Daryl Morey on 610 (2011-12)

One more but not Daryl. Gersson Rosas(if you care; from last night Thurs. 1/26)

Gersson Rosas:

Spoiler

http://houston.cbslocal.com/2012/01/26/rockets-keep-finding-ways-to-win/

http://houston.cbslocal.com/?podcas...=true&config_file=config.xml&dcid=CBS.HOUSTON

What's happening Gersson?

What's up guys? How you guys doing this evening?

Pretty good. Trying to cool off a little bit after last night's disappointing loss to Milwaukee Bucks against an unlikely opponent I know. I say unlikely opponent because of the Rockets win streak at Toyota Center. Thoughts after what transpired last night?

I think we grew as a team during that streak but also realize we got a lot of room to improve. We're not strong enough, mature enough, experienced enough team that we can win with our talent. We have to come in and earn it every night. The NBA is a tough place to win games. You put yourself in a hole at home against those guys, those guys have had big wins. They came in hungry. They had the injury to Bogut and they responded. Really felt like we put ourselves in a hole. Spent a lot of energy getting back in the game and ran out of gas late when we needed to get over the hump. Credit to those guys. It was a nice run but we gotta start a win streak here Friday. Wizards coming in with a new coach, new mentality and we gotta protect the home court.

Couldnt agree more with the effort in late in last night's game. What do you think about the chemistry of this team as it rolls along 18 games into the season now?

Credit to the players and our coaching staff. We made the most of the opportunites in the times that we had. Our guys night in and night out have found a way to win whether its grinding it out or someone having a great night. Kevin has had an unbelievable 5-6 games. All-Star level. He does it in a quiet manner. Early on he struggled. A lot of emphasis on D and rebounding and sometimes takes away from your offense but he has bounced back. Kevin McHale and his staff has done a good job of putting him position to be successful. Hes comfortable now. Our team as a whole, we have to play to our strengths. We didnt do that enough last night. We have to play more in transition, gotta get easy baskets, gotta play better defense and gotta rebound better. We cant depend on one guy to bail us out. Kyle has done that for a stretch, Kevin has done it as well and it caught up to us last night. Kevin is a guy we're excited about as his growth and development has continued.

Do you think the lack of practice time with a young team like the Rockets has affected the way they perform as a team?

It has hurt everyone. I hate excuses but its not only affecting us but the whole league. As a young team, I think the biggest factor has been a new coach, new system, new staff. Thats made it hard but we've been dealt the situation we've been dealt and got to make the most of it. I will tell you every practice is treasured that we have so we can correct the issues we have. It does hurt not having practice, especially for the young players and the guys not playing, having the repetitions to be ready.

Kyle Lowry shouldered that loss last night, put it on himself. You talk about leadership, hes one of the guys that I stamp with, that term leadership. You expect that out of him. Were you at all surprised to hear those comments from Lowry?

I think thats an interesting point. We look at Kyle, and he has played great for us the last couple years. The reality is he is still a young player. It is a big burden to carry, being a team leader and being the key guy for your team night in, night out. He showed his youth a little bit and thats understandable. He learned from it. He knows how much our team depends on him. We feel like he is a special talent, that with time will get better. This experience was good for him. You gotta learn from these situations. When you lose like last night, we gotta identify why we lost and we all gotta take responsibility. It wasnt just Kyle. A lot of guys on the team could've done things differently. We all could've done our part to win that game last night but the reality is how you respond the next game. I think Kyle is very earnest, very honest. Hes a young player, just 25/26 really taking the mantle as one of the best players on this team. We sometimes forget how young he is but the reality is he gotta grow up on the fly. We gotta mature as a team. We're a young team. Those guys want that opportunity, with that opportunity comes responsibility. Hes a worker, hes committed, hes passionate, he'll figure it out. We'll be better here Friday night.

Now Jordan Hill. He was asked about the contract situation, if hes talked to the coaches or the brass about not picking up the extension. Whatever the terms may be, how do you think it affects some of these young guys going forward like Jordan, Terrence, Hasheem and Jonny?

Its a tough process. Those are all guys we value. Contractually and financially we had to make decisions for the betterment of the organization. That doesnt mean we're closing any door on any of those guys. It just puts them in a situation where they're not guaranteed anything next year. As a result, our focus has been with them, hey look, we gotta put our franchise in a situation to have flexibilty to acquire a high level player, a max player, and making those decisions allowed us to do that. At the same time, like I said, we're not turning our backs on those guys. Those guys, we've invested a lot in them and believe in their development. They got an opportunity to come in and play well this season and force us to pay them. They'll be free agents, unrestricted, so it will be a bit more costly to keep them but they still have an opportunity to continue their careers here. It'll be based on how they play, how they develop, if they get an opportunity and if they fit into our plans in the future. Jordan is a guy we still feel like can help us not only this season, but in the future as well. It will come down to how the season goes and how the opportunities present themselves in the offseason. Its tough. Its a part of the business but a necessary part for us in terms of our future.

