You bet your ass his job is on the line. My guess is Les said "I gave you the keys to the Vette and you haven't done **** with it yet, so now I'll let you get under the hood... so now its on you if we win or not"
This is a really dumb article in my opinion. "Star types win in the NBA..." Duh? That's why Morey has been trying to get one. How many other teams have had 2 All-Stars had their career ended and still perform as well as the Rockets have? I had a friend whose a San Antonio fan bag on me about Morey, but then later admitted it's really hard to win in the NBA without a few stars. I told him he's still missing the point. The problem was not just that we didn't have star players, but that we did, and they were sucking up payroll without contributing to the team. For all these Monday morning quarterbacks saying we need another star, they conveniently avoid saying who we should have been able to get or how we should have been able to get them. So he recommends getting a star in the draft-- brilliant idea, I'm sure that has never occurred to Morey. And as having "another" draft week with a "zero" on the board, this guy obviously hasn't been paying attention to who we've landed in recent years. Very shallow and superficial analysis by someone just trying to create a story where there is none.
LOL at Morey's job being on the line. DM and his stat geeks picked 14th last year, but somehow ended up with one of the best rookies in the draft class.
Sorry for the misleading title guys. Didn't mean to make it sound like it was a source, just wanted to post it when I saw the article.
Morey's job is fine and he's probably about to fleece somebody for their lottery pick... come on guys it's f'ing Daryl we're talking about here It's time we unloaded anybody on our team not named Patterson for the Cavs' 4th
Ace reporting by CBS here. It would be sad if this was the only occasion in which CBS Sportsline made up a story just to get some hits...
How the hell could Morey's job be in jeopardy? The majority of this board has given him a minimum of 5 more years to produce. With fan expectation like that, the $Balls won't stop bouncing until the season of 2020-21.
I agree, Morey has had a "charmed" tenure in one respect, the "genius" label and all, but the proof is in the pudding and the pudding hasn't jelled. The "collection of assets" hasn't really produced much, at least in the larger scheme of things. Yes, the team is more fun to watch and.....that's something, but......He talks alot, but he hasn't caught any big fish. In all fairness, the TMac/Yao disaster has stacked the deck against him, but he is a part of extending that experiment beyond its reasonable limits. I think something positive needs to occur soon, or he may join Adelman in the category of "good idea, didn't pan out." Does he have Kubiak like staying power, I don't think so.
I do not believe for one second that Morey's job is on the line. His approach is to make one prudent move after another, and I believe that Les, having made his fortune as a bond trader, is the same way. Morey might not have hit the home run, but he's hit plenty of singles and doubles, plus one triple (the McGrady deal) without hitting into any double plays. Most franchises wish they had that. Something else Morey deserves a lot of credit for: he hasn't panicked and made a risky move for a potential star. Look at the amare deal he passed up. Sure, Amare looks good now, but that could have been a bust. Morey isn't going to bet the farm on any desperate moves. I don't believe a credible case can be made that Morey's results don't put him in the top one-third or one-fourth of all GMs, even by his detractors here.
Les would have to be as dumb as Paul Allen to fire someone as savvy and feared by other GM's as Morey. The man is literally being punished for his ability to accurately assess talent, just because he inherited two men of glass and the one high all-star we had a realistic chance at acquiring (yes Amare would have still gone to NYK if we had traded for him at the trade deadline way back when) had to shirk responsibility and go play third wheel in Miami. Right now Morey bashers are just sounding like a bunch of political rabblerousers who aren't offering any solutions or superior alternatives whatsoever... THE SYSTEM'S NOT WORKING AND WE WON'T STAND FOR IT!!! RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE. DEY DERKED ERR JERBS!!! DEY DERKED ERR JERBS!!! WHY WON'T YOU STOP SUCKING HOUSTON? RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE. UGH SCREW THIS SCREW YOU I'M SO MAD RIGHT NOW I COULD HIT SOMETHING
I find it hilarious that he claims Morey is not a good drafter...when that is IMO his strength. Brooks, Landry, Chase, and Patterson were all mid round to late round draft picks and they are all players in the NBA. All of these guys can fill vital roles on their team and we know Brooks and Patterson have potential to be good starters.
Something positive has already occurred. Look at the team roster from the time Dmorey arrived to now. Our role players basically went from Alston and Luther Head to Luis Scola and Kyle Lowry. If only Yao and Mac didn't succumbe to heart disease and injury problems we would be contenders right now. Both Yao and Tmac would only be 30-31 years old, and we would be two in deep in every position while still remaining under the luxury tax. The tmac/yao failure didn't just "stack the deck" against him, it basically ruined any chance of the rox competing until the contracts expired. Other people are rolling around paying 140% of the cap, we're gonna face them with 40% of the cap? Its a miracle we only got the 14th lottery pick this year Lol!
It is impossible to offer alternatives when none of us are privy to the deals that might be out there. I don't consider myself a Morey basher, but frankly the results speak for themselves. Yes, he inherited a mess and some progress has been made, but it is sixteen years and counting since the Rockets have been a relevant contender in the playoffs. Yes, they scared LA a bit, and that was something, but overall a very long drought.
We have excellent role players, but they need a franchise player to support. Granted, they are hard to come by, but other teams have done it (LA, Miami, Boston, Chicago, etc.), why not us? Playoff relevance is so far in our distant past that you need a telescope to see it.
These teams had better luck. Chicago, for example, had something like a 9% chance of getting the #1 pick that ended up being Rose. Boston collected assets over several years, but it took some luck for there to be an offseason in which both the Sonics and T-Wolves finally decided to give up on their star and rebuild. The Big 3 chose Miami over all the other teams that also desperately created cap space. These also had to deal with less handicap, particularly the large salary and injury of their two former stars. If even one of them had been healthy, it would have been much easier to attract an additional star, perhaps even an additonal franchise level player. If their salary had been off the ledger, it would have been easier to chase someone in free agency, or make trades to eat salary. As for playoff relevance, this team is only 3 wins away from Memphis and won 50+ games only 2 years ago. We are not exactly talking about a Minnesota Timberwolves situation here.
