Rudy Tomjanovich flipped through the mental snapshots but couldn't choose his favorite. The problem: Every time he mentioned a Yao Ming moment from their first Houston Rockets practice together as coach and player, Rudy T. remembered something else that topped it.

The blocked shots were nice, the hook shots even nicer. The follow dunk on the offensive glass was strong, but the nifty crosscourt pass Yao flung was tougher and smoother. Tomjanovich particularly savored one turnaround jumper along the baseline, and liked it better when he heard that Steve Francis shoehorned Yao into his car to drive his new teammate to a post-practice sponsor function.

	The landing of Yao Ming in Houston has created a buzz over the Rockets.

Of course, probably none of the above compares to the sight of the tallest Rocket ever -- way taller than Hakeem Olajuwon, two inches of flat-top taller than Ralph Sampson, taller even than Chuck Nevitt -- flashing many of his gifts on a single drive.

Pump fake to the middle ... quick reverse pivot the other direction ... two dribbles ... and a behemoth's reach to slam it from the far side of the rim.

Yao-za.

"Lots of things happened," said Rudy T., rediscovering how a smile feels.

These are all good things for a team that has lost touch with that sensation in recent seasons, particularly last season. Having somehow missed the 2001 playoffs with 45 wins, to set a wholly unwanted record, the Rockets thought they could make a run at 50 wins if healthy in 2001-02. Instead they lost Mo Taylor and Glen Rice early, saw Francis plagued by a stubborn inner-ear disorder throughout and struggled to win 28 games, all while their home crowds dwindled to vapor.

The last few months have been better. Winning the lottery in May, drafting Yao in June and actually landing him on NASA soil on Oct. 20 were all monumental victories. The early evidence to suggest that Yao is winning over his teammates quickly is another booster shot. Scenes such as Yao asking Francis if he can drive, and Francis jokingly telling the big fella to settle down until he gets his license.

The reality, though, is this: Francis admits that the inner-ear thing still lurks in his thoughts and, worse, still causes intermittent discomfort. And Taylor will miss the first five games of the season on suspension before he can start trying to prove that he will finally rebound with the other power forwards in the West. And no one knows if Cuttino Mobley can find other ways to hurt teams on fewer shots, or if Eddie Griffin can thrive with most of his minutes coming at the four or five, or if Rice has anything left to contribute.

Of greater concern, the injuries have already started again. Moochie Norris has a dislocated finger, and Kenny Thomas celebrated Yao's arrival by breaking his thumb on a freak play in Sunday's exhibition victory over Orlando.

Of greatest concern, surely, is how Yao hasn't had an extended break from basketball since the last millennium. Every day the Rockets are asked if they're worried that the 300-pounder will careen into the Great Rookie Wall before Christmas.

"I've got a new team," Tomjanovich said. "Getting Mo and Glen back, and then adding probably three new guys, it's not going to be easy. We're still a work in progress. We've gotten younger and most teams have gotten older. But we're going to try to beat that deal and win when we're young."

"Cuttino's our veteran," quipped Rockets general manager Carroll Dawson, who scored Mobley as a second-round nugget with the 41st pick in 1998. "If you look at the history of the NBA, young teams don't do very well. But I think we've got a chance."

It'd be a better chance, certainly, if the Rockets were playing in the East, or if they simply abused the East like they did in 2000-01 when Houston was 25-5 out of its conference. It likewise remains to be seen if the Rockets will do significantly better at the gate in their final Compaq Center season, after averaging just 11,737 per game last season, although Yao should help there immediately.

At least there's no denying Houston has resurrected the concepts of optimism and buzz in a city where basketball hasn't generated any for ages, unless you're talking Comets. Texas hasn't sent all three of its NBA teams to the playoffs since 1990, but longtime Rocket-watchers liken the 2002 draft to 1983's. That's when Houston selected Sampson and a handy forward named Rodney McCray. With durability, Yao's career should top Ralph's. And though it's a tad early to suggest Bostjan Nachbar will be the Finals-worthy contributor McCray was, Dawson was thrilled to get the Slovenian at No. 15.

The excitement has been noticeable from Francis, too, from the moment -- too perfect to be scripted, the Rockets insist -- that the respective cars transporting Francis and Mobley and Yao's entourage pulled into the Compaq loading dock Sunday night.

	(Yao) must be grateful for the opportunity to finally play with some top-level talent, specifically top-level small talent. If you've ever seen China play, you know he has never played with a guard in the Francis/Mobley class. Not close. The opportunity is clearly there for these guys to help each other.

Francis sounds eager to disprove the argument that he and Mobley can't (or won't want to) slow down and share the ball with a post presence. Yao would certainly never say it publicly, and you know he knows the words given his better-than-advertised English, but he must be grateful for the opportunity to finally play with some top-level talent, specifically top-level small talent. If you've ever seen China play, you know he has never played with a guard in the Francis/Mobley class. Not close. The opportunity is clearly there for these guys to help each other.

The unknown is how they'll all cope in the quest for chemistry, which doesn't figure to come fast in the unforgiving West. Yao, remember, has already missed 25 practices.

"It's not easy, but we're going to make ourselves fit," Francis said of the Rockets' place in the West pecking order. "(Losing) gets old quick. We want to be a team that's on TV in May and June.

"I'm playing with more confidence. I worked on my shooting a lot this summer. But with all this power we've got now, I think passing is something that's going to be very important. I've got to be getting the guys involved."

Opportunity No. 1 comes Wednesday night, when Yao debuts for the Rockets in an exhibition against Tim Duncan, David Robinson and the San Antonio Spurs. It's a stretch to suggest Yao will look as Yao-za facing those guys as he did in Practice No. 1 against Kelvin Cato, but the Rockets aren't greedy.

It's been a good week already, and they'll take it.

"A lot of the guys came up to me and said, 'You showed me the film (in June) but he's gotten better since then,' " Dawson said. "He kind of showed he is a basketball player. He made himself fit out there when he didn't really know what was going on.

"(Any initial skepticism) was because he was an unknown. It wasn't that they had anything against him. He won our team over so fast. He's an easy guy to pull for."

Marc Stein is the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com. E-mail him at marc.stein@espn3.com.