Not saying you're wrong but a lot of this is hindsight. No one in a million years would've guessed ATL would be this good a year ago. I mean people were clamoring for Millsap thinking he would for sure be a trade target on a team that was looking to blow it up because the consensus was they were stuck in basketball purgatory. So I'm giving a ton of credit to Budenholzer and the fortuitous bounce of Horford being healthy.
Spurs comparisons are stupid. If everyone could have a roster with 3 guys who played together for 12 years, who have 23 combined all star apperances, and one of the 14 multiple MVP winners in league history...
I had them as the 3rd best team in the east, unless Rose didn't get back to himself, then #2, and honestly that's where i have them right now, the 2nd best team in the east now that lebron is rounding into shape/health.
Daryl Morey on 790 a few minutes back. Just a quick recap of what I heard. Nothing major. 790: Is this like December 23rd for you with the trade deadline on Thursday? DM: We are open to always improve the team. I think we are pretty good right now but I think it's more like a christmas morning when you're older. Maybe something is coming. It's more like a bday when you're open to get some and maybe something is coming. 790: I didn't notice Daryl in any sweet NBA outfits during all star weekend? DM: Im definitely fashioned backwards, wearing the dad version of mum jeans. I'm not very cool if you've heard. 790: I know you're not very cool, you're into analytics. DM: Yeah what is that, all they try to do is get better players. I have said all my 140 characters on that. 790: What frustrates me is how many people truly don't have a sense of what analytics is. It is based on the word analyze. Basically how do you analyze a situation and project what might happen going forward. We do it all the time in our everyday routine and I think people get too DM: It is just a tool. It is using data and analysis. it helps you of course. No reason not to use it. It's like a hammer, saying i'm never going to use a hammer, I'll use a piece of rubber. It's a tool that is useful and when you use it can help you win games. 790: Daryl, we got a tweet, can we ask Daryl to comapre the negotiating part of his job to something. I guess she wants you to explain beign a wheeler and dealer. DM: I mean it is a whole lot of nothign really. I mean it's really like sales. If you're trying to sell a tough to sale product you have a 1000 conversations and only 1 may pan out. 790: I want to ask you about guys who played above value from when you brought them in. Budinger, Parsons, Lowry, Brooks, Troy Daniels. Do you still get a level of excitement when you're watching and putting it all together and oyu say "this guy is undervalued" DM: Absolutely, We get pretty excited. It's obviously a job I would never trade for anything. Hope I keep it for a good while. You do get excited about guys and it doesn't work out. It's usually only our internal people that know and nobody else. There are no secret players. Bruno Caboco kid was unknown and about 6 kids were high on him. Gersan Rosas saw him in South America and we had a leg up on everyone. Usually the ones I get excited about, I'll show Lesley but he has seen it all. 790: Corey Brewer didn't fit the typical Morey standard. How do you go after him and find he has fit in? DM: We like defenders on the wing, we thought his shot would improve. We generally have an ability to improve shooters. Some of it is Harden with the work he does. We knew his shot would improve. We knew his energy was high but it is probably a bit higher than we though. Him coming froma losing team has resulted in higher energy. Obviously he is not the perfect player but he has a great transition game and can jump start it without leaking out. Overall coach McHale knew him well from drafting him years ago. High character guy, good locker room guy. We gave up fairly significant stuff for a guy who will probably be a free agent but we thought he would be a good fit. 790: Nothing is guranteed but you'd be staisfied with how Josh SMith has played since becoming a Rocket. DM: Pretty much panned out how we thought. A winning situation here and a system that fits him and he could get back to his diominant Atlanta days. It has really played out well. He has been great and with Dwight out he has been keeping us afloat in many ways givign good minutes at the big spot. 790: ANything new on Dwight? DM: Nothing new. We won't know until he takes his MRI in 10-14 days. Again, we are optimistic and we will know soon where we are with him. 790: How proud are you with Beverley winning the skills challenge? DM: I'm really happy. The guy is an underdog. He doesn't get a lot of accolades and I'm happy he got his moment. He doesn't get a lot of time in the spotlight considering all the superstar Point guards out there and I'm glad he got his. Him, DMO and Ariza are the guys who being behind Dwight and James don't get much of the fame. It was dramatic and I like the format. It's Pat's personality to go head to head. He is not going to win the events where he can't intimidate other guys but a head to head suits him well. That 3 point contest had a lot fo great shooters and it was tough for James. But Harden should have got MVP in the All Star game. Disappointing that he didn't despite a near triple double.
