Morey confident in ‘No. 2’ team
If the Rockets’ goal was to be as interesting as the Warriors, they have made a fine run at it. • Since last season, they traded for Chris Paul, signed almost an entire second unit with P.J. Tucker, Luc Mbah a Moute and Tarik Black and completed the sale of the team from Leslie Alexander to Tilman Fertitta. • With the hope to have a season as memorable as the offseason, Rockets general manager Daryl Morey addressed some of the issues to consider heading into media day Monday and the start of practices Tuesday at Toyota Center. • Though Morey could not speak about players on other teams, including the oft-speculated but now-dashed potential of a trade for Carmelo Anthony, he discussed working with Fertitta, James Harden and Paul sharing a backcourt and chasing the Warriors.
Q: Heading into the start of training camp, the Rockets are basically between owners. But with free agency complete and months before trade talks typically heat up, is this as good a time as any to be in that situation?
A:
Yeah. Most of the decisions have been made on the roster. Some minor stuff (remains.) But you want to have an owner active and involved around free agency and the trade deadline and even during the season. Mr. Alexander timed the sale well, and I’m looking forward to working with Mr. Fertitta. Q: Have you had many talks with Tilman? A:
Oh yeah. I’ve really enjoyed working with him so far. He’s not the official owner yet, but that will be not too long. He’s going to be great for the city of Houston. I really think people will be extremely happy with him as an owner. Q: Do you have a feel yet for what will be his style as an owner? A:
No. It’s early. He probably has a better sense of our style because he’s such a huge Houston Rockets fan, courtside seat holder. He’s obviously watched over the years what we’ve done and how we operate. I’ve obviously enjoyed going to his hotels and restaurants. Besides that, I haven’t had a chance to interact with him much. That’s something we’ll learn about each other over time. Q: When you speak with him now, do you get into the details? Do you discuss, for example, an extension for Clint Capela, the options? A:
I don’t want to get into specifics, but I sat down with him (Wednesday). We’re meeting again (Thursday.) We talk about all that, planning now for the future. How do you trade off decisions, draft picks, now, for the future. Things like that.
Q: On a potential extension for Capela, you have never done an extension for a player heading into his fourth season. You have always had players become restricted free agents. Anything different about him or the timing, where this roster is, that would change that?
A:
Not speaking specifically about Clint, but extensions in general are getting to be very low probability around the league, I think. The bump in the cap and then it flattening is making it hard. It’s always historically been hard, but the percentage of players that end up getting an extension has gotten lower and lower. They are difficult to pull off.
Q: Next summer, you would have Bird rights on Clint, Chris Paul and Trevor Ariza. But signing everyone would likely mean paying a large luxury tax. Do you know yet the philosophy of the new ownership on that so you can plan for next July?
A:
Tilman from what I know is all about winning. He’s going to do what it takes to win. I think there are natural tradeoffs you have to talk through. When you have a team as good as ours the emphasis is going to be on winning.
Q: You had a tweet this week about sitting in second but looking to make a late move. When an athlete says “make a move” you think of a finishing kick. When a GM says it, you think of a trade deadline move.
A:
We usually do something at the trade deadline. I don’t know if that’s going to be the case. The point is we’re facing an historically good team in Golden State. I think we’re going to be working all year to develop our habits, our playing style to try to play at their level. Nobody has for a while now. We’re excited about our team. We’re excited about how good we are. It doesn’t roll off the tongue to say “We’re No. 2. We’re No. 2.” It’s generally a good thing to go into the season being the second-best team. It’s a lot better being the first-best team. But being the second-best team is a good place to be, historically. It’s a long season. We can close that gap with them. I like racing, so a good metaphor is the car in second is often in the best position. Q: So are the Rockets the secondbest team right now? A: We feel that’s the case. We have to prove it on the court. I do feel like we are the second-best team. Q: The team that beat you (San Antonio) is still there. A:
I know. Last year, we were not the second-best team. We have to prove it. All this stuff doesn’t matter. My job is to hopefully position us the best we can. I think adding Chris, having 48 minutes of Hall of Fame point guard play is pretty exciting for us.
Q: You mentioned the Warriors as the team you are chasing. How much of your decision-making is specifically geared toward matching up with them?
A:
I normally hate worrying about one team, but I think it would be really silly not to right now. They’re that good, so we spent a lot of time thinking about beating the Warriors. We know we’re going to face them. We obviously have to get through some extremely tough teams — the Spurs, Oklahoma City, Memphis, you name it — to get there. But if you know you are going to be facing a team if you’re having the season you want, and we want to be all the way to the championship, I think it does make sense to focus on that team. Q: Any moves you can point to as examples of that? A:
Yeah. Mbah a Moute and Tucker were both signed with the idea of facing Golden State in mind. I’m not saying we wouldn’t have done it, anyway, but we were thinking of them. Nene was obviously critical. Chris is a move we would have done no matter what. Any time you can add a top 10 player, you do it. Q: Speaking of Chris Paul, now that you have him, does that mean the offense will be walking the ball up and shooting midrange jumpers? A:
I think we have two people who have a green light no matter where they are. Actually, with Mike (D’Antoni) everyone’s got a green light. We did get one of the best midrange shooters of all time. I think it’s good. It helps diversify the offense. Q: Is it a myth that you hate midrange shots? A:
It is a myth. I like scoring more points than the other team. You get more if you shoot 3s or layups. It doesn’t mean we’re going to keep Chris, one of the best midrange shooters ever, from shooting them.”
Q: So for a midrange shot to be a good shot, you have to be really, really good at it? You went after Chris, Carmelo, Chris Bosh, Dirk Nowitzki. LaMarcus Aldridge.
A: Yes. Two “reallys” is about right. Then, shoot them.” Q: What about pace? A:
The way we look at it is we’re the best in early offense. The first few seconds of the shot clock we were good, but early offense, in the four- to 10-second range, we were the best team in the league. Chris thrives in that area. It will be very similar, I think. Q: What kind of growing pains do you expect? A:
We’ll go through some tough times. We have two guys that are hypercompetitive and want to win and neither have been on a team with another alpha dog like that. That will require some work-it-out. There will be a critical game, close game or tie game, how do we handle it? During most of the game, I have no worries. They’ll each bring it up. They’ll work off each other. I have no issues with that. Those key moments late in game, there will be some feeling it out between them. Who is initiating the first major offensive action.
Q: You mentioned having a Hall of Fame point guard on the floor at all times. Will there be a change in the plan about resting players and off days?
A:
That is TBD. Some of that might be how the season is going. We certainly aren’t going in with a plan to rest certain days. And the schedule made that a lot easier. We’re down to 12 away back-toback. But the goal going in is to get the wear and tear down on James, Chris, Trevor, Nene. Hopefully, we’ll do that because we’re up by 20.