Daryl Morey interview on 103.3 FM Dallas

redhotrox · Apr 2, 2015

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>PODCAST: <a href="https://twitter.com/dmorey">@dmorey</a> speaks on Parsons, Dwight, Rondo and his relationship with <a href="https://twitter.com/mcuban">@mcuban</a> with <a href="https://twitter.com/TimCowlishaw">@TimCowlishaw</a> & <a href="https://twitter.com/mattmosley">@mattmosley</a>. <a href="http://t.co/QiwMDqr70t">http://t.co/QiwMDqr70t</a></p>— 103.3 FM ESPN (@KESN1033) <a href="https://twitter.com/KESN1033/status/583753550263488512">April 2, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

103.3: Your team comes here 51-24, tied for division lead, tied for #2 seed in Western Conference – how has that happened since you know nothing about team chemistry? (laughing)

DM: (laughing along) Uhh yes, we know nothing about chemistry.

103.3: I think you know what I was referring to when I asked that question.

DM: Sure, sure. Chemistry tends to be better when you win and not as good when you’re not winning. So that’s a big part of it.

103.3: You’ve played 38 games without Dwight Howard, obviously that wasn’t the plan. Most of that is probably attributed to James Harden, but what else, before we get into Harden, do you attribute your team’s success to this year?

DM: Yeah I’d say we’ve had a bunch of guys step up with Dwight out. Obviously we’ve had Terrence Jones out even more than that – he’s pretty much missed almost the whole season. I would say the key guys – Trevor Ariza has been huge for us, Donatas Motiejunas in this third year has taken a huge, huge leap forward, you know Corey Brewer was a guy we picked up in December who obviously Dallas fans are pretty familiar with he’s obviously been huge for us, and then Josh Smith still very surprised that he was available for us -- and real credit to Coach McHale and his staff that a guy for whatever reason was cast off is playing critical minutes for us and helped us all year.

103.3: Daryl, would you ever consider having your analytics conference in the DFW area? Some of us don’t have travel budgets where we can get to MIT, we desperately want to be a part of that. Have you ever thought about having it in different parts of the country?

DM: Well, there’s a streaming version, maybe there will be a TEDx –

103.3: We have no shot at getting the streaming version, the two of us.

DM: (laughs) We’d love to have you at the conference. But yeah the whole MIT thing makes it hard to move it around. The MIT students do a great job every year and Mark Cuban’s been a huge supporter from the beginning and has been a big part of that conference over the years.

103.3: Are you and Cuban, is this like professional wrestling where publicly sometimes you spar and kind of stir it up, but secretly you like to get together and maybe have a couple of drinks now and then and are actually pretty good friends? Where is that relationship?

DM: Yeah I mean I don’t know what he thinks, you’d have to ask him, but I’m a big fan. He’s been a friend of the conference. He’s obviously a great owner, really changed the NBA in a lot of ways with not only winning, but game presentation. So I’m a big fan. I think the only time we’ve ever gotten sideways was when I got a little bothered when he said we had all this turnover and stuff _ when we have less than they do. The factual thing I’ll get out there and correct it, but otherwise I’m a big fan of Mark’s and hope he is (of me) as well, but you’ll have to ask him that.

103.3: When you two do get together, is there a debate about who’s the smartest guy in the room?

DM: (laughs) That would make for terrible radio. No, I’ve actually learned a lot from Mark. Usually we’re talking about the CBA and different strategies …Obviously Mark’s been pretty out there, sort of zigging when others zag and I agree with that. I mean, if everyone’s doing the same thing it’s a bad thing. So he’s pretty smart. I try to learn something every time I get together with him.

103.3: Let me ask you about James Harden now. I don’t think anyone came out of that Portland series last year thinking this guy’s going to be an MVP candidate next year, but he clearly is. He’s done some remarkable things, 51 points last night. How do you view what he has managed for your team this season?

DM: Yeah it’s astonishing. I think every year he tries to add something to his game and this offseason he really took on a lot. He really wanted to improve being a leader of the team and he’s done that. I think the USA basketball experience where he was the leader of that team was huge. He wanted to improve his ability to attack with his right hand – teams were overplaying his left – and he’s done that. And he wanted to improve on the defensive end and he’s really stepped up and done that and really become a two-way player and obviously is having we think the best season and arguably one of the best in the NBA this year.

