Here is the transcript of the short QA. Sorry just went through and typed it quickly. PTI: How do you explain and or rationalize DH play on the Lakers? DM: Everyone is saying he has to play better, I'll take the Lakers DH, I'll take the DH of any of these past years. He lead the league in rebounding. Pretty good when you have a down year and still lead the league in Rebounding. PTI: Some people belive DH worries too much about being like and doesn't have the killer instinct. How fair is that description. DM: I am just getting to know him but from our background that is not very fair. He is a guy that is focused on winning but he likes to smile as well and I do think that is fair. I think in Houston he can do both. PTI: There are rumors that Asik wants to be traded, what have you told him and do you have plans to play them together. DM: We have plans to have both on the team. Last year when we didn't have Omer on the floor we were one of the worst teams. Now we have 2 of the top 5 centers of the league. To us it's not a luxury it's a necessity of 48 minutes of two of the best centers. In terms of them playing together, Mchale will experiment with it, but going in there will be some challenges. PTI: Mentioned in your research and background of DH, what questions did you have for him before you could bring him in as a free agent. DM: They did their background, but don't want to mix too much up. We were trying to just get him to say yes. But we did a lot of background, obviously I am close with the van gundy's and the feedback we got was really positive. A guy who is not known for how smart he is defensively, change up coverages, follows the game plan to a T and he is a guy that can dominate a game in different ways. Obviously he had some bumpy times with Van Gundy in Orlando, but the fact both of them got through it and still are friends shows something about DH. PTI: Conventional wisdom says you build through the draft, but you didn't build through the draft. Essentially you traded Kevin Martin and a bunch of stuff for two huge stars. How risky is that? Are there more eye on you if you don't win big. DM: I do think the path we took is challenging, and took a lot of preparation and good fortune. I think both of you have watch enough sports to know it takes a bit of both to be the best out of 30+ teams. We chose that path because frankly we didn't think we could take another one. I think bottoming out has a higher probability and longer history, we were able to take advantage of some new aspects of the CBA and that helped us and we were ready when the opportunity came and we got some good fortune that James Harden was available. PTI: We will get you out on this, about failure. What position do you finish next year that you say to your self "that wasn't good enough" DM: I think we have set our goals pretty lofty given how hard the west is, we want to to get home court in the west. It is a realistic goal but a tough goal given there is probably 6-7 high quality teams again. That's where we have set our sights. To win home court and advance, and then hopefully to the western conference finals.
How do you explain and/or rationalize Dwight Howard's performance as a Laker? Everyone is talking about how he has to play better. I'll take the Laker Dwight or Dwight of any of these past years. Led the league in rebounding. You're pretty good when you have a down year and lead the league in rebounding. Some people believe Dwight wants to be liked too much and doesn't have that killer instinct. How fair is that description? I'm just getting to know him but from our background, that does not seem fair. He's a guy focused on winning but he does like to smile as well. I do think that is fair. We think in Houston he can do both. Reports have Omer Asik wanting to be traded. What have you told him? Do you have plans to play him and Howard together if you can? We have plans to have both on the team. Last year when we didn't have Omer on the floor, we were one of the worst teams in the league. Now we have two of the, I think, top five centers in the league. To us, it's not a luxury, it's a necessity. We'll have 48 minutes of two of the best centers. We're excited to have both. In terms of playing together, I think Coach McHale will experiment with it but going in, I do it has some challenges. What were questions you had and needed to get answered before you completed this transaction bringing him in as a free agent? We obviously did our background. I don't want to mix too much up. We were just trying to get him to say yes, frankly. We did a lot of background. Obviously I'm close with the Van Gundy's who know him well. Steve Clifford has coached him a long time. The background we got was very positive. A guy who is not known for how smart he is defensively, he can change up coverages, he follows the game plan to a T, he's a guy who can dominate the game in different ways. Obviously he went through bumpy times in Orlando and with Van Gundy and the fact that both of them got through it in a way that they're friends still says something about Dwight and says something about his ability. Conventional wisdom in the NBA says you build through the draft. You didn't build through the draft. You essentially traded Kevin Martin and a bunch of stuff for two huge stars. How risky is that? Are there more eyes on you if the team does not win big? I do think the path we took is challenging. It took a lot of preparation and good fortune. ... We chose that path because we felt we couldn't take another one. I think bottoming out is the one that has a higher probability and longer history. We were able to pull this off, we took advantage of some new aspects of the CBA and that really helped us and we were ready when the opportunity came and some good fortune that James Harden was available. At what position where you finish next year would you say "That isn't good enough." We set our goals pretty lofty, given how tough the west. We want home court in the west. We feel that's a realistic goal although a tough goal, given there is six to seven really high quality teams again. That's where we set our sights. Home court and hopefully advance to the Western Conference Finals.
lol yeah. I looked up from my computer cause I heard a familiar voice, and Daryl Morey was on the screen. Pretty awesome. It's been Rockets day on ESPN today.
PTI: How do you explain or rationalize Dwight Howard's performance as a Laker? Morey:Well I take the Dwight Howard of any of these past years. You're pretty good when you have a down year when you lead the league in rebounds on a down year. PTI:Some people believe Dwight wants to be liked to much and doesn't have that killer instinct? Morey:I'm just getting to know him, but from our background that doesn't seem fair. He's focused on winning, and likes to smile. It's fine if he does both. PTI:Report has it that Omer Asik wants to be traded, do you have plans to play them together? Morey:We have plans to play them both. When Omer didn't play we were one of the worst teams in the league. Now we have 2 of the top 5 centers in the league, for us it's not a luxury its a necessity. In terms of playing together Mchale will play around with it. PTI:What were the question you had about Dwight Howard before you needed to bring in Dwight as a free agent. Morey:We were just trying to get him to say yes. We did a lot of background. I'm close with the Van Gundys and Steve Clifford, and the back ground we got was very positive. He is a very smart defender, can change up coverages, can follow gameplans to a T, and dominate the game in diff. way. Went through bumpy times with Van Gundy in Orlando, but are still friends. That says something about Dwight's character PTI: Conventional wisdom is to build through the draft, you didn't build through draft. How risky is it building through trade? Morey: I think the path we took is challenging and it requires luck/preparation. You need both to be best out of 30 teams. We took that plan because we didn't think we couldn't take another one. We took advantage of aspects of CBA, and we ready when the opportunity to get Harden came up. PTI: At what position next year will you consider a failure (In playoff terms)? Morey: We set our goals pretty loftly, we wan't home court advantage. It is tough with 6-7 high quality teams. We want home-court and hopefully advance to Western Conference Finals.
.........name 5 better Centers then? Can you put in the transcript that he dyed his hair for some reason? Or maybe it was too much gel?
Second best defensive center in the league. I would say he is top 5. People just pay enough attention to defense.
Daryl's comment on Asik and his previous comment on Lin being the 3rd biggest contributor last year makes it obvious, or at least likely, that the Rockets value adjusted +/- stats like RAPM highly. http://stats-for-the-nba.appspot.com/ratings/2013.html 2013 1. Marc Gasol 2. Dwight Howard(down year) 3. Tyson Chandler 4/5/6 Joakim Noah/Roy Hibbert/Omer Asik(tied)
This is very true. Daryl did believe in some other wacky ideas that no other NBA front office believed in, such as: James Harden is a max player Omer Asik is a starter Chandler Parsons belongs in the NBA
Dwight, Gasol and Hibbert.....sure. Noah is better, but I wouldn't say worlds better. No way I'd take Lopez over Asik.