It's funny, every NFL team uses the combine as a tool and it's widely accepted, yet it's a far less accurate science.
I listened and he sounded pretty comfortable and confident to me. I think he has a full gameplan locked and ready to go
when has he not sounded like that? even when we lost out on bosh and parsons, he sounded pretty confident...
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He was completely out of it in the interview right after Dwight's month off for knee rehab was announced
Daryl Morey on 790 a few minutes back. Just a quick recap of what I heard. 790: Good Morning Daryl, How do you feel like you guys made out yesterday? DM: Good Morning. Well you always get various opportunities that present themselves in the trade deadline and you don't know what. Some times things emerge early, sometimes late and they die. Given the opportunities that were there KJ MCDaniels was someone we avae been targetting for a while since the draft. When he went to Philly we thought he was some guy we could get down the road And Prigs is also someone long admired and respected. A winner his whole career, gold medal and championships. One of the sneaky good players on the Knicks and Pablo has played well for them. 790: You can answer this if you want but is what the Suns were looking for 2 1st rounders, DMO and another player thrown in? as reported DM: I won't answer that but You can see what they got, They got two unprotected picks, they ended with a group of interesting players going back for them. Ryan McD is someone i have worked with and does a good job. Obviously Goran had a set of places that he was interested in going to and Miami being one of them was able to fulfill that. Lot of good players potentially available in this deadline and when there are good players, we explore it and none of the more experienced players were available. 790: WIth PP who is a pesky defender just like Beverley now you have two guys to bother the others. Was that soemthing you wanted? DM: As Adam knows since the playoffs, the primary thing this season, the drills, the players we are acquiring have been about defense. KJ who is long, athletic and Phily havign a strong defense as the season progressed and KJ has been playing well. KJ potential as a defender and developing offensive game. We feel really good of what he can do down the road. NBA has become a league whenre you need atheltic players who can defend and attack the hoop. 790: You guys start tonight in Dallas and DH still the biggest question mark going forward and you almost can't say what you have yet until you get him back. I feel like you guys feel good about long term prognosis of the knee DM: Yeah we do feel good abut it. I spoke to Dwight yday and he feels good. We will have another chekc up in 10-14 days. There is some uncetainty but we are fine. 790: Some of the other moves in the WC such as Afflalo to the Blazers and Thunder bolstering their team. Your thoughts? DM: In terms of our main competitors, most made some moves. The Spurs you got to tip their cap to them, they stick to their policy and thiei team. OKC needed to shake things up with where they are with being right at the cusp of the playoffs. IMO there weren't any moves that would change balance of power in the West. Most teams made moves like us to bolster something now or in the future. 790: Were you surprised that the 76ers travelled MCW rookie of the year? DM: That's something I can't comment on. THey are at the point trying to figure out which guys are their core going forward. Obviously they got something reallly good back which they feel good about. Caller Chris: What role does our D league play? We are one of the teams that develop guys like IC and TD and we can trade them later. DM: Appreciate it. NBA is behind the times compared to baseball. The MLB has a well developed farm ssytem. You look at a guy like IC or Capela who is there right now. Basketball doesn;t have that rank list where they talk about prosspects all the time. We have a great coaching stuff there with Jack Sikma working with Capela. We have had IC there. TD was there with a shooting coach. Bottom line is that is coming where NBA teams have a well developed farm system. 790: One last question, are you still playing hoops to stay in shape? DM: I'm still playing hoops here and there, not sure if I'm staying in shape.
Wow @ Morey's answers, trying to downplay OKC & Blazers's moves and saying every team got better for now or the future. Guess the latter is something that holds true for us.
