Clutch really sounds like a natural on the radio. Any chance of you stealing Clyde's job, Clutch? TV beckons! ;-)-
A little late but....What's this? Making the rounds without telling us? Spoiler Welcome back to OUR show. Whats up? Good to be on. How are you guys? Good. Been awhile. ... When you heard he was the guy, your initial response and how is it today? A bit of a shocker. Initial response was that info was wrong or leverage to get a different coach. Didnt think McHale was the type they were looking for. Thought they wanted a young guy who was hungry. McHale was out of left field. Looking at the staff now and big picture, makes some sense. Not a great hire but...what the team is doing with the staff is a good sign. With McHale, how important was analytics in the hiring? Not sure how McHale is but certainly understands the bigger picture. He is open to that. FO having big influence on the staff. We know MOrey and McHale have a relationship. Made trades together. Nearly pulled off 06 draft trade for Roy and talked in 07 about Garnett-Yao swap and Rockets declined. YOu'll see McHale work well with FO better than any coach they had. To me, different type of coaches. Bottom line, its what each role each guy has, not who the figurehead is. Thats how I view it. Dont think they see McHale as coaching saviour here. Players will respect McHale though. Rick was supposed to be head guy for LA, what happens to him? We saw report that he is interested in working for Portland. I dont know if he feels like hes gonna take some time off. Maybe he'll get that coaching fire. Not saying its lacking but maybe not ready to jump back into it. I have to admit I was surprised. Seemed like good fit in LA. Sounds like he is interested in working for other NBA teams in a different capacity. We'll see. Personnel on this team, we know ROckets will be players in the draft. What are realistic chances this year? I would put a little higher than years past because maybe teams are willing to move out this year. Still think its a tough sell. Rockets value their guys more than other teams. We'll see if they can pull it off. Kanter would be a great addition. Still a tough sell though. Feel of the draft on the boards? Not sure there is a guy that will impact right away outside top 2. Kanter is skilled and has size. Still young though. Has some growing to do, similar to Scola when he came in. Kanter still the guy that fans are hoping for. Does it matter? May not have a season. That would be disappointing. Think it could be shortened. Feels almost inevitable. Who are some FAs Rockets could go after and will Hayes be back? Tough. Having a hard time seeing what direction they go. Saying the right things right now about not giving up. I would like to see them sell and see some bench guys step up. As far as competing right now, you would have to look at center.. Looking at Dalembert, Gasol which would be tough, but FA not the route they end up going. Probably trade. Finals tonight. Who do you got? I can really just hope...tough for me. These 2, I'm not a fan of either. I might have to pull for Dallas. No, you cant root for Dallas. Not so much hate LeBron but what they've done. For them to win it in the first year, that will change this league. Paul and Howard will likely team up next year. Will it hurt the league? I dont know. It scares me a little to see these guys join together and turn mediocre team last year into a title contender so quickly. Cant imagine the Dallas smack-talk coming this way if they win the ring. ... I agree with you. Would be tough. Neither team I want to see win it. Have to take solace in one is losing it. If Dallas did win, means every Texas team has done it. I despise Dallas since 04-05 series. Would be difficult. Either team winning is tough. [fan]When is Dr. Dre album dropping? I dont. [fan]As lifelong Houstonian and Rockets fan, F the Heat. ... Great stuff. Thanks for coming back on OUR show. Take care.
SeanCablinasian Good day to have @richardjustice on early, noon till 1:30 or so. Also 1:50 NBA & Rockets w/ @clutchfans Dave Hardisty! www.1560thegame.com
Winged it Spoiler How are you? Good, how are you? Good, good to catch up with you. When we look back at the finals, is the storyline Dirk or shrinkage of LeBron? Great story with what happened with Dirk. LeBron can look at that. Dirk had reputation for choking or falling short. World tuned in because they wanted to see LeBron fail. We talk about past greats having to take their bumps in the playoffs. Do you get the vibe that LeBron hates losing? Difference between him and Jordan. People have compared their talents. Jordan was cutthroat guy. LeBron a scorer but in crunch time he wants to share the ball. If he takes that to heart and improves on that, remains to be seen. Has fallen short in his biggest moments. Thoughts on co-existing with Wade? Seems like a lot of overlap between them. Longterm, is it getting it or will there always be overlap? I think they will get it. People are calling for change, I dont see that. They will add talent because they got a core. If they bicker in the press, it could go south. They'll get better working together. People will want to play with these three great talents. If Im Miami, I dont change a thing. If you're a PG, gotta be difficult to co-exist with them. You're right. Similar to McGrady years with Rockets. NOt exactly same but have to add effiecent shooter. LeBron does the playmaking. Wade can score. Dont think you need a PG. YOu need someone who can knock down shots consistently. ... Curious, I'm sure you read Bill Simmons, he threw out hypothetical, Bosh to Rockets for Scola, Lowry, Patterson. Speculation thing but reaction to that? Interesting. I wanted Bosh last yearo n this team next to Yao. Wouldve had good front court. I am interested in Bosh the player. I would take Bosh over any PF the Rockets have. He does have 110 million dollar deal. Do you want to commit to that guy, that long? By making that trade, you say Chris Bosh is our guy and your building around him. Its the type of trade they need to make. Miami a great match in trading partner but not an easy call. Dont think I would do that proposal he threw out there. ... Houston a sellable city given there is no superstar? I do think it is but that there is no superstar is what is hurting them. THey're falling short. We never had that problem. Tax, weather, NBA players have loved Houston but they're falling short. They need to get a foundation player that lures these guys in. Morey spending time overseas. What do you want to see at the draft? Want to see PGs, SGs, and PFs go 1 through 13. What Id like to see them do is take someone with real upside. Not the safe pick. Take a bigger risk. I think Biyombo has that potential. Serge Ibaka the right comparison? I think that is a good comparison. Early years Ben Wallace. He has no O game. Good leaping ability and wingspan. He'll be able to block some shots. Very energetic. A little of Amare the way he gets pumped up and plays. Hes a project in a way, that may take some years before having an impact. Target as a posibility had been Rubio. Reports not glowing on Rubio. Expectations for him short and long term? Think he'll be a good player. Exciting player. Maybe like Jason Williams his rookie year in Sacramento. Will be a real adjustment for him. The speed and how physical. Also shooting. NEver been agood shooter. Otherwise, got great court vision and passing ability. Surpriise you he came over? Yeah it did. We'll get to see what he does. Appreciate the time and insight. Take care.
