Houston general manager Daryl Morey pursued a trade for Carmelo Anthony, but now that the team has played so well without a big star, owner Leslie Alexander is less willing to make that type of move.

"Definitely, the way our players are playing," Alexander said. "Daryl and I always fight about this. It's all give and take. I think our guys have shown they are capable of winning a championship if we add a couple pieces to them. I don't want to give them away for some other player.

"We are young. (Patrick) Patterson. (Kyle) Lowry's just 24. Chase (Budinger), Courtney (Lee) and Jordan Hill. You can go on and on and on. Chuck Hayes (28) is not that old. Yao (Ming) is only 31. There is no reason he can't have five or six more years."

The Rockets are 12-4 since the break.

"I had dinner with Chuck Hayes," Alexander said. "He mentioned, 'We all know what we're doing now. We all know what to do; we're doing the right thing at every part of the game, which makes us a very tough team to beat.'

"I definitely think we have a bright future. If we gain a couple of pieces, I think we can be a very good team."

It wouldn’t be shocking at all if the New York Knicks make a play for Dwight Howard next season, perhaps offering either Amare Stoudemire or Carmelo Anthony at trade deadline.

Howard can become a free agent after the 11-12 season, and the Magic will be nervously waiting for the NBA’s most dominant big man to make a decision.

If they don’t want to wait and risk losing him without compensation, the Magic could listen to trade offers for Howard next season. 

Doc Rivers stopped one trade involving Kendrick Perkins, but the Celtics did eventually deal him to the Thunder.

Perkins received work of a potential trade from his agent, Bob Myers, following a shootaround on the morning of the deadline.

"I was pretty surprised,'' Perkins told ESPNBoston via telephone. "I had no idea. I talked to Doc [Rivers] and he said he wasn't pushing it, that he was trying to stop it."

"At the time I talked to him, it was a different deal and I did put a stop to that one. But I also told him that something might still happen,'' Rivers said.

"Obviously, I am going to miss Boston a lot,'' he said. "I talked to Danny [Ainge] on the phone the day the deal was done. It was hard for both of us. We go back a long way. But I understand that this is the business part of it. I look back and I have to be pleased with everything they did for me, from bringing me there from high school. I am grateful for all the experiences, to be able to be a part of a championship team. It was all great. No complaints. I was blessed to be there for eight years."

The Cavaliers are attempting to stockpile assets and trade picks to rebuilt their team in the same way as Sam Presti did when he took over the Sonics.

''You've got to admire the way they've done it, no doubt about that,'' Byron Scott said of the Thunder. ''It's nothing that's going to happen overnight. That's the fantasyland when you think it's going to happen in a year. People have to be patient with that. You've got to give these guys time to develop, and sometimes it takes them a couple years.''

GM Chris Grant was elated to acquire an additional lottery pick in this year's draft, even if it cost the team financially because of the contract to Baron Davis.

The Cavaliers are optimistic that they will be able to trade Baron Davis next season if he arrives in camp healthy and motivated.

Davis was acquired before the Feb. 24th deadline and has one of the NBA's most onerous contracts.

Gerald Wallace is still unhappy about Charlotte's decision to trade him to the Blazers at the deadline.

Wallace believes cutting payroll was the main reason why he was traded and he's upset with how the situation was handled by general manager Rod Higgins.

"I don't even want to comment on that guy," Wallace said, before adding he believes Higgins was adamant in wanting to deal him. 

"I feel like that's been something he's been wanting to do."

Wallace is beginning to make a big contribution to the Blazers.

"I think my main thing was trying to learn the plays and trying to get over the shock of the trade and everything," Wallace said. "It took me a week to do that. Once that settled down and reality set in, you just move forward."

Ricky Rubio is having an up and down season for Barcelona and the Wolves still hold his rights, but Dallas owner Mark Cuban remains high on him.

"I think (Minnesota) has a star in the making in Ricky Rubio," Cuban said.

"We tried to trade up to get Rubio," Cuban said. "But we weren't close. We would have loved to draft him."

Barcelona went undefeated in the Top-16 stage of Euroleague.

"The thing about Europe," Cuban said, "is it doesn't necessarily translate in terms of points and assists. You've got to look at talent, you've got to look at game IQ and you've got to look at age.

"I don't think if he came in now he would dominate the league or anything like that. But I think he would have a big impact here."

Warriors owner Joe Lacob says the team could have acquired Gerald Wallace prior to last month's NBA trade deadline.

Portland ended up dealing for Wallace in a trade with Charlotte.

Lacob made the comment while grading some of moves made around the league.

"It depends whether you're a fan of Gerald Wallace," he said in reference to how the Blazers did. "We could’ve gotten Gerald Wallace – he’s not somebody we thought would make us better. I really believe that. He just doesn’t fit for us. He’s good defensive player, rebounder, certain things that do fit, certain things that don’t."

Danny Ainge recently attempted to explain his controversial decision to trade Kendrick Perkins.

"I think we're stronger," said Ainge. "I think our offense and our defense will be every bit as good, if not better as long as we get some bodies healthy."

Ainge was then asked why he would make such a drastic trade so close to the playoffs while leading the conference.

"First of all, we were leading the conference because of (Shaquille O'Neal). We had a better record with Shaq than we did with Perk. Our offense was better and our defense was at least the same. I don't think Perk is Perk yet. I hope that he becomes that for Oklahoma City's sake. We thought it was going to take some time for Perk. He wasn't the shot-blocker or the rebounder that he's been in the past. We think that by adding Jeff Green, Nenad Krstic, and Troy Murphy we think we're a better team than we were. Shaq was starting for us when we had the great run this year. Baby (Glen Davis) was finishing for us. So we basically lost middle minutes."

Courtney Lee was "prepared for anything" heading into last week's NBA trade deadline.

It turned out that the Rockets dealt Aaron Brooks and Shane Battier, opening up an increased role for Lee.

He has served as Houston's sixth man over the last week-plus.

"I'm a little tired, playing a little bit more minutes," Lee said. "I'm just happy I'm getting the opportunity. The schedule was pretty rough, but I'm happy with it. I'm happy with the situation."

Lee is averaging 18.8 points in his last four games.