<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'></p> For months, it was all fresh and exciting. New coach. New system. New players.</p> Then the offseason ended. The Rockets reported Monday for the start of training camp. And all that had been so encouraging turned into a chilling reality.</p> As much as changes thrill in the offseason, in the preseason, combining a new coach and new system with new players brings a considerably more sobering challenge, with the Rockets in a rush to put it all together by the Oct. 30 opener against the Lakers.</p> "That's what coaches get paid the big bucks to do," Rockets forward Shane Battier said. "The main goal of the GM is to bring in as much talent as they can, and the coach's job is to make the talent work. No question, we have a lot of personalities and great talents on this team. It's up to the coaching staff and us to blend that talent together to become the best team."</p> The rush to adjust might be slowed with Yao Ming missing much of the Austin training camp. Yao, attending the Global Special Olympics in Shanghai, is scheduled to arrive in Houston late Wednesday, take his physicals Thursday and join practices Friday.</p> Tracy McGrady missed Monday's media day to attend his grandfather's funeral in Florida, but was in Austin on Monday evening and will practice today.</p> "There's going to be a process," coach Rick Adelman said. "There's things we've done in the past I know are successful, but ... I've got to see it with the guys in this group. We're going to be tweaking things as we go. We have to take the strengths they had last year and then try to add to them. That's what's going to be interesting, to watch Steve (Francis) come in, and Mike (James) and Luis (Scola), and all the new people coming in, changing the dynamics. Then having a new coaching staff, it's going to be different. It's going to be a lot different."</p> The Rockets expect to have at least four players in the rotation that were not with the team or rarely played last season. With 19 players under contract, Adelman and first-year general manager Daryl Morey will need the preseason to make four roster cuts by Oct. 26, while Adelman sorts through an unusually large group of players likely to receive less playing time than in the past, all while installing an offensive system different than the one used by Jeff Van Gundy the past four seasons.</p> "I think it's a major thing," Morey said of making adjustments quickly. "For coach and myself, we have a lot of roster decisions to make first. We have a lot of rotation and minutes decisions to make after that. It's extraordinarily important that we get those right.</p> "I do think we'll have time after the beginning to get it right, but in the West, which is very competitive, getting off to a good start is something we would like to do. That said, we're most focused on playing extremely well at the end of the year."</div></p> Source: Houston Chronicle</p>
