They sounded downright confident of what was about to occur.

"Free agency is where we are going to make a major move," said Lindsey after the draft. "We have crystallized some of the things that we think we can do. The Head pick will make more sense as we piece our team together."

Their pursuit of a forward via free agency began in earnest on July 1st as they contacted the representatives of several big name free agents, then honed their focus in on Stromile Swift last week.

While the buzz is that the Rockets are waiting on word from Swift this week before turning their attention elsewhere, we appear to be no closer to knowing exactly what changes the organization has in store.

However, one change that appears very likely to occur at some point this offseason is some form of trade that will send out one or more of their guards. In fact, that could have happened on draft day as the Rockets tried to move up, but had no success.

Dawson said once Charlie Villanueva shockingly went with the 7th pick to the Raptors, no one wanted to move their draft selection.

"I have never in my life been rejected so quick," quipped Dawson. "Nobody would make a move. The response was always, 'No, our guy is going to be there and we're not giving it up.' Usually it is 'well maybe, we'll get back with you' -- there was none of that. There was not a whole lot of movement."

He likely has not stopped working the phones, however.

The addition of Head creates an interesting scenario in the backcourt. While it does not seem that Greek guard Vassilis Spanoulis will join the club this year given the money he is making overseas, the Rockets still should be looking to re-sign free agent sharpshooter Jon Barry, who was an invaluable reserve on last year's team.

If Barry returns, the Rockets would have 7 guards under contract. It is likely that Charlie Ward and/or Moochie Norris will not be back, whether they are dealt in a contract dump or waived outright for the roster spot. However, that still leaves 5 without a single "true" point or big guard defender in the bunch.

While that number alone is not too many given that the team can carry 14-15 players now without the sham of the injured reserve, they are likely to still add a guard or two, whether it is a role player that slipped through the cracks of free agency or a potential starter. The new "amnesty rule" could make some currently overpaid big names available on the free agent market, namely Dallas' Michael Finley.

All this leads many to believe that among the Rockets core backcourt trio of Bobby Sura, David Wesley and Mike James, at least one is likely on the way out.

"They've been shopping [Wesley] and you can bet his name will be mentioned in a lot of [potential] trade scenarios," said one source close to the team. "The one year left on his deal at $5 million or so will be attractive in some situation."