"He's very high-energy, just like Mike was," said Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy. "Good three-point shooter, very good passer, we feel he can guard the ball fairly well. We obviously think he is a sound player."

Rockets general manager Carroll Dawson stressed that the running game should see an improvement.

"He is very capable as far as his athletic ability on the basketball court," said the Rockets GM. "I just think he fits. If you watch him play, and we watched a lot of film, he really runs the ball up the court every time. He is what you call a guy who gets up the floor as fast as he possibly can. With the athletes we have now, we are more athletic, he fits just perfect."

"If you look at last year's stats, he was inside the top 15 in efficiency in the point guards in this league. He was in the top 20 in three-point shooting, he had highs of 15 assists and 29 points. He just turned 29 and I think he is maturing. A lot of people find their niche around this time and I think he's coming in to his."

Star guard Tracy McGrady liked the unselfish mentality that Alston brings on the court.

"I see a guy that loves the game of basketball, that thinks pass before shoot," fired off T-Mac. "He's a great passer and can shoot the ball from the perimeter."

I was at the Toyota Center when the Rockets made available the news of the deal, and was a little stunned. While I could see the team making a move, I didn't think "Skip To My Lou", given his problems last season with Toronto coach Sam Mitchell, was on their radar.

Some reports suggested that Alston and Mitchell may have gotten in to a fight, and through it all, Alston seemed unstable, despite the fact that Toronto gave him a 6-year contract.

The Rockets wanted to make clear that they did their homework.

"Well, we're not unconcerned," said Dawson. "Everything that happens we're always concerned about it. We looked in to everything and you know we always do everything we can to find out where everybody is."

"We talked to coaches, we talked to players he's played with before... we had a long time to do this, this wasn't an overnight deal. We've been thinking about this for a month, and not just him, but some other options too. It seems very fast to everyone here, but we spent a lot of time on this."

Van Gundy stressed that Alston has a clean slate in Houston.

"We judge everyone here on what they do here," said Van Gundy. "I'm not really concerned with what happened in his past but what happens from now on. Certainly I feel he has good basketball character. I think basketball character is important and that starts with working, passing and caring about his teammates. I think he does those things. It wasn't an easy decision, but certainly I think the right one for us."

McGrady, who also has been dogged by character attacks in the past, felt confident about the addition of Alston.