What do you guys mean by "emperor's new clothes"? Are you saying that Lin, Asik, Lamb, White, Motiejunaa and Jones in fact do not exist?
It's only valid if the player underperforms the contract. If the player is performing at, or above the contract value of the player option year, then it would be no problem. Dragic didn't seem like the type of player that would go 'Roy Tarpley' or 'Rashard Lewis' after a big contract. However, the potential a serious injury like an ACL could have the same effect on the player option in the final year.
Morey on the 'Afternoon Delight' with Adam Clanton and John Wessling. Spoiler Are you getting any rest after the busy weekend? No. We go right into roster moves and extending James so no rest but no one should feel bad for anyone. To be clear, Mr. Alexander and the resources and staff we have here got this done. It's not a one man show over here. You are gonna have to work on the extension. All signs point to him being locked up by the time the season starts? Yeah, that's the plan. We obviously gotta work it out. He wants to do it, we want to do it, so that's a good place to start. How soon after the trade went through did you accept the fact Stern wouldn't reject the trade? There's a whole set of things that can cause a trade to derail. Until I got word a few minutes ago, I was waiting for something to happen. Obviously this is a huge deal for the team. Now that you have Harden, is the process to keep building on that? What's the next step? We're not a title contender yet. You need multiple top players. We had zero. Now we have one. We need to develop another all-star caliber player on the team or use our max cap room next year or when the opportunity comes to use that cap room to add another player. You'll have significant cap space this next offseason, is that true? We'll have max room next year. If there is someone worth it, and in our opinion the guy we just got is, if you have someone worth it, we'll go for it. You can use that in trade too. If a team is going to lose a guy, they'll trade him early and you can extend him. How happy was Coach McHale when he saw this go through? He was really, really happy. Any head coach would be. We were doing well offensively pushing the tempo, but in certain key moments, you gotta be a good half court team. Our personnel didn't line up for that. Now we have one of the elite half court players in the game and he'll give us a much better shot at key moments to be able to generate the offense we need. It wasn't a one man trade. Can you speak about the others? Cole is someone we liked in the draft. Someone who can play backup five for us, rebound, block shots, & defend. He hasn't had much of an opportunity but we think he can help. Cook has been in quite a few big games for OKC. Great shooter. Athletic and plays both ends. He can help us as well. Lazar hasn't had much chance and probably won't get a chance here unfortunately. Harden was a sixth man of the year award winner and came off the bench. Did that hold him back from putting up the numbers you expect him to here? The amount of opportunities and playing time. Yeah, pretty much the whole league would have played behind two those guys. James happened to be behind them. There's no doubt in my mind he can step into a star role and be the main guy. He's played without those guys against non-backups and has been elite. We have no concerns. You start the season Wednesday night. This is odd timing because he's coming in at the end of TC and you have gone through a preseason and chemistry and what not. How much of an issue will that be? I think it will be a mild issue. Timing would have been better in September but our choices of not having him and having him at the end of October, I'll take the latter. We'll make it work but it will challenge the coaching staff and team to get some chemistry. How excited is Mr. Alexander to get these #13 jerseys out and fake beards on the fans? He's excited because we're closer to being a playoff team. People don't believe me but we're not making much on the jerseys. That all goes to the league office and is distributed in a minor way. It's not a big focus frankly. I hope that will change with a new commissioner but I don't know if that will be the case. I know Rockets fans, it's been tough with all the changes on the roster, there are probably a few jerseys in the closet that are no longer with the team but I think everyone is safe getting a James Harden jersey. Is this the team we're going to see this season? Any tricks up your sleeve? Standard GM answer: we're going to keep upgrading. We know we're not a title contender. We have to keep being aggressive. You talked about the turnover on the roster. Pretty much every vet from last year is gone. If you're trying to sell this team to a casual basketball fan, how do you describe this team to them? We're a playoff contender who is fun to watch every night. We play uptempo. We play tough, we play hard. I know fans will love the players. They're great people too. Chance to win every night, a fun game, a fun environment, I'd be in but I'm biased. I gotta run. I'll talk to you soon.
