I wonder if that will make it harder for Morey at the trade deadline...like Les is going to say...nope this is the team YOU built....your job rides with it. DD
Why, you need a coach that can hold the players accountable and get them to play at a high level on both ends of the floor. They must also respect this person. Morey can only control who he hires. McFail was a bad hire and JB jr is worse.
I mean I don't necessarily disagree with what you said, but I'm not sure how that contradicts what I said. Morey is a solid GM, we could do a lot worse. If I'm Les I just force him to hire a good coach and focus on players not philosophy.
Picked up, I believe, in the middle of the interview: Circus around Dwight? Dwight is a huge valuable player. He & James have won more than 2/3 of their games. It would take a lot to move off that. I do have to explore everything. Nothing got close. It was teams coming at us. Nothing got close or breaking up those two guys who have been very successful. One game under .500. Most disappointing part? I'm shocked. That's fair. I/We do this to win at a high level. This is uncomfortable for myself and everyone. This season is salvageable. We do have the group that made the WCF minus Pablo Prigioni. Results have not been there. It's up to us turning it around. Last season, terrific from the go. Hurdled any obstacles. Won 56 games. Practically impossible for 4th seed this year. Do you think that has taken the edge off? Carrot isn't there dangling in front of you. We need to flip the switch Friday. We have to battle to the end. HCA looks tough. We can get it to a seed where we feel good about battling and winning a round and won't be favored in future rounds but...we've shown we can beat teams and win at a high level. We're still about winning. My job, I do have to look at the future. We were able to upgrade our ability to win down the road & plans in FA and not hurt our ability to win now. Anything else grab your attention today? Can't talk about player names. No earth shattering moves. I gotta sign off. Appreciate the time.
http://sports.yahoo.com/video/nba-trade-deadline-show-180000105.html DM coming up on the Vertical now Recap: Comfortable with moves. Didn't get a lot of options. Always focused on increasing ability to win a title, doesn't always seem apparent on the surface but this moves sets us up well, cap room + ability to maneuver pick in trade or use the draft pick on a player to come in and contribute. Feel good about roster. Made WCF. Still feel good about this group. Set up much better FA and ability to win later with this move. Position on DH: James and DH have won more than 2/3 of games, made WCF. Reluctant to split them up. We were very reluctant to break up. Nothing got close and we weren't going to split up without something significant. Future with DH: Will be up to Dwight, we like James and DH together. Not as successful as we want, but in terms of games won and depth into playoffs. They've played well together. In a down period now but time to turn it around. Transition D has not been as effective, league playing more offensive up tempo now. Trans D is where it all starts. PNR Def has not been as strong. Continue to work on it. We deal in reality and our defense has not been good enough to win at a high level. Missing from this yers team? same group, we have not played well. Can't point at exact thing, otherwise would have fixed already. I could have done things better. Group issue to turn it around. Talks more about defense... This summer in FA, do you see Rockets as a big market attraction? Yes, we feel comfortable and we've proven that we're a top 5 destination. Great players here and advantages of Houston -- among top cities in the nation, no income tax. Have the ability to offer 2 max deals. Our city, roster, tradition, 2 max deals means we will be right there competing for top players.
Morey on Yahoo! How comfortable are you with moves you did/didn't make. You don't get a lot of options. We're focused on our ability to win the championship. This sets up well for FA with the cap money coming in. IF we pick a player, it's someone with great upside and leave money untouched or use the pick to trade and take a player in. Feel good about our roster. Not feeling good about how we're playing. Same group who made the WCF. We still feel good about this group. Still in the hunt this year and set up for FA and down the road. Position on Dwight at this point? Thrilled. Won more than 2/3rd of their games toger. Reluctant to split up. A lot of interest in him. My job, I do have to listen. Nothing close. Weren't going to split up unless it was significant. Dwight will opt out. Do you see him long term with your group and anything now Dwight & James need to do to get on the same page? We like James & Dwight together. Not as successful as we want in terms of a title. In terms of getting together, they play very well together. Won more than 2/3rds of their games. We're in a down period but can turn it around. Top 10 defensively last year. Bottom third this year. What have you seen defensively? It's up and down the roster. Transition D not as effective. League has gone uptempo. Transition D is where it starts. PnR defense not as strong. We continue to work on it. We deal in reality in Houston. Our D is not where it needs to be. Our challenge is to turn that around. This group can do it but gotta get it done. Run last year, everyone was on the same page. Something missing from this team? It's the same group. I would say, start of the season, haven't played well. If I could pinpoint exact thing, we would have fixed it. It's frustrating on that end. Starts with me. Many things I could have done better. It's a group issue. If we don't turn it around, we could miss the playoffs. You can't advance in the WC if you don't have above average defense. You've maintained flexibility. Do you see Houston as a major player and major attraction in FA? We feel comfortable. We're a top 5 destination in the league. We'll have the ability to offer 2 max deals. City, roster, winning tradition, we'll be right there with everyone else.
When will we see Les the savage come back, firing everyone, and making angry statements to the media? LOL.
Morey has no plan, kick the can down the road - cap flexibility just in case something falls in your lap. Wash, rinse, repeat. Fans have no players to follow from year to year, chemistry doesn't grow, no thought to fit of game styles. As long as Morey is GM this team will never win a chip.
I get that he can't be 100% candid, but I sincerely hope this is all spin. If he believes for one second any respectable free agent is coming here this summer, he needs to be fitted for a straitjacket. And BTW, even if hell froze over and we did sign Durant, that doesn't solve our #1 problem: defense. I hope he also understands now the importance of a competent head coach and a coherent system. Cuz gambling for steals and switching defenders on every possession doesn't work.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Rockets?src=hash">#Rockets</a> GM Daryl Morey (on 790) said nothing was really close on Dwight Howard deal, was more teams coming at them.</p>— Adam Wexler (@awexler) <a href="https://twitter.com/awexler/status/700428511115259904">February 18, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
