Owner Leslie Alexander wanted to gush about the Rockets' championship chances. He has before. And he has reason, believing his team has the right mix of superstars, role players, coaching and depth it took years to put in place.

He held back. As optimistic as he was on the eve of the season opener, he knew at least five other owners of Western Conference teams felt just as good. Such is life in the loaded West, where, as the Rockets saw up close last season, being very good is not good enough.

"I'm very excited," Alexander said. "I'm excited about the players we have. We have superstars - James (Harden), Dwight (Howard). We have a lot of really very good players. Ty (Lawson) is going to add something to us. And (Trevor) Ariza, he keeps getting better and better even though he's getting older. We have depth.

"But the league in the West is so tough. I've never seen it where we have so many really terrific teams. Not just good teams, but terrific teams. We have a terrific team - one of six terrific teams."

One season at a time

The Rockets to some degree appear to be at a crossroads. Once Donatas Motiejunas returns from his back injury, almost every player in the rotation will either be approaching his prime or in it. Alexander has his general manager, Daryl Morey, and coach, Kevin McHale, locked up with contract extensions. Harden is just 26 and has two more years left on his contract after this season.

But Howard will likely opt out of his contract after the season to be a free agent. Lawson will be a free agent. Terrence Jones and Motiejunas could be restricted free agents if agreements on contract extensions aren't reached by Monday.

Still, Alexander doesn't consider it a make-or-break-it-up season.

"I'm not thinking that far ahead," he said. "Nobody ever leaves here if we want to keep them. It's not like I'm planning on losing people."

Though the Rockets have not won a championship since Alexander began his tenure with consecutive NBA titles, he is otherwise content in a variety of ways.

Alexander is as happy with the organization as he has ever been. He said he expects to sell out every game. (All but one sold out last season.)

The Rockets are playing the up-tempo style he said he wanted 15 years ago, and he embraces the strategy of a team that holds the NBA record for 3-pointers taken and made in a season. "There is no reason to shoot twos when you can get three," he said.

He said he enjoys being an owner as much as he ever has.

"I love sports," Alexander, 71, said. "I love watching basketball games. I look forward so much to watching. The 82 regular-season games are 82 days I'm really excited. As I've gotten older, I really don't like movies anymore. It's really hard to entertain me. I like information and sports. So I get 82 games and playoffs. Plus, I like to watch other teams to see how they are doing compared to us. It's my entertainment.

"Everything is well set on the business side and the basketball side. This organization is nicely run. We have terrific people on both sides of the aisle. They really know what they're doing. We have it running really well. I try to have it running like a really great corporation, even though we're a sports team. I try to do it like if it was a big business: You would run it this way, but keeping it small enough that it is a family atmosphere. I think I've achieved that."

Loaded conference

Success, however, is still found on the scoreboard. The Rockets will set a franchise record for luxury tax paid, currently heading for a bill of nearly $3.54 million, but Alexander said that does not impact what he considers success. "One thing doesn't have anything to do with the other," he said.

But when asked what would be a satisfactory season, Alexander laughed and said, "I don't want to answer that.

"When I bought the team 23 years ago, I knew we would win the championship that year. I followed the sport really well. I knew we had the best team, and I knew we would win the championship.

"The league is much tougher now in terms of the West. With that (first) team, I thought we really stood out above everybody in the league. Now, there's a lot of terrific teams. There's not a team that says, 'Oh, we're so much better than everybody else.' They're all terrific. It comes down to injuries, who plays well, key games, who hits a shot here and there.

"There are six powerhouses now."

With his team set to open its season Wednesday, Alexander believes the Rockets are in that select company. The trick will be breaking out of the elite pack.