Interesting quote in the interview, when asked if this was the team we are rolling out for the season's start, Morey responded that he is always looking for upgrades "typical gm answer he said." I'm guessing he misunderstood the question but this seems to indicate we might have another trade by Wednesday (obviously incredibly unlikely scenario)
I wasn't really buying that right now this second. I think the answer came from the fact that he was actually surprised this deal with Harden actually happened when he least expected it. The fact is teams had to make their 15 man roster cuts today by 5. If another team wanted to make a trade before the season starts, they would have done so before they had to cut players. Today was a trade deadline of sorts for the preseason. That being said, they still have the equivalent of a max contract player they can take back in trade for the expiring contracts they currently have and assuming the options of several player do not get picked up. Thats like having another Kevin Martin type expiring contract contract to offer in a trade. Pretty amazing Morey pulled off this deal and still managed to NOT take back ANY bad contracts. Wouldn't be shocked if they really key in on their targets for the February trade deadline in the coming weeks. They organized their roster cuts in a way that it fits for another move to be made then.
Well, when he was on 790 last week, and asked about roster moves, he said he likes the team they have going into the season, nothing is going on with them, the league around this time is pretty quiet in terms of trades and he doesn't foresee them making any big roster moves or trades until around the deadline. So yea.... GM speak. LOL!!!
DMorey had no idea that Presti would call inquiring about a trade...so asking him last week was why he gave the answer he did...he didnt see anything transpiring because no one was selling Presti felt that instead of creating a Dwight Howard like situation for the Thunder that the best move would be to move Harden if a deal couldnt be reached...and start the beginning of the year free from drama...Presti also got the most value he couldve from Harden...and actually got something of value from the Rockets...in terms of picks and this years lottery pick in Lamb and an expiring in KMart... DMorey made the best deal for the Rockets...he got rid of a player that would at best by himself...just be a 2nd round pick...plus an unknown in Lamb plus additional unknowns in terms of picks... for a player that is one of the best SG in the league who just started entering his prime...it is unheard of for a player to be available via trade...especially a player of Harden's capability/age...
Yeah, not the right thread, but Jonathan Feigen was also on if you're interested. Spoiler Have things settled down for you? Not quite yet. Today is an interesting day with the PC. I chatted a little bit with James Harden. Practice this afternoon. This is what you wanted. Some good stuff going on. That's one thing about this team, good, bad, some place in between, they're interesting. You said you talked to James Harden. What does his demeanor seem to be like about joining the Rockets? He's very up for it. I think he likes the idea of being the guy. He could do that with the 2nd unit for OKC, and even for stretches with Durant or Westbrook on the floor but not when both were on the floor with him. Now he's the guy. The ball is in his hands. One of the things since this trade went through, the last 36 hours have been about "Who won the trade?". Who did win this trade? It's not one that one team wins. They're completely different teams with different goals & agendas. You have one team rebuilding, and to a degree still, and another contending for a title. You can make an argument, when your as good as the Thunder, you keep everything together as long as possible to try and win. They did a good job building from the circumstances they were in. They could not sign him long term. They risk him being a FA and leaving. Instead, they get a guy who can score immediately. All that stuff they run for Durant they can now run for Kevin Martin when he comes off the bench. It makes great sense. Lamb can grow into a role, where he can score that way as he matures into a NBA player and then a lottery pick from Toronto. OKC won't get a lottery pick any other way for a long time. They're too good. They did a great job setting themselves up to continue to grow in the face of losing Harden as FA after the season. The Rockets are not about more lottery picks or draft picks. They don't need more young guys in the middle of the first round. They need someone taken third who looks and plays the part and that's Harden. The Rockets were at the stage they had to have the best player in the trade. That's what Harden is. They both go into it with different goals and they achieved those goals. Some criticism that the Rockets overpaid. Can you speak to that and what the Rockets have left as future assets. I don't know what overpaid is. You pay