Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey appeared on The Ringer‘s “The Ringer NBA Show” podcast, hosted by Chris Vernon. Morey said the following:
Vernon: Do you write down a win number at the beginning of the season?
Morey: “I don’t really write it down, but I think it’s important to have expectations. We’re looking to get home court in the West. That generally takes, you know obviously, 50+ wins. We’re targeting 50+ wins, and get home court in the West. You know, one of those top seeds.”
Vernon’s next question was about why — outside of the obvious favorite Golden State Warriors — the Western Conference always seems to be a “crapshoot,” and is very even. Morey responded that he believes that there are always many strong teams in the West.
Morey said something else of interest when he was asked about if he believes that this year’s Rockets team will be similar to head coach Mike D’Antoni’s old Phoenix Suns teams:
“In terms of our ability to put points on the board, I think that’s very similar. I think we’re going to be a better defensive team than those Phoenix teams; we’ve been a top-ten defensive team in the preseason so far. I know it doesn’t look like it because of those raw totals, but when you pace adjust it, we’ve played very well on defense as well.”
