Daryl Morey Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Mike D’Antoni’s Agent Denies Progress Toward Extension

June 9th, 2019 at 8:55am CST by Arthur Hill

The Rockets and head coach Mike D’Antoni may not be as close to an extension agreement as yesterday’s report indicated, tweets Mark Berman of Fox 26 in Houston. Warren LeGarie, D’Antoni’s agent, confirms that owner Tilman Fertitta and GM Daryl Morey met with the coach at his West Virginia home, but paints a different picture of negotiations.

“It’s not exactly representing the situation,” LeGarie said. “When they met with Mike … they had presented essentially what they considered (was) a new offer, even though for us it’s the same, it’s the same one that we’re not willing to do. They’ve taken (out) the $2.5MM buyout and made that a $5MM deal. It’s still not Mike’s market (value).”

D’Antoni listened to the offer from Fertitta and Morey, but didn’t engage in negotiations, telling them to present the deal to his agent.

“They’re never talked to me since,” LeGarie said. “So it’s not moving. It’s a little bit disingenuous what is being reported. They believe by going there and bypassing (me) that will somehow get it done. It won’t. … We have not been talking and we’re not closer to a deal.”

D’Antoni has one year left on his contract at $4.5MM. He has been the Rockets’ coach for the past three seasons, compiling a 173-73 record.

Rockets Reportedly Willing To Pay Luxury Tax

May 12th, 2019 at 11:46am CST by Arthur Hill

After making a series of transactions to get below the tax threshold this season, the Rockets are willing to accept the tax next year to upgrade their roster, according to Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle.

GM Daryl Morey has already received permission from ownership to make moves that will push the team into tax territory, a source tells Feigen. Morey will try to tweak the roster to better compete with the Warriors, who have eliminated the Rockets from the playoffs in four of the past five seasons.

Houston has all five of its starters under contract for next year at a total cost of about $114MM, which is already over the salary cap. Morey will have to rebuild a reserve unit that features unrestricted free agents Austin Rivers, Kenneth Faried and Iman Shumpert and restricted free agent Danuel House.

Barring a bold trade to shake up the roster, Morey’s main weapon will be a mid-level exception that could be worth $9MM but is more likely to be limited to $5.7MM. That money might be needed to re-sign one or more of the team’s free agents, or Morey could also try to find a bargain on the free agent market.

No matter how he proceeds, Morey has a huge challenge ahead of him. The Rockets need to find a dependable small forward to allow Eric Gordon to spend more time in the backcourt, Feigen notes. They also need one more reliable shooter and a power forward who can hit 3-pointers and rebound so they don’t get beaten on the boards so badly when using small lineups.

Rockets Notes: Harden, Paul, Morey, Gordon

April 28th, 2019 at 8:31pm CST by JD Shaw

James Harden and the Rockets found themselves at the center of attention in the NBA Sunday, coming up short against the Warriors in a 104-100 road loss in Game 1. Harden struggled shooting the ball and finished just 9-of-28 from the field, partially a result from several questionable no-calls on his attempted three-pointers.

Of the 28 shots Harden attempted, 16 of them were from 3-point range. There were multiple shots where Klay Thompson or another Warriors player dangerously over-extended on the play, giving him little-to-no space to land.

“They missed four of them. That’s 12 foul shots,” an irritated Mike D’Antoni said postgame of the officiating.

D’Antoni mentioned the officials admitted their wrongdoings at halftime, vowing to take a closer look at whether Harden was being fouled. The final play of the game saw Harden attempt a three at the top of the key and receive contact from Draymond Green, with no call being made. The case could be made that Harden extended his legs out in a flopping motion on the shot, but the officials were still ripped by several team figures and fans.

“I just want a fair chance, man,” Harden said. “Call the game how it’s supposed to be called, and that’s it. I’ll live with the results. Especially because we all know what happened a few years back with Kawhi [Leonard], and that could change an entire series. Just call the game how it’s supposed to be called and we’ll live with the results. It’s plain and simple.”

The Rockets have a chance to bounce back and take Game 2 on Tuesday night, which is also set to commence from Oracle Arena.

