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[htr10]

Doc Rivers is a great coach, but you only get so many chances if you don’t get it done in the playoffs. I wonder if Brooklyn wouldn’t have been better off waiting for Doc than having 1st year head coach Nash trying to win it all in limited time frame with Durant.

[tiger0330]

Doc Rivers is a great coach, but you only get so many chances if you don’t get it done in the playoffs. I wonder if Brooklyn wouldn’t have been better off waiting for Doc than having 1st year head coach Nash trying to win it all in limited time frame with Durant.

Mark's would probably have chosen Doc over Nash if both were available. Doc has won a ring and has coached teams with multiple stars so I wonder if MIL would have some interest to replace Bud with him.

[mafra]

The Brooklyn Nets named Steve Nash their head coach in early September and stars Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant see Nash's role more as a coaching collaboration, rather than top-down leadership.

"I don't really see us having a head coach," Irving said on Durant's new podcast, "The Etcs." "KD could be a head coach, I could be a head coach [some days]."

Durant followed up by agreeing with Irving, calling it a "collaborative effort" and naming assistant and former interim head coach Jacque Vaughn as someone that could fill the role any given day.

[htr10]

Doc Rivers signs 5 year deal to head coach Philly. Do I think he can get to an Eastern Conference championship with that roster? Probably not, but who knows?

[tiger0330]

Doc Rivers signs 5 year deal to head coach Philly. Do I think he can get to an Eastern Conference championship with that roster? Probably not, but who knows?

Doc's rep took a hit not taking that Clips team to the WC final so no I'd say not likely he can take the Sixers to the Finals. Would have a better shot taking the Bucks to the finals but looks like that Bucks team is going to go with Bud this coming season as the HC.

[Kiyaman]

Doc Rivers signs 5 year deal to head coach Philly. Do I think he can get to an Eastern Conference championship with that roster? Probably not, but who knows?

The Doc & (playmaker) Simmons will become a quick win-win eastern conference team.

[mafra]

Porter gets Doc fired

Back in 2018, the Clippers had the #12 and #13 pick in the draft. They ended up drafting Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jerome Robinson. They traded both of them away. Back then, Steve Ballmer had asked the Front Office to draft Micheal Porter Jr. The Front Office were of the opinion that MPJ was ‘undraftable’.

The Denver Nuggets drafted MPJ and we saw how that turned out. Porter Jr is a young star on the rise, and that just further aggravates Ballmer. Ballmer was familiar with MPJ, both being from Seattle.

[htr10]

Daryl Morey stepping down as Rockets GM. Rockets made 8 straight playoff appearances in a highly competitive Western conference under Morey. Sounds like some people still hung up on Morey’s China tweet though, not sure if it is related.

[tiger0330]

Porter gets Doc fired

Back in 2018, the Clippers had the #12 and #13 pick in the draft. They ended up drafting Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jerome Robinson. They traded both of them away. Back then, Steve Ballmer had asked the Front Office to draft Micheal Porter Jr. The Front Office were of the opinion that MPJ was ‘undraftable’.

The Denver Nuggets drafted MPJ and we saw how that turned out. Porter Jr is a young star on the rise, and that just further aggravates Ballmer. Ballmer was familiar with MPJ, both being from Seattle.

Mike D'Antoni not returning as HC of the Rockets on expiration of his contract, probably a good move for him with the lack of cap flexibility and draft picks for the Rockets after the CP3 and Westbrook trades. They also have contract decisions on PJ Tucker and guys like Rivers, Mclemore, Green, Carroll on minimum contracts that will probably be playing elsewhere. Rox are a team in flux that have an uncertain future despite having 2 MVP stars On their roster.

D'Antoni now becomes one of the top coaching talents available on the market along with Donovan.

Daryl Morey stepping down as Rockets GM. Rockets made 8 straight playoff appearances in a highly competitive Western conference under Morey. Sounds like some people still hung up on Morey’s China tweet though, not sure if it is related.

Morey going to say something about his resignation tomorrow but the situation was similar to Doc and Balmer, Morey was the GM for 13 years and never won that championship. Their new owner and Morey coming to an agreement that it was time for a change, I said they were a team in flux despite their 2 MVP stars, don't see how they're going to surround The Beard and Russ with talent without cap space and no picks. My bet is JH and/or Russ ask to be traded and we see a rebuild in Houston.