We listened to Jonny Flynn. All the guys, those young guys, it seems like they have a good attitude and when they get a chance to get in, they'll do the best they can do. Talk about the importance of that.

All you want is an opportunity. Best thing we have with Kevin McHale has been that, he came in, guys given clean slates, given a chance to compete. Unfortunately, it was unfair to them we had a limited preaseason, a limited training camp, we didnt have 8 preseason games. Their opportunities they had were very limited but we tip our hats to them. Those guys have been working hard, Jonny inparticular. They're pros. Jonny a former top 10 pick, who changed teams, and hasnt really had a chance to show the league what he can do. Terrence is in that boat, Hasheem is in that boat, Jordan as well. The reality of the NBA is, McHale and staff are trying to do the best they can to win games night in and night out and the only thing those guys can continue to do is be professional, continue to work hard in practices and as we know, its a long season. There are injuries, trades, situations that are going to affect the roster. Just like Jonny said, "Hey, when my opportunity comes, I want to be ready." and thats what we expect of those guys.

Appreciate the time this evening.

Thanks guys. Appreciate it. Need all the fan support out there this weekend.

 

^ Thanks.

 

Again, THANKS! You are appreciated!!!

 

Didnt know Jonny had such a positive attitude

 

Yea - I went through team salaries to see who might be hurting to unload a player in order to shead some salary. I really don't see anything but Brand and with Philly doing well, I don't see them making any trades just yet. Boston already has a boatload of expirings. Lakers - doubt they want to blow it up just yet. Dallas - same. Heat - nope. Magic - they aren't trading DH and Turkoglu for expirings...well maybe Turkoglu but no thanks. Blazers - nope. Spurs - I think they give Timmy his last ride before blowing it up. Bulls - nope. NYKs - no thanks. Hawks - maybe but doubtful. After that most teams are in decent shape salary wise for 2012-13.

ie. I see us eating them.

 

He should otherwise he would affect everything around him.

 

This is from a few days ago. It's not Morey but Bill Ingram from HW but he makes some interesting claims which aren't as outlandish as his trade rumors. Any insiders have a take on what he says?

http://www.1560thegame.com/audio/bi...rey-may-be-the-problem-with-the-rockets-3109/

 

Courtney Lee refuted that he made a trade request. Of course he's going to say that in response, but take it for what its worth. Ingram is a joke so I dont believe a word he says.

Like many people on Clutchfans who claim to be fans from the "good ol days" when Hakeem was with the team, nothing Morey or Les ever do will be good enough in his eyes. He just straight up doesn't like Morey just like Solomon and Fran. I dont know what Morey has done to piss off guys in the media. Who cares though, these guys are jokes and their writing sucks anyways.

The reputation of Morey being a gunslinger is accurate Im sure, but I dont think it takes an "NBA insider" to tell us that. Ingram is a glorified Bleacherreport writer. Take his "insider info" lightly.

 

he doesn't leak out chit, nor does he want them putting their fingers into something thats nothing

thats why they are pissed..

 

Bill Ingram knows nothing new or unique.

 

I wonder what Dan Fagan thinks about him throwing his name around left and right as an agent who has all these backdoor deals going on with bad players like Yi. Nobody with real sources ever names them like that. Something Adrien Woj, or Broussard NEVER do. Those agent/GM relationships represent their careers. Dropping names like that can kill your source material. Which leads me to think that he has no real idea whats going on.

 

Broussard be naming names. If you squeeze him right, sometimes he might sing like Steve A

 

I just listened to this interview and I have to admit that Ingram provides some good observations about what he thinks the are the shortcomings of the Rockets under Morey. For example, he asserts that while the Morey looks to be clearing out cap space for a run at Dwight Howard, Morey's relationship with Dan Fagan, Howard's agent, is less than stellar due to the way Morey has handled his other players. Meanwhile, Fagan has a great relationship with Mark Cuban and it would not surprise me in the least if the Mavs wind up with DH because if there's one thing Cuban knows how to do well, it's selling players on playing for the Mavericks.

His comments to Morey about trading for Thabeet gave me a good chuckle. He also provides a very strong indictment on how Morey's approach to luring the star free agents lacks selling power - which I found to be credible. In fact, a lot of his criticisms of Morey sound similar to those of DaDakota's particularly when he talks about the need to have a personal relationship with the players. Under Morey, Rockets players have come to feel that they are merely stats on a page and easily replaceable. This is not endeared DM to their agents also which you can bet will have repercussions in the Rockets pursuit of Howard. Now, I realize that because Ingram is daring to criticize Morey, all of the DM fanboys will dismiss anything he has to say since it's not in keeping with their image of him as a genius. But one can look the other way (or stick their head in the sand) for only so long and Morey has been GM now for years now and yet the franchise continues to stumble along with no true direction so something he's doing must not be working.