103.3: What do you think of the way Chandler Parsons has played with the Mavs? I don’t know how often, I would think you check in on him and see how he’s performing. And what do you when you project –you thought he might have ended up staying with you for years. When try to project where his career could go, there’s talk around here could he replace Dirk eventually as like the lead scorer, be a 20-25 ppg type, what’s the ceiling for Chandler Parsons?

DM: I don’t think he has a ceiling. I really think he could be one of the top players in the league and he’s on his way obviously I think. Had one of his best games yesterday, so I do keep track of him and I’m a big fan of Chandler’s. I thought he was a great pickup for Dallas. It was really more of a contractual thing that made it not a fit here given some of our goals and some of our constraints that we had of players already on the roster but from my vantage point whenever I see him he’s having a fabulous season and I think he can be a cornerstone for a long time for you guys.

103.3: Was there anything to the report or the idea that you didn’t have any choice on keeping Parsons based on a deal with his agent once you got Dwight Howard?

DM: Yeah I mean to me that’s all in the past so I uhhh, we uhhh, we thought that Chandler could be part of our future and restricted free agency it doesn’t always work out where you can keep him so.

103.3: Let me ask you this, I think I saw this stat today. There are a few teams in the NBA that have had one game this year where they had 40 3 point attempts. Your team has had 12, by far and away the league leader. I think that happens by design. What do you say about your idea, and the 3 point shot, and how frequently you think teams should use it?

DM: I think we made like 18 of them yesterday? I’m all for it when you make 18 of them. I don’t remember what we made but it was pretty good. I would say yeah, people focus on that a lot. I think to me it’s pretty simple. You still want to attack the basket in the NBA, if you don’t have guys like Monta Ellis, like Chandler, like James Harden, like guys who can attack the basket then you don’t really have much in this league. Step one is put the defense in jeopardy, beat your man, get into the paint. The only real difference we might do is sometimes you can’t get all the way to rim and if you’re kicking it out we kick it out for three’s. A lot of teams kick it out and they’re taking open 18-20 foot looks. So we’re generally taking three’s, we believe in our shooters, and so far it’s working for us. But yeah it’s certainly not we going to head into a game and say hey tonight we’re going to shoot 40 three’s, it’s just what the defense gives us.

103.3: Do you still with the Vipers -- I remember reading a lot about it you almost instructed them to shoot 50-60 three’s, they scored an enormous amount of points – is that still going on with your D-League team?

DM: We’ve changed things up a little bit this year, I mean we always try to stay a couple steps ahead with the D-League team tryouts, different approaches there. They’re having another good season, likely to make the playoffs, I think they might have to win one more game in their last couple here to put that away but we’ve got a really good coach down there in Nevada Smith. We’ve had our guys Nick Johnson and Capela who are now up with the team and have given us good minutes lately. We like to experiment with different strategies and yeah we were still about attacking the hoop over there, we probably did take things to a little bit of an extreme. That’s how you learn things, by trying them and the Vipers are an environment where you can try things and not lose a game with the Rockets which is nice.

103.3: After he sat out last night we’re assuming Dwight Howard is good for 20 minutes or so tonight. Where do you feel like he is and where he can get to in two weeks when the playoffs start?

DM: Yeah, he’ll likely play tonight – I guess you don’t know until someone’s on the floor getting the tip, but the plan is for him to play tonight and he’s played when he came back and we’ve moving his minutes up so he’ll be 20-24 I think tonight. Obviously he’s the key to our defense. We’ve really won this year on defense, we’ve been a top 5 defense and actually we were 1 for awhile when Dwight was healthy and playing for us. Without him we have to shift how we play a little bit, be a little more offensive minded and we’ve been able to do that to win but we like to be a defensive team and we expect it will keep moving up and we’ll have Dwight for somewhere around 30, 30+ minutes in the playoffs and we think we’re going to be a very tough out if that happens.

103.3: You think you would have hurried him back more if you didn’t have such a good record? Have been able to be more cautious with him coming back from these injuries because of how successful you’ve been?

DM: Yeah, I mean we generally lean cautious, but we do have very high goals for this season, so I guess if we weren’t able to sustain it and win – you know I think we won 55-60% of our games with Dwight out this year. We won more with him active obviously, but we won quite a bit, so that allowed us to make sure he’s healthy and we’re hoping we reap the dividends here coming up when things matter in the playoffs.