[tiger0330]

One day after Morey quits, which looks to be his personal decision to step away after 13 seasons, there are rumors that the Knicks are interested in trading for Russ. Two scenarios for trading for him, one you're a contender that you think can get you over the hump and you trade a ton of assets for to acquire him, thats what the Rockets did last season or you're a team with the cap space to accommodate his huge salary but you want a ton of assets back in order to sign him. The Knicks can't get assets back the Rockets don't have and Russ is no sure bet to take the Knicks to the playoffs. Don't see this happening unless Thibs really wants him.

[mafra]

KNicks would need multiple assets... a couple picks and a young player to take on that contract....

Unless you felt confident about signing Giannis, I wouldn’t kill the move as long as we get 3 first rounders and a young player....

Sounds like MIA going ball out for Giannis... so, this is the sort of move NyK needs to make (use cap space to absorb a deal)... but 3 years and 150 is too rich for me

[tiger0330]

One day after Morey quits, which looks to be his personal decision to step away after 13 seasons, there are rumors that the Knicks are interested in trading for Russ. Two scenarios for trading for him, one you're a contender that you think can get you over the hump and you trade a ton of assets for to acquire him, thats what the Rockets did last season or you're a team with the cap space to accommodate his huge salary but you want a ton of assets back in order to sign him. The Knicks can't get assets back the Rockets don't have and Russ is no sure bet to take the Knicks to the playoffs. Don't see this happening unless Thibs really wants him.

From The Athletic.


Daryl Morey said his mind had been made up for a month.

