Another one of the podcasts on rockets.com - talking to Elston Turner about the upcoming year. http://www.nba.com/media/rockets/Rockets_Podcast_Elston_Turner_10-01-09.mp3 I'll try to recap here in a minute.
Just beat me to it. It was pretty good. I think Turner is very underrated. He gave some great feedback on what we should expect from the defensive side.
[NBA.com] Inteview with Elston Turner (podcast) Edit: Sorry, I submitted this post as a different thread before realizing this one already exists. <embed src= "http://www.odeo.com/flash/audio_player_standard_gray.swf" quality="high" width="300" height="52" allowScriptAccess="always" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" flashvars= "valid_sample_rate=true&external_url=http://www.nba.com/media/rockets/Rockets_Podcast_Elston_Turner_10-01-09.mp3" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"> </embed> A (very much) paraphrased transcript of the questions/answers. Forgive the typos, which I'm sure are numerous. A few interesting tidbits in there: CA: Craig Ackerman JF: Jason Friedman ET: Elston Turner Podcast Interview with Elston Turner CA: welcome back. has to be bittersweet to be back, when you want to get a head coaching job. thanks for joining us. ET: good to be back. it was close, but it didn't work out. i'm happy to be here. JF: what have you seen from ariza that he's worked on. any player that you want him to be like. ET: looking at his length, athleticism, I think of Scottie Pippen. I'd like to see him handling the ball, slashing, cutting. His athleticism is something we didn't have last year. He's going to rebound, he knows how to play. Still a young guy. We're going to ask more of him this to be more than a spot up player. We need him to be more creative. He's going to get better, no doubt. CA: He's never been a big time scorer. He was during championship run. Can we expect Trevor to elevate his game? ET: We never put a hard number (have to give us 15, 16). Based on our losses, his role has to increase. He says he's can do more. We need to replace points, if he can average 15-17 points, I think we can if we put the ball in his hands slicing and cutting. He's never been the focal point, but we'll change that juts a little bit and see how he plays. JF: Team on defensive side of the ball. Obviously with no Yao we lose primary shot blocker. However, we saw against the Lakers, even against the biggest frontline, we were able to lock down more often than not. You bring in a guy like Chuck Hayes, not a shotblocker, but quick, moves his feet well, plays pick and roll really well, what sort of team effort do you expect this season, bringing in a guy like Trevor? ET: We're going to lose height, some shot-blocking. But we gain athleticism, we expect shots at the rim to still be contested. We probably led league in sliding over taking charges. We still want to protect the rim that way. With a guy like Artest ... he gambled, but he was able to guard smaller big guys, and bigger small guys. Trevor has yet to prove he can do that. He's more of an active 3. But can he guard the bigger perimeter guys in the post. We will have speed, athleticism at 2 and 3 spot. Even with Chase, who'se very athletic. I don't expect to lose anything defensively. Only thing, playing with shorter team, what hurts you is length of time. You can hold it down for a series, but over 82 games it will wear on you. You have to compensate by double teams and doing things we don't like to do that may leave some 3-point shots open, have a ripple effect elsewhere. So there may be a lull in areas we were previously good at. We'll have to see. CA: Opinion on center spot? ET: Starting out, as matchups dictate. One spot you could see different people starting there. Or, we could possibly start Andersen, and have him guard the 4 and have Scola guard the 5. One thing .. we had to protect a guy like Yao, because we needed him on the floor. Now, we may not have to double as much. If a center gets in trouble, we go to the next guy, and the next guy. JF: nationally people are down on the team, losing Yao and Tracy. Having spoken to Rockets braintrust, I think there is a confidence that this team can make the playoffs and surprise people. What are you thoughts on what the team can do? ET: It's yet to be determined. We of course don't want to say that the team can't to do it, or they won't be up to par. Want to keep the morale high, and work just as hard as before. We have a team full of guys that compete, like you saw last year. They'll compete and play hard. A lot of time, winning is just who plays hardest and longest. we'll be there in terms of competing. in reality, at some point, talent has to come into play. and we're finding out now how much talent we have. I think collectively, we can get it done on both ends of the floor, put a product that surprises people. CA: First time you guys as a staff have seen McGrady since his surgery. How does he look? ET: He looks good, he always comments and says the right things. He's ready to play. It's just a matter if his body holds up. When you look at test results, it paints a different picture sometimes. But we can use him, whenever he's ready to come back we welcome him back. He's the star of the team. I hope he comes back in a hurry, and he's healthy. You can tell he's working, he's more cut that in the past. CA: Have you had any conversations with Rick about the possibility of succeeding him in Houston. ET: If I'm fortunate enough to get my own job, I'd like to get it on my own. I don't want anyone thinking I'm a successor here, which puts him on the hot seat. I'm here to assist him. Having said that, I'd love to have my own show one day, and I'm looking forward to that day. CA: Best of luck to you and staff this season ET: Thanks.
I guess he refers to the need of long term evaluation. His physique seems to be ready and the results may be somewhat positive. They doubt if his condition will hold up facing the wear and tear over months. They are being overcautious IMO.
i think it means that t-mac basically has proven already that he can dunk again in practice and play little pick-up games without any problems but wether or not his body can hold up to the conditions of a grueling nba season remains to be seen.
It sounds like he's saying the recent test results show McGrady's knee still isn't right, which is contrary to what McGrady has been say (he's ready, just staying out for "precautionary" reasons).
He looks good, he always comments and says the right things. He's ready to play. It's just a matter if his body holds up. When you look at test results, it paints a different picture sometimes.[/I] Telling statement right there. Cant beleive people here still beleive TMac has any value other than his contract. People are actually arguing that TMac is better than Joe Johnson right now. RIDICULOUS!!!!!
I know what you think. But..if it was anything major the media would have announced that. Don't you think? It doesn't make sense and it will have you speculate even more. The 'precautionary' scenario sounds like a deal.
I could be wrong but my theory is still standing. Adelman wants to figure one, two rotations before Tracy gets back into it. Then slowly work him into his system.
i really doubt that's what he meant. if t-mac's knee wasn't right he couldn't have trained this hard with grover. if there really was something serious with his knee at this stage of his rehab waiting one month wouldn't change a thing. in fact, it would be known by now for 100 % that his surgery went wrong. and from all we know that's not the case and extremely unlikely.
I don't belive it is true. They just want to take it easy, maybe the picture shows his knee just can't hold on all those games and practices just yet.
Exactly. It's just too late. He is pretty much at the end of the recovery I guess. And he had his doctor there in Chicago so his knee was really watched closely.
