wished anyone associated with the rockets organization would stop giving these paid actors from bspn, tnt, etc. their time. just do the absolutely bare minimum required like press conference and answer with the most generic answers like "we just wanna go out and play hard" "focus one game at a time and give maximum effort" "credit to them they played hard" "...basically just try to have some fun playing the game"
Recap: Morey's wife is fan of Stephen A's acting (less hate for Rockets now on ESPN) IF Harden does not want Lebron here he won't be here.
Morey is a talker so for SAS to get nothing interesting out of Morey for 15 minutes is a failure. I'm glad I was listening at 2x speed, it didn't feel like I wasted my time.
We know Cp3 wants to play with LeBron. I wonder who made the comment? The rest of the role players word doesn’t matter...
How are you feeling right now vs. 24 hours ago? Everyone has recency bias. Feeling good. Weren't feeling good after game one. No surprise. As rational as we try to be, we're all playing a game, a game we've all played & if you win, you feel much better. Game one vs. Game two Game one, lots of transition defensive mistakes. That was probably the #1 thing coaches focused on. A little disappointing but hadn't played a team this good since playing the Warriors in January. Our guys just lost them a bunch of times. The other one was game one we weren't getting into our offense early enough. We weren't getting into our primary action until sometimes 8 on the clock. A little disappointing we didn't do it game one. As you might expect, those are things we did different in game two and Mike went with a smaller lineup and longer with guys like Eric Gordon, who had a great game. Seeing how the game has evolved vs. what it used to be when you arrived in 2007. I worked for Danny Ainge & he is definitely EOY. How the game has evolved, it's evolved rapidly. [...] The game has turned into you have to have 5 threats on the floor. Generally, at least 4 if not 5 shooters among your 5 on offense and on defense, there's no way to guard those offenses unless you have people who can guard multiple positions. People talk about the 3-ball but that change has been happening for a long time. Those are probably the big changes. And I would mention one more: people are recognizing what Mike D'Antoni did years ago which is if you're gonna beat these better defenses, you need to attack teams early in the clock. When I look at D'Antoni, I see a guy that's slightly different. There was a time he was seen as a guy who couldn't give 2 cents about defense. That seems to have changed. Is that true & how did that change take place? Mike would point out he never had bad defensive teams. People weren't used to adjusting for pace back then & those Phoenix teams were average on defense. It was a big part of the interview process. We were extremely fortunate he was available in that he's hit the perfect time in his career. He was like "The way things are going, having a defensive coach is the right way to go." He was extremely open to that & we added Coach Bzdelik. That was a big part of it. Just like our team, one thing that has helped is every guy on our team are veterans except Clint. They've accomplished everything they can accomplish except win a championship. That's true of D'Antoni as well. We caught him at the perfect time in his career. The Knicks & Lakers frankly didn't have the players that fit. [Analytics background] When I see the team you've assembled, you seem to have a pulse on what's inside a player's chest as well. When you look at these guys, how much did their personalities & heart factor into you selecting them to come & play for this team? PJ Tucker is that guy. I've learned over the years you gotta have guys who are living moment to moment, possession to possession, will do absolutely anything to get a loose ball. Pat Beverley was that guy for us last year. When we had to lose him in the Chris Paul trade, it was a massive priority to go get a guy like that. PJ Tucker, I can't say enough about him. He's the heart & soul of the toughness of this team. Obviously Chris & James are the leaders and make everything happen but PJ has been the unsung hero. "Obsessed about the Warriors" Any regrets about saying that or do you think you're sitting here today because you put that on the record? I was surprised that got so much play. I don't know what else my job is. The Warriors are the class of the league. 29 teams should be obsessed with them. I was very surprised by that getting a lot of play. Every team needs to figure out how to beat the Warriors for the next couple of years. They're a young team with 4 all-star, HOF-level players. What else are we doing? What else is our job? I was a little surprised by it. It's the right thing to say. We should all be obsessed with how to beat those guys. How are you feeling after last night's victory? I don't think they've lost at home [in the playoffs] for like 2 years. It's a long series. We're gonna have to play our A+ game. It's a huge challenge but one thing we have in the locker room is belief. We've gotten in trouble with the media in that the players feel like they can beat the Warriors. They know it's a challenge, they respect them but you gotta have belief in the locker room & they do. I asked a question, I won't reveal his name because I don't have his permission but there's someone within the Rockets organization that most would find shocking: "We love our team, this team is great & this notion that the offseason will arrive & we'll salivate at the notion of getting LeBron to join us & pursue him, that may not be true. We may be perfectly fine without him." How good do you feel about this team not just now but moving forward regardless of what happens this series? We feel great. That sentiment just goes into what I said before: we have a confident group. We're focused on game three. The offseason will come & everyone will get together. We have partnerships with our top players & we're working together to create a team that can win the championship. Teams that are run best in this league nowadays work in partnership with their players & the ones that don't fall by the wayside. When the offseason comes & hopefully with a ring on our finger, then we'll figure out the next step but we're focused on game three.
The money quote. Morey, Harden and CP sit in a room with a whiteboard and diagram their roster moves. You know who else likes a management like this?
"Obsessed about the Warriors" Any regrets about saying that or do you think you're sitting here today because you put that on the record? I was surprised that got so much play. I don't know what else my job is. The Warriors are the class of the league. 29 teams should be obsessed with them. I was very surprised by that getting a lot of play. Every team needs to figure out how to beat the Warriors for the next couple of years. They're a young team with 4 all-star, HOF-level players. What else are we doing? What else is our job? I was a little surprised by it. It's the right thing to say. We should all be obsessed with how to beat those guys. This is too hard to understand for idiots and **** talkers Daryl.
Yeah, how could any team not be preparing to beat the Warriors? You usually have to beat the champions to be the champions.