Ingram's analysis on Morey's approach of "acquiring assets" was also spot on. The Rockets under Morey are never bad enough to acquire lottery picks so Morey has spent a lot of time picking up guys who were lottery picks (Thabeet, Hill, Williams). The problem is that in retrospect, now, no GM would make any of them a lottery pick. So now, Morey is calling around the league trying to see if there are any takers for these so-called assets with little success because Morey over-values his pieces (there's a thread on Clutchfans saying just that).

Finally, one of the things Ingram pointed out that really struck me was when he talked about a GM's ability to persuade free agents on coming to play for their team. That GM has to possess the ability to make the deal - he has to be someone who can go to that star player and sell them on the virtues of playing in Houston which is a great place to play basketball. If a GM cannot deliver the key free agents, then the Rockets will never be a serious playoff contender. And, this is exactly where the Rockets are today under Morey. I think Ingram's on to something here: Morey's assets driven, impersonal approach lacks the behind-the-scenes effectiveness to persuade the star free agents to come play for his team. Which, I have to point out here, is what DaDakota has been posting for some time now.

 

I don't buy the Fagan thing. Morey has Martin and Lee on this team. He traded for both of them. Lee is allegedly Dwight's best friend. I would bet Lee is not traded until Dwight is traded and no longer available to us. Morey knows how to play the agent games.

 

Maybe so but I found it VERY odd that Cuban made the deal for Yi who is a big a bust as there can be and who offers no immediate help nor the possibility of any future help to Mavericks. This must have been done as "favor" to Fagan which leads me to conclude that Mark is stocking up good will for next year's run at Howard. What I'd like to see verified from one of the insiders here is what Ingram said about Battier, Brooks and Landry's alleged unhappiness with the way Morey treats his players because that wold go a long way toward verifying the legitimacy of his remarks.

 

No, Ingram's right about Cuban's relationship with Fagan. I have been told the same thing by my friend in the Mavs organization.

 

Yi is a one-year expiring contract. Mavs could have done the same thing with a number of other players. It's not like Cuban gave him a 4 year deal. It's chump change in the bigger scheme of things. How do you know Morey isn't doing the same thing with Aaron Mintz, the agent for Jeff Adrien? After all, Mintz is Granger's agent.

 

Do you really think that Cuban is the only one that does stuff like that, that other front offices don't do the same things, and specifically that Morey doesn't do the same things?

 

Of course not and the thing to remember here is that Morey plays things so close to the vest that it's unknown what he does. But I keep hearing about his assets approach turning off players and agents and I can't help but wonder if there's something to all this. When DaDakota first started posting about this, I admit that I had my doubts but since I have heard the same thing up here from various sources, I must admit my curiousity has been tweaked.

 

I'm sure his assets approach does turn off players.

I'm also sure Cuban dumping Chandler and Barea for a shot at DWill/Dwight in a year or two and basically not giving his squad the opportunity to repeat turns off players too. There's a yin to every yang.


At the end of the day, all players are valued as assets or liabilities by their front offices and they are assigned a trade value. Anyone and everyone can be traded. And when they are traded, they all feel like commodities, hence the standard, "It's a business." line that you hear all of them say.

Pat Riley, in an infamous buddy-buddy relationship, buddied up to Lamar Odom years back, then the next season promptly turned around and shipped him out for Shaq. Him and Lamar were buds, man. Didn't make a difference. It's a business that is about winning and getting better. Otis Smith is an example of a GM that has tried to buddy-buddy his superstar player. Didn't work. He's gonna wind up losing his job.

The other side of the coin is, it doesn't matter how much you buddy-buddy players, if they wanna leave, they gonna leave. Look at Lebron, etc. Once again, it's a business. Neither side is happy when they don't get what they want. That's human nature.

Making a big deal about Trader Morey is much ado about nothing. It's just facts that the players here know that they are more likely to be traded since we have no real superstar players to build around. At least they are playing and earning good money. It could be worse. They could be stuck in New Orleans with ZERO CHANCE of winning anytime in the next 10 years. They could be stuck in NBDL. Or they could be janitoring at San Jac.

The fact is Morey is taking the trade route to acquire a superstar and build a winner. It's a viable route. And when he does land his superstar, some of the same fans that are criticizing his approach now are going to be kissing his hiny after the deal goes down.

But of course, there will be other idiots which simply don't get it and will criticize until we get another C, then they'll say we should have had 4 or 5 more Cs than we have.