Daryl Morey

DuBose: Rockets hope postseason can change narrative

April 14, 2016 by Ben DuBose

HOUSTON — From the moment the Houston Rockets broke training camp in late September, one of the primary goals had been to earn a playoff rematch of last season’s Western Conference finals against the Golden State Warriors. So, mission accomplished? Not quite. Undoubtedly, the Rockets envisioned themselves closer to the team they were in 2014-15 (56-26 overall, No. 2 seed) than the mediocre, 41-41 squad that had to win its final three games this week just to qualify for the playoffs as the eighth

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DuBose: Why Deadline Deals Are Unlikely to Fix ‘Broken’ Rockets

February 12, 2016 by Ben DuBose

The Houston Rockets are admittedly “broken,” but the fix may still be months away. After losing to Portland in their final game before the All-Star break, the Rockets have lost six of eight and now find themselves below .500 (27-28) as the West’s No. 9 seed. That means that a team that went to the Western Conference finals a year ago and opened 2015-16 training camp with championship aspirations could actually miss the playoffs entirely… depending on what goes down by next Thursday’s

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Scotto: NBA Season’s First Quarter Observations

December 4, 2015 by Michael Scotto

We’re a quarter of the way through the regular season and the NBA landscape has shifted dramatically. Kobe Bryant is retiring after this season and wants to be remembered as a “talented overachiever” when it’s all said and done. Meanwhile, Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers (3-15) trail only the Philadelphia 76ers (1-19) for the league’s worst record. With every loss, the Lakers grow closer to keeping their top-three protected draft pick and potentially land top prospect Ben Simmons. On the flip side, the Golden

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DuBose: McHale’s shocking dismissal puts everyone on notice in Houston

November 19, 2015 by Ben DuBose

HOUSTON — Entering Wednesday, Kevin McHale had accumulated the best winning percentage of any coach in Rockets franchise history and was mere months removed from somehow guiding his injury-plagued team to an unexpected berth in the Western Conference finals. Before lunch, he was fired. Because of 11 regular-season games. McHale, who was in his fifth season as Houston’s coach, was let go just 11 games into his new three-year, $12 million contract extension. In other words, expectations are high enough that owner

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Five Things To Watch: Houston Rockets

September 30, 2015 by Ben DuBose

The 2014-15 Houston Rockets were a feel-good story, shaking off major injuries and muted preseason forecasts to become the Western Conference’s second-best team. The 2015-16 Rockets, on the other hand, shouldn’t come as such a surprise. Following the bold offseason trade for former Denver point guard Ty Lawson, the story in Houston is back to being about what is, rather than what might be. In other words, GM Daryl Morey is finally “all-in” on his roster. While Lawson fills the obvious need of

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Tweet of the Day: Warriors-Rockets rivalry escalates as Morey trades barbs with Golden State blogger

August 29, 2015 by Ben DuBose

The Warriors and Rockets were the two top teams in the Western Conference last season, led by the league’s top two MVP candidates in Stephen Curry and James Harden. Both sides seemed on a collision course all year for the Western Conference Finals. Ultimately, the Warriors prevailed on their way to an NBA title, and Curry (media) and Harden (players) essentially split the MVP hardware. Given all those high-profile meetings, it’s only natural for some animosity to develop along the way. It

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Tweet of the Night: Daryl Morey takes time to enjoy a highlight clip of James Harden

July 30, 2015 by James Park

It’s about that time of the year for the NBA where nothing in particular is going on. The previous season is truly a thing of the past, teams have drafted their picks and made their moves in free agency for the most part. Now, all there is left to do for most around the league is to plan and prepare for next season. If you’re a player, you’re simply training and getting your body ready. If you’re a coach, you’re slowly

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PODCAST: How Ty Lawson and Josh Smith’s moves could shake up the West

July 20, 2015 by Ben DuBose

Has Daryl Morey finally landed his third big fish? After his well-chronicled search for the “third-best player on a championship team” led to narrow misses on the likes of Chris Bosh and LaMarcus Aldridge, the GM of the Houston Rockets finally made a big splash this summer with his trade for Ty Lawson, the talented-but-troubled point guard formerly of the Denver Nuggets. [Read more…]

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