103.3: Do you think if your team finishes 2nd or even if it say stays in 3rd, James Harden has made his case for MVP over Steph Curry?

DM: Yeah I mean obviously that’s for other people to judge, but we see him every night and to us, to the folks around the Rockets, obviously are biased, we think there’s no doubt he’s the guy. I mean if you look historically at the folks who’ve been able to average 27 points efficiently like him with 7 assists, 5.5 rebounds, and almost 2 steals a game there’s really only 3 guys in NBA history who’ve been able to do that – him, Larry Bird, and Michael Jordan. So he’s in rare company this season, he’s keeping a team afloat that’s you know we’ve got good players, but the reality is without him we’re not sitting at 51-24 right now. Obviously we’re biased but I think if you look at it from any perspective – leadership, winning, numbers, efficiency – pretty much all of them say James Harden’s the guy so we’re obviously hoping he gets recognized for that. But we’re mostly focused on winning in the playoffs here coming up.

103.3: I don’t know if you’re a betting man, but do you like Harden’s chances of getting to the foul line tonight more times than Rondo?

DM: Well I’m definitely not a betting man. There’s many ways I can lose my job, that’s one of them. (laughs) So I’ll stay away from that language but uh you’re asking me who’s going to get to the line more tonight Harden or Rondo?

103.3: Yes (laughs)

DM: I gotcha, well James is leading the league in free throws so he’s a pretty good bet. Unless we’re playing OKC, where I think Russell’s going almost as much. Honestly the free throw thing’s a little bit frustrating because the reality is James Harden, Russell Westbrook, can get to the basket better than anyone in the league and yes, when they get to the rim and people hack them, they rely on the refs to call a foul. I don’t see why James Harden gets penalized, everyone acts like getting to the foul line is a bad thing now when honestly it’s the best skill you can have in the league. And it’s really not a skill of getting fouled, it’s a skill of beating your man and getting to the rim. So if that becomes a bad skill, we’re going to have to change who’s good in the league.

103.3: Last thing before we let you go, your team lost a game when Harden didn’t get a call and the league admitted they made a mistake. If you finish a game behind Memphis, do you feel that’s unfair?

DM: Yeah, but I mean that happens. The reality is a lot of that evens out over the year, we’ve probably had a game where maybe we didn’t win if it hadn’t gone our way at some point of the game. So you can’t really focus on that, really what you want to do is get in games where the referees don’t become factors because you’ve got a lead. And actually Dallas has been better than us in terms of like having some big wins. We’ve been in a lot of close games and when you do that unfortunately things happens – maybe balls bounce the wrong way, referee calls become a bigger factor, but what you really want to do I be ahead by like 8 with a minute to go so you’re not putting yourself where one call this way or that way can affect things.

103.3: Yeah I think Harden needs to learn the Rondo fall-away layup to drive and desperately try not to get contact, I think maybe he could look into that. (laughing)

DM: Well I’m a Rondo fan, I came from the Celtics and they don’t win as much as they did without him so I only wish the best for him but anyway I appreciate so much you having me on.

103.3: Yeah we enjoyed it. You’ll be here in town this evening, look forward to meeting you at some point.

Yeah I’m actually not able to be in town tonight, unfortunately you’ll have to survive without me.

103.3: Yeah we’ll see what we can do, we’ll muddle through. Thank you Daryl.

DM: Thanks for having me on, appreciate it.
Click to expand...

HTM · Apr 2, 2015

appreciate the thread bro

NateNate · Apr 3, 2015

Thanks. Crazy talk about Parsons though.

BigShasta · Apr 3, 2015

Really good questions.

GanjaRocket · Apr 3, 2015

Parsons definitely has a ceiling..

Morey just playing nice with the Dallas ppl

donkeypunch · Apr 3, 2015

When asked about fegan and the portions contract, Daryl euro-stepped like Harden on ryan kelly. **** fegan!

RoxBeliever · Apr 3, 2015

NateNate said: ↑

Thanks. Crazy talk about Parsons though.
Click to expand...

I think the Chandler praise was just GM-speak. For someone as competitive as Morey, I think secretly he's glad Parsons hasn't really taken off this 1st year with DAL.

But good interview, broadcasters showed a lot of respect and knowledge about the Rockets and the Morey-Cuban history.

HRox832 · Apr 3, 2015

Awesome read

OlajuwonFan81 · Apr 3, 2015

NateNate said: ↑

Thanks. Crazy talk about Parsons though.
Click to expand...

