Paraphrasing a bit but John went into Yao and if he would be back, Daryl responded that he should be back and wants to back and he would do it as a Rocket. John then asked if we can safely assume Yao wouldn't be traded and Daryl responded that it has been their policy NOT TO COMMENT and moved on to the next question. It took John and Lance by surprise and they moved on. Edit - Truthfully, it was one of his best interviews. Daryl was VERY honest and straightforward on their plans. Sorry I can't recap because I'm at work but the Yao comment and his current plans were the biggest things I got from it.
I don't see why people should be shocked that Yao can be traded. Trading Yao and keeping him are NOT mutually exclusive. Yao is done for the year. Even if he gets traded, he doesn't have to move, doesn't have to report to his new team, doesn't have to do anything. At the end of the season, when his contract expires, Yao can then sign wherever he wants. The only way advantage his new team has over everyone else is Yao's bird rights, which doesn't matter for a player who has missed 2 straight seasons, and can only be a role player from now on. And even then, Yao doesn't have to take that deal if he doesn't care about the money. Given that no team will offer Yao stupid money, the Rockets can still "keep" him by giving him a reasonable contract in the offseason. This IMO is the most likely scenario.
It sounded VERY much like he knows that the current team has NO chance of anything special but is stuck. Certainly seemed like they WON'T rebuild but stay the course adding pieces here and there until their star is found. At the same time, I do think Morey isn't limiting himself to the obvious superstars but look at players that MIGHT evolve into a star over time.
Really great point. I, myself, often forget this. I don't think Houston is going to do anything to embarass Yao or make us look like a franchise that treats players like baseball cards. Most likely, if Yao is moved, it will be with his concent and a plan to continue his basketball career with the Rockets, should he be able to do so. (or at least i hope this is the case)
I'd think that anyone that's trading for Yao is not to retain his "Bird Rights," but to get money back off of the insurance on his contract.
Thank you... We don't hear 1560 here in Italy! :grin: They were joking with him about bringing back Ron Artest, first thing he said was "I just think there are certain LA players very available though"... Sounds like Kaman to me...
How are you doing? Morning Whats going on? Out in LA. Are you about to re-acquire Ron Artest Always trying to get me fined. It's a joke. I dont want to get you fined. There is a certain LA player very available. Is that right? Yeah I bet I can guess which one. ... This is Brett Favre, the Carmelo watch, it's getting...nothing is happening. Now suppose to meet with Knicks and Nets ownership. Is there fatigue from team standpoint from reading/hearing about it? We need a good spoof commercial on the thing. Maybe they should just disappear. Nothing going on or well I dont know if something is going on but it's been covered every day like it's the most important thing. 2 months running. Actually before the season. This is your department. Need to come up with when was the decision. Need good term for this one. The water torture? Brutal for you too Daryl. Not for lack of effort or trying. Talk about difficulties. Deadline is big --big for every team. Only about 4-5 times a year when teams are open to making moves. It is big. Pretty quiet right now. Teams feeling things out. Nothing imminent with us but thats pretty normal. Wouldnt predicted Martin last year. Another 11th hour deal? You predict making a move? History would say we do make moves. Dont know if we can get done a major move. We'd like to upgrade team in major way if we can. If we cant, we'll do something to set us up for the summer. Wont force something. If something that helps improve the team, we'll do it. John, what should we do? Should make a big trade for a stud. That is a fine idea. You asked me, I'm telling you. I agree. Difficulty is, you finished in 14th spot. Bad because you didnt make playoffs and got last lotto spot. That much more difficult. This team has not been as good. How much has that hurt you that tradeable commodities are not having the season you hoped for? On the 14th spot, everyone thinks thats bad, from draft spot, yeah its bad but 14th spot also means we won 42 games. Its problem to be 14th spot if you got guys on big contracts and guys who are unmoveable. In our case, we're young and improving, I dont think being in the middle is as big of a deal. I agree with you. We've had quite a few very good seasons, all in our starting group. Kyle, Scola, Kevin having their best seasons, Shane solid, Chuck having best season. Disappointment is in our young players. Needed someone to take a Aaron Brooks step forward. There is still time but we needed one of those young guys to take a step forward. No questions on how hard you are trying and what you're trying to do. Lost Yao. Not many lose superstars in their prime. Is Les understanding of this? Win oriented business and you arent winning. How difficult of a situation are you in knowing you dont have everything you should be fighting with. Not very understanding but thats fine with me. Good to have high expectations. Biggest factor was we had two franchise guys in late 20s early 30s who broke down. Other factor is other top players are playing longer. Hard that our guys who were in their prime fell apart and guys who would normally fall apart are maintaining. Big factor that has hurt us. Sucks that Tim and Dirk never got hurt. Dirk got hurt when Carl jammed his teeth into his elbow. Tim has been hurt though. Spurs the big story. People wonder what the big difference is. They've jelled but no injuries. One can hope they get their setback at one point. Got a coach with expiring contract. Team that isnt winning either. Young guys, guys that...gotta battle whether or not to play them or sending a message you've given up. How do you approach that? Straight forward - win games. Coach doing his best. We've had the hardest schedule thus far. We'll win a lot of games down the stretch but problem is we have to win a lot of games. Possible we can make a run, I know it doesnt look like that. Home stand was disappointing but we can turn this around and make a push. Coach is focused on that. Looked so good against Denver and....just inconsistency. Product of being a young team? A) True general in the NBA B) Yes we're more young C) Defense is not good. That gives you volatile situation. Right now, to win we gotta make shots, slow down transition and gotta score 105-110 to win. Puts pressure on us. Thats why you see the ups and downs. You say that not good on D and you said you gotta improve this year. Where/what...? We need a franchise player to build around. Our guys can improve but we're not risking on that. We need a franchise player and D presence in the middle. And shockingly thats