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[610am] Interview with Dennis Lindsey on Yao's Re-integration

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by Kindger, Mar 16, 2007.

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  1. Kindger

    Kindger Member

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    Open thread for Wangdoodle.

    It's all yours man.
     
  2. Kindger

    Kindger Member

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  3. Wangdoodle

    Wangdoodle Member

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    Whoa Whoa! Here it is! (sorry - had to take a dump)


    Here's an interview from this morning with Dennis Lindsey (VP of Basketball Operations for Houston Rockets). I started recording it about 3-5 minutes late into the interview

    He talks about...

    John Lucas
    Bonzi Wells update
    Roll players and shooting
    status of Yao's re-integration
    Various team & player matchup issues
    Playoff positioning
    Worshiping Steve Nash


    They talked to him for a while about college hoops. I edited that out.

    Click the green button below to hear the interview.

    <object width="300" height="80"><param name="movie" value="http://media.imeem.com/m/L2EzBg-E6E/aus=false/"></param><param name="wmmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://media.imeem.com/m/L2EzBg-E6E/aus=false/" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="300" height="80" wmode="transparent"></embed></object>
     
  4. X-PAC

    X-PAC Member

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    Could someone give us less fortunate peeps a better description of the interview as my dial-up hardly allows me to hear it.

    Big props to Wangdoodle.

    Also . . . why doesn't 610 add these Rocket Insider segments to their Audio Vault? I checked to see if it was there and all I found was Astros. and Texans’ sound files. In-freakin-credible.
     
  5. Kindger

    Kindger Member

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    I was just worrying about getting my open thread privilege revoked :D

    It turned out even funnier because I can not see the "green button" at all due to company's internet filter :D
     
  6. Wangdoodle

    Wangdoodle Member

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    Hi guys

    Sorry about the filtering thing. I can post a link to the mp3 if you want, but it's an 18 mb file.... so... yes? no?

    X-PAC, I'll post a better summary, but it's an 18 minute interview, so it will take me a while.
     
  7. Kindger

    Kindger Member

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    I'm fine, I can listen to it when I am at home tonight. I'm sure most of people here have no problem. I was just joking.

    Thanks for the effort.
     
  8. X-PAC

    X-PAC Member

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    No prob man. Take your time. Much appreciated.
     
  9. Wangdoodle

    Wangdoodle Member

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    (discussing Rockets mental readiness and toughness)
    Physical characteristics, makeup, gameIQ instincs, playing experience are all very important to the development of a player. "If we were to take a scouting report of John Lucas right now, it would be what we call a "clean skillset". There's just not a lot of flaws and errors, so he's able to overcome some of his size issues that he has as it relates to the league."

    Q: what happened to Shane in the last game?
    "I didn't see it live, but I saw it from my office... It looked like he took a shot to the head and then he ran back for some quick stitches... He came back for the last couple of posessions. I have not talked to Keith Jones as of yet, but it did not look like it was gonna very serious and he did come back. Talking to Carrol (Dawson)... he didn't miss this road trip, so I think everything's fine. I think he's hurting more about Duke than he is about his head."

    Did you hear the audience boo Christian Laettner at this game in Vegas?
    No on likes Christian? I didn't know that.

    Q:what is Bonzi Well's status right now?
    I've been on the road, but I think there was something in the paper...Bonzi was saying that he was healthy.. It's been tricky all year long for Jeff and Bonzi's health and his conditioning early ...He's had three different things that have come up and interrupted his play. In the last game , Kirk Snyder played well... It is difficult for the coach, any time that you add depth, to parcel out minutes. And as you know, Jeff likes to keep a tight rotation and keep things kind-of known. So it's the decitsion making process of 'when you bring guys back', 'how you bring them back' and what 'kind of shots they're gonna have'... just because the shots outside of Yao and Tracy, when both of those guys play together, are few and far between. So that's the difficult part of Jeff's job, there's a lot of decisions to be made.

    With that said, with what we went through last year, one of our objetives in the offseason was to increase the depth and versatility of the team. I thik we've done it, so we've been able to withstand some of the injuries, but it does make the coach's job very diffitult.

    Q: Even when the Rockets are good, is the team only as good as the supporting cast is going to allow them to be? It seems that when Rafer and Luther are off, this team is gonna (struggle)

    Certainly, it's not about two guys, it's about the group and collectively how the group comes together and fits and performs. With that said, both Luther and Rafer have performed well in the 4th quarter. Certainly you can point to certain matchups where you're parcelling out tow or three games where they haven't performed well... are we worried about that particualr matchup? History tells you that you don't want to ever look at two or three games based on "they performed well against San Antonio, but they didn't against Phoenix" (or vice versa), so you have to take the larger picture that they have done well. Luther just hit the shot out of the corner to bring us back against the Clippers. Jeff is very good at giving guys great shot confidence and not shot questioning shot selection. So, if we have a corner shot, and Luther's taking it or Rafer's taking one out of the pick and roll, we're confident they can make it.

