Lock/merge/move as needed. Sam Amick interview one: http://nyc.podcast.play.it/media/d0/d0/d0/dY/d0/dK/dG/Y0KG_3.MP3 Spoiler Sam Amick of SI.com. Whats going on? Nothing much. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. How strong or weak is this draft? Going in, people were down on it but we've gotten reports it may be stronger than we think. Your take? Weak if you're talking about impact players and future all-stars. Its deep though. In mid to late first round and early second round, guys that could be pros for a long time. Consensus that Irving goes number one? I think so. Seemed that way for quite awhile. Had signs this week Cavs were thinking twice about it but seems like it will be Kyrie Irving number one. I think I remember this right: didnt you cover Adelman in Sacramento? I did, yeah. I wanted to get your take on what happened here. Your thoughts in general on what happened here? Surprised a little bit. Seemed like good fit on paper. I think Rick was down for best winning % in Rockets history. With that being said, you did hear rumblings about the fit. New school vs old school dynamic with Rick and the FO. Not entirely shocked when the two sides wanted to part ways. I know Rick wanted to be back and be there but at the same time, the months leading up to that decision, he had thrown conflicting signs out there what he wanted so... Thats the long version. Short version, and this comes from someone involved, is that hes a championship coach and thats not a championship team right now, its a rebuilding team and wasnt the right fit that it was just a few years ago. Rockets at 14. Overall thoughts? We hear Tristan Thompson, Bismack Biyombo, Klay Thompson, what are you hearing? All those names are in the right neighborhood. Klay Thompson will probably be gone. Chris Singleton another guy you hear attached to the Rockets. The mentality they would like to improve defensively. That takes it back to Adelman. Seems like you had a lot of offensive personnel being added in the last year or two and seems like the focus is guys like Biyombo and Singleton - guys known for the defensive side of the ball. I think they'll get a decent player at 14. More than likely it will be a defensive guy. You talk about Rockets rebuilding and not a fit for Rick. We agree with but at the same time, this is an owner who is known to make a bold move. One other discussion we had is, who is out there? You think nobody but also hear, and not saying the Rockets are interested, but Steve Nash on the block or could be, is Ainge thinking about breaking up the core, and of course Dwight Howard. Can you anticipate a big move like that, not necessarily for the Rockets, but happening in the offseason? I could from the standpoint that Daryl is a risk taker I think. He is not afraid to make the bold move. Right now, not seeing the vision of who that can be. I think those guys, and Les are willing to the pull the trigger on something like that but not as clearcut to who it might be. FA wise, not that huge name. Last year, obviously went after Bosh. Dont think that player exists this FA. Nash, not sure that gets it done. So yeah, I guess thats why Im not making GM money because I dont know how to fix that team. Tell me about these guys, Jonas Valanciuans and Donatas Motiejunas. What are you hearing on those guys? They're in opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to buzz and hype. Jonas is a guy who could go as high as 4. Teams excited about him but he needs to fill out physically. Hes versatile and talented. A guy being seen as a big time player right now. You'll have to wait a little for him to fulfill his potential. Will be a good player. Motiejunas is a guy at one point seen as top 10 talent. Think he still has potential and upside but questions about his motor and passion for the game. He slid quite a bit. Think he could go in the 20s now. Questions about the way hes competing and that he hasnt progressed like people thought he might. What do you think happens with Howard? Does Smith end up there? Does he leave? Seems like Dwight trying to do it a different way. Otis Smith got a uphill battle trying to put pieces around him. Dwight has put out the message he would not like to go the route of Shaq but at the same time, hard to get that done. What kind of player will Fredette be? A very good rotational player. Dont think he'll make any all-star teams. Think he can stretch the floor, and surprises people with his all around game. Solid NBA pro, will be doing it for a long time. Sam Amick interview two: http://cbshouston.