On just awhile ago. Spoiler Whats up? How you guys doing? Fine, you? Doing well. When you heard the news, was it yeah I expected it? I didnt expect it. Everything I heard was he wanted to come back. Was taking it slow. Rockets were pessimistic on the record. Thought maybe because he was a FA. With the lockout, thought there was no need to retire right now. Him retiring shows how dire it was. Lets say Yao recovers in a few years, see him coming back then? He certainly could. I think by retiring, pressure to come back is off. One scenario kicked around is would he play for China. NBA 82 game regular season + playoffs might be difficult. Creates interesting scenario. Only 31 years old. Its possible though. Good thing for both parties. Both sides can move on. Now the Rockets know-- no more what ifs. First season they decided to really do that. Rockets added players last season and hoped he'd come back and they could acquire a star mid-season. That didnt happen. Fresh start for Rockets. I'd like to see the Rockets have a down year or develop players and get a better pick. They have some above-average players, no great players and cant break that 35-45 win range. What will Yao be remembered for? Upgraded version of Ralph. Better player. Stretches of dominance. I know Yao a happy guy, no need to feel sorry for him, but as a fan, I've been sad. Wasnt long ago he just came to us. We never really got to see it. Never got Yao/T-Mac pairing for playoffs. You'll remember Yao for what if. Talk of HOF and retiring jersey, thoughts on that? Both. You should do both. I think he goes to the HOF. As a player, a very good player, probably not HOF. If he played for LAC or Milwaukee, are we saying the same thing? Yeah I think so. He had global impact. You would have to say the same thing if he played for Los Angeles Clippers or whoever. Looking at the stats, its very good but not HOF worthy. His numbers during stretches, he was dominant. When he was 25 he was putting up I think 28 and 12. That type of caliber player but injuries didnt let him dominate. Global impact is why he is HOFer. Would love to see him get in but HOF, pure basketball, he fell short. I would say thats right. Strictly looking at the numbers/stats, and awards, he would fall short. Its the basketball HOF though. He opened it up to more amount of people seeing and playing this game. Impact on the game tremendous. What is your favorite memory of Yao? His first year memorable. His sense of humor. I fell in love with the guy. Most memorable was game against Lakers in 08-09 playoffs, he goes down, and comes back and leads Rockets to victory. Moment that defines Yao and shows his character. Hes always been about the team. Lesser character guy would say I'm hurt and I need to sit out. Moving forward, how are the Rockets going to look different? How to fill the five? Looking at FAs and trying to fill that hole. Still think it has to come via trade. Rockets might be all about 2012. Article today by BimaThug. If under the old rules, they're well positioned for 2012. Signing a guy 7-10 mil this year eliminates 2012. I think via trade they'll pursue a guy. Lockout upon us. What are you doing on the website to keep the interest? Good question. Depends on how far the lockout goes. Might have interviews with players, coaches. We'll see how it goes. Change it to woman's soccer. That might do it. ... As far as Rockets, wont be as busy as it is during the season. I know there were reports that doubting his retirement but its for sure. ... How long did Rockets know this? I'd be speculating. When I heard the news, puts into perspective the comments I heard. McHale/Morey, when asked them about Yao, they'd say it would be great but...never including Yao in the plans. Maybe they had hope but no expectations of returning. Did Rockets want to move on? Not the case at all. Rockets would love to have Yao back. Money was going to be an issue. Couldnt pay him the max as they been doing. Could have been an issue down the line. Knowing Yao, he probably wanted to come back but didnt want to go through this whole process again. Future with Yao and organization? Or thanks for playing thats it? Dream does training for quite a few players. Very expensive as far as I know. Probably too expensive for the Rockets. As for Yao - Im sure we'll see him at games. Bet the Rockets would like to have him on the team in some capacity. HOF class in 5 years - Yao and Shaq. Its sad. Great but sad. Difference of 10 years when these guys came in the league. Highlights how Yao's career is what if. To think him and Shaq could go in together, great but sad. Going back to that, first time Yao and Shaq played, everybody in the world, that was the game to watch. Unbelievable. Thought Yao was going to get eaten alive. Shaq was in his prime and beast down low. Yao scored first 6 points and I believe the game winning slam. Terrific game. Shaq had the better numbers that game but Rockets won. That had been built up a long time. Great game to watch. 86 to 94, think about this now, 16 years now. Drought is going a long time. Great rides but last couple years, this is what has highlighted the Rockets. Overachievers. Most fans saying we need that star and need to break through. Thank you for joining us. Take care.
With Yao on the team, then we got Tmac, during that time, the rockets had 50 plus wins every year, even TNT and ESPN had ten or more rockets games, and last year, the rockets only had one ESPN (or TNT) game. For business side I think China will reduce the NBA TV contracts with China, clearly, lots of Chinese will drop (or already drop) off NBA to follow soccer or others. I just hope Les is not going to lose money in next few years.
So Clutch is jumping on board the "tank" bandwagon? Good! And by tank, I mean trade the vets, play the youngsters, and start counting the ping pong balls.