The Rockets general manager who came to Houston from Boston in 2006, whose blockbuster trade for James Harden in 2012 was one of the all-time best moves in any era and whose analytics-driven philosophies would change the way the game is played, returned from another playoff failure after they fell short against the Lakers inside the Orlando bubble and decided he was done. Nevermind that the news didn’t come out until 30 days later — one day after the emotionally-charged departure of former Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni that officially took place on the plane ride back from the bubble — or that the Rockets have been conducting a coaching search for the past month looking for D’Antoni’s replacement.
In an interview with The Athletic on Thursday night, Morey and Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta discussed the unorthodox way this massive move went down. For Morey’s part, he cited family reasons as the main inspiration behind the move and said the D’Antoni departure that was known to disappoint him did not play a part in his decision.
“That didn’t affect my decision, um, at all,” Morey said.
With Morey out, the Rockets are elevating assistant general manager and team counsel Rafael Stone to the general manager role.
“Yea it’s been great, it’s been collaborative,” Morey said. “We’ve been up front with all the candidates that this was coming and they’ve been respectful to not have it get out early. It’s been baked in.”
Yet according to two of the Rockets coaching candidates, it wasn’t quite that clear that Morey was on his way out. There were signs of something being amiss, the candidates said, among them the fact that Morey wasn’t leading the process. But they said there was no direct message that Morey was about to step down.
Typically during a Rockets offseason, particularly during the early stages, there would be a series of staff meetings regarding objectives like player scouting and the upcoming draft — two aspects of the job Morey is quite fond of as a general manager. Since the coronavirus pandemic hit the United States, these meetings had pivoted to ZOOM, the popular video conference service, but there had been a reduction in these meetings over the past few weeks, an indication that something was off.
“As Daryl said, every single coach that we’ve brought in has been told that Daryl will most likely not be here next season,” Fertitta added. “And not one coach said ‘I’m not coming in.’ So it hasn’t been an issue. They’ve interviewed with our basketball ops. Daryl was a great leader, but everybody has seen our (front office) bench, and knows that there’s a lot of talent in our basketball ops, and Tad (Brown) is here. It just hasn’t been an issue whatsoever.”
No matter how it went down, with Morey planning on stepping away at the end of the month, the process now continues without him in the long-term plans.
Prior to the coaching search, Fertitta had said that Morey would have a large influence in picking the next Rockets head coach, but The Athletic has learned that Morey’s role in the coaching search had diminished over the past few weeks and he had been operating essentially as a consultant. The Rockets have interviewed Jeff Van Gundy, Ty Lue, Kenny Atkinson, Stephen Silas, David Vanterpool, Wes Unseld Jr., and John Lucas so far.
Earlier today, Van Gundy met with Houston for the second time as their process moves along. ESPN reported that Mavericks assistant coach Stephen Silas will also have a second interview. John Lucas is also thought of to be a serious candidate with his understanding of the roster from top to bottom, his ability to connect with each player differently, a firm grasp of the system Houston employs, and a vast amount of experience.
Typically, the Rockets front office has operated as a joint venture, with Morey, Stone, Eli Witus, and Monte McNair (now with Sacramento) offering individual input along with ownership before arriving at a decision. So far, however, it’s been Stone — and not Morey — running point during the interview process.
“Rafael has been leading the process and Tilman, Tad, and Patrick have been involved,” Morey added. “It’s been a great process. The Rockets have a great history before me of hiring great coaches and that’ll continue going forward.”
For Morey, stepping away from the team will allow him to shift focus towards his family and personal life. The 2019-20 season was an extremely long and taxing season for the NBA but especially for Morey personally — stemming from the tweet sent last October supporting freedom for Hong Kong, the ensuing backlash, and death threats from China, and being thrown under the bus by prominent members of the league.
The Rockets lost millions in sponsorships and streaming privileges from Chinese broadcasting services Tencent and CCTV, as well as an on-court sponsor. With the way in which those events played out one after another and considering the hundreds of millions of dollars in league revenue the NBA estimated in losses, obvious questions have been raised about whether it played a part in Morey’s decision to walk away. Speaking to the New York Times, Fertitta refused to answer questions concerning the China fallout but said there was no connection between those events and Morey’s departure.
“We’ve never had a cross word over it (Morey’s tweet),” Fertitta told the newspaper.
The four-month hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic and ensuing bubble experience also may have played a part. Houston slugged through a first-round fistfight with the Oklahoma City Thunder only to fizzle out against the eventual champion Lakers, losing four games in a row. With the team facing bitter defeat for the fourth time in a row, the team likely headed for an offseason with little to no wiggle room, an aging roster, and an increasingly difficult league with rising contenders, perhaps Morey felt it was best to step away from the game and focus his energy on his loved ones.
“Yeah, it was real personal,” Morey said. “‘Obviously (the bubble was) intense for all of us. It’s been a great 14-year run just tied in with my family, (but) my youngest just graduated from high school and is on a gap year, my daughter’s on a gap year — the pandemic gap year. It just felt like the right time and the Rockets are in great hands with Rafael Stone and they’re going to make a great coaching hire that I’ve been helping with and I think it’s going to be great going forward. …Yeah, I left Orlando after we had the tough loss to the Lakers, talked to my family and then I told Tilman.”
Fertitta said Morey relayed the word the day after the Rockets left the bubble, meaning Sept. 14.
“The day after. I mean he just said, ‘You know, I’m kind of just struggling and don’t know what I want to do,’” Fertitta said. “To tell y’all, when we signed Daryl’s last extension, Daryl told me, ‘You know, I’m not going to always be here (and) when my last son graduates (he might leave).’
“I was surprised, (but) I wasn’t surprised. He always told me he kind of wanted to go back East one day. Does that mean he moves back East? I don’t know. But Daryl and I have always been very upfront with each other, and – you know – where I was surprised I wasn’t surprised. I knew that when his last child graduated from home, and there was that time, that something could always happen.”
Morey remains firm that his proudest moment in the 13 years at the helm was the 2018 Western Conference Finals, but it might have also been his most bitter. The Rockets held a 3-2 series lead against the defending champion Golden State Warriors before losing Chris Paul to a hamstring injury and losing Games 6 and 7. Since that painful exit, the past two seasons have been about getting back to that pinnacle, the toast of the NBA world, and heir to the throne, but the Rockets have failed both times.
“Yeah, I mean it for sure was the year that we almost won the title two years ago,” Morey said. That’s the ultimate prize, and I thought it was our year and it probably should have been, but you know they make you win four out of seven and we didn’t get it done.”
For the newly appointed Stone, the immediate future will have the continuation of the head coaching search. Such a switch in the front office naturally comes as a shock. One Rockets player said in a text to The Athletic “This came out of nowhere for me,” but ownership maintains that the foundation of the team — Harden, and Westbrook — has been in regular contact and is anticipating another challenge in the upcoming 2020-21 season.
“You know, my conversations with them are private, and they’re looking forward to next season,” Fertitta said.

[mafra]

Steven Silas hired to be HC of Rockets. My last official recorded base hit came off Steven in HS

[htr10]

Mike D’Antoni to work as assistant coach under Steve Nash with the Nets. Crazy. I hope the players are ready to run the floor.

[mafra]

Mike D’Antoni to work as assistant coach under Steve Nash with the Nets. Crazy. I hope the players are ready to run the floor.

Amare on staff too