Houston's Daryl Morey is one of the best general managers in the NBA. He foresaw the rise of the three-pointer, and his franchise has leveraged this change in the game better than any other team in the league. The Rockets are shooting 43.2 threes per game, nearly 10 more than the next-highest team (Brooklyn is attempting 34.3 threes per game).
Morey has also shown a demonstrated ability to lure and acquire superstars—Dwight Howard, James Harden, and Chris Paul. This should go without saying, but it's a huge challenge to lure a superstar to your team. Point is: Morey's really good at his job.
Morey appeared on Ryen Russillo's ESPN Radio show Thursday and had a fascinating conversation with Russillo. When Morey was asked about the Golden State Warriors—the undisputed favorite to appear in their fourth straight NBA Finals—the executive was frank. He said his team is "obsessed" with beating Golden State.
"It's the only thing we think about," Morey said. "I think I'm not supposed to say that, but we're basically obsessed with, 'How do we beat the Warriors?'"
Morey went on to also shout out San Antonio—can't ever count out the Spurs—but said his team's real obsession is Golden State.
"Last year, the Spurs knocked us off, so we're very worried about the Spurs," Morey said. "They're always one step ahead of every organization and guard us better than anyone. But we calculated it—it's like 90 percent if we're gonna win a title, we've gotta obviously beat the Warriors at some point. So we're extremely focused on that. A lot of our signings and what we do during the year is based on that."
Houston has looked great so far this year. A playoff matchup between these two teams, which seems likely, would be a treat.
