THE BOX OUT PICK AND POPS 1. The Bucks not only possess the most potent point guard tandem in Gary Payton and Sam Cassell, but they arguably also have the most powerful 1-2 punch off the bench in Sixth Man candidates Michael Redd and Desmond Mason. Too bad they'll hurt each other's bid for the award. 2. The Magic are 3-0 since acquiring Drew Gooden and Gordan Giricek, who are averaging 19.0 and 16.7 points per game, respectively, with Orlando. With that kind of help, Tracy McGrady won't miss Mike Miller much longer. QUOTE OF THE DAY “Colin Pine didn't buy it." —Yao Ming's explanation -- through interpeter Colin Pine -- why he didn't get to finally sample New York's famous thin-slice pizza during the Rockets' visit to Manhattan. NUMBER OF THE DAY 28 The double-doubles posted by Warriors power forward Troy Murphy, whose total tops everyone taken before him (i.e., all lottery picks) in the 2001 draft. TRASH TALK You have something to say? Then say it below. But keep it clean. And include your hometown AND state. Name: E-Mail: City/State: Your comment:

NEW YORK -- The young big man has showed flashes of being something special, recording double-doubles and swatting shots in bunches. Being a lottery pick, he figures to be a fixture up front for a long time -- a piece of the foundation upon which the Houston Rockets can construct another championship contender.

Yes, expectations sure are high for Eddie Griffin.

The Rockets' starting power forward in his second season, Griffin should be the perfect complement to Yao Ming. Yao is 22 years old and Griffin is only 20, so there'll be plenty of painful moments for the Houston coaching staff as the two grow up together. Youth and inexperience are the biggest reasons the Rockets may find themselves playing the lottery, not the playoffs, this season.

"We've got a lot of new guys," Griffin said. "I guess it's a learning process for all of us."

Mental miscues had head coach Rudy Tomjanovich muttering to himself during Tuesday night's 102-95 loss to the Knicks. Afterward, Tomjanovich lamented openly about his team's 17 turnovers. "We're young, but we've got to get better," he said.

Rudy T wasn't talking about Griffin specifically, but he might as well have been.

It took one lucky bounce of a lottery Ping-Pong ball last May to change the face of the franchise when a skilled 7-foot-5 center dropped into the Rockets' laps. Yao's rapid progress has altered the pecking order of the Rockets' offense, where Griffin now finds himself cast as a role player.

Griffin speaks of a better tomorrow, though, like a fellow 2001 draft classmate who has fallen on much harder times, Wizards forward Kwame Brown.

"I don't worry about it," said Griffin, who's scoring less this year (8.6 points per game) than last (8.8) but has improved his rebounding (6.3) and field-goal percentage (.389) a notch. "I know the situation I'm going to be in. And I'm going to do good. So I don't worry about it."

"He does a lot," guard Cuttino Mobley said. "He blocks shots. He can shoot from the outside. He's starting to put the ball on the floor. He's only 20 years old, man. I'm not a predictor. He'll be fine, though."

Griffin turned pro after just one season at Seton Hall, where he put up monster numbers to draw consideration as the No. 1 pick. Character questions (namely off-court clashes with teammates in college and high school) and the league's preoccupation with unearthing the next high-school gem dropped Griffin to No. 7, where New Jersey took him and then traded him to Houston for Richard Jefferson, Jason Collins and Brandon Armstrong.

While Yao gradually learns how to handle NBA double-teams, Griffin is trying to be the beneficiary of such opponents' strategies. On a team with Mobley and Steve Francis -- who each attempt 15-plus shots per game -- that often means playing fourth fiddle.

"I just got to learn how to work without the ball, move without the ball," Griffin said. "Because with Yao, he's good at finding people open when they're cutting. I just got to learn to make the right cuts. Once I get that (down), I'll get a lot more points."

"I know I'm going to get better," he added. "I'm not going to get down. I'm just going to keep working. The shots that aren't going down now are going to start falling."

The Rockets think so, too. Otherwise, they wouldn't have hung up the phone when teams called about Griffin's availability before last week's trade deadline.

"I love our big men, man," Mobley said. "(Soon), no one is going to mess with us. Because the mistakes they're making now, they won't be making later on."

Joe Lago, the NBA editor for ESPN.com, writes the Morning Shootaround every Wednesday.