Rockets Daryl Morey talks NBA return, Rudy T, NBA draft, and more

NBA Return

he NBA has been on a hiatus for weeks now, although it feels like months. The Rockets have been out of action for even longer than that, as they last played on March 10th, which was a much-needed win, as it ended their four-game losing streak.

There’s not been many answers on the NBA’s resuming, although we’ve heard that the NBA desperately wants to salvage the season. It’s been thrown out that the league could potentially resume the season in a bubble-like atmosphere, which would presumably be in Las Vegas, where the league holds it’s Summer League.

There’s also been pessimism in media circles regarding a return, as ESPN analyst and former Houston Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy expressed doubt about an NBA return. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst has echoed the same sentiments.

.@WindhorstESPN says there’s “a significant amount of pessimism” in the NBA and the NBPA’s talks about whether they’re going to cancel the season. pic.twitter.com/SAGMJlFRDO

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 4, 2020

Morey expressed his thoughts on this:

Really I think the best answer for all this stuff is I don’t know. I’m a very optimistic person generally so I feel good about the science coming both in treatments and potential vaccines and the speed of those. So I’m pretty optimistic about all those things, based on the doctors and researchers I’ve talked to.

But I’d say overall, the right answer to most questions is ‘I don’t know’. But we’ll see how things play out. We’re all excited to get going but it looks like it’s going to be for sure a little while.

The latter part was validated by Adam Silver earlier in the week, as he stated that he doesn’t anticipate having any answers through the month of April entirely. But it’s very encouraging to hear Morey say he’s optimistic about the resumption of the league.

It’s unclear if the league will resume in the postseason or if there will be an opportunity for the players to complete any other regular season games. But if the playoffs were to start immediately, the Houston Rockets would face the Denver Nuggets in the first round, which could put the small-ball strategy to the test.

It’s also unclear if there will be a best-of-three format or even a single elimination format, as it’s been stated that all options are on the table. But with the most recent news being that the NBA wants to crown a champion by Labor Day, it could allow for a full postseason.

Morey said it best regarding all the possibilities, which is that we simply don’t know.

Next: NBA Draft