Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey says he isn’t yet worried by his team’s slow start on defense, and that it could take until 20 games into the 2019-20 season before he feels compelled to look at changes.
The Rockets are 4-3 through their first seven games of the year, but it’s specifically been the team’s performance on defense that has alarmed many fans. Houston ranks No. 6 in the league in net rating on offense, but is third-to-last on defense.
After speaking with Morey, Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated writes:
Morey remains firmly behind [Mike] D’Antoni, citing the top-ten defense the coach oversaw in Houston’s 65-win, 2017-18 season as evidence D’Antoni can get it done. He sees a roster that defended well last year as capable of rediscovering its identity. “I’m very confident that we have the right players and coaching staff, and that we have the defense,” Morey told SI.com. “I know that sounds crazy. I know I have said stuff like this in the past. We just have to have the right execution. [Seven] games in, we have played a mix of teams. Our shot making has made us look worse than we are. Maybe [after] 20 games, if we are still struggling, then we’ll have to take a look at things.”
In a separate interview this week with The Athletic‘s Kelly Iko, Morey expressed confidence that Houston could be one of the league’s top 10 defenses by the end of the season and — led by James Harden and Russell Westbrook — potentially the best offense in NBA history.
One additional reason for Morey’s patient approach could be that he is currently limited in his options. When Iko asked if the Rockets were looking on the market for outside help, Morey replied:
It’s early for that. Most of the league isn’t even tradeable until December, mid-December. … I feel like we have what we need right now. That doesn’t mean that something won’t come along. But it’s not like last year, where we really felt like we needed to add something and Austin (Rivers) came along and gave us a lot. I really think this group could be the group that we have at the end of the year. Obviously, we’re going to have to show that, but I don’t feel the need to address anything right now. It’s so early, we don’t totally know exactly how things are going to work.
The 20-game mark, which Morey cited in his interview with Sports Illustrated, doesn’t arrive for the Rockets until early December. That timing could be significant, because Dec. 15 is the date Morey alluded to in his chat with The Athletic that most NBA players become tradeable (specifically, those who signed new contracts last summer).
In other words, unless Morey wanted to make a coaching change, there’s little he could do to change his team now even if he wanted to, because most of the league is off limits for trade purposes. That includes many players and salaries on Morey’s own team in Houston.
On Dec. 15, though, the calculus changes. So while there is sufficient logic behind Morey’s patience in waiting for a larger sample size of the 82-game regular season before fully evaluating his team, there also could be a calendar component to it as well. Expect Morey and the Rockets to thoroughly evaluate their situation in early December, with potential to take action by the middle of that month if things haven’t improved from current levels.
