For at least four seasons, most of the Rockets have been in Houston without Jeff Van Gundy. But when they get together this week for the start of his first training camp, Van Gundy will have studied every detail available on all things Rockets.

With only a hint of prompting, Van Gundy can cite everything from the Rockets' records in close games the past few seasons to their medical histories. For slightly more esoteric data -- the success or failure of alley-oops, for example -- he must grab one of the many reports within reach and flip through a few pages, a process that can take five, sometimes 10 seconds.

It turns out that when Van Gundy said he would study tape of every play of every Rockets game last season, that was merely a part of his postseason routine and a warmup for advanced studies to come.

After three months of studying the team, Van Gundy sat down to talk basketball.