Morey fires back in defense of team
GM dismisses negativity as a free-agent ploy
After days of taking shots since the Rockets were rushed out of the playoffs in five games by Golden State, Rockets general manager Daryl Morey shot back Friday
More than just defending his team from the criticism that had come in waves, he accused other teams, without specifically naming them, of planting or influencing stories critical of the Rockets and their fall to 4141 and a first-round playoff exit punctuated by three blowouts.
“It’s been disappointing — and obviously we’re all disappointed — that people are painting the season we just had. and trying to make it into a larger thing than
it is, which is one season that was disappointing in a sea of a lots of seasons that were successful,” Morey said. “Not as successful as we want, but for sure not the entire negative environment that people are trying to paint.
“It’s smart for other teams to try to paint us in a negative way. It’s a very competitive free- agent situation. All the articles you see out there are other teams I think very smartly trying to paint our situation as negative. Being kicked while you’re down is a smart situation by teams leaking things, trying to put stuff out there to make us look bad.”
Morey did not say which articles he had in mind or what team or teams influenced them. When he was asked about suggestions that free agents would not want to play with Rockets guard James Harden, he disputed that argument and seemed to cite Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban’s comments before last season as similar to the sort of tactical suggestions he believes are again being made in the NBA with free agency in mind.
“I think that’s very smart, strategic positioning,” Morey said. “I had to address that last year when a certain owner was painting our team in a bad light. This year is no different. I think it’s very smart that other teams are trying to paint our players in a bad light. … James Harden, I don’t know who wouldn’t want to play with him. A top-five player in the league, unbelievable passer, unbelievable scorer. … Everything we hear is that people only want to play with him.”
‘ This is on me’
Morey said he had to “take gambles” on players because the Rockets have not picked in the top 10 in the draft, citing regularseason success in the past 10 years when only Dallas and San Antonio have also not had a losing record.
“This is on me,” he said. “A lot of the guys we brought in didn’t work out. That’s on me. We’re going to do better. We’re going to get back to Rockets basketball. We’re going to get back to winning.”
But he disputed the notion that he does not value chemistry or that it was as much of an issue this season as many, including some of his players, have said.
“I think it’s hugely important,” Morey said. “I don’t remember articles about how our chemistry was great last year. I don’t remember articles last year that said how great our guys were together. That’s a label people throw on a team when it’s not going well. The reality is we didn’t have enough guys playing together and playing well. Last year, we had a lot of guys playing well and playing together. It’s the same group of guys. They had good chemistry. They just didn’t play well.
“It’s the convenient thing to say the chemistry is bad. We lost games. Everybody is trying to figure out why we lost games. The reality is our defense was a lot worse. That was guys not playing as well as we needed them to play.”
Morey described the decision to fire Kevin McHale after 11 games as the best decision with the information at the time and said it is impossible to know what would have happened had McHale stayed.
‘Expectations got us’
“I thought J.B. (Bickerstaff) did a very good job stabilizing things, getting us into the playoffs, making us competitive,” Morey said. “We all wanted more than that. It didn’t happen.
“We were playing maybe the best team ever. I shouldn’t get frustrated, but I’m going to get frustrated for a minute. There are teams swept out of the playoffs and we’re not hearing about how they have a problem. There are teams that supposedly have great chemistry and great coaching situations and lost the same as us. I don’t hear about them. And they don’t have our track record of winning.
“Expectations got us. We want expectations. That means we have great players and we’re set up to win. To go from those expectations to ‘the Rockets don’t know how to win’ when we’ve won more than almost any team in the league, it’s frustrating.”