There’s more out of Houston tonight:

Chris Paul was ejected at the end of Game 1 after picking up his second technical foul. Paul argued a no-call and appeared to make slight contact with the referee, something the league has issued suspensions for in the past. Should Paul be suspended for Game 2, it would be a crushing blow to a Houston team still hoping to steal homecourt advantage in the series. “I don’t know yet,” Paul said when asked if he made contact with the official, admitting that he hadn’t watched the replay yet. “He just called a tech and that was my second.”
Daryl Morey‘s new plan for the Rockets is peaking at just the right time, Jerome Solomon of the Houston Chronicle writes. Players such as Carmelo Anthony, James Ennis and Michael Carter-Williams started the season with Houston, but Morey and his staff made the decision to move on from each of them to seek other talent. In turn, they brought in the likes of Austin Rivers, Danuel House and Kenneth Faried. “It’s very odd,” Morey said. “When we sign people, we make a commitment to them and we want it to work out. Quite a few didn’t work out this year. I would prefer not to make all those changes, but the reality was it wasn’t working. We got Chris (Paul) and James (Harden) in his prime, and it’s unacceptable to not do everything we can to make sure we’re maximizing their presence.”
Jenny Dial Creech of the Houston Chronicle details how Kelvin Sampson — college coach of Eric Gordon — helped Gordon take a turning point in his first collegiate game that still affects his career today. “On a whim, I told him to guard the point guard,” Sampson said. “Pick up him up 94 feet. Eric asked me what I meant and I told him, ‘turn him as many times as you can.’” Gordon is recognized as one of the most underrated defenders within the Rockets, continuing to improve as his career progresses.

Stein’s Latest: Lakers, Sixers, Myers

April 16th, 2019 at 8:26pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Lakers GM Rob Pelinka appears to be gaining more power inside of the team’s front office, Marc Stein of the New York Times writes in his weekly newsletter. The former agent is reportedly running Los Angeles’ search for a new head coach.

It’s curious that the team is searching for a coach before settling on an official head of basketball operations. Many organizations set up their front office structures prior to hiring a coach.

Stein provides more on the situation and passes along some additional nuggets in this week’s edition of the newsletter. Here are the highlights from his piece:

There’s chatter within league circles that Sixers assistant coach Monty Williams’ candidacy for the Lakers‘ gig is as strong in part because some within the front office fear giving the job to Tyronn Lue would hand too much control to LeBron James. Williams met with Pelinka to discuss the position earlier today. Lue and Juwan Howard are among the other candidates rumored to be in contention for the position.
The Sixers attempted to pry Warriors team president Bob Myers away from Golden State last offseason before deciding to promote Elton Brand to the role, Stein reports. Philadelphia also attempted to bring Rockets GM Daryl Morey to its front office.
Morey’s recent contract extension from the Rockets is estimated to pay the executive in the neighborhood of $8MM annually, Stein hears. Magic Johnson‘s salary as the Lakers’ team president was estimated to be $10MM per year and Stein argues that Los Angeles could feasibly offer a candidate double that salary if they wanted to lure a prized rival executive.
Stein writes that there is both “shock and relief” within the league that the Lakers haven’t attempted to poach a decorated rival executive, such as Myers, Spurs GM R.C. Buford, or Thunder GM Sam Presti.

Rockets GM Daryl Morey To Get Contract Extension

March 13th, 2019 at 11:40am CST by Arthur Hill

GM Daryl Morey has agreed to a five-year contract extension with the Rockets, according to Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. Morey was in the final year of his current deal.

The 46-year-old started his career with the Celtics before coming to Houston in 2006 as assistant GM. He was promoted to his current job after the 2007 season.

“I’m super happy,” Morey said. “I’d love to be with the Rockets for life. This obviously solidifies us for a little while. I’m just really thankful to [owner] Tilman Fertitta for having the faith in our team. And really, it is about us having a team of people that makes this all work.”

Morey has built Houston into a perennial contender in the Western Conference and one of the top challengers to the Warriors for the NBA title. His most successful move as GM came prior to the 2012/13 season when he acquired reigning MVP James Harden in a trade with the Thunder.

Morey was also among the leading proponents of bringing analytics to the NBA and is recognized as the inventor of true shooting percentage. He was a co-founder of the annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference.

“We wanted to make sure that Daryl stays locked up,” Fertitta told Mark Berman of Fox 26 (Twitter link). “I think he wanted to make sure he was welcome here in Houston.We have a good working relationship. You want to keep good people under contract.”

Morey said one of his first priorities will be an extension for coach Mike D’Antoni, who is signed through the end of next season.

“He’s such a critical factor,” Morey said. “Speaking for myself only, I would love for him to be here for as long as he wants to be here. He’s so critical to everything we’re doing here. Hopefully, that’s something we can work out at the right time. I think the right thing for everyone is those things are done in the offseason.”

