The Brewer signing was not bad. He played very well for us the prior season. The McDaniel contract was a head scratcher given that Brewer re-signed. It made even less sense when he wasn't traded at the deadline. Morey has had more positive moves than negative. People that say Morey is not a good GM are letting the sky fall.
Was Harden in the conference? Is this important for the team if your best player is not present for such an important event?
There are some video clips from the press conference over at NBA.com: http://www.nba.com/video/?ls=iref:nba:gnav I watched the one where Les and Morey introduced D'Antoni. It was not exactly a confidence builder.
I just finished posting video of the whole thing... it's 21 minutes so it's still processing. I will post it here once ready...
At least we know that if we keep Brewer, MDA won't keep playing him if he can't get his **** together
Houston will not overly support an entertaining, but ultimately mediocre, basketball team. This is a terrible basketball town when things are not border-line contender status. A lot of diehard/long-term fans were more upset about last year's team than any other team in history (including the embarrassing lottery ones), and it will take more than just 7 second uptempo basketball to bring them back. This is a huge risk from Les' standpoint.... And if D'antoni doesn't work out (with the predictable departures of Morey and Harden to follow), it could set off a chain reaction that brings this team to new depths they've yet to reach in over 2 decades.
-late to thread- McDaniel is Harden injury insurance. If needed they would play him a lot, to sink or swim. Brewer was/is there to run, he is very fast on the break. May work with this coach. running/scoring basketball is entertaining. Way more so than Hack-a or ISO. Harden is the best finisher in traffic I have ever seen so that could be fun. He's just not going to get to the cherry-picker on the other end though.
Anyone who still believes that this was a Daryl Morey hire, or that the Rockets don't follow this BBS, needs to have his or her head examined. It's on Les Alexander. Morey will probably pay the price if it doesn't work out, but I hope it does. These are our Rockets. This is our team. It's the Houston Rockets, not the Manhattan Rockets or any other team in the NBA universe. Mr. Alexander has wanted to avoid anything remotely like a classic rebuild, and Morey has done a good job dealing within those perimeters, perimeters extremely difficult to overcome. Daryl deserves a heck of a lot of credit for the job he's done. Now that Les has grabbed the coach he's wanted for years, let's see what D'Antoni and Morey can do. This summer is a watershed for the franchise, in my opinion. What we do this summer and the results we get next season will set the course of this team for the next few years. Don't **** it up, guys.
The entire press conference introducing Mike D'Antoni as the new Rockets head coach. [youtube]xliABVpQHIs[/youtube]
Les didn't hire D'Antoni because he just wants to sell tickets. He firmly believes that D'Antoni will give the Rockets the best chance to win. Les is angry, because he wanted a D'Antoni style of offense, that is now in vogue over a decade ago. Instead, he believes that he wasn't true to himself insisting that the Rockets go all in on SSOL. This isn't a new infatuation, Les has wanted D'Antoni as his coach for well over a decade. He has gone out of his way to talk to D'Antoni in the past (it was briefly discussed in the press conference), and once D'Antoni was available, it was only a matter of time until Les named him head coach. You can also tell that Morey is less than thrilled about the hire. There were a couple times when Morey would smile at something that D'Antoni said; but for the most part he seemed distracted and not entirely involved with the press conference.
I tried watching this but I lasted less than 30 seconds before being disgusted. I feel like DM does, about to smack Pringles across the face if I look at him.
Best part of the presser was when Les was asked about trying to out play GS and he got hacked off and ended the press conference. Classic! Then Daryl Morey was on 790 and basically recited the Golden Rule and and made a lot comments that I interpreted as "I know who signs the checks around here". Anyone who can't clearly see that this was a Les Alexander decision needs to have their eyes examined pronto.
Les looks so old. He need just collect his money, let Morey do his jobs. Les seems to not be smart enough to do the basketball decision.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">D'Antoni called Dwight Howard "One of the best players in the league. We're going to play a certain way. I hope he wants to play that way."</p>— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jonathan_Feigen/status/738126287353454592">June 1, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">When asked what needs to improve, first item on D'Antoni's to do list "jumps out real quick. We have to play better defense."</p>— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jonathan_Feigen/status/738127305201967105">June 1, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Win what? Regular season games? Maybe, depending on what roster moves they're able to make given their limited resources(other than capspace which most teams will have this summer). But D'Antoni never got the Suns to the Finals. He never won a playoff series with the Knicks or Lakers. Hell, he didn't even win a playoff game with either team(a 4-0 first round sweep at each stop). What I got from Les' remarks were the same old tired formula that's led the franchise nowhere. He wants to win now. He doesn't want a new, young coach who has to gain experience over several seasons. He wants to emulate the high octane offenses of other winning teams in the NBA(presumably the Warriors and Thunder). Which means we'll go after big name free agents this summer and strike out. We'll score a buttload of points while giving up just as many on the defensive end. And we'll win at best 41-45 games and either wind up with another late lottery pick or early first round exit.
