"The problem with Daryl Morey...that he's been mythologized before he's done anything worth heraldin

Guys just ignore that GoRox kid. It's not worth arguing with him.

 

Rings or nor rings, what DM has done here is extra ordinary. It doesn't take a genius to see that.

It "means" that Dork Elvis has worked a Christmas Miracle for my beloved Rockets. How many times has a team acquired TWO TOP 15 players for a dung sandwich, WITHOUT tanking? It is an unparalleled achievement, and we ARE seeing results. We have the foundations of a contender, FOR ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. It's remarkable! A few years ago Juwan Howard was our NUMBER 1 option. Now look at us, winning 50+ games easily... The playoffs victories will come, but it takes some luck too. How many times have then Spurs been knocked out in round 1?

I think the veteran Rocket fans on here can appreciate the moment more than anyone. Clutch city is coming... Waiting and smiling...

 

Yes, ignore GoRox and the writer of this SB Nation article whom is in agreeance with him

 

I think that is best for everyone.

Just doesn't really seem to know whats going on.

 

There are no gurantees in basketball. You don't know that


Getting knocked out the 1st round 2 years in a row is nothing to be excited about. Maybe we're two different types of fans, but I'm disappointed we haven't been good enough to exceed past the 1st round yet. There is no "Christmas Miracle" about 1st round playoff exits. Getting 2 top 15 players is only a miracle when they actually win something. Instead of prematurely celebrating Daryl Morey, I'd rather look at the results and what his end game will be. Judging by the current results, Morey has been mediocre. The article is one point

 

And now there are posters rewriting history that Morey did not surround Yao and McGrady with great role players. Even further still, there are loonies applauding this notion and praising it to be accurate.

The GARM has become amazing.

 

Guys like Blake and Z-Bo average 35 and 25 points against Bosh _ it's not what I "believe" it's a fact... So why give Bosh (a 30 year old who may be on the decline) a 4 year contract for $90 million when we could get the same production from Hawes on a 4 year contract for $23 million which also allows TJ and D-Mo to keep developing.

You can choose to ignore these "facts" all you like. It makes no difference to me... Especially seeing how your knowledge of the game appears to be on the ignorant side.

You can also choose to ignore that Bosh had no intentions on coming here (for whatever reasons) in the 1st place... But you keep living that pipe dream (crack pipe)..

 

My god...the people that post here....

One more to add to the ignore list.

 

What DM has done roster wise is impressive but the results are just not there yet to justify all this excessive praise.

What is the point in having a top roster with 2 of the best players in their position and then screwing it all by having possible the worst coach in the NBA in the clueless, cinompetent, pathetic buffoon that is McHale?

A championship roster or close to it deserves a good coach, at least an average coach not a pathetic coach who is not fit enough for the D league or even YMCA teams like McHale

That is my biggest issue with Morey.

 

that list is getting pretty full these days.

 

Alright mr. smartpants, show me how he surrounded them with great role players. Yes, we had a great group in 2009 but that was more luck than anything: AB and Landry took huge steps, Wafer was actually good during the reg season and we didn't really need a back-up center. Then come the playoffs and we rely on 2 guards and Deke who went down and then we all know what happened.

Morey should have gotten the approval of Leslie and chase some veterans so we wouldn't have to rely on old Deke, old Barry who didn't do ****, Wafer who didn't perform at all. Having Scola, Battier, Artest and Lowry as role players was great, but you do not win a championship without defense, at least one good shooter (Lowry couldn't shoot well back then) and veteran big man / PF off the bench. Landry and Lowry were great, but we needed some leadership out there on the floor.

As far as 2007-2008, yes we had a lot of veterans in Francis, Mike James, Bonzi, later Bobby J but in the end, who did we rely upon in the playoffs? A rookie in AB and Landry, Hayes who was good but not great and still young, Head and Mike Harris...we had no good veteran behind Deke, nobody behind Battier, nobody behind T-mac. Francis was a home coming signing, Bonzi and Mike James almost the same story and were not that great to begin with so you tell me whether Morey and Leslie really did their jobs to make sure we had a great bench?

 

Well Mr. "I'm not so bright" let me break it down for you.

1) You're using the word "veteran" as a strawman to build an argument that is irrelevant to what you're actually trying to convey. I.e that the teams between 07-09 did not have good role players.

Expanding upon that, It's illogical to say that you need "veterans" to have competent role players. In fact, it is not necessary. What a championship roster needs (with few exceptions) to be comprised of is star players and good role players. Look at the Spurs of last year. Under your definition Kawhi, Danny Green, Splitter, Mills, etc. are not "veterans." They are still great role players.

So now that we've debunked that. Let's move on.

Oh okay, so when you actually thought about 2009 you admitted we had a "great group" but then you decided that notion does not support your original position. So, rather than owning up to it you magically attributed it to "luck" instead.

Truly amazing.

2) You then pointed out that AB and Landry took huge steps. The implication of taking "huge steps" is that they became competent role players. And not surprisingly, both the facts and the statistics point this out. For reference, see: Aaron Brooks' stats in the 2009 playoffs.

16 ppg on 42% 3 point shooting and and 47% FG%.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/brookaa01.html#playoffs_per_game::none

Wafer was good during the regular season. Yet another good role player Morey found. Next.

You erroneously claim we did not need a back-up center. That's completely false. While I still believe Adelman helped grind Yao's career away by playing too many minutes, the statemtn that "we did not not a back-up center" is ridiculous. Morey went out of his way to make sure we signed Mutombo a few months into the season. Additionally, Hayes and Scola both saw minutes at the back-up 5 position.