the price. If you want it, you pay what it takes to get it and they not only wanted it, they need an elite player. Does he go from star to superstar to elite, that remains to be seen but they think he can be special. You pay what it takes to get that and they could, because as we all know here, they've been collecting assets for a couple years so when the time came, they could afford to spend what it takes. Going forward, they're in ok shape. They have 7.5 million in cap room this season after today's cuts. Trade deadline, if there is a guy who is cut and a mid-level guy, you can slide him in. There are lots of things they can do because they spend this season with cap room. Next summer, they have room for a max player. When you're the 9th place team in the West for 3 years and are full of vets and counting on thirty-somethings and have no cap room, how do you get better? Now their best player is 23 years old, 2nd best player is 23 years old. Now they're young. Now you have a reason for hope to get better. Then they have money to spend. And if they're lousy, they have their own pick. The Toronto pick is valuable but I don't know if it's as valuable as their pick. They're not done. They can't possibly think that. They do have things to get more: max cap room and a good draft pick. You mentioned the two things that excite me most: Harden is 23 years old and if they max him out, they'll still have money to spend in the offseason. We talked to Daryl, he mentioned they can do it in FA or in trades. Next year's FA crop, I don't see anyone who jumps out. Do you think they'll use that in trade vs a FA signing? Sure. They tried and tried and tried. This time they got it done but it's not easy. Sometimes it takes 5-10 swings and misses before you get a hit. I do agree. Josh Smith, you get Josh Smith if he is the missing piece. Rockets are not a piece away. An Al Jefferson type, no. That's not what they need. They need an up and comer like the rest of their guys. They want a team that will grow together. I don't see a FA that you look at and say "Do it." and you're done. In trades, things happen. Carmelo got traded. Guys do get traded. They are in position to do a variety of things. Not as much as before they traded a couple of good assets but can still get a couple of things done if someone is ready to move that kind of guy that won't be a FA this summer. Talk about the other guys coming in and how they fit in and who will end up on the starting lineup of the Vipers. Scott Machado will probably lead the D-League in assists this year. Maybe not. They pretty much knew who their PG was going to be in Demetri McCamey. I have to admit, I didn't expect a Vipers question and sure didn't expect to mention Demetri McCamey and Kyle Fogg today. There's your RGV Vipers! I would expect there is time for Royce White and Donatas Motiejunas there this year. If they get a stretch where the Vipers have a bunch of games in a row and they aren't playing, I would think they go get them some playing time. There are bigger names than Kyle Fogg. Tip-off Wednesday night at Detroit. Does this make the Rockets a playoff team, if not a contender? How about a contender to be a playoff team? I don't think...if you pick 8 teams, you aren't listing them. They have a great chance to get the 14th pick again. If they're 9th in the West again, they're 9th with a bullet as opposed to what they've been: stuck there. I didn't think they would be stuck there last year. Kinda shocking that's where they ended up. They come home from that road trip and they're 5th. They sweep the 4 game road trip, win at OKC, LA, SAC, & POR and they're 5th in the league. They promptly lose the next six. And so, alright, I could see last year, let's go for it. Let's try and be a playoff team. When that fell apart, I could see, hey, let's break up whatever is left of this. Let's start over young. As far as this team, it would be an accomplishment to make the playoffs. It's now a legitimate goal. At least now they can feel like if we make a run at it and don't make it again, they're heading in that direction where last year, they can't feel we're a year away. Whatever happens this year, because of this trade, and because how young Asik, Lin, and Parsons are, they can feel like they're growing to that. Can you speak to how the addition of Harden helps with the chemistry of Lin and starting five? It helps a lot. They were able to put together an uptempo offense but you know there will be times you win or lose based on what you can do in the half court. They just traded for a good half court offense. PnR, he is an elite player. That helps Lin. He doesn't have to create everything for himself and defenses can't just swarm all over him the way they did in preseason.
Morey on 790 earlier this morning: <iframe width="658" height="371" scrolling="no" src="http://www.sports790.com/player/embed.html?autoStart=false&useFullScreen=true&mid=22589086&osu=null&startButtonColor=0xffffff" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" ></iframe>