Post-Deadline Notes: Rockets, Spurs, Favors, Portis

February 7th, 2019 at 3:39pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Rockets’ latest moves prior to the trade deadline were mainly designed to open up a roster spot and find another piece on the buyout market, GM Daryl Morey told the Houston Chronicle’s Jonathan Feigen (Twitter link). The Rockets also wanted to “create flexibility now and down the road,” Morey said.

The Rockets were involved in a three-way deal with the Kings and Cavaliers in which they shipped out Brandon Knight and Marquese Chriss and acquired Iman Shumpert, Nik Stauskas and Wade Baldwin. They soon traded Stauskas and Baldwin to the Pacers and dealt James Ennis to the Sixers without receiving any players in return.

We have more on potential moves from around the league:

The Spurs will be searching for a wing player via the buyout market, Jabari Young of The Athletic tweets. They have mainly relied on journeymen Marco Belinelli, Quincy Pondexter and Dante Cunningham as backups to leading scorer DeMar DeRozan and Bryn Forbes.
Power forward Derrick Favors is glad he wasn’t traded by the Jazz, Tony Jones of The Athletic tweets. Favors was reportedly part of the package Utah offered to Memphis in its failed attempt to acquire point guard Mike Conley. He is likely to be a free agent this summer since his $16.9MM salary for next season is not guaranteed unless he remains on the roster through July 6th. “I’m happy I’m still here,” he said. “I’m glad this is over, and now I can focus on basketball.”
Bulls players were sad to see power forward Bobby Portis go to the Wizards, Mark Strotman of NBC Sports Chicago reports. Portis was part of the package Chicago shipped to Washington for forward Otto Porter Jr. Though Portis had a much-publicized altercation with former teammate Nikola Mirotic early last season, he was regarded as an emotional leader by the players on the current roster. “Bobby’s pretty much the main glue of the team, a big-time voice,” shooting guard Zach LaVine said. “It (stinks). He’s one of my best friends on the team.”

Southwest Notes: Rockets, The Brothers Gasol, Introduction Videos

January 30th, 2019 at 8:42pm CST by Austin Kent

More often than not, Rockets general manager Daryl Morey finds a trade partner ahead of the annual deadline. Although it didn’t happen last year, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle writes that the team is confident something will transpire this time around.

While the mid-season additions of Austin Rivers and Kenneth Faried have impacted the Rockets’ list of needs, the club could still benefit from making a move for a versatile defender with three-point range.

Morey is said to be extremely active in talks so far this year and the Rockets even offered four first-round picks for Jimmy Butler prior to his trade to the Sixers.

There’s more out of the Southwest Division:

The Rockets care not for your factoid about James Harden scoring 304 consecutive unassisted points, Hunter Atkins of the Houston Chronicle writes. Perhaps more impressively, Mike D’Antoni has coached the two players with the next highest streaks as well (Chris Paul and Steve Nash).
In 2008, the Grizzlies packaged up star big man Pau Gasol and sent him off to the Lakers in exchange for Marc Gasol and a pair of first-round picks. Over a decade later, the brothers could theoretically be swapped again. While Marc has established himself as a franchise staple, the soon-to-be rebuilding Grizz are said to be open to offers for him. “There’s a part of me that would like that,” Marc told David Cobb of the Memphis Commercial Appeal. “He still has a place here.“
Wednesday night brought a brief moment of levity for a fan base that’s been kicked in the pants repeatedly this week when the Pelicans removed Anthony Davis from the introduction video that plays for fans at the Smoothie King Center, Bleacher Report tweets.

Southwest Rumors: Nowitzki, Noah, Gordon, Anthony

December 7th, 2018 at 9:51pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki will not make his season debut Saturday against the Rockets but he is inching closer to his return, Dwain Price of the team’s website reports. Nowitzki, who underwent ankle surgery during the spring and suffered a setback in September, participated in practice on Friday. “He’s doing well. You see him down there. He’s playing 3-on-3 and getting better all the time,” said coach Rick Carlisle, who assured the media he won’t play this weekend.

