Houston Rockets move toward formal offer to Mike D'Antoni

What's going to be funny to me is if they do hire D'Antoni and everything falls apart (as expected), the Rockets brain trust (and I use that term VERY loosely) is going to have the nerve to look surprised when things end up in the pooper.

 

Smith isn't a talented writer, and doesn't make the best editorial decisions, but he is pretty honest it seems... even if I don't agree with him all of the time.

 

Honest? He tried to humiliate a Houston player in an article. It was classless and he has no business being at the Chronicle.

 

Think, dude, think.

Les made final say on coaches. Les gave the extension to McHale. They weren't going out to hire a real coach last season; no one would step into McHale's wake, and the Rockets weren't going to spend the money anyway, already on the hook for McHale's extension ($12 million).

Just because we don't put all the blame on Morey doesn't mean we worship the guy. Yes, he makes mistakes. But his owner is just a weeeeeeee bit meddlesome.

 

He's also a big fan. A big fan of abbreviated sentences. Sentences that repeat the point made before. Repetitive short sentences are his thing.

I don't like his style. I don't like it at all. I think his style is bad.

 

I'm not so sure still that this is intentional misdirection by the front office. But either you are right that the relationship between Les and Morey has deteriorated significantly to the point where Morey may realize he can't win with Les's meddling continuing to get worse. Or this is a well-concerted group effort to get Dwight to not opt in.

If this drags out much longer than the next few days then I'm going to increasingly believe that this is about getting Dwight to not opt in. And if we go clear through the month of June without a coaching hire while we get tweets every few days from Feigen, Watkins, Woj, Amick, etc. that is just a matter of time until we sign MDA I'm going to become convinced that it was all a smoke screen.

As I said before if I were Dwight I would opt in one minute before his deadline and really put the screws to the franchise. This would definitely put an end to the Durant discussion. Durant doesn't want to play with him. ...period. And Dwight knows it all too well.

And Morey knows MDA is not the answer. We're already running pick-and-roll. Don't need MDA for that. Us and the Dubs have instilled MDA's offense. Except the Warriors defend and can actually shoot. Morey knows, everybody knows, that MDA isn't the answer here. MDA is a tread water move at best.

The other thing I really want to know is how much money is Les going to give MDA? Is he gonna get MDA relatively cheap, say 6 mill for 3 years? Or maybe even only a 2-year deal? Or is he gonna shell out 10-15 million over 3-4 years? If it's a low cost deal then it's a tread water move. If it's bigger money in line with the top coaches then it's a serious commitment and I think could spell the end of Morey here.

Once again, Morey knows MDA is not a championship building coaching hire. He knows it. Morey knows we've already extracted all the good out of MDA's system. He knows, and has been very vocal that the D has to be fixed. And he knows an MDA hire further depletes defensive structure.

 

Well that explains the piece I just read then.

 

Yep, what i don't understand is this argument of Dwight opting in, why should he? Is there even a single reason for him to opt in? I mean, should be a given that he's opting out, for every single reason...opting in (with the chance to be traded wherever and renouncing big money) just to screw our free agency? This can't be real.

 

I wonder if we have actually interviewed Shaka smart?

 

This is awful news.

 

Haven't followed him that long, but seems to really have tapped into the voice of frustrated Houston sports fans without being Jerome Solomon-y, but maybe I am wrong. I'll take your word for it though, and watch out for hack behavior. I trust you guys on here for guidance and the hack-ness out there in the media.

 

I'd certainly prefer a young, promising Shaka Smart to an old MDA. But if hiring MDA means farewell to Harden and Howard and all that iso-hero-ball nonsense, I'm in.

 

I think Morey is smart enough to know that if he surrounds Harden with a rebuilding cast again, he's likely flirting with disaster, and knows that ANY superstar in that situation at this stage of their career will want to get out into a winning situation. Morey knows that if he wants to keep Harden, he's gotta put another core piece next to him.

The front office is smart enough to know the realities. If they are coming to the conclusion this team cannot win, and know they will not score in free agency with Durant, the logical way to get back to title contention will be to blow it up, and go back into 2012 mode (flexibility through trades, collecting assets, picks, etc).

But the involvement of Les' insistence to keep the superstar at all costs & the illusion of winning that will be the compromise that ultimately drives apart the front office and ownership this time when it risks creating drama between your superstar and the team/fans/org/city.