As a tangent, let's not forget that same Scola was a borderline all-star most of his seasons after 2009 here. The amazing thing is how Morey acquired him. From a negative asset in V-Span (DD's old boy) he acquired the right to Luis Scola, one of our best players in the last 10 years. Yeah, Morey sure doesn't know how to get role players.

This part is just nonsensical babble.

Let's ignore the fact that McGrady (you know, the superstar making $22 million on that team) announced micro-fracture surgery two months before the playoffs and ended his season.

Let's also ignore the fact that after that, the Rockets produced a dominating first round performance without our $22 million dollar superstar with only Yao Ming and Ron Artest, along with those great role players Morey had assembled.

Then without both our top superstars and our back-up center (that we did not need apparently) our role players took the eventual champion Lakers to 7 games.

But once again, such a shame Morey did not have veterans on that team as role players, because our role players clearly sucked.

Your arguments are getting worse and worse.

So wait, Morey should have gone after some veterans instead of relying on veterans he went after such as Deke and Barry? Great logic champ. Keep it up.

3)You just pointed out once again that having "Scola, Battier, Artest, and Lowry as roleplayers" was great. What's the argument you're even trying to make again?

You just pointed out 4 solid role players on that roster. Since you have selective memory let me go ahead and add to that list for you. Brooks, Landry and Hayes as well.

7 great role players on one roster is pretty impressive. Name me one NBA team other than the spurs who has that many good role players on their team? You wont be able to.

Our entire rotation in 2009 had very good role players at every position.

4) So you start running out of talking points and try to list some generalizations about how you win a championship. These include great defense and shooting per your words. Let's analyze that in context of that team with some actual facts (which you seem to not be fond of).

Defensively:

-Battier and Artest were two of the best wing defenders of all time in the NBA. Hayes was a defensive specialist as was Mutombo. I have a feeling you're going to try to falsely claim Mutombo useless at that point in his career. Which would be completely BS. He was still a defensive force in the paint. And the previous year when Yao also went down, he averaged something like 13 rpg in that timeframe.

-In addition, Lowry has always been a good defender and Landry was solid in his own right. The personnel was there. In fact the core was the same as under JVG when we had the top defense in the NBA for a number of years. Any variance is more so attributed to the philosophical differences of Adelman and JVG, not that Morey failed to select good role players (which is once again the point you're trying to make). And actually these are all moot points, because even that year the Rockets had a top ten defense IIRC. So really, you have no basis to even try to randomly bring this point up.

Shooting:

-Here are the 3 point shooting percentages of that roster.

Artest: .400%
Battier: .384%
Brooks: .370%
McGrady: .388%
Wafer: .390%

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/HOU/2009.html#per_game::none

That's 5 guys with better than average 3 point shooting percentages. We had shooters. You not wanting to admit it is one thing. But we had shooters.

5) This is actually my favorite part. You drop the gem that "we needed some leadership out there on the floor." I want to be nice. But I honestly just cannot. How dense are you?

So wait, we had 3 star players (you referred to Artest as a role player) who all had been in the league for more than 8+ years at that point. We had Battier, Mutombo, and Hayes who are all known for their leadership qualities. And you somehow think "we needed some leadership out there on the floor."

Lmao. Just Lmao. I actually feel bad for wasting my time replying to you. That's just an incredibly dopey thing to say.

I don't even know what you're trying to say here. It's like you're trying so hard to make a point that does not exist that you're just saying anything that comes in your head with hopes that it'll somehow stick.

I'm not sure if you recall this but in 2008 the Rockets won 22 games in a row. There's been some debates about that on this site. But one thing has always been clear: it was a team effort. A team does not win 22 games in a row without good role players. You legitimately have no point. That team in 2008 performed well exactly because Morey did his job well. As did Rick Adelman, Tracy McGrady, Yao Ming, and all the supporting role players* on the Rockets.

*Some performances by role players during that streak:
Rafer Alston destroying the Lakers for win 22
Car Landry and Luis Scola's play during the entire streak
Steve Novak's game winner against the Knicks
Mutombo averaging like 13 RPG when Yao went out
Chuck Hayes and Shane Battier's defense
Bobby Jackson raining 3's
<br>
Here's a video so you can educate yourself:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Imz-vo5KQLI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<br>
The reason we lost in the playoffs that year is once again because:
-The west was stacked
-Yao was cursed and became injured as usual
-T-Mac had to take injections just so he could walk in hopes of playing games during the playoffs.

Anyway...

In summation: You are grasping at straws. You created a strawman argument in hopes of deviating from the fact that the Rockets had a solid team and great role players. Sadly for you, not only was your entire basis of discussion fallacious but even your strawman did not hold true as those Rockets teams had a great mix of veteran presence and youth.

Better luck next time.

 

He'd be idolised by me if he wins this comp

http://www.venetian.com/topspin.html

2ND ANNUAL LAS VEGAS TOPSPIN CHARITY PING PONG TOURNAMENT HOSTED BY CHRIS PAUL

 

Damn, you shredded this guy's argument to pieces.

 

Fantastic post!

Good to see there are still some people with the patience to put these revisionist historians in their place.

 

Flawless Victory.

 

Based off you're bias of anything Daryl Morey related, you have no credibility to me. You will defend Morey the same way LOF's defended Lin. Your basketball knowledge also seems very limited. This SB nation article supports my position and ALOT of other Rocket fans who love the team, not just the GM

 

Just the type of response I expected from you

The devil convincing the world he didn't exist is not his greatest trick.

 

Dude, you MASSACRED him! LOL! Repped!

 

This post if very homerish and not really objective.

I would definitely disagree, strongly, with the notion that we lost the Portland series because everyone on their team just got hot.

However, I would argue that the blame goes on the head coach, and not on Morey. He did his job and put the talent there, as a GM should, but the execution just wasn't there.