I got to the TC about 10 minutes to noon, with the Rockets set to finish right at noon, but they went a lot longer than that. It was about 1:00pm by the time we got in there.

There was noticeably fewer members of the media today, possibly because of the Astros playoff game in Atlanta or because Media Day and the first day of practice had wrapped up a lot for some.

I did ask if Van Gundy ever lets the media see some of the practice.

The immediate reaction was, "Are you kidding?" One told me in jest to make a point, "Jeff is so private that he's pissed off that the games are open to the public."

Another said there is a league rule that media get 30 minutes at the tail end of practice, but it is not widely enforced throughout the league. Mind you, I didn't bust out my league rules handbook, but that is what they were saying.

When we were let in, the Rockets were doing the same type of drills as yesterday. There were four basketball goals set up, and four groups of players, with assistant coaches working at each one.

One the near end, Tracy McGrady, Bobby Sura, Moochie Norris and David Wesley were working with Tom Thibodeaux. "Sura?", you may ask? Yeah, I was surprised by that too, but I only saw him dribbling and sort of joking with the other guys.

On the near side court, Ewing was whipping the ball back to Stromile Swift, Yao Ming, Dikembe Mutombo and Lonny Baxter. Ryan Bowen watched from the side. Juwan Howard, Jon Barry and Luther Head were doing free throw drills on the far end of the court.

There were a lot of smiles out there ... everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Van Gundy came over to give some personal instruction to Yao and though we've seen it many times on TV, I can't stress enough how much Yao dwarfs his coach. He really does look straight down at him.

Speaking of Yao, he was the first one off the floor to head to the locker room. I was standing right there when he walked up to one of the Rockets PR staff with a guilty grin and asked if he was free to leave or if the media wanted to chat with him. He looked like a kid trying to talk his way out of detention. No such luck.

"Oh man ... alright," said Yao with a laugh as he sat down in the front row.

Another reporter and I walked up to him. The other reporter put his recorder in front of Yao's face, thought about his question for a second then turned to me and said, "You can go ahead" as he turned and walked towards another player.

So yet again: Me. Yao. No one else.

How I got such good fortune I don't know, but Yao just wasn't on anyone's list apparently. I just assumed that he would continue to be mobbed but that wasn't the case at all.

I focused again on the play of the new guys.

"Alston really brought our team speed up ... he's very quick already," said Yao. "When we play with him as a teammate I think everyone will speed up [because] if you want to be successful in the NBA, you have to bring speed."

After a couple of questions with Yao, I thanked him, he said no problem then he realized there were no more questions from anyone.

"Oh man, I'm done?" said Yao, looking up as if to confirm his freedom. "Alright!"

One of the Rocket staff members had asked me before we went in if there was anyone specifically that I wanted to talk to. I told her that I would love to catch Stromile Swift, so when I had finished with Yao, she came back to me.

"I spoke with Stro and he's over there waiting for you whenever you're ready".

That was another truly surreal experience, to look over and see a player waiting specifically for you. Stromile was just kicking it on one of the media tables by himself, so I went over to him. You can read that question-answer session here.

I thought Stro was pretty cool. He seems very, very mellow, laid back to a fault. He got the biggest kick out of the "dunk over Yao last year" question, but didn't really talk about it. I got the feeling though he spoke a lot about it when he was with Memphis because he definitely thought it was funny.

But the coolest guy of the day, by far, was Rafer Alston. He was surrounded by media by the time I left Stro, but he was just getting started. My impression of him was high. He spoke a little fast, but he seemed extremely approachable, very nice and well spoken. He didn't hide from his past and didn't flinch about questions regarding his problems in Toronto.

"I think my intentions were good, but the reactions were bad [in Toronto]," said Alston. "That was the challenge I had to work on this summer. Coming from Miami, all I knew was to work hard for the things I wanted to achieve. What caught me off guard up there was having to deal with so many personalities. The quicker you understand how to deal with that, the better off you are."

He was humble about his role, but felt he would definitely bring a lot of playmaking qualities.

"I think I'm a natural at the position, I get a feel of where guys want the ball," said Alston. "We have a lot of catch-and-shoot guys - Derek Anderson, David Wesley, Jon Barry. We know they like to come down and shoot the ball. McGrady - you can give it to him from the other end of the parking lot and he can shoot the ball. Yao - you know you got to dump it down to him. My job is to find them, try to make their life easier. "

"You don't get many chances at a crack at winning a title or coming close to contending and that's why I'm happy to be a part of a team that is looking forward to contending."

When everyone was done, I told him I had one more question if he didn't mind. "Not at all!", said Rafer. He put his arm around my shoulder and looked at me for the question.

It shocked the duke out of me. Aside from the fact that I wish I had a camera, envisioning that photo in my office with the label "Me and my buddy Skip hanging out on the court - AND 1!", it also showed you the type of personality he has. Very outgoing guy, very personable and very nice.

Since Carroll Dawson had said the Rockets had been negotiating this deal for a month, I asked him if he knew in advance that this deal was in the works.

"Nah, I had no clue," said Alston. "I don't think anyone tells you about those deals, which is great. You don't want to have to work out all summer and say, 'I'm working out the plays for this team' [laughs], you know what I'm saying? I keep working, keep myself in condition ... just to be ready. Trades, that is just the nature of the sport and business. You welcome it, you go on, you move on and you just be glad to be with the other team. I'm glad to be a Rocket."

Up next was Van Gundy. Fielding questions about Alston, Jeff again explained why he made the move.

"When you give up a player who is as valuable to us last year as Mike James was, you have to be as sure as you can be that the guy you're getting can help you win," said Van Gundy. "What you never trust are numbers on a losing team. So I didn't look at numbers as much as what I saw on film, and trying to find out from my brother what kind of guy he was to coach. What I saw with my eyes I liked and what I heard my brother say I liked. He's not without mistakes in the past, but I liked what type of guy he described, which was a guy who loves basketball, who worked and was liked by his teammates."

Holding a Diet Coke in one hand, Jeff answered questions with his trademark demeanor. He's not grumpy when he talks, he's respectful and will open up, but that lower lip is out and it's a bit of a frown as he speaks. You just get the feeling he's constantly miserable.