nothing's changed," Rockets general manager Carroll Dawson said. "It's still just like it was. He's still suspended."

The Rockets do have room to move, and Dawson said he will check the waiver list closely. With Adrian Griffin, Eric Piatkowski and Ben Davis on the injured list, they already had left a roster spot open.

"We're looking at it," Dawson said. "It's always an option. We'll look at everything. If we try to get a player, we'll look every way: What Jeff needs, what the coaches want. You look at everything. (Adding a player waived on Monday) is always a possibility. We're looking. We haven't signed anybody. A lot of people have been let go the last couple days. You have to look at that."

The waiver wire offered few options likely to be much more helpful than Anthony "Pig" Miller and Nnadubem "Gabe" Muoneke, the forwards the Rockets recently released.

In recent days, veterans George McCloud, Cherokee Parks, Travis Knight, Reggie Slater, Jason Caffey and Isaac Austin were waived. Former University of Houston forwards Alton Ford and George Williams were also waived.

Because Piatkowski and Adrian Griffin figure prominently in the Rockets' plans, there seems no need to add a player temporarily just because they can.

The Rockets do not expect any of the three injured players to be ready in fewer than five games. But if one of them heals more quickly, he can be moved to the active roster before sitting out the usual five games as long as a spot is left open (and the others were designated as having been replaced on the active roster).

"I don't think anybody will be ready by then," Dawson said. "We'll have to see how it works out."

Unlike the players on the injured list, players on the suspended list can be traded as long as the team acquiring the player has a roster spot, rather than a place on its suspended list, open for him.

As long as the Rockets' last active roster spot remains open, the Rockets can bring Griffin back to the team at any time. But even before Saturday's incident, Griffin's decision to skip a workout scheduled for him on Friday left the Rockets in no hurry to bring him back. If the Rockets fill that last spot, Griffin must sit out at least five games.

He has already missed four games at a cost of $25,697 per game. Griffin is set to earn $2.3 million this year.

The Rockets have until Friday to exercise their option to extend Griffin's contract to a fourth season, a move that at this point seems in direct conflict with Monday's decision. In keeping with the Rockets' luck, the day they placed Griffin on the suspended list was also the day the Nets extended the contracts of Richard Jefferson and Jason Collins, players taken with two of the picks acquired in the deal that sent Griffin to the Rockets.

"We're concerned with him and his actions and his behavior, and we want what's best for him," Van Gundy said. "But we also have a team to look after, so all those factors enter into the decision making.

"It's up to Eddie as far as his actions. But it's up to our organization to determine if he's doing what we think (he should)."

But Monday, they were much more concerned with what they were doing without him.

"We have a game coming up Thursday," Francis said. "That's definitely where my concentration is."


Oct. 27, 2003, 11:02PM

Rockets summary


Marathon sprint
Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said he has no intention of letting the Rockets ease into the start of the season on Tuesday.

The Rockets will be one of the last teams to play their season opener, but Van Gundy said he not only expects to be ready, he expects to be close to full speed.

"Everybody says it's not a sprint, it's a marathon," Van Gundy said. "When I've watched the marathons, they sprint for 26 miles. That's what the good NBA teams do. They sprint the entire marathon. And they're focused and they're disciplined. Those guys from Kenya, they ain't trotting. They're flying."

Mr. Happy
The Rockets will have today off to rest before one final practice in preparation for the season opener. The day off, however, was not a reward. Asked how practice has gone the past two days, Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said, "Fair at best."

"Whether it's the anticipation of the season, I don't know," Van Gundy said. "We were going along there pretty good for about two weeks. The last two days have been fair."

Asked if that is a concern so close to the season, he said, "Everything concerns me.

"Once you get to know me, I can bring the happiest person down. I don't like to characterize my moods. When asked about practice, it was fair. There's little else to say about it. Hopefully, after two good weeks of improvement, we can get back into that mode on Wednesday and Thursday and carry on throughout the season."

Signing chore
The Rockets went through one of the most arduous practice days of the year on Monday. The practice was also strenuous.

After their usual session on the practice court, the Rockets went through one of two annual "autograph days." Every player and coach signed 500 balls to be distributed throughout the season to charities and other groups. Yao Ming, Steve Francis, Cuttino Mobley and Moochie Norris signed as many as 50 other items.

"It's mind-numbingly boring," Rockets center John Amaechi said. "But every year I get a couple and give them to people and see their faces light up. I think about that every year when I'm signing."

-- JONATHAN FEIGEN