The office Jeff Van Gundy chose for himself is hardly a broom closet. And the one he turned down is not the dark-paneled, leather-chaired, opulent palace of corporate CEOs or college football coaches.

But in one of his tours of the Rockets' new arena, Van Gundy checked out the offices that lead from the oversized locker room to the steam room, sauna and whirlpools and made a switch. Rather than accept the larger quarters he had been assigned, he took the smaller room down the hall.

"I thought it would work better that way," Van Gundy said. "It's not much different. An office is an office. It doesn't really matter, as long as it works well."

Image is irrelevant. He got the job. Everything else, he said, is about what works.

Now, Van Gundy said, "It's about winning."

Van Gundy had long since embraced the reality that office size will no more measure success than the label on a suit or shine on a car. He would rather not describe the changes he has made or even the fingerprints he has left around the Rockets' organization.

He is so unpretentious, he seems to consider it pretentious to even admit how unpretentious he is.