This could answer some of the questions regarding why we keep picking up players in the draft and why we signed James White. Seems like Houston is trying to build its own farm system similar to baseball.
I think it is great that Houston can structure the offense and defense to fit whatever coach they have in place at the time. Awesome move by Les and Daryl.
Rockets and Vipers to Hold Joint Press Conference Friday at 10:30 a.m.
* WHO: Chris Dacey, Houston Rockets Chief Strategy Officer and Brian Michael Cooper, Rio Grande Valley Vipers President/GM
* WHAT: A major announcement from the Rockets and Vipers.
* WHERE: New Rio Grande Valley Vipers Headquarters/Pro-Shop
Uptown Plaza
4500 North Tenth Street
McAllen, TX 78504
* WHEN: Friday, August 7, 2009 at 10:30 a.m.
The Houston Rockets and their NBA D-League affiliate the Rio Grande Valley Vipers announced today in a press conference in McAllen, Texas, that the two organizations are extending their partnership, which will have the Rockets hosting a preseason game and holding a portion of their training camp in the Rio Grande Valley in 2010, 2011 and 2012. The extended partnership will also encompass areas of marketing and business development between the two clubs.
“We are extremely excited to commit to a long-term affiliation with the Vipers and to bring NBA basketball to all the great fans in the Valley,” said Rockets Chief Strategy Officer Chris Dacey. “The Vipers ownership group and front office team have been a pleasure to work with and we look forward to all the great things we will accomplish together in the future.”
D-League-O-Rama-Rama: Rockets’ Firing of Clay Moser in Rio Grande Valley Is Indicative Of Imperial Influence
When I talked to Morey at Summer League last year (about ten minutes after I talked to Moser, actually), I asked him about Houston’s interest in owning a team. He told me in GM pressspeak that he’d like to see some more control before they made the investment. The hybrid system gives them that. Stein reported that the average loss for a team is $1 million. That number is staggering to me. Not for how big it is, but for how little it is. Think about this. For 1/16th of what they’re paying Zach Randolph (that’s Zach!) in a year they have absolutely no immediate goals for, the Memphis Grizzlies could have invested in control over an affiliate to develop all that young talent they have.
Anyway, what the quote from Morey concerning the Vipers head coaching vacancy indicates is that the Rockets take this seriously. An overlooked part of this arrangement is that affiliate teams can send down a young assistant coach and let him develop time with the prospects and how to run the offense. Then when those players and that coach are later promoted, there’s already a relationship. It means that the values and conditioning the Rockets want to instill in their system will be present in Rio Grande Valley.
For the longest time, I questioned why the Rockets invested so much money in a team that’s about five hours away from ANYTHING RESEMBLING CIVILIZATION. Now it’s become clear to me. They’ve built their own basketball lab down there. Remember that the Rockets have had more players with D-League experience in the playoffs than anyone else. Aaron Brooks? Yeah, that guy that torched the Lakers spent time in RGV. Same with Chuck Hayes. And Rio Grande Valley is tucked away, so they can train and condition and work on the playbook without any exposure or risk of visiting team personnel. It’s like Morey’s personal Batcave, only with huevos rancheros.
^ That is a sweet article. "They’ve built their own basketball lab down there." I love how that sounds especially knowing that the word "They've" is referring to the Houston Rockets franchise.
I like this approach. Now if only the players signed didnt count towards the 15 man roster. That would be nice if we can have a 15 man roster plus 4 "development spots" that can be interchanged like in MLB. Add on a few restrictions to where you cant use x player unless you swap another player into the system and vise versa. Or something along those lines.
Rockets Extend Partnership with Vipers
Rockets Extend Partnership with Vipers
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