What a weak interview. The morning after the trade deadline where there are two new pieces and there are no questions about how they'll fit in, when they'll play, is KJ a developmental guy or a rotation guy, etc.
Every move we seem to make now is focused on defense do we not realize that we don't have many players besides Harden and Dmo who can create their own shot...compared to the other great teams in the west I feel like we don't have enough two way players
I'm guessing their logic is that defense is what cost us in the playoffs last year and needed improvement more than anything else. Defense becomes very important in the "coin flip games" where single possessions matter. JSmith is a much better defensive option to guard Aldridge than anything we had last year. You have Ariza and Brewer (maybe McDaniels) now to guard wing scorers. I wouldn't worry about Dorsey because he won't be in the playoff rotation (DMo as backup 5 is acceptable)
They were official for the Morey interview and he did speak about the players they acquired. At least Raheel managed to get the shout out in about Morey playing pickup basketball with him. You're so cool.
I agree with this. On the offensive end, this team really isn't that much different from last year. What we lost from Lin and Parsons we've made up for with Harden elevating his game, Josh Smith rediscovering his old self, DMo becoming a dominant post player, and Brewer giving us good energy. Ultimately, it's all in what our defense gives us. Ariza, Josh Smith, DMo, Brewer, and even Prigioni will all give us better defense than what Parsons, Lin and TJones gave us. The major loss was Asik, but if Howard returns to form, I don't think we will see any drop off in post defense.
Agreed. Clanton just isn't that good... He's more concerned w being funny than he is being a legit sports talk host. It's just way too much fluff. Lance deserves better IMO. Matt, Adam and lance may have been overboard but lance and Adam (Wexler obvi) would be perfect.
Didn't catch it all but...: Core remained intact. Thoughts on the guys you had and where coach might utilize the players you brought in. Very confident. The West is wide open. We have a top 5 defense and MVP level player. Once everyone is on the floor, which we haven't had all year, we feel very good about our chance relative to everyone else. Golden State is running away with the one seed. Congrats, you get to play a restocked OKC team in the first round. Every first round series in the West will be a battle, probably a pick'em. It'll come down to match-ups, who's peaking, who's meshing. It'll be a dogfight but we feel good who we're going to battle with. Your acquisitions insurance policies for this year and KJ another insurance policy for what you want to do at the backup wing position? KJ is restricted and we'll be bringing him back. Prigioni can help right now. Veteran guy, more of a pure point guard. Right now we have Pat(defense) and Jason(score), so having another look at that spot with a pure PG who can make the passes and off the ball with hi shooting, we felt we might need that down stretch. Pablo was the best available. KJ is more down the line. If we have an injury, he is ready to play. Arguably best player on Philly. He's someone going forward, we love his potential, length, and athleticism. The only way to defend the perimeter is having multiple athletes with length who can defend. ... We feel good about both acquisitions.Neither are big names but it's often not the big names that end up being the biggest. Our acquisition of Lowry was similar to this. 3rd string guy under the radar. Dragic the first time we got him. We try to find guys who will explode into being helpful players and KJ fits that mold. Feel you were in position to add a significant player? 1/3 on odds of something bigger. The public desire of Goran and what he wanted and the team construction and where he wanted to be did affect things. We felt confident it was, if we acquired him, he would not stay here. We would have love to added him but had to reflect that in what we would give up. They obviously went with Miami there. Other big names, there were some other folks we were talking about but didn't come close. Agents with multiple players at the same position. That comes into play. ... The agent tries to exert control and often successfully. What is the key to advancing from where you are today? This season, number one will be a healthy Dwight or it'll be extremely difficult. We do need Terrence Jones. We've struggled all year scoring. A lot of that lands on Harden and that will continue. Jones is a guy who can score points. He's important. We need high level play from Donatas, Trevor, Smith & Brewer. ... ... We'll have to...our defense will need to be top 5. Our offense will not be as good. Top 5 in defense and our offense has to be above average, probably not elite. Confident a return is on the clock before the playoffs for Dwight? We feel very good about that. Always uncertainty there. That plays a part in how you look at things at a deadline as well. ... Buyout candidates? We feel like we have a deep team. For someone who is bought out to come play in our rotation or even one injury away from playing, we don't think those guys are likely to get waived. Our bench is as good or better than any West playoff teams. ... People want to play here because they want to play for Coach McHale. He puts them in great spots, he has good demeanor. Between our team, winning and McHale, Brewer comes here and drops his player option so we can maintain flexibility. That happens because of relationships and where the team is at. That all went into being able to build the bench this year.
Amazing what happens when you ask Daryl some good basketball related questions...thanks for the recap J.R.
Thanks, J.R.! Morey really doesn't sound like he's going to pick up a player who's bought out. Not now, anyway. Josh Smith was a gift. Still amazes me that he was bought out and we got him.
