Daryl Morey - this is your mess - get to work fixing it!

Wait you want to trade Harden for a player who has a ton of talent around him that has never been able to get out of the second round and let his team lose a series to the Rockets last year after being up 3-1... GREAT IDEA!

 

If the Rockets tread water, or suck enough to miss the playoffs, their ability to snare a star 2016 free agent just became infinitely harder.

Rockets weren't going to fire McHale the year his daughter died, and the team started overachieving after that. Kevin was also a big part of the recruiting effort to bring Dwight here. Things happen.

One thing is for sure, there's going to be some trades between now and the deadline. They might be addition by subtraction, but they're coming.

 

You think we could trade Harden for Martin, Lamb, and a pick still or do we think his value deteriorated too much to command that type of weight?

 

I was responding to the inane insinuation that he wasn't busy every minute of every day working on improving the team's situation. Your post indicated you thought he was unaware the team needs work and that he needed to be reminded somehow to do his job. That is so obviously not the case there was no possible response but ridicule.

Also I doubt he "feels exactly the same way [you] do" about pretty much anything.

 

DD
Your analysis is simplistic albeit heartfelt.


Give me an example of a team that traded a talent like Harden and then did better any time soon?

Isn't it more with the odds to hold on to Harden and hopes he gets what is needed?

What good would it have done the Rockets to have traded Hakeem before he attained the skills he had in the championship yEARS?

 

As for this bit I think it's fair to say that I respond to well less than 1% of the Morey criticisms on the board. I don't even post every day. I don't think you're in a very good position to accuse someone else of "consistently" doing anything given how constantly you post.

 

Look, if Harden isn't going to play off the ball and defer then you trade/acquire for a guard that would better fit. Personally I think a Isaiah Thomas would be a good fit for someone that can create for themselves, create for others, pass at a decent clip, and shoot the ball decently. The dude has gotten buckets everywhere.

This team isn't so terrible that some mid to minor roster changes can't fix. If we can avoid GS and Spurs in the first round and roll into the playoffs with some momentum we can still be a dark horse contender. As much as our defense has been inconsistent, I believe the bigger issue is Harden's minutes and usage. We need to get him that help offensively in order to have a fresher Harden.

 

Rockets weren't going to get a highly regarded coach to take over this mess. They had no choice but to let Bickerstaff take over. You can bet that their coaching choice will align itself with free agency. Just going to have to accept that this season is a wash.

 

But... but... accountability... and leadership... and respect!!

I agree with you in that, if Les doesn't want to rebuild, then they have to ride with Harden and build around him. Stars are hard to get; especially if you are never in a position to draft them.

And the timing of Les' firing of McHale doesn't lend itself to the team being able to bring in a new coach. I would think most coaches would like to have an offseason when they take on a big new gig.

This season is just gonna be treading water. I'd be surprised by anything more than that. The worse thing Morey can do is knee-jerk and just make moves just to make them; Just to look like he is doing something. Morey may have a few deals he can pull off by the deadline, but he won't have a full gamut of options until the offseason.

 

Simply hilarious.

If I cared enough I could probably find 100 quotes of DaDakota whining about how Morey was constantly flipping players and he never let players grow together and develop chemistry.

He did that. He brought those guys back and who is first in line to b**** and moan. DaDakota.

You want to hold someone accountable, look in the mirror, because you got exactly what you asked for.

 

McHale sure did a good job last year. He didn't get stupid overnight (Don Cheney didn't, either), and the only reason that McHale got fired was because it is easier to fire him that it is to fire Harden and Dwight. Also, Harden wanted a point guard, so Morey got him a point guard. Harden and Lawson cannot play together. That's not coaching. That's the GM. You don't usually fire GMs mid-season, and Morey might be on the way out - but firing McHale was not the right move. He was the right hire. Proved it last year. Don't know why you still rag on him.

 

I'm not too sure what people are wanting Morey to be doing right this second. The only Rockets eligible to be traded right now are Howard, Harden, Lawson, Ariza, Jones, DMo, Dekker, Capela, and Harrell. Brewer and Beverley aren't eligible until January 15th and K.J. becomes eligible on December 15th.

