Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey told ESPN that he’ll be keeping his core group of players, including embattled point guard Jeremy Lin, and frustrated big man Omer Asik. Morey hinted that the main reason for keeping everyone together was that Dwight Howard and James Harden asked him to.
“The reality is James and Dwight want to play with Jeremy and Omer,” Morey said Saturday after introducing Howard in a Houston news conference, referring to shooting guard James Harden, point guardJeremy Lin and center Omer Asik. “I’ve been kicked down to assistant GM. They’re going to be here.”
Morey even explained his vision for Asik going forward.
“When we didn’t have Omer out there last year, we [stunk],” Morey said, according to the Houston Chronicle. “I mean, we were terrible. That was where we lost games. When we had Omer out there, we were a top-10 defensive team. Now we have a defensive player of the year and Omer. That position is so important if you’re going to have a solid defense. Now we have two of the best in the league. I’m very excited.”