Daryl Morey on 610

Aaron Brooks and Gersson Rosas on earlier today:

Aaron Brooks:

Spoiler

Rich and Josh here, how are you?

Doing alright.

We feel your pain. Obviously know the announcment on Yao. Not good news. Your reaction?

Gotta really feel bad for him. Not basketball or team wise but Yao in general. I been around a lot of people in basketball and not one person who loves basketball more than Yao. Not one person who works harder than Yao. First person in there and last person to leave and that's just not saying it. He actually is that guy. He works so hard to get ready and come back but some things you just cant control. I feel bad for him. My heart goes out to him.

Obviously waiting for more details. Any speculation is just that. Would that surprise you if he announces his retirement sometime soon?

Yao is a fighter. He's a fighter. This took a lot for him. We'll see. I dont know. We'll have to see what goes on and how he feels about it.

Basing in on his previous comments that he may hang it up if he had another serious injury.

Yeah, we all say stuff. Hard to get away from basketball. He loves it so much. Never know. I dont know.

As far as team goes, you can say with certainy that Yao will more than likely wont be back. How does that change the mindset of the team? Maybe better question is, not a good thing, but you know what you are.

I dont think so. We've been here before. Most of the guys havent played with Yao except in training camp and stuff like that. Team we have is team we have. Starting to build on some things. Guys learning their roles. We gotta keep building and we're doing a good job. We'll keep building on what we have.

Again, speculation, but if you played your last game with him, how will you remember him?

Hardest worker I've known. Has great passion for basketball. Have to feel for him. Some of these guys dont put in half the effort. You feel for someone who loves basketball and plays so hard.

Off day for you. When you're hanging out, what do you do? What passes the time for Aaron Brooks?

Since my injury, havent had an off day yet. But after workouts, video games and chill.

What games?

NCAA football. Dont play NBA too much until they boost my ratings and make it realistic. They say I cant dunk. Until they fix it, I wont play those games.

You're saying you dont play because they're disrespecting your game?

(laughing)I try to play with myself. When I was in the game, I shoot all the time and the team would lose. My rating wasnt good. I would drive and get blocked. Until they fix my rating..

So the video game version cant dunk?

Nope he cant.

C'mon!

Must not have seen my highlite tapes.

That's crazy. I can understand why you feel disrespected.

Yeah. I cant dunk right now but when I'm healthy I can get up there good.

What team do you play with NCAA? Oregon?

Yeah I need to get an update. Rating would be better. I play with Oregon and Florida. Always been a Florida fan.

Just hoops? Football too?

He doesnt play basketball.

Yeah I dont play basketball. I get enough basketball too. Just came from practice.

So heard you were at the Texans game Monday. Brutal wasnt it?

(laughing) Yeah, yeah, yeah. Last game I went to was Chargers game so same feeling.

No kidding.

Ever play football?

Pop Warner when I was 14. Still think I'm one of the best QBs in Houston

QB right not CB?

Nah, Quarterback.

What is it about you PGs? Many PGs play QB. Gotta be correlation.

I didnt throw many INTs. Made the right decisions. I didnt like to scramble or get hit.

We know you took part in a practice earlier this week. Update on your possible return?

Went through pratice, half of it. Went well but still some complications. I'd say I'm about 80% or so. Next couple games, hopefully I can test it out. Maybe test it out in one of these next 3 games. We'll see.

Get well.

Thanks for having me on.

You bet.


http://kilt.cbslocal.com/2010/12/16/aaron-brooks/

Gersson Rosas:

Spoiler

Rich and Josh here, how are you?

Doing as good as we can do. Glad to be on.

As we've pointed out, and news came out, there has been no official diagnosis made public and no timeline for future, a setback for Yao. Tough news for everyone in the organization.

Definitely. Yao one of the great Rockets. Setback is disappointing Recent news thats still going through the process. Very fluid. Trying to get as much info as we can and get all proper parties involved so they can make the right decisions they need to make. Overall, as you know what Yao means to us and for Yao personally it's tough.

Absolutely. Not just any player we're talking about. Yao a special case. Verbalize what he meant to this franchise.

Situation where you take for granted what you have. Special talent here in Houston with Rockets. Been around a long line of great big men and we dont realize how rare and special that is. Not just basketball with Yao but off the court, locker room, training room, not a guy who works harder. Hes an individual who affects our team on so many levels. Hard to explain how much he means.

Not a good night last night on the boards. Cant help but think if he was out there, Rockets would control the boards. I think that's what cost you guys last night.

No doubt. We've been talking about it, on D, especially protecting the basket, and D rebounding have been our biggest weakness. Tough. Personnel wise, we'd like to give our coaches more and they're doing what they can but you play a team like OKC with athleticism, size, and length, its hard to overcome. At the same time, we got a competitive group, Down 3 pts with a minute left in the 3rd, and our guys are feeling like we should have found a way to get it.

Dealing with injuries, no matter who it is, you gotta move forward and keep playing, keep building this team. You made a significant move sending a future first for Terrence Williams. Thoughts on him?

We value him on many different levels. Ability to play both ends and rare to find play making wing with that level of athleticism and physical attributes. Young player, as its been documented, some risk involved but we've followed closely in college. 4 year player at Louisville. Won a lot and a guy who we aggressively pursued in the draft with NJ when they selected him. Seems we say that with a lot of guys we get but we follow these guys throught college and other teams. To be honest, this deal probably took 2 years in the making. A lot of deals are like that. If you value the talent, as Daryl has said, we felt he was top 10 talent, when you got a guy who can play both ends, he got some issues like any young player. Shooting and efficiency he can improve on basketball wise. When you find a player who can impact the game on O as a playmaker and finisher and an asset in transition and then turn around on the other end, he can be a guy on D who can cover those great players and create havoc. Block shots, get steals and be a guy who can impact on the glass. In time, he can help on the defensive glass because of his mobility and athleticism. A lot to offer but young player. He is a guy we got to develop and hope he is part of the answer.

As for his potential, you can coach him up, scout a player, get him ready and put him in position, you mentioned the issues off the court. Im guessing part of the assignment for the organization with a young raw talent is to develop a level of professionalism. You confident that can be achieved?

Definitely. We take calculated risk. We know our enviornment. Not perfect by any means. We do have a strong environment of coaches and players and staff who value winning and doing it the right way. Our history speaks for itself. Guys understand when they come here into this organization, its about different things. Its about coming together as a team and working for everything you get. That mentality has helped players in our environment in the past. We feel it will foster Terrence's development in the right way. It wont be easy but we done our homework. We understand the challenges he has had. We feel like we got the staff, coaches and players to help him. Very similar to Ron Artest when we took him on. We did our work, background, research and felt like we're gonna give it every opportunity to be successful and help him grow up and mature and develop and be a Rocket for a long time.

Many people are anxious to see how he fits so we'll be keeping an eye on that.

Appreciate the time. Good luck moving forward. Good luck on Yao Ming front.

Thank you guys, appreciate it.


http://kilt.cbslocal.com/2010/12/16/gersson-rosas-8/

 

No problem. It feels like sometimes Rosas just keeps going. Never stops talking

I've wondered the same. Not sure.