    Now certainly, with Yao and Tracy, teams are gonna take the ball out of those guys' hands, so other guys have gotta perform. That's why we've added Shane and added shooting. So, generally speaking, we've been a good 3-point-shooting club, but Jeff and the whole front office talked about this, we wanted to shoot more threes, and we wanted to space the court more, But when you do that, sometimes you 'live by the three, die by the three' so we have a philosophy and we're gonna stick to it."

    Q: Yao just doesn't seem to be a factor against Phoenix. When playing them, how to do you make it your kind of game instead of Phoenix's kind of game?

    Good question. We're not ever here to make excuses - you've got to play the games in front of you.. even against the Clippers, we're still - I soulnd't say we're struggling - but we're searching out opportunities to re-integrate Yao. That's a major theme over the remaining 18 games; to figure out how best he fits. Not what's best for Yao, but what's best for the group going forward into the playoffs. That's one factor. The other one: we're on a back-to-back. Phoenix wasn't. That's certainly a very tough system to play against because of their team speed, the way they play 'empty post' basketball, meaning Yao is usually gonna be on the perimeter, guarding somebody. So, to Jeff's point, you have to be unbelievably disciplined, focused, energetic, and stick to the game plan. What you've really gotta do, in our opinion, against Phoenix is you can't really play from behind. They went up 14. We got the lead back down to 4. They hit two threes and the next thing you know, you're out of it. From the standpoint of playing those guys, certainly playing those guys where you both have days off in-between, a chance to really prepare and lock-in in a playoff situation is key. The other is following the gameplan and hopefully you make shots and you put pressure on their shots, because so much of what they do feeds well into each other, meaning: they don't foul because they want to keep the game going, and if they keep the game going, then fatigue sets in on the other team, their pace sets in on the other team, Nash really starts to dominate the decision-making process versus the opposite coach, or Tracy...They have a great model, and for anybody to say they couldn't win it because they don't have a typical type of team is naive."

    Q: Phoenix has a hard time matching up against San Antonio. Rockets play similar to San Antonio - why do we have such a tough time matching up against Phoenix?

    You can speak to a couple different things. One: Phoenix has always had a problem with Parker and his ability to blow by and finish at the rim. That's not necessarily one of our strengths. We shoot the ball better just because the guys that are getting in there the most are Yao and Tracy. Tony's unique in that aspect. Tracy's unique in that, 'hey - inside of a half-court set, he's so big and so versatile that he's hard to gameplan for, so if we can turn a game into a halfcourt situation, against anybody Tracy's gonna get us open shots. The guy's really got the game figured out.

    Then you go to the Dallas team's matchups... Dirk is a nightmare for anybody to matchup against, and Dallas is a little bit more mobile than we are in a couple spots... so it gets down to matchups, there's some homecourt advantage that plays in there and then if you get a bad officiating call, or you tweak an ankle and that could swing a series back to the underdog's favor.

    Q: Are you gonna beat these guys in the playoffs, or not?

    We're gonna try... (funny banter) It's what we're paid to do. We have a very competitive group and you know that we're gonna go in there swinging..... We don't believe in pounding the chest and there's nothing good that comes out of a declaration from me, on March 16th, but there's a fine line between Choke City and Clutch City. There were times where we couldn't beat Phoenix in the past before, we weren't able to overcome San Antonio and Hakeem and some other guys led us. That's why you play the game, and we're playing to win. We think that if we do the right things, we'll be a formidable opponent.

    (misc. useless talk about playoff position against Utah)

    (misc. useless Steve Nash worhip)
     
  10. Blake

    Blake Member

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    TRANSLATION: RAFER SUCKS
     
  11. sun12

    sun12 Member

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    Exactly as people mentioned, you got to have a good PG to beat the Suns, Tony Parker, Deron Williams, Jason Terry. Arenas, you can't have Nash dominating your PG, otherwise, the team will lose.
     
  12. sun12

    sun12 Member

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    Just think about this, the two most important positions on the court are the Center and the PG positions. PG gives you the offense, center gives you the defense. When Shaq was dominating, he had no other centers to neutralize him, that's how the Lakers win the 3 championships. Now you have Nash who is so dominating on the PG position, you need to have PGs to neutralize him, at least make him work or try to control the tempo.


     
  13. X-PAC

    X-PAC Member

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    Solid interview. Thanks again, Wangdoodle. :)
     

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