(SportsRadio 610) -- This trip to Orlando is going to be an adventure.
The Rockets arrive in Florida on Thursday to get ready for the NBA's restart, after shutting down in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Head coach Mike D'Antoni said Tuesday the team is excited about the opportunity.
But in this environment -- sequestered at a Disney-operated facility with eight games until the playoffs -- there is some uncertainty.
How will players respond? How will coaching be different?
"Flexibility is a keyword, no doubt," D'Antoni said. "I think the biggest thing is that we know what we want to do for the first couple of days and that's mostly to assess where they are. So it'll be a lot of five-on-zero, just going over the old concepts, introducing anything new that we want to introduce and getting everybody there. Then once that happens, and the trainers tell me we can do this, we can do that, we can push them harder, then we'll adapt."
The Rockets have to be flexible, but consistent. There can't be letdowns in Orlando, or an early exit in the playoffs awaits them.
"We have to be on point and we've got to play our best basketball from now on," Rockets wing Eric Gordon said last week. "I mean from the day we get there, we have to be practicing, have a true understanding, because we don't have time to be making much adjustments as we get down there because there's just not enough games to play to just figure out things along the way."
General manager Daryl Morey said over the weekend a new training camp, however short, helps the Rockets because of major changes to the team's components -- trading away Clint Capela and inserting Robert Covington into the starting lineup. The Rockets are integrating a starter into their defensive scheme, as well as the offensive approach.
"I do think that slightly favors us, but I think at the end of the day, everyone just lines up their players and we're all going to be going at it," Morey said.
Coaches know, more or less, what they need to cover with players once they get to Orlando on Thursday, D'Antoni said. It's going to be a matter of minimizing health-injury risks, covering necessities while not over-coaching, and adjusting practices as needed.
"It brings up new challenges," D'Antoni said. "It's not the same old, same old. And we'll see who can react to it. But if you're competitive, and you could do something no one else has ever done, then why not?
"Besides the great thing of trying to win a championship and all of that, but in this setting, I think it's going to be interesting. It's going to be fun, the competition is going to be great. ...
"Adjustment is part of the NBA game and that's what we'll do. Our whole mission will be to get them physically and mentally ready to go into the playoffs. That's our whole deal."
The Rockets begin eight-game seeding schedule against the Dallas Mavericks on July 31. Houston holds a 2.5-game lead over the seventh-seed Mavericks.
