Brooks made a quick crossover, drew the defense and whipped a pass to the corner, where Steve Novak caught the ball and stepped back to make a 3-pointer as easily as if he were tossing a wadded-up ball of paper into a trash can.

But by the last practice Monday at Toyota Center, Brooks was ready to put Novak through a different sort of test.

While Novak was swishing free throws, his teammate proposed a challenge. Brooks, the winner of the 3-point-shooting contest at the 2007 Final Four while with Oregon, offered to take on Novak, who won the 2006 competition while with Marquette.

"He said, 'How about '07 against '06?' " Novak said. "I'm sure we'll do it. No question."

If only the regular season were so easy. The trick ¡ª as the Rockets begin summer-league play tonight against the Los Angeles Clippers squad in the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas ¡ª is for Novak to bring more than just his shooting range and touch to get on the court more in his second NBA season.

A summer of development

"Scoring is a way to get in the league and stay in the league, but the majority of the guys playing in the NBA are not real big scorers. They're team basketball players," Rockets summer-league coach Elston Turner said. "So that's what we're trying to encourage. It never hurts to have good shooters. I like well-rounded players.

"It's a big summer league for him from the standpoint of development, development as a player."

Coaches always seek ways to get a shooter on the court, and Rick Adelman's offense would seem a good fit for Novak's talents with its priority on spreading the floor.

"There are a lot of things we do offensively that are going to benefit him," Adelman said. "No matter what system you have, what philosophy you have as a coach, the player has to figure out where his strengths are and how he's going to take advantage of that. There's a lot of possibilities for him at both the three and four ... because he does have a great shot and he's smart. It's important for him to show us what he can do."

Stressing strengths

Adelman added, "He definitely has the stroke. He's got to be smart defensively. Whatever his liabilities are, he has to eliminate those the best he can. That's going to be up to us to help him there."

Novak already appeared comfortable on the offensive end. After the coaching change, the second-year player from Marquette began studying tapes of Adelman's Sacramento teams and then analyzed the Kings' offense with the help of Marquette coach Tom Crean.

"Just the guys I watched from Sacramento, guys like Peja (Stojakovic), the way they played, (Mike) Bibby and (Chris) Webber, how they were able to have their offense and play real freely and run up and down ¡ª it's an exciting way to play, an exciting way to watch," Novak said.

"I don't look at it as a second chance. Last year was great. I learned a lot from that coaching staff and being on that team, playing behind a guy like Juwan Howard. It's my second year. I'm looking to contribute more."

Stronger since last summer, the 6-10 Novak primarily will play power forward this week. Whether he can hold his own in the low blocks could be an indicator as to his chances in the fall.

"He's got to make a commitment to toughen that out," assistant coach Jack Sikma said. "He's got to be active. He's got to mix his defenses. He's got to hold them up an extra count so help can get there.

"He brings the skill for someone his size. With coach Adelman's offense, we're going to spread the court. If they commit a man to him, it opens up for others."

Drawn to the 3-point line

As always with Novak, everything comes back to shooting.

"You can tell, if you put him in the right spot, he can cause some problems," Turner said. "I tell you, he's looking for that 3-point line every time. It doesn't matter what you draw up. He wants to find the 3-point line."

Novak said he will be glad to find the line any time Brooks wants, either on the wing running with Brooks or in a shooting contest.

"We have to shoot from the girls' line, though," Brooks said. "He's been at the NBA line for a year. I have to catch up.

"He's a pure shooter. He can probably win anything. The competitor got into me during the 3-point competition. I think my player instinct won that. But he's a great shooter, better than I am."