Cuttino Mobley appeared on Fox Sports' "Best Damn Sports Show Period" on Thursday, writes Clutch of Clutchcity.net.  When asked about the possibility of drafting Yao Ming, Mobley demurred and, after some prodding, said he'd rather trade the pick for a proven player.

"Um... somebody's proven," said Mobley. "What we can do is, and coach I love you, (but) what would be good, and Steve and I were talking about this, is trade the first round pick and get someone already established."

Hosts suggested Lamar Odom, who has been rumored several places (most recently in the New York Post) to be heading to Houston for the #1 pick, and Mobley launched into a little Francis-Odom-Mobley fantasy: "With Lamar running the break and Steve and I on the wings... it's over."  He went on at some length singing Odom's praises.

Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle writes that Steve Francis will rehabilitate after surgery on his right shoulder for 14 to 16 weeks.  Francis had been planning on participating in the LA Summer Pro League this July but will not be able to.

His arm will be immobilized for four weeks and then he will do range-of-motion and strength exercises for 10 to 12 weeks.  Rockets trainer Keith Jones says that the injury will not have any lingering effects.

Francis injured the shoulder in a March 8th game trying to dunk on Erick Dampier.  The 18 games he played after sustaining the injury, his stats fell off somewhat though he still played well.

Surgeons had hoped to simply trim the labrum of some jagged edges but discovered that it had a deep tear in it that had to be repaired.  Had it not been for the tear, the rehab would have been only four to six weeks.

There's little doubt that the L.A. Clippers want to solidify their lineup with a top-flight point guard.

Incumbent Jeff McInnis is not expected back. Not if he expects a significant pay raise, anyway. And it just so happens that the Clips have alot to offer in return for an impact floor leader.

Peter Vecsey of the New York Post reports that the Clippers are making a play for Jay Williams. The Clippers are apparently offering Lamar Odom, Corey Maggette and the eighth pick to Houston, for beginners. L.A. also has the 12th overall selection as well.

Such a deal could solidify an impressive core of players. Should the Clippers fail to acquire Williams, it's not improbable to think that the Clips have a legit shot at either Andre Miller or Baron Davis.

Steve Francis underwent surgery on his right shoulder which had bothered him in the last part of the season, nba.com reported.  Rockets trainer Keith Jones said the damage was more than expected.  They thought the shoulder lining needed to be cleaned up and they found they had to repair a lesion in the labrum.

As a result, Francis is expected to miss 16 to 18 weeks, and be available near the start of training camp.  His shoulder will be temporarily immobilized.

In the history of the NBA draft, through franchise shifts and accusations of tanking right up to the evolution of the lottery, i.e., "the Rocket Rule," you'd have to say the odds had worked out pretty well for the namesakes.

1968: Three years before they move from San Diego to Houston, the Rockets win a coin flip with Baltimore and take Elvin Hayes with the first pick, the first of five in franchise history.

1976: Swap with Atlanta and take point guard John Lucas.

1983: Win coin flip and take Ralph Sampson.

1984: Win coin flip and take Hakeem Olajuwon.

Moral: The Rockets were so good at this stuff, they could have told you which foot Mary Lou Retton was going to land on first. They could have called which side of the issue Al Gore would come down on.

Brown has searched the world, or at least an unprecedented bulk of the NBA, to get the championship feeling again. He never forgot it. He learned in Houston how champions feel, how they think, what they believe.

"We were down 3-1 in Phoenix," said Brown, a Kings reserve now and a key player in the Rockets' second championship run then. "This is before I had won a championship. Everybody on the team had won one. I was just up from the CBA. We were in the hallway. When Dream (Hakeem Olajuwon) came out of the locker room, everybody was loose. Everybody was confident. Then Dream came out, and he and Kenny (Smith) said, `Let's go out and shock the world.'

"I was like, `Man, this is pretty cool.' I felt great. We went out and won that game in overtime."

A month later, the Rockets won their second championship.

By then, Brown had already played for the Cavaliers, Lakers, Nets and Mavericks. He would move on to the Suns, Bucks, Hawks, Hornets (twice), Spurs and Warriors, with a repeat performance for the Cavs along the way. In 11 NBA seasons, he played for 12 teams. But he never felt that confidence, determination and resolve again -- until now.

