Nearly everybody figures the Cavaliers are long shots this season to do anything. Maybe that's why they're practicing so many halfcourt shots.

Then again, who knows what's going through the mind of unorthodox coach John Lucas?

``They're pretty normal things,'' Lucas said of the tactics that he uses in practice. ``But I'm an abnormal guy.''

Practices have seen players engage in a drill in which they hold their hands on their heads while running in place. Sometimes they jump rope. Lucas has set times for running drills that guard Trajan Langdon says ``nobody can possibly achieve.''

A staple in practice has become the halfcourt shot. Lucas says the ball-chucking contests build ``mental toughness and trusting one another.''

Lucas recently told his players they wouldn't have to run sprints if either Langdon or forward Jumaine Jones could nail a halfcourt shot. Jones became a very popular man after he hit one.