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/sam-amick-6-21-11.mp3 Spoiler Looking forward to Thursday's draft, seems like this year, there is large number of foreign players that none of us seem to know about. Yeah I agree. Thats why I put a story up today breaking down these guys. A lot of mystery and uncertainty. Thats not just fans and the media. You got executives who had to play catch up real quickly and some who have been tracking them. You could have 4 international players in the lottery. One of those guys in Enes Kanter. Played at Kentucky but never played. Definitely a heavy international draft. Are any of these guys, here in Houston, we know they need a big man. Have you heard anything about what they will do? Will they move up and take a chance on one of these guys? They could definitely move up. They are historically one of the most aggressive and active teams but you're hearing that quite a bit right now. They've tried to move up a couple spots, tried to get even higher than that. Not sure of who they're specifically targeting. I know they do like Kawhi Leonard out of SD State. Thats one guy they would love to get. Whether or not they can pull it off, I dont know but I think they are trying to move up. A topic earlier on the show regarding the Rockets. Josh Smith reportedly has the Rockets on a short list of teams he'd be willing to play for if the Hawks trade him. I hadnt made the connection but hes old friends and I think ex AAU teammates with Dwight Howard. You know where Rocket fans are going with this. You get Smith, maybe its your entree to possibly Dwight Howard to Houston. Does this sound crazy? I like it. Those guys, the Rockets FO guys are creative and innovative. They swung and missed on Bosh last summer. I think in today's NBA, that stuff is legitimate. You saw with Miami, those connections matter. Not saying that would get the deal done. The problem is you cant take too much salary back in Josh Smith trade. You gotta hopefully be shedding salary in that kind of trade to keep room for Dwight. They're already up there a little bit for salary for next year. I'll buy that a little bit. Not sure anyone would call them a big three but Smith, Martin and Dwight, thats certainly a forced to be reckoned with. They'd be good. Still think you're fighting an uphill battle. Think Dwight still has options to go to other teams with a little more potentian and potency than that. That is a good core though. Obviously playoff team and top tier playoff team. What has been the national perception of Kevin McHale? A hire people are pointing to saying they did a good job or a head scratcher? Probably more of the latter. I dont even know what my take is. You heard for so long that Kevin wasnt eager to get back into coaching, but thats the part that confuses me. Wasnt enthusiastic coaching in MInnesota and what not. Head scratcher for me but those guys do their work. We'll see soon enough. When I think NBA coaching, its a talent league, not coaching league. Handful of guys I believe who make a difference and they take their team to the next level. If you're the Rockets, you got McHale but if you give him players, hes going to win. You go down to the Heat, who knows how good Spoelstra is, but if you give him 3 big time players, you're going to win. I think that tells you what kind of league this is - a player driven league. I agree. Talent does win out. One guy to look at is Doc Rivers. Good coach, widely respected. Everyone seems to forget when he was in Orlando and didnt have Celtics talent, he was a bum as a coach and even with the Celtics before they acquired those guys. When the Celtics revamped their roster, he became a genius. All that being said, not a small piece of the pie, its a big piece of the pie. Spoelstra, think he did a good job handling the egos, the turmoil and distractions but on the coaching front, think he got outcoached by Carlisle in the Finals and that wound up having a consequence. I think it matters but I think you're right, talent is number one. Finals a success for TNT, ABC, ESPN. Ratings up for all TV partners and average attendance up. Business good for the league but we keep hearing about the league taking over the Hornets, that there are perhaps a handful of other franchises close to being in the same boat as New Orleans. Whats going on here? I dont know. Tough to put a pulse on. Economy took a dive and thats where a lot of these teams were hit at the gates but that has turned around a decent amount. Still seeing disputes about how many teams are losing money.Owners want to say 22. NBA.com said someone who dealt with the league that it was more like 9 or 10. I dont know but something is driving the owners unified front in the fact they want to make such drastic changes to the system. Being based in Northern CA, the Kings are a good example of a team that has a hard time making money unless a through the roof playoff team. Small markets at a competitive disadvantage and thats one thing they want to fix in the new CBA as far as the owners go. So similar spot to NFL. Cant find a way to split the money, as a result, the fans lose. I agree. Its about the split. Matter of the players, theyre making 57% right now on basketball related income, thats the piece of their pie. The owners would like to see it closer to 50-50. Thats a significant move. They want a hard cap. In a culture where the players take pride in how far they've come when it comes to their forefathers. They look at it like the guys who came before them took it to a certain level, they're gonna be stubborn to take steps backwards and have that be their legacy where they start getting bullied by these guys but both sides incredibly stubborn right now. Appreciate it. We'll keep in touch.
