Thanks to sports radio 610 for getting the audio link up so quickly. http://podcast.sportsradio610.com/kilt2/1996371.mp3 <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://podcast.sportsradio610.com/kilt2/1996371.mp3" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"> </embed>
Gracias...Didn't realize the Argentine Dream had played so many games this summer. DARN INTERNATIONAL PLAY!!!
Sounds like they are expecting TMac back pretty soon, and maybe Yao by the end of the year. Interesting. DD
For those with no audio: ========================== Hellos all around, First 2 games: seems like good flowing offense DM: Yeah, we were consistent with it in the 1st half against Spurs and 2nd half against Boston. Like how we're progressing with more transition pts Thought last night's game would be low-scoring affair-> had a balanced attack, and celtics played their starters for quite a while. DM: we didn't ahve our starters in against them, so glad we were able to catch up in 2nd half. TAriza, what is good/bad about him in the past 2 games? DM: His shot is a little off, but he'll go on to play well. Yao and TMac, do you have to take a careful approach with TMac? DM: Yeah, we have had to slow down TMac from his progress which he probably doesn't like but we got him short scrimmage stints, then we build up to whole days of practice. We want him back 100% for sure. Target date for Tmac back? DM: no not really. He'll be back when there is no pain or anything in his knee. CBudinger, 3/10 FG and 8 rbds, what do you like about him? DM: Yeah, he didn't have a great shooting night, but he's been progressing quickly; can beat his man off the dribble and also plays transition very well. happy with him in general. Shane's been taking him under his wing as with all the other rookies. Biggest worry, is they don't have the finisher or 'the guy'. Response? DM: that's fair. It's a league where you need one of those all star players. We are short at the start of the season, but when Tracy is back we will have that. We can win without him, but after he comes back we'll have our guy. We feel good about it. Will be challenging without Yao for the year, but we do want to make the playoffs this year, that is the goal. Brooks, his assist numbers are kind of low for a PG. He makes assists lead into other assists, and does +ve things. Your take? DM: he does well. Tracy was the best at the 'making others better stats', but when Aaron is on the floor our offense works well, he breaks down the D, shoots high % from 3, penetrates. His penetration gets the D in rotation to set up another team mate. Who has captured attention this year? DM: I think Aaron and Kyle will be big this year both offense and defense. Both guys are great offensively can beat their man off the dribble. Carl has had big games the past 2 nights. Scola will be great but he's a little weary after playing a lot of games over the summer, so we're taking it easy with him for the moment. Thanks for talking to us DM!
I've said this many, many times since the Yahoo story broke about Yao being out for the year, but the only way we don't see him this year is if this team is completely out of the playoff picture by March. No one knows what TMac will be like, but he is by far the best playmaker on this team. So things could get interesting. There's just something about the core of this team. There's heart and integrity and class. It is the best of times, it is the worst of times...
ppl look at stats too much. for a rookie, budinger has been far and away one of our top 3 players so far. so i'm glad everyone in rocket nation is mesmerized with this guy. and ariza needs to get better. somtimes the very good players can press and can still make things happen. ariza needs to find himself a niche in this offense and do it well. he's never going to be an all-around player, more than an average scorer... just find his role like he did with the lakers and focus on that. and looks like tmac IS doing well. they simply had to slow him down to really make sure he's 100%. i'm sure they learned from last yr that you don't always believe when tracy says about his health. unlike the myth on here, tracy really DOES want to play. hopefully we'll hear more about him doing practices soon. AB - he's really only our guy who can penetrate and have the ability to score from inside out. it might work now, but teams are gonna load up on him when the season starts. he's gonna need some help to relieve that pressure.
Ariza isn't the all-around offensive threat he thinks he can be. I have a role for Ariza. The same role Doug Christie played for the Kings. Christie also thought he had the tools to be a higher tier scorer than he really was. Adelman put him in a good situation.
i don't think he can even be that. christie was more than a decent playmaker and a pretty good passer (very good court vision). ariza is never going to be that. what i think ariza needs to do is let the playmaking to brooks/mcgrady. his job on O should be to spot up, but also run around screens, cut, and use his athletic ability around the basket.
In my opinion Ariza needs great players (like he had Kobe, Gasol in LA) to be effective. We are not gonna win games with him being our 1st option on offense. He is just not that type of player. He is a very good 3rd option. I'd compare him to Shane, you just win championships with guys like Trevor. He could be really good next to a healthly Yao and McGrady and since Yao is out and we don't know what to expect from Tracy, the only hope is Brooks will become a better playmaker and will make his teammates better.
This is a good writeup, but somewhere in here, Morey actually finished with some sort of comment about how when Tmac gets back, he can really help the team, or with all of the players back, that can help them as far as making moves that'll help the team (i.e. roster moves). DM spoke in that friendly, circular fashion that GMs and HR reps have down pat, I forgot his actual words. It was simply a way of saying one way or another, Tmac's return will help the team.
Morey said T-mac- "He Probably doesn't like it". I think this shows T-mac wants to really be out there, but b/c of last year he wont get to say he came back too early- if he has to sit out again. It also shows the irritation the management had with him last year.
Not necessarily irritation. More like they know they screwed up with him last year so they're not taking that chance again and being extremely conservative, and T-Mac understands as he's said in the Chronicle. Like Morey said in the podcast, I believe we can win a chunk of games even without McGrady, so there's simply no need to rush him.
I have mixed feelings about tmac. My rocket fan in me says "hell come back with a purpose, and lead us like in that 22 game win streak" but the NBA fan in me says "dude he shouldn't even try" either way I'm anxious to see how he does!
