Les called Mike D'Antoni a "Master at his craft" said Harden didn't want to deal with rookie head coach. Les said, Mike's recruiting tool is that "His system gets players paid"
Morey says, "we're looking to win now", "we wanted to make smooth transition" "3 or 4 teams have gotten to the WCF in the last 10 years like us"
"We really feel fortunate to have gotten D'antoni." "We felt this was the right direction for this organization."
Les: I want to talk to all Rockets fans. We felt that we wanted to win all the time, every year & try for a championship at all times. We wanted the master of the craft, what to do, how to win. He's won 60 games twice in his career. Only Doc, Pop & Kerr have done that. If you hire a young guy, you'll have a learning experience. He'll make mistakes. With Harden, we didn't want to go through that experience. It's ball movement & speed in the NBA today. He's an expert at that. He'll put guys in position to win and better their games. Players love to play for him not only because they get better but they get paid. He'll be a lucrative source for us in FA. All you naysayers, and there are a lot of you, concerning defense, we interviewed Jeff Bzdelik for 3 hours and were never more impressed. Unbelievable experience. Last year, his D was 3rd. Daryl & I made this choice together. An exceptional coach and with decent players, he's a big winner. Daryl: We have Harden in his prime. We're building this for a championship run. We're looking to win now. When teams make changes, they go out and try to hire the guy everything the last guy wasn't. We wanted to make a smooth transition. We have a roster better in transition. We have a roster that is a strong defensive roster. We wanted a smooth transition and continue our winning ways. 3rd best record in the NBA over the last 10 years. Only 3-4 teams have been to the WCF as many times as us in the past 10 years. We've done a lot of winning. Coach D'Antoni will continue the winning ways. Mike: Really glad to be here. Want to thank my wife. ... Want to thank Mr. Alexander & Daryl for choosing me. He said he wanted a seasoned coach and made his mistakes. I've done that. I know defense is on people's minds. Jeff Bzdelik will be my defensive guy. ... He has a world of experience I'll be leaning on. Roy Rogers will join our staff. Did a great job in Brooklyn/Washington. Can probably suit him up if we have to. Thanks again to the organization. It's a unique opportunity. ... [Harden's] articulate, smart, wants to win and is always prepared. That's all you can ask for. Looking forward to that. Roster is good. I'm looking forward to all of them. Our mantra is these guys need to have career years. Ariza, Beverley, go down the list, Capela, they need to have career years. It's on me. We have a bunch of good players.
"He's a coach with a proven track record" "He's been around the league." "We felt we needed to get someone with experience."
