This pretty much sums it up. He was public about his disdain for JVG-style grind-it-out, defense-centric type of play. He wants the uptempo, score a lot of points style that Adelman had (who also preached defense) and now D'Antoni.
I wonder if MDA would favor trading Harden to Philly for #1 pick, Embiid, Carl Landry, and Jerami Grant? Maybe bring FA Ish Smith to run point? And would Morey go along with this? All geared toward molding a MDA-style offense.
The problem is though, is we have an owner that still thinks that just simply playing D'Antoni's style of fast 7 seconds or less offense gets you an edge against the competition. I fear he's completely lost on the latest and brightest strategies to winning in the NBA. D'Antoni alone hasn't had much success at all since Nash and him parted ways in Phoenix. He was an innovating coach at one point in time, but that time has past. Our owner is obviously stuck in the past himself, and completely delusional if he thinks D'Antoni's offense is still going to give the team an edge. And Morey's compromise of simply trying surround D'Antoni with "Defensive minded" assistant coaches is a sad compromise. Anyone that's played the sport before knows that the two go hand in hand. Much of what you do on offense affects the other end. Especially with a team with the personnel Houston has with low BBIQ players & low skill level. I'm not saying that D'Antoni and the Rockets won't have "some" success. I think D'Antoni can produce much better results than in New York, and even LA. But to think he's going to produce anything beyond what McHale, and JBB produced is foolish. I look at the Rockets so far as producing the exact same team as they produced last year (major trades & FA pending), and more of the same from a cultural perspective. I couldn't be less interested in the 2016/17 Rockets right now if I tried.
I'm finally starting to think this is a realistic possibility. However I would predict that it would be more Morey leaving than Les firing him. If this is really how bad Les has declined as an owner in his old age, it will frustrate the hell out of Morey who is totally overqualified than to have to bend over backwards to satisfy an over the hill owner who refuses to acknowledge when he's wrong.
Typical shifting of goalposts Suddenly a despised source like hoopscritic becomes absolutely credible and we should believe every single thing because it fits your agenda. Mauri is playing a game here and delusional are falling for it. Be very well aware, Mauri is the primary catalyst in hiring of the coach. Les can have his say but ultimately it is Murray's decision
If he did it wouldn't be the worst thing. Maybe we could finally get some respek back on this organization's name
Good Lawd! Him in that city, to attract free agents and build a team with an owner that literally lets his GM do anything they want? Morey the Based God would be his moniker.
To be clear on that, I do think D'Antoni is a better coach than JBB and McHale. However its the system, chemistry, and culture I was referring to that aren't changing with this hire... at all. I'm not saying the Rockets should play slow it down 24 second offense, but they needed a drastic change in their approach on offense that would ultimately affect their defense being stronger. From a culture and chemistry standpoint, D'Antoni isn't changing or inspiring anything. After the Nash/Phoenix days, what has be brought together from a chemistry standpoint???... Did he bring together Dwight/Nash/Kobe? Did he bring together Melo/Lin? Did he bring together Okafor & Noel?? The biggest problem from a chemistry standpoint is this factor... players meshing together, communicating, sharing the ball, finding each other.... D'Antoni has failed miserably in every situation since leaving Phoenix. Now he's supposed to make this team click with one of the worst chemistry teams I've seen in forever? I'm not just talking about Harden & Howard... Lawson struggled to click. Brewer was Brewer. The PF position entirely. The lack of being able to find anyone other than Harden to make a play on offense. etc. D'Antoni has had success improving teams, but only when he ostracizes certain players to play "his system". Melo had to be hurt for Lin to succeed. Kobe had to get hurt for Gasol & Dwight to finally mesh. Getting a coach that needs his most talented players to get hurt or traded to play his "system" to actually win games isn't a coach that inspires this team to think it will improve its chemistry and togetherness. Putting D'Antoni in as the coach of this team IMO signifies more of the same. He might have been the last coach I would have suggested not because he's a bad coach or worse than McHale/JBB... but the fact that there is no evidence to suggest there will be a culture/chemistry change along with the strategy/system they are essentially doubling down on.
Honestly I don't even know who does what anymore or what to believe. Maybe that's their intention in the Rockets Brass? Muddy the waters so no one can be held accountable for anything? What we've heard for the last decade: Les chooses coaches. Morey chooses coaches. Les and Morey collaborate to choose coaches. Morey advises Les on which coach to choose. Morey chooses assistant coaches. Morey builds roster. Les has say so on roster. Morey doesn't allow coach input on roster. Morey drafts Aaron Brooks because Adelman said to. Morey and Les dictate rotations. Coaches are told by Morey how to play. Howard goes to Morey to ask for him to change his level of involvement in how the offense is played. Who does what does where? No one even knows. To those who blame Morey, or blame coaches, or blame Les, or all of the above, thank you to all those people for at least wanting some accountability and for caring.