Yea...these guys asked the right questions. For some reason houston hasn't asked that simple question in nearly a year.

Nook · Apr 3, 2015

That whole interview was not the real DM. He was overly cautious, not bold in the least and was extremely measured in his responses and not especially sincere or honest.

RocketsJumer · Apr 3, 2015

Its a shame that a radio station in Dallas does a better interview on Morey than the Proper Gentlemen of Sports does on "The Official Home of the Houston Rockets SportsTalk 790".

KlutchQT · Apr 3, 2015

So the Fegan deal was definitely a Thing (as if there was any doubt).

tinman · Apr 3, 2015

great thread!

kingjosh · Apr 3, 2015

KlutchQT said: ↑

So the Fegan deal was definitely a Thing (as if there was any doubt).
Click to expand...

Yeah from the transcript that's definitely what it sounds like. I wonder if that sort of thing is legal under the CBA if someone ever came out and admitted it.

crash5179 · Apr 3, 2015

RocketsJumer said: ↑

Its a shame that a radio station in Dallas does a better interview on Morey than the Proper Gentlemen of Sports does on "The Official Home of the Houston Rockets SportsTalk 790".
Click to expand...

Yep, it's ashame that Matt Mosely and Tom Cowlishaw are not great radio hosts at all (particularly Cowlishaw) and yet the interview they just did is light years better than anything on Houston radio.

I was listening to Charlie Pallilo interview Kevin McHale on his radio show last week and all I could think of was, "would you please stop with the fake high pitched radio voice and just ask a freaking real question like an adult!"

Houston is such a great city with so much more to offer than Dallas and yet the city can't get halfway decent sports talk radio. The absolute best sports radio show in Houston would get laughed off of the air in Dallas or at the very least they would be stuck doing a 5 minute sports segment on some FM music radio station that caters to a teenage demographic.

crash5179 · Apr 3, 2015

kingjosh said: ↑

Yeah from the transcript that's definitely what it sounds like. I wonder if that sort of thing is legal under the CBA if someone ever came out and admitted it.
Click to expand...

I think in this case what Daryl didn't say probably told the whole story. Sounds like he is a bit bitter by losing Parsons but was clarely forced into that situation by signing Dwight.

Aleron · Apr 3, 2015

With Morey you need to read between the lines.

But really with all NBA GMs, you need to read what they do, not what they say.

If he actually thought he was a budding star, he would have matched.

meadowlark · Apr 3, 2015

Great interview...thanks for posting.

DM handled the questions with the skill that Harden shows driving to the rim. Excellent public response...but you know deep down how he feels. Excellent interview.

shastarocket · Apr 3, 2015

I laughed at Morey's response to the jab at Rondo's FT avoidance. Never stop campaigning, brother

Rashmon · Apr 3, 2015

KlutchQT said: ↑

So the Fegan deal was definitely a Thing (as if there was any doubt).
Click to expand...

Yep, and I got the strong impression he really doesn't care too much for Cuban.

"Big fan..."

Yeh, right.

Forums

Daryl Morey interview on 103.3 FM Dallas

redhotrox Contributing Member

HTM Member

NateNate Member

BigShasta Contributing Member

GanjaRocket Member

donkeypunch Contributing Member

RoxBeliever Member

HRox832 Member

OlajuwonFan81 Member

Nook Member

RocketsJumer Member

KlutchQT Contributing Member

tinman Contributing Member
Supporting Member

kingjosh Member

crash5179 Contributing Member

crash5179 Contributing Member

Aleron Contributing Member

meadowlark Member

shastarocket Contributing Member

Rashmon Contributing Member

Share This Page

About ClutchFans

Rockets Content

Support ClutchFans!

Daryl Morey interview on 103.3 FM Dallas

redhotrox Contributing Member

HTM Member

NateNate Member

BigShasta Contributing Member

GanjaRocket Member

donkeypunch Contributing Member

RoxBeliever Member

HRox832 Member

OlajuwonFan81 Member

Nook Member

RocketsJumer Member

KlutchQT Contributing Member

tinman Contributing Member Supporting Member

kingjosh Member

crash5179 Contributing Member

crash5179 Contributing Member

Aleron Contributing Member

meadowlark Member

shastarocket Contributing Member

Rashmon Contributing Member

Share This Page

tinman Contributing Member
Supporting Member