Howard, Harden, Ariza, Capela aren't going anywhere and I doubt Morey would sell low on DMo anytime soon. That leaves Lawson, Jones, Dekker, and Harrell. Do we really want Morey and the Rockets to give up on Lawson already? Does a swap of Lawson and TJones for Ryan Anderson and Norris Cole really make us any better? Who else would want Lawson? If needed, we could probably unload Lawson to a team like the 76ers, but we would have to give up an asset in return. Who wants to give up Harrell just to get a team to take Lawson in order to make salaries work in a three team trade?

Markieff Morris makes 8mil. With the Rockets being so close to the hard cap, they pretty much have to trade at least 8mil to get 8mil. Then you have to take into account that we have to have at minimum 13 (or is it 12?) players on roster. Jones + K.J. + Dekker isn't even 8mil combined not to mention a 3 for 1 would leave the Rockets with 11 players on roster and almost no money under the hard cap to add anyone else. Without being able to include Beverley or Brewer in a trade (or more importantly, their salaries), it is almost a necessity to include Lawson in any deal where we want to get a player that makes over 6mil or so.

The Rockets do not have much flexibility this year to make deals. Who can we get back in a trade that would definitely upgrade this team more than a properly integrated Ty Lawson? If you trade Lawson for Ryan Anderson, we still have a huge dearth in playmaking with the second unit. Lawson has shown flashes, it could very well be worth the risk of sitting tight and seeing if he can figure it out.

IMO, the best thing the Rockets can do is just sit tight and hope that Lawson can get back to being his old self on a consistent basis. I don't see any move Morey could make that could possibly have a bigger impact on the team than the Rockets getting the real Ty Lawson.

 

The benchmark is how soon? We traded away Francis and Mobley for T-Mac and got immediately better. The pick LA traded to Memphis for Pau Gasol eventually netted Memphis Marc Gasol, and cap space to sign Zach Zandolph just one year later.

Your comparison of Hakeem's early years to where Harden is at right now is terrible. Just compare their first six seasons. Hakeem was already well on his way to the HOF. By the time Hakeem was almost traded to the Heat in his 7th season (91-92), he had accomplished all of this:

3× All-NBA First Team ('87, '88, '89)
2× All-NBA Second Team ('86, '90)
1× All-NBA Third Team ('91)
3× All-Defensive First Team ('87, '88, '90)
2× All-Defensive Second Team ('85, '91)

Harden is nowhere close to being that good at this point in his career.

 

Sadly, righting this boat is more akin to turning a barge than it is a speedboat. Obviously they thought that McHale was part of the problem. Whether he was or not, he's gone. But let's also note that if McHale was the or part of the problem, he existed last year when they made it to the WCF with a lot of injuries. If Harden is part of the problem, Morey may be screwed, but even Harden's shooting can't account for all of this mess.

If you want to right the ship by trading players, I doubt that'll be easy to do since everyone seems to think either Harden or the entire team forgot how to play. You aren't getting a ton of new players that make a huge impact overnight.

If you want to right the ship by getting a new coach, then good luck. I doubt any coach with any strong reputation wants to try implementing their philosophies over 1/4 of the way through the season and have the microscope put on him.

I can't say this is Morey's "fault" yet simply because nobody in their right mind could predict a team that did as well as they did last year with injuries and arguably improved their roster (Ty Lawson and others... *shudder*), would do a 180 like they've done. Nobody on this forum predicted that, and if they did, they're from the future.

This season is depressing, but the only way it gets turned around this season, at least for now, is going to be via internal means. The next way is through some big trade, although I don't see how that's going to help unless it's some blockbuster.

I still want a refund on League Pass ...

 

OK now I want the GM to do better!

And I want a better coach!

And I want to trade our bad players for good ones!

And the guys who we don't trade need to make more shots and step up on D!

And Les, try to make better decisions. . . .

Why can't everyone just follow my simple advice?!?!!?

 

I read DD's original post, ready to disagree with everything he said and the way in which he said it, as I often do. Then I saw this:

...and I have to admit, DD is right about this. More than anything else, that's what needs to be done. I would include Howard in that meeting as well: DM, JB, Harden and Howard. Make sure everyone is on the same page and willing to give maximum effort and pull the rest of the team along with them. Because right now, something isn't working, and it's NOT the coach. If that were the problem, we'd be playing differently post-McHale, and we're pretty much the same team as before, just taking advantage a weak schedule to score a few wins.