Midwest: 8 Houston Rockets

He was supposed to come in talking smack, promising to light up opponents like neon signs and make Houston forget the Astros and NFL expansion. Wasn't tins Steve Francis, the NBA's next great point guard, tire high-flying Maryland magician with the flashy moves and can't-miss label? Wasn't he the kid who refused to sign with the Grizzlies, the team that picked him No. 2, forcing Vancouver to ship him to the Rockets in a blockbuster trade involving three teams and an NBA-record 11 players?

Yet there was Stevie Wonder at Houston's training camp, preparing to embark on his pro career, talking not about hammer dunks and in-your-face threes but rather spandex-tight defense and finding the open man. "To me it all starts with defense," Francis said. "We've already got two guys who are going to get you 20 points and 10 rebounds a night. I see my main job as going out there and playing good D, pressuring the ball full court, all 94 feet. If I do that, my big men are going to be happy."

Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich can only hope his prized rookie wasn't just slinging p.r. hash. With Houston having added guard Shandon Anderson and forward Walt Williams to Charles Barkley and Hakeem Olajuwon—and with the peeved Scottie Pip-pen packed off to Portland—the Rockets again have a viable NBA starting unit instead of the world's best three-on-three team. If Francis can avoid the urge to get on the high wire offensively and instead look to pass, Houston could leap Francis-like into the Western Conference title chase. "Last year we'd lose to good teams by six or eight points," says Barkley, who plans to retire after this season. "With the guys we've got now, we're going to be able to compete with those teams."

The Rockets are too old with Barkley and Olajuwon, both 36, in the frontcourt—and too young with Francis at the point—to win the championship. But they should at least be more fun to watch. Recent Rockets games have been harder to sit through than a Maude marathon, with Houston's dumping the ball into Sir Charles or Hakeem on seemingly every play while teammates stood around and watched.

Now, with, two slashers in Anderson and Francis and with an eye to the new rules designed to loosen the flow of the game, Tomjanovich is vowing to open up the Houston attack. The Rockets will move Barkley and Olajuwon outside more and either look for Anderson or the 6'3" Francis cutting to the hole, or for Williams spotting up. "We'll still use the post-up game with Charles and Dream," Tomjanovich says. "We'll just add some wrinkles."

Minor tweaking might be all that's needed for the Rockets' offense. Last year Houston finished seventh in the league in scoring, and despite Pippen's recent statements to the contrary, Barkley dragged his ample posterior around the court well enough to amass 16.1 points (on a respectable 47.8% shooting) and 12.3 boards per game. Olajuwon also showed he could still be one of the league's dominant players, appearing in all 50 games and averaging 18.9 points on 51.4% shooting, third best in the NBA. True, he was manhandled by Shaquille O'Neal in Houston's first-round playoff loss to the Lakers, but he still has the low-post moves and midrange jump shot to outplay most other pivotmen.

Last year, to accommodate Pippen, Rudy T tried but failed to get more movement in the Houston offense. He'll have better success with this year's Rockets. The 6'6" Anderson, who turned down twice as much money from his former club, the Jazz, to sign a two-year, $4.3 million free-agent deal, is a rugged perimeter defender and skilled post-up player who has raised his scoring average in each of his three seasons. Williams, who came over from the Trail Blazers along with shot-blocking center Kelvin Cato, forward Carlos Rogers and three others in the Pippen fire sale, is a skilled ball handler and passer who has never developed a middle game but is a career 37.0% shooter from beyond the arc. Overall, the Rockets feel they have a deeper and more athletic team than last year's.

Make no mistake about it, though, the only player on this roster who could get Barkley and the Dream to step back from center stage would be Francis. He came to Houston along with forwards Tony Massenburg and Don MacLean and a first-round pick in an Aug. 27 trade that sent Michael Dickerson, Othella Harrington, Antoine Carr, Brent Price and a No. 1 draft choice to Vancouver, and fans in Clutch City are drooling over the kid's play. Even Tomjanovich, normally as excitable off the court as a potted plant, comes to life when discussing Francis's gifts. "This kid is special," he says. "Some of the things I've seen him do...there's nobody like him."

Francis knows it, too, which is why his low-key approach in training camp was so startling—and so shrewd. Talking up defense might be a good way for a scrub to impress the coaches, but not for an acrobat like Francis. Still there he was, prattling on about improving his footwork and technique, rating his D a modest seven on a scale of one to 10. "I still have a lot to learn," he said. "I don't know that much about the NBA game on the court, and I'm learning off the court as well, just listening to guys talk about their experiences."

As Francis sat on the gym floor at St. Stephen's Episcopal School in Austin, after his first day of camp, talking about spreading the ball around, none of his teammates were close enough to hear. No matter. They seemed to be getting the message loud and clear. "He's quick and explosive," Barkley said moments later when asked his first impressions of Francis. "He made some great passes today."