Daryl Morey on 610

Speaking of Brooks/Lowry and why no Martin...

The shuffler

With Rick Adelman working to squeeze Aaron Brooks into his backcourt mix and get him up to last season's speed, Wednesday's win at Utah demonstrated the difficulties of the coach's juggling act.

When Adelman switched to a backcourt of Brooks and Kyle Lowry with eight minutes left, the Rockets went from a six-point deficit to a three-point lead. That led Adelman to go with Shane Battier, rather than Kevin Martin, to bring defense to protect the lead. When the lead was gone, however, Adelman pulled Brooks and went with Martin, who delivered the decisive three-point play.

"You tell me what to do with this group," Adelman said. "It's really difficult. I thought Aaron was doing a good job. With Aaron and Kyle we were ahead.

"I don't know. I decided to go with the three guards in the second half, and then we got it going a little bit. We got the lead, so I rode it with Kyle and Aaron. Sure enough, a couple possessions, and they went ahead."

Martin said he was fatigued with eight minutes left after playing 33 minutes in the second half of a back-to-back.

"We have a lot of different combinations that can play down the stretch," Martin said. "Coach put out the right combinations, and it paid off."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/7412192.html

 

Daryl Morey:

Good Morning Daryl. How is it going.

Morning

Great to have you aboard. Frustrating loss to Minnesota. That was a winnable game. Tough one to take.

Yeah, Denver the night before was probably best win of the season followed by probably our worst loss. Tough indeed.

4th Quarter issues.

Problem wasnt in the 4th quarter. It's the whole game. If your in a close game with Minnesota, you already lost. Our guys were tired but so were they. Our guys thought they could turn it on, get a lead and win the game. Reality is the NBA is tough every night. Our guys were happy to be close and were hoping for a burst in the 2nd half. Urgency wasnt there.

Everyone is waiting for the shoe to drop on the trade deadline. We know who that is. Is that the case?

Hard for me to know. I know we're not being held up by anything. If something is compelling, we'll do it. But hard to know if that is the case.

Why dont deals get done now?

A little more than see if there is a better price. Teams also like to see their options. Teams dont take the time to see what to do. Its "I wanna compare this deal to that deal to that deal". You dont get to see your options until closer to the deadline.

You were strung with contracts of McGrady, Yao your first few years. Is this your first chance now to put your "stamp" on it, the way you want it?

We're constantly trying to upgrade. These were good players so no excitement we dont have them anymore. Biggest gap now is that. We have some good players but missing that dominant player and perennial all-star in a guy like McGrady. Losing perennial All-Stars in Yao and McGrady is not easy to replace.

Still alive in the postseason. How do you balance long and short term goals in regards to deals?

I think about the main goal of how a player fits into a championship roster and that is a little bit of long term focus but it will require a couple of moves. We still got a shot this season. Definitely long term first and how they fit on a championship roster and then this season second.

Thoughts on what Aaron Brooks did and why?

Aaron has done a ton for this franchise. Was a key player for this team. My main thing, he is a good person and player, this was the only hiccup in that whole period. I looked at it as a mulligan. He isnt that kind of player. I believe what he said. He got emotional. He is a competitor. Having a tough year.

...

And Daryl leaves. "Had to go, sorry."

 

Spoiler

Good morning Daryl, how is it going?

Morning Marc, John.

Taking some interns for you.

That didnt come out well there.

We'll see who qualifies. We'll put one on air with you. ... Last night not good. 114-105. Saw you tweet ater the game. What went wrong? Obviously not the way you want to play D.

Interior D has been problem all year. Our players need to focus more on that end. Lack of size and D rebounding also shows up against teams like Philly. They're playing well. They've drafted well over the years. They're big, got athletes at every spot. Run well in transition. Best transition team I've seen in terms of, not just that they're going every time, but they're effective when they went. Finishing every time. Shot 80-90% in transition which is amazing. Usually it's 55-60%.

Moving forward, I know you have to continue grind at this year but you're finding some players that you know you'll want to keep for a long time if you can --Kyle Lowry the guy I'm thinking about. Profile him about the lengths he has come.

If you wanna take the state of where we are at in the season --best thing that has happened: Kyle, Luis, Kevin all arguably having their best season or for sure one of their best. Shane and Chuck, Chuck as well I should mention having his best season, Shane having his solid season, so our starting group has been solid. One of the best in the league this year. Disappointment has come with..we needed and there is still time but we needed one of our young players to do an Aaron Brooks. Aaron took a big step forward last year. We needed one player to do that - either Chase or Jordan or Patrick or Courtney Lee or Terrence if/when he gets a shot - we need another player to step up like that. Again, there is still time but to this point, that has been the disappointment that we havent had the big step forward from one of our young players.



Daryl, what do you do during the break?

A lot of league meetings. Competition committee meeting, probably biggest one of the year this Friday and a bunch other league meetings so that's where I'll be in LA.

So trade deadline a week away. GMs in the building, so a lot conversations going on face to face there?

That's right. Big time for trades to get set up. A lot of discussion of what teams might do and then a big game of chicken down until Thursday over who will give up what and how much. The discussions are germinated this week and often at the competition meeting.

Are you at a crossroads as a GM? As a GM, you have to weigh this year vs next year and beyond.

Primary priority is, I wouldnt even say it's this year vs next year, it's how each move puts us closer to being a championship-caliber team - a team that can advance. Right now, we're not there obviously. Thats what we're looking at. If it can help us this year, all the better but thats not our primary focus. Our primary focus is how to fit our..all our moves into improving the roster for our eventual construction to be a championship-caliber team.

Getting a lot of texts asking about Williams and why he is/isnt playing. A better question for Rick or what can you share?

That's obviously Rick's area. We talk though. I try to understand how the coach is thinking. We're in a playoff race. Very hard to come into a team and not be part of TC and go out there. Coach is going with the players hes familiar with and who he thinks is giving us the best chance to win. Terrence will get his shot, but hard to know when. We acquired Terrence because love his talent. We think he has All-Star level ability. When he gets out there isnt critical to us. He's got a 4 year committment with the Rockets so..

Surprised about last night after what the team did to Denver?

No. Philly playing extremely well. One of the hottest teams. Doug Collins got them playing well. Playing both ends well. They came in...definitely a team none of the top East teams want to play. Proverbial team to avoid. I dont envy someone having to play them early. They'll definitly make the playoffs and will be a tough out.

Checking out early last night, hate to use it as an excuse but Lakers had a problem, you guys too. That is hard to fight isnt it?

I dont feel like thats the case with our guys. Philly was terrific and we werent great. Our guys are professional. I dont see them checking out early. I really dont.

What kind of intern are you looking for?

All kinds of different kinds of interns. One that helps the coaching staff, one that helps the scouting staff. This one is more of a date person. Ideally someone who knows basketball, knows stats, knows programming. Tough one to fill but we've had success over time. Big opportunity for someone.

Just described my son.

There you go. I know I didnt describe you John.

[Caller Israel]: Making his case as in intern.

I like the idea of Israel and Ishmael. Maybe give us a higher power.

My son's name is Jacob so there you go! ... How do people apply?

Go to Rockets.com. There is a link. We get great candidates. We get to have conversations with 5-15 eventually. It's a constant process. Excited to see what we find.

Best of luck during All-Star break.

Thanks for having me on, appreciate it.


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