what got hurt. Yao Ming D presence franchise player in the middle. Always been a top 5 D with Yao out there. Missing what got hurt. Unfortunately when Yao goes down, there is no place for another one. No trade will fix that. Gotta keep plugging along and improving the team, wait for opportunity to break our way in terms of trade for big piece. May not happen at this deadline but who knows. Celtics traded for Garnett, those discussions happened a day before the deadline that year and didnt transpire until the summer. Example of unexpected things that happen. We're positioned to take advantage of that. Would you agree that the replication on your roster at certain positions is whats causing...gotta be driving you crazy. You see guys who you can flip for other players but if a deal doesnt work out, it doesnt work out. Replication an issue? A lotta things not helping us win. One is having a bunch of guys...Ideally you'd have that franchise guy, a bench like the Spurs, and the 15th guy knows he isnt playing and Popovich wont talk to him and he wont complain. It is ideal when everyone knows their role. We arent good enough to be in that situation. On top of that, we're always in trade rumors. Not good for the players to be hearing how there might be a trade every other moment. Thats impacted as well. Alternative is to just be happy being a .500 team. So I dont think we can do that. Agree with you in terms of replication. Not ideal, the though choice would be to dump good players for nothing and I dont think makes sense. It is an issue, though it has no alternative that is better. Any chance Yao Ming is ever part of the Rockets plans again? I think so. He got an injury most come back from. Injury is difficult to come back from but most do come back from. Right now he is rehabbing because he has to no matter what his choice is in the future. Got a strong desire to come back. If anyone can come back, it'll be him and if he wants to come back, then I know he wants to be here. No chance his expiring contract is traded? No I think, no comment on that. I'll stay away from that. Safe to say expiring contracts everyone is looking at? Expiring contracts and big trade exceptions have less utility than in the past. Teams are pretty set up for their future. Big salary was moved last year for big FA class. Not a lot of teams trying to dump big contracts and that might change but not the case right now. How is the uncertainty of the CBA affecting teams? Trying to figure out if I can comment. There is uncertainty but cant comment specifically. Uncertainty does impact things. Will we Terrence Williams in the 2nd half?/ Up to Coach Adelman. I believe in his potential but also believe in Coach Adelman. We believe he has been great at bringing players along. If he thinks Terrence is a guy we should give a shot to great. If not, we trust him as well. He has proven himself over the years as one of the best bringing players along. We arent in his business as to who should play. How is Courtney Lee? Been solid. We knew what we had when we traded for him. Set up players around Yao and though he fit well but think he also fits well in the future. We knew what we were getting with him. Will Aaron get back to last year's form? I think so. He never been injured. Had severe ankle sprain. I think we'll see him back out there. Coach is trying to work him back in. His best is when he is with Lowry and beats teams up. We've been going to that but not as effective as last year but its been effective over time. Lee's athleticism has been nice. He can guard many positions and attack the rim. You have flipped the roster since JVG days. With that said, as he's playing better, got 2 guard you'd like to get going with Aaron when healthy with Lowry, Martin who is great FT player and slasher, and Lee who is playing well, I dont know how you can get into a rythym of how you want lineup in the 4th when you're winning. Wonder if it plays a role in 4th Q comebacks. Only so long you can hang on. It's not ideal. We ideally need to clarify the roster. Clarify who we are going foward with and who we arent. We do have guys who deserve to play who are solid. Reality is we cant force it. We gotta live with less than ideal situation. We arent going to dump good players just because it will make players comfortable with their roles. Giving away good players wouldnt make sense for larger goal. Hurts the short run. Does impact our ability to win and does impact the players. Not major, and dont want it to be an excuse but it is a real factor. You're not wrong that it is uncomfortable for the players and fans for thinking Where is this team going? Reality is we're a team in transition. Best possible situation is to continue to have as many as good players as possible even though it creates the issues you stated. 2nd half of the season, schedule wise, you think it sets up? Oh yeah for sure. We have nearly the easiest schedule to the end. With that said, doesnt matter if you lose to MIN at home. Gotta win the games that are set up. No doubt we'll win some games down the stretch, question is will it be enough? Will take about 44 wins. Gotta win 70% of games down the stretch. Going to Dwight's party? Not much of a party animal. Going to league meetings and catching the main game and getting down to business when I get back to Texas Monday. You MIT guys can throw down. I've seen it in the movies. You're loooking forward to the Los Angeles at night videos with me with the mosh pits. Karsdashians. Is there a Kardashian left for me? All out. Wait around, one will open up. Gotta be difficult time for everyone. What is the difference this year? At or above .500 all season long. Has been the schedule. Really the same exact team this year though better O, worse D. We're tracking the exact same number of wins as last year. Disappointing we arent showing improvement but we arent worst than last year. Everyone got us worse. Of course we dont win the games down the stretch, we will be worse. Right now, we havent been worse but more disappointing is we havent been better. Maybe Morey needs to switch his weekly Thursday visits to 1560. Ha wow, never expect to get this out of 610.
To the OP... Thanks for the heads up about DM being on 1560AM radio. The Podcast is up and I highly recomend that everyone listen to it. That way when people start making things up in their posts you will know right away they are full of chyt. The pod is a little over 21 minutes but it goes by fast. DM talks a little bit about trades and why trades this year are not the same as last year.. (people are always posting that we should trade yao's contract) DM gives some insight on why that may not happen because teams are not dumping salaries like they were last year to make room for all the free agents that were signed this year. DM talks about the players by name. He says flat out that RA is the coach and that RA decides who plays and who rides the bench. Don't take my word for it and don't take anyone elses, hear it for yourself. http://www.1560thegame.com/media/ zzpot puff puff
