Rockets GM Daryl Morey defends team, blames others for negativity

8:58 PM ET

HOUSTON — The Houston Rockets’ season was disappointing on so many levels. Late Friday afternoon, standing on the team’s practice court, general manager Daryl Morey put the season on him but vowed things will improve.

But when it came to the dysfunction of the season that hampered this group, something several players confirmed following their knockout by the Golden State Warriors in five games with Stephen Curry playing just 38 minutes, Morey pointed at others.

He blamed other NBA teams for putting out negative stories about the Rockets.

“It’s smart for other teams to paint us in a very negative light,” he said. “It’s a very competitive free-agent situation — all the articles you see out there are all the other teams trying to, smartly, paint our situation as negative. But I think any free agent that looks at us, they’re going to see a history of winning. We have the third-best winning percentage in the league the last 10 years, almost no losing seasons. We win at a very high level. There are very few teams that can put their track record of winning against ours.”

Rockets GM Daryl Morey says other teams have embellished the issues between James Harden and Dwight Howard in a effort to sway free agents away from Houston. AP Photo/John Raoux

The reality is the Rockets underachieved so badly, the owner, Leslie Alexander, fired coach Kevin McHale 11 games into the season, something the GM doesn’t regret. He said interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff did a solid job, but the team, less than 24 hours after its season ended, asked for permission to speak with Golden State assistant coach Luke Walton about the job.

Morey said no interviews have occurred yet, but that if things are to improve, the chemistry must. …

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