In other news around the Southwest Division:

The addition of Joakim Noah has impacted several other Grizzlies players, as Chris Herrington of the Daily Memphian notes in his latest mailbag. JaMychal Green, who becomes an unrestricted free agent, might be shopped if the franchise decides it won’t try to re-sign him. It also clouds the future of Ivan Rabb, a second-round pick in 2017, within the organization. Rabb has thrived in the G League but isn’t skilled enough or physical enough at the NBA level, Herrington opines. Noah’s presence should also reduce Marc Gasol‘s workload, Herrington adds.
Rockets guard Eric Gordon admits this season has been a shock to the system for him and his teammates, as he told Kelly Iko of The Athletic. He also insinuated that coach Mike D’Antoni has made some mistakes with his personnel. “I’m just not having fun man,” Gordon said. “I’m just not. This (stinks). Even the times where I have good games. We’re just not using some guys the right way. Are we gonna make the right sacrifices? Do we have the right attitude? Last year was the best year I’ve ever had being a part of a team. We just never had a bad moment.”
Rockets GM Daryl Morey blames himself for the Carmelo Anthony signing. Morey made the remarks during a Tom Haberstroh podcast (hat tip to Sportando). “It really is mostly on me, honestly,” Morey said. “I saw the fit there and really didn’t go the way I thought it would. He can still really help a team.”

Sixers Notes: Morey, Offseason Changes, Fultz

October 15th, 2018 at 7:21pm CST by Luke Adams

When a July report indicated that the Sixers tried and failed to lure Daryl Morey away from Houston, it appeared that those discussions didn’t go far — Philadelphia reportedly received permission from the Rockets to talk to Morey, but the veteran executive decided to remain in his current job.

According to Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN.com, however, Morey didn’t turn down the Sixers’ advances out of hand. One source close to the process tells Arnovitz that discussions got “pretty far down the road” before Morey elected to stay in Houston.

As the 76ers’ search for a new head of basketball operations continued following their failed bid for Morey, a consensus begin to build that it was important to maintain continuity in the front office, per Arnovitz. That’s one reason why Elton Brand was the eventual choice for the general manager job.

“When you live with these guys over three months, from draft and free agency, you appreciate what we already had,” head coach Brett Brown said, per Arnovitz. “Elton was always going to be a general manager at some point, in some city. And it might as well be here, and it might as well be now.”

According to Arnovitz, multiple league insiders viewed the decision to promote Brand and give him the title of GM (rather than president of basketball operations) as a “statement of control” by Sixers ownership — if they get cold feet on Brand down the road, they could always bring in a veteran executive above him. For now though, he’s running the show in Philadelphia.

Here’s more on the Sixers:

Arnovitz’s feature on the Sixers, which is worth checking out in full, also includes details on how Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons are shaping the franchise’s culture and identity, and the lessons Embiid was taught by Tim Duncan during his rookie year in 2014/15.
Replacing Ersan Ilyasova and Marco Belinelli on the second unit will be one of Brown’s biggest challenges this season, David Murphy of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes. In 23 games after that duo was acquired in February, the second unit averaged 41.6 PPG and improved its three-point percentage from 32.2% to 35.2%. Mike Muscala and Wilson Chandler, acquired in trades this summer, are projected to replace them in the rotation but both are batting injuries, Murphy adds.
Late first-rounder Landry Shamet had a productive preseason and that opens up more options for the second unit, Sarah Todd of the Philadelphia Inquirer notes. Shamet, a 6’5” point guard, had a pair of double-digit games while mostly working alongside J.J. Redick. “I think it went about as well as it could have,” Shamet told Todd. “I didn’t surprise myself, that’s kind of the way I look at it.”
Markelle Fultz will start the season opener and Redick will come off the bench, Jon Johnson of KYW 1060 Philadelphia tweets. The 2017 top overall pick will be starting for the first time. Fultz only appeared in 14 regular season and three postseason games as a rookie. Redick, who averaged a career-best 17.1 PPG last season, hasn’t come off the bench in a regular season game since the 2013/14 season.

(Dana Gauruder contributed to this post.)

Zanik, Rosas Receive Second Interviews For Sixers’ Post

September 17th, 2018 at 4:18pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Jazz assistant GM Justin Zanik and Rockets VP Gersson Rosas have earned second interviews for the Sixers’ GM opening, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer tweets.

Philadelphia’s ownership group dined with Zanik on Sunday and will do the same with Rosas on Monday. The ownership group will also hold second interviews with internal candidates on Thursday and Friday, Pompey adds in another tweet. The news was confirmed by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

Warriors assistant GM and director of player personnel Larry Harris was also recently interviewed for the vacancy, though there’s no indication if he’ll receive another interview.

Some of the internal candidates for the job who were reportedly interviewed this month include former Sixers player Elton Brand, Marc Eversley, Ned Cohen and Alex Rucker.

The organization has been operating without a GM since Bryan Colangelo departed in June amid charges of releasing sensitive information on Twitter.

The Sixers initially targeted big-name NBA GMs and presidents like Rockets GM Daryl Morey, but have since cast a wider net, focusing more on executives who would view the Philadelphia job as a promotion rather than a lateral move.