I thought he was either nuts or BSing, but it looks like he knew what he was talking about. The Rockets D is looking really good of late.
Top 10 defense isn’t likely good enough to win a championship and he has said it before himself. They need to be a top 4 defense and top 4 offense if you believe what he said a couple seasons ago is still true.
Maybe that was true against the Warriors, but I think a top 3 offense and top 10 defense makes you a strong contender in today’s league.
Not with the Clippers on the horizon. Clippers has an incredibly high ceiling defensively (perimeter and lane). They will lock teams up in a 7 game series. A healthy Rockets will have to be in top 3 defense and offense to beat a healthy Clippers team in a 7 game series.
The Blazers is sort of a midget team too. I am still skeptical about the defence. Let’s see it will go against longer teams like the Lakers.
Maybe I will have time to look at it later but I believe the top 4 model fits the vast majority of years. The Rockets will likely be contenders if they stay healthy. Also with a deadline deal for a true long defensive wing, perhaps they will be a top 4-5 defense.
Morey does not blow smoke. Whenever he says something on the record, it isn't to pander. He believes in what he says because he has done the assessment. Whenever he makes a seemingly outlandish statement, I tend to believe him. I still go all the way back when Bosh said he was staying in Miami and punk-ass Parsons left for Dallas, everyone thought the Rockets were dead. Morey said the Rockets would be good. We all laughed at him. Rockets went to the WCF that year. When Rockets acquired Luc and PJ, Morey said he had assembled the best team. We laughed. Rockets went on to win 60+ games.
Biggest contributors in no order: Russ, Rivers, House, Tyson. It's been a long time since we've had a roster where we're not relying on a sole defender as an ace to cover up any holes e.g. Tucker, Ariza, Battier. This team defense is wonderfully organic. In this one game, I only noticed one possession where someone truly lost his man. The communication is there, and we actually have some length at each position thanks to BMac, House, and Russ, minus the PF spot. The contrast to last season regarding our inability to grab a def rebound and not being able to stop drives to the basket. That was so hard to watch. Morey and the new assistant coaches really have done a great job to turn that around.
Their lane defense isnt that good right now. Their bigs cant match up with ours. Their bigs are too small or slow.
Elston Turner coached with Bzdelik for 2yrs fairly recently. I think he knows what he's doing with what Bzdelik started here. He also coached with Aldeman more than any other coach -- 11 yrs. So, he's used to fitting in with a high-octane, offensive head coach.
It may be time to give MDA and Turner some love. The potential to have a top tier defense with our lack of length has been amazing. The coaching has been masterful so far. The effort doesn't hurt either.
The best thing is Harden is working his butt off on the defensive end. He has never been as bad of a defender as he has been made out to be but I have never seen him have this much intensity on that end of the court.