Les got away with a fake rebuild last time because frankly Morey got lucky. Morey can only strike gold so many times, and they got lucky the treadmill of mediocrity/asset collection was a short window between Yao retiring and trading for Harden. It might not be that easy this next go around especially when you have to do that and at the same time hold onto an eager to win/frustrated superstar in Harden who isn't your golden child off the court.

So basically Les can really really F this franchise up long term IMO. The D'Antoni hire isn't the thing that is really making me question things... its the sign of things happening under the surface that could really destroy the legacy of our beloved franchise. One year doesn't destroy 20+ years of legacy, but 2 or 3 years and with a nasty departure from Houston by two superstars and the GM that built the team..... that could be devastating long term.

 

Shaka sucks

 

Revenge is the reason Dwight could opt in. Like him or hate him, we signed Dwight as our second super star and franchise cornerstone.

This is James' own words after we let Parsons go in July of 2014. So Howard is hurt the next season and misses half the games and over night he's not one of the franchise's cornerstones? If you were Dwight how would you feel about that? He comes back and busts tail for us in the playoffs. Was nails on the defensive end once again just like he had been the previous season against Portland while he is marginalized offensively and basically treated like a hockey goalie. And then no consideration at all as one of the franchise cornerstones? On to this season where he is completely locked out?

Love him or hate him.....doesn't matter. Put yourself in his shoes. We wined and dined him. We kissed him with much soft speech of admiration. We told him he would have status here as the next great big man in the lineage of Elvin, Moses, Hakeem, and Yao.

AND then we phase him out the second season he is here while he is injured? That's not how you treat superstars. I'm sorry. That is simply not how you treat your corner stone players. Look how the Spurs have dealt with Timmy. Dude was out of gas. Totally shot. But they went down with him on the court. Because he's a cornerstone. That is how you treat players that you recruit and hand the franchise to. You don't pull the franchise away from them the minute they get dinged. You live and die with them.

So from Dwight's perspective revenge could become a motive here. He may make us eat our words and promises and go ahead and take his $23 million salary that we signed him to as our franchise cornerstone and make us eat it.

The handling of Dwight is going to hurt this franchise for years to come if we don't get it right. Other superstar players are watching all this play out. And they'll think about it when we're trying to sign them.

 

I would think that you would be of the mindset that Dwight opting in actually is a situation Morey would love to have as it would create a quick turn around trade scenario to get the Rockets assets?

Yes, it does F up any potential Durant courting, but it sounds like based on what Smith has uncovered that virtually everyone in the front office (minus maybe Les) has given up on Durant, and they probably don't even want to halt their offseason plans to stage a two week courting that puts the breaks on every other potential move. It also could cost them a nice young player on a decent contract like Donatas.

I personally think using D'Antoni as a device to play Dwight away from the Rockets is sort of Crackpotty, but crackpot theories come from some sort of truth so its always a possibility although highly unlikely given how crazy it would be to go to this extreme just to send a message.

I would think the more logical way of driving Dwight away would be to find several teams that would be willing to trade for him on a one year deal if he opts in. Isn't the main issue that most teams are scared of him on a long term deal, but the draw is to bring him in to be the final piece to win now? If I'm that team, trading for him on a one year deal kind of makes sense.

I think either way neither theory is right, and we probably are just witnessing a very fractured leadership situation with the Rockets unfortunately. Morey is smart enough to say the right things, and back Les publicly, but he can't be happy about his hand being forced once again in this situation.

 

No. Dwight has no trade value as a 23 million expiring contact. I'm sorry. There may be teams that would want him on that expiring contact but they're not going to give value for him in trade. We are screwed here in free agency if Dwight opts in.

The worst possible scenario here would be for us to hire D'Antoni and then Dwight opt in to his deal 60 seconds before free agency begins. And right now we're staying at that possibility. So don't think for one second that there's not plenty of talks going on with the front office and Dwight's people. There is. Which is why I'll be shocked if MDA is hired before a definitive resolution to Dwight's contact situation. James may be holding this organization by the balls. But Dwight has the head in a vice as long as he hasn't exercised his option and still can.

 

The good news is we're getting a real starting PG. Finally!

 

Yeah but, i mean, losing the chance to pick up he's best destination AND losing the chance to get big money just for giving us some trouble (not even 100% since he can be traded the day after he opts in) doesn't make sense EVEN if Dwight is a sort of madman...