The Kings were beaten by the Lakers on Sunday when Robert Horry, Brown's teammate with the Rockets, tossed in a stunning 3-pointer at the buzzer. But though the two-time defending champions had tied the series 2-2, Brown saw the same stubborn determination afterward that he saw in that hallway with the Rockets in 1995. In his eyes, for the first time since that season in Houston, he saw a champion.

The Kings did not hope just to finally beat the Lakers and their own demons -- they expected it. They were sure of it. This, they had become convinced, was their time, last-second miracles be damned.

"The similarity I see was right after the game we lost," Brown said. "I wanted to see how the mood would be, how everybody would come in the next day, how quickly everybody would forget about it. Everybody was upset right when it happened. But by the time we got to the plane, everybody was talking about it, and it was pretty much over.

Phil Jasner of the Daily News reports that Alex Carcamo is one of the free agents participating in the Sixers' mini-camp. Carcamo's story is like a lot of NBA hopefulls: junior college, small Division 1 school, overseas pro leagues. Alex Carcamo gets a little more attention than the other free agents these days because of who he's played against.

Carcamo played in China's pro league against 7-5 center Yao Ming.

Carcamo averaged 32 points for Shenzhen, his Chinese team, and scored 49 and 36 points in two games against Yao's Shanghai Sharks, losing both.

Yao averaged 32.4 points and 19 rebounds per game for the Sharks during the season and increased those numbers to 41 and 21 during the Chineese championship playoff series.

"I think he's a phenomenal player," Carcamo said. "You can't teach athleticism, and for 7-5, he's athletic. He passes well out of double teams; he's a finesse player right now, but he works hard.

"I think he'll be a great player as long as somebody works with him. Not too many coaches work with big men these days. It's as if, once they're in the league, they're expected to know the fundamentals. The league in China is good and competitive, but a lot of the coaches there don't work with the big men. Ming is going off his athleticism right now."

"Shaquille O'Neal and Alonzo Mourning are two of the best centers in the NBA, and Ming is more skilled than they are," Carcamo said. "He just needs body weight. You can't teach Shaq to shoot 15-footers smoothly. They say Yao doesn't play inside, but he can play to the basket, can play good defense, can block shots."

The Atlanta Hawks officially lost their pick to the Los Angeles Clippers as part of the sign and trade deal for Lorenzen Wright on draft night, but as Jeffrey Denberg reports do not rule them out of the first round just yet.

Atlanta will learn by June 10 if they get the 23rd pick in the NBA draft, Hawks GM Pete Babcock said yesterday.  The pick belongs to Detroit, which owes Houston a pick. If Detroit deals it, Houston owes Atlanta a first-rounder from last year's trade for the draft rights to Maryland's Terence Morris. The Rockets must give the Hawks a pick by the 2004 draft.

The Rockets will have the 38th pick of the draft, unless they don't.
Up to seven days before the draft, the Rockets can switch second-round picks with Miami, taking the 38th pick and sending the 53rd pick to the Heat as part of the Hakeem Olajuwon sign-and-trade deal with Toronto. The only reason to wait is to allow the Heat time to consider rewarding the Rockets for staying where they are.

But the pick is a touch better than it sounds. If the Rockets claim the 38th pick of the draft, the player they choose will be the 37th taken.

For what it's worth, the NBA will call the first pick in the second round the No. 30 pick overall. It is not. It is the No. 29 pick. Because Minnesota was stripped of its first-round choice after of its secret Joe Smith deal, the draft will jump from pick No. 28 (Sacramento) to No. 30 (Chicago).

Let the Rockets have their fun. After their dreary season, they were entitled to enjoy Yao Ming week. The buzz was about them again, and as loony as it might have seemed to general manager Carroll Dawson and his staff, the rest of the organization loved the spotlight.

But the time will come -- and probably faster than they would like -- when they will have to look past the courtship, wedding day and honeymoon and consider the marriage.

Yao Mania has been an unexpected and welcome diversion. The Rockets have enjoyed the ride so much that on Friday, chief operating officer George Postolos called a staff meeting to talk about their windfall. While careful not to declare Yao the team's one and only, the mood was decidedly triumphant.

The Rockets grew accustomed to their mid-'90s most-favored-nation status. They were crestfallen when they fell from beloved to barely noticed. Then last Sunday, the switch was flipped back on. They could not help but enjoy becoming the show again.