VANCOUVER, British Columbia – As Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey stood in front of a lecture hall inside of the EA Sports campus Tuesday afternoon he fiddled with his cell phone as he attempted to explain his strategy behind assembling a basketball team.
The 36-year-old with an MBA from MIT and computer science degree from Northwestern was describing how he uses Synergy Sports Technology, an analytics provider that uses NBA data to evaluate “Player DNA” by breaking down a player’s tendencies, how he scores and how he fits into the “Team DNA.” It’s a statistical-based system that the number-crunching Morey has used to make trades and draft picks since he took over reigns of the Rockets last year.
While Morey spoke about his philosophy, he was in the process of changing the DNA of his team as he stepped out of the facility several times during the day to talk on his cell phone, pacing back and forth, just away from the rain that was coming down gently on the tree line campus. Morey wouldn’t say what he was working on or play hypothetical, preferring to address future deals in generalities.
“In player acquisitions and trades we look at how a player will fit into our system,” said Morey. “Often you look at a lot players who get traded and they go from one team to another and don’t do as well with their new team and people wonder why. What often happens is that the other team is running offensive sets that don’t fit. They’re old team was running offensive sets where they’d run pick and rolls and the new team runs a lot of motion offense and it’s not a good fit for them. Before we do anything we see how a player will work in our system and how effective they will be in the sets that we use on our team.”
Apparently after being run through Morey’s computer and virtually through Rick Adelman’s motion offense, Ron Artest, who actually played for Adelman and his version of the Princeton offense two years ago in Sacramento, proved to be a good fit. Shortly after Morey left the EA campus SI.com was able to confirm that the deal Morey was working on would send Bobby Jackson, Donte Green and a 2009 first round pick to the Kings for Artest. However, since Greene, a rookie forward out of Syracuse whom the Rockets acquired on draft night, signed July 14, he cannot be traded until Aug. 14 due to league rules which state a player can not be traded within 30 days of signing a contract.
“We’re trying to make good decisions,” said Morey, talking about his philosophy of depending on numbers rather than gut feeling when acquiring players. “We always use the past to guide the future. The story is yet to be written on if what we’re doing has any value but we’re investing a lot in it and we hope it pans out.”
DONAGHEY DEAL DONE
While waiting in line for lunch at EA, Tony Parker, who is the cover athlete for NBA Live 09 and was in town along with four other NBA players for a motion-capture session, was making small talk about the news going on back in the states but there was only one story that piqued his interest.
"I'll have to call wifey," he said after hearing there was a 5.4 earthquake in Los Angeles.What about Tim Donaghy being sentenced to 15 months in prison for trading information on games he officiated for two years in 2006 and 2007?" I don't care," said Parker. "I haven't been following it." While it’s perfectly understandable to be more concerned about the safety of Eva “Wifey” Longoria-Parker than the future residence of, as David Stern so eloquently put it, "one rogue official," his case and the how the league moves on should at least register a blip on his radar."Not really," said Parker. "What am I supposed to do about it? I can't control what they do. All I can do is play and hope [the referees] do their job."
Parker’s sentiments were echoed by the other NBA players around him after hearing about Donaghy’s sentence.
“I didn’t even know he got time for time for it,” said Blazers guard Brandon Roy. “I wasn’t even following it much outside of a couple times in the playoffs. It’s a huge disappointment to the game but as players it’s out of our control all we can do is play and hope things are fair. Honestly our [Nate McMillan] always comes into our locker room and says we’re playing against our opponent and the refs but as players we never really thought more officials were doing it. We really never talked about it as a team, in the locker room or over dinner. It’s really never come up.”
The common theme amongst most players seemed to follow the league’s stance that this was an isolated incident that would not hurt the sport’s integrity moving forward.
“Everybody makes mistakes so he did and that’s that,” said Grizzles guard Rudy Gay. “He’s human but I don’t think one bad apple is going to hurt the sport. It was just a bad decision on his part but I don’t think that’s going to effect what we do or what people think of the league.”
ANDRE'S MILLIONS
Sitting behind a photo of himself with the Philadelphia 76ers, Andre Iguodala smiled as he played a preview version of NBA Live 09 as the Miami Heat against the Oklahoma City, well, no-names. (The nameless team has no nickname or logo in the game as of yet and play in generic white and green uniforms.)
“As of right now I don’t even have a contract,” said Iguodala. “You want to get things done as soon as possible but it’s taking some time to get done. My whole thing is to be prepared to play no matter where it’s at. I’m in the gym every day getting ready.”
Iguodala, a restricted free agent, turned down the Sixers’ offer of a five-year contract worth $57 million, hoping to sign a deal more along the lines of the ones given fellow 2004 draftees Emeka Okafur and Luol Deng who got six-year deals worth more than $70 million. While Iguodala isn’t sure if he’ll be able to get a deal like that from a team outside of Philadelphia, he’s fairly certain the 76ers will match such an offer as management told Elton Brand after he inked a five-year deal worth $82 million three weeks ago that they would match any offer Iguodala got and would work towards signing him to a long-term deal.
“We’ll see,” says Iguodala. “They’re showing that they have some type of commitment when they say things like that but this is the NBA you never know what’s going to happen. Elton was supposed to stay in LA and play with Baron [Davis] and before that Baron was supposed to stay in Golden State. So anything can happen but I’ll be ready to play no matter where it’s at.”
While Iguodala is certainly open to the idea of leaving 76ers his first choice would be to remain in Philadelphia not just next season but for the rest of his career.
“I’d like to be in one place my whole career, I think a lot of guys want that,” says Iguodala. “Philly has a tradition of taking care of guys and that’s all I want. I just want to be welcomed there and want my talents to be respected and valued in the city.”
“As of right now I don’t even have a contract,” said Iguodala. “You want to get things done as soon as possible but it’s taking some time to get done. My whole thing is to be prepared to play no matter where it’s at. I’m in the gym every day getting ready.”
Iguodala, a restricted free agent, turned down the Sixers’ offer of a five-year contract worth $57 million, hoping to sign a deal more along the lines of the ones given fellow 2004 draftees Emeka Okafur and Luol Deng who got six-year deals worth more than $70 million. While Iguodala isn’t sure if he’ll be able to get a deal like that from a team outside of Philadelphia, he’s fairly certain the 76ers will match such an offer as management told Elton Brand after he inked a five-year deal worth $82 million three weeks ago that they would match any offer Iguodala got and would work towards signing him to a long-term deal.
“We’ll see,” says Iguodala. “They’re showing that they have some type of commitment when they say things like that but this is the NBA you never know what’s going to happen. Elton was supposed to stay in LA and play with Baron [Davis] and before that Baron was supposed to stay in Golden State. So anything can happen but I’ll be ready to play no matter where it’s at.”
While Iguodala is certainly open to the idea of leaving 76ers his first choice would be to remain in Philadelphia not just next season but for the rest of his career.
“I’d like to be in one place my whole career, I think a lot of guys want that,” says Iguodala. “Philly has a tradition of taking care of guys and that’s all I want. I just want to be welcomed there and want my talents to be respected and valued in the city.”
