John and Lance had Daryl Morey on earlier today morning. I don't know if they'll post the interview online, but here's some bits that I can recall from it: They joked that Aaron Brooks should be the starting PG. Daryl Morey acknowledged that Rafer is struggling with his shot, but pointed out that the team is 6-1. So the coach isn't looking to shake up the rotation. He said that shooting % is the most variable attribute of a player, likening it to batting average in baseball. He said Rafer should eventually get back to his averages in shooting %, which while not particularly good is adequate for what Adelman needs at the position. Half the league can't get traded until mid-December, so the Rockets aren't looking hard at possible trades yet. The team has struggled more than he expected on the offensive end. Defense is probably a little better than he expected, though. He said Adelman isn't happy with how the rest of the players are standing around while Tracy and Yao have the ball. More hard cuts and general movement is needed. He said that the Rockets have tracked Yao's possessions, and its about 4 to 1 low post to high post. He said that actually the Rockets as a team have been equally effective in his low post possessions and high post possessions, even though individually Yao's efficiency has been better in the low post. He thinks the five best teams early in the season are Boston, New Orleans, Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas. Interestingly enough, that matches exactly with Sagarin's rankings (based on point differential, win-loss record, and strength of schedule). Asked to review the Battier for Gay trade, he says that a proper evaluation can't be done until after Gay's rookie contract is over. But he thinks Shane is the perfect complimentary player, and he helped us more last year ("a couple ball bounces away from the second round") than Gay would have. Thinks he continues to be a perfect compliment for the Rockets this year. Said no one is harder on Scola than Scola himself. While he's struggling right now, he says its just a matter of time until he gets things figured out. He said Steve Francis is having a tough time with not playing, as he should. He thought Steve played really well at the end of last season, so the lack of playing time right now was a surprise. Morey sounded confident that Francis would eventually get back on to the court and contribute, but I'm not sure how genuine that was. I'm probably missing some stuff, but that's what I remember.
Yeah, I just added that bullet. He talked a little about it, and others may recall more details than what I wrote above.
Thanks for the recap, greatly appreciated.....answered some questions that have been asked on this board.
Agree -- great recap durvasa. I agree Rafer's not going to shoot 30%-20% forever -- he's in a slump even by his low standards -- but I disagree that usually average Rafer is "adequate" enough, and I think they do too considering how he's the only returning starter who has had his minutes significantly eaten into.
You know your GM is smarter than you when.... everybody at the draft complains about Gay's potential and the GM says 'wait until you see how much Gay demands."
Thanks for the recap! Much appreciated. This is very true. So far, our offense still resembles last year's JVG squad. Battier still loves his corner, Rafer still strolls around the perimeter, James does nothing unless he's got that ball in his hand, and Luther's only cuts have been give-and-go's with Yao -- which we used last year. The only two players that frequently cut and find open space are Chuck and Bonzi. It seems like most of the work needs to be on changing their mentality.
You are right. Only Bonzi and Hayes are familiar with cutting. All the other guys need to change their habits. Also, it's interesting about Morey's comment on Yao's high-low possessions. Yao's individual efficiency is lower in the high post but it is not bad for the team.
He didn't say, but I think he was probably referring to his FG% or TS% out of the high post vs low post. I would be interested to see, at the team level, what our offensive stats are in possessions where Yao gets a touch in the low post versus the high post. I expect our turnovers are a little more in low post plays, but we probably also get better 3-point looks. The Rockets run a lot of side pick and roll out of the high post sets, and that's been fairly successful for us early on.
He allegedly said Francis was the best PG on the Rockets... Hopefully someone will post that interview with Bucher online.
