Agreed. I feel like there are 2 opinions on morey on CF. Half of you guys think he's god, he can do no wrong and he's a genius. The other half think he's an idiot and needs to be fired. I think Morey is a good gm but I also think he has too many players that do the same thing and results definitely matter
...response from another thread that also seems appropriate here: I mean look - the roster makes sense if you believe Harden and Howard aren't enough to make us legit contenders(and Morey appears to believe that). The real question here is which scenario gives us a better shot at winning a title in the next 3 years? - A somewhat stripped down roster with flexibility to add another major piece - more depth and above average guys on the roster but no flexibility to sign or trade for a bigger piece. ...the wildcard here is you never know what's going to happen to the other contenders. No one could have predicted for instance that both Westbrook and Durant would be missing out of OKC's big three with Ibaka. We are in an arms race for what the Thunder could be, or what the Clippers could be (if DeAndre Jordan turns into an elite defender & rebounder), or what the Spurs are(when healthy), or what the Cavs could be, or the Bulls, etc. At the moment the title race is looking wide open and it would seem that more above average role players and depth would make Houston a legit contender this year so it's really hard to watch this roster struggle mightily at times. ...but what happens if Durant/Westbrook come back better than ever, DeAndre Jordan figures it out, Derrick Rose stays healthy, the Spurs continue to defy father time, the Cavs figure it out, or Anthony Davis turns into a Lebron James like force in the West? Would a Rocket roster with a little more depth be able to compete?
My philosophy in life is that results are what matter. That extends to sports. I think Morey is a very talented GM. But the most important thing to me as a fan of the Rockets since 1992 is wins and losses. Specifically in the postseason. And to be blunt, the Rockets in the last 17 years are the worst team in the NBA with regards to success in the playoffs. Aside from the Raptors(who came into existence 19 years ago), no other franchise has as few playoff series victories(that would be 1) as we do. I don't count the Bobcats/Hornets since they've only been around since 2004. And BTW, the Raptors this season look like they'll easily notch another series victory in the postseason(if not 2 or 3), which would leave the Rockets in a league of their own so to speak unless things improve quickly around here. Now that's not to say Morey should be fired right now. But the heat needs to be on him big-time for the current state of the team. This is our 3rd year with Harden. Our 2nd with Dwight. He's had time to put together a quality supporting cast around those two and we took a major step backwards this past summer. Plus bringing McHale back when the Rockets had a team option on that 4th year and were under no obligation to pay him was a questionable move to say the least. If this season results in another first round flameout or God forbid another trip to the lottery, a strong case could be made that Morey needs to follow McHale out the door.
This part is just crazy to me. From 1980-1995 the Rockets were in the Finals 4 different times. They won 2 rings. They were thought of among the best franchises in the NBA. If you had told me even as late as 2000 that this was going to be their fate, I wouldn't have believed you. I love the Rockets to death...and I'm not advocating the firing of Morey at all...but it's a shame what the franchise has become looking over the long view of the last 15 years or so.
I pretty much feel the same exact way. As talented as Morey is we can't just keep pointing to where we were, flexibility, the future, etc. Sports are about results, and you can be as good as you want to be but without results none of it matters..
Official Fire Morey Thread I never thought I would make this thread. I have to say I was one of his biggest support but after this off season I started his basketball philosophy. As currently constructed, this team is going nowhere. And Morey has to take the blame He underrates the importance of coaching. Chose McHale over Dwane Casey and kept him even after he was clearly outcoached in the playoffs. He underrates the importance of running play. I remember him saying that broken plays are the most efficient plays in the NBA. It shows how stupid he is. His obsession with flexibility is outrageous. I understand he was trying to get the third star but its time to move on to plan B. A championship team doesn't necessarily need 3 stars. Look at 2011 Mavs, they didn't have 3 stars but that team was deep. We had 15+M cap room and he could have brought in players to fill out our bench. Instead, he brought in scrubs like Joey Dorsey and Ish Smith when Lance Stephenson and Greg Monroe were available. I AM SO PISSED!!!!FIRE MOREY NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Morey was a great GM when we needed to get rid of some contracts and remain flexible to get guys like Harden & Howard. However, ever since then, he's done nothing much and staying flexible over winning now is just stupid. Even worse than what Cuban or any other team ever decided to do. I'm glad you got us Harden & Howard maybe, but it's time to go. This game will stick to his fake analytics until he's dead so Leslie, man up and fire him along with his puppet McHale!
Morey kept McHale this year so he can be the fall guy if this season goes to the crapper. I would think it would take another 3 years of sub-par results before he would be ousted.
I mean....it's only been one offseason since we got Howard. Getting Harden & Howard was gigantic. Of course it's on him to build around that...but I think you have to throw out more than one offseason for him to make that happen.
This is why I've started to point the finger way more at Les. I think McHale and even Morey to a lesser extent are merely symptoms of his management of the organization. You pointed out that the Rockets were one of the best franchises in the NBA from 1980-1995. Well, what changed toward the end of that period? Les bought the team. Let's be honest. Les had absolutely nothing to do with that 1994 title team. Zero! The offseason acquisitions were Elie via trade and Cassell via the draft. The rest of the foundation(including Rudy) was already there. Now I will give him some credit for approving the Clyde Drexler deal the following season. It was gutsy and very unorthodox for a defending champ to make a move like that midseason, but it paid off. The problem is it also planted the seed in his mind(or maybe it was always there, who knows?) that the way to win in this league is to constantly go after big name players either via trade or free agency. It worked to a lesser extent with Barkley in 1997. They lost in the WCF, but they at least beat the Sonics finally. Since then however, it's failed them miserably with the lone exception of the Ron Artest acquisition which was short-lived and derailed by the T-Mac and Yao injuries. As I said before though, what matters to me is the results. Not potential or promise. And the results speak for themselves. This franchise is approaching 2 decades of futility. And don't forget, it's not just underachieving in the postseason. In the last 17 years, we've only been in the playoffs 9 times. What concerns me more than anything is that firing McHale and even Morey won't make any difference at the end of the day because whoever is hired to replaced them will still reflect the Les Alexander philosophy toward winning in the NBA which clearly ain't working.
Well, here's the thing... That 1981 Finals team wasn't really that good. They were under .500 for the season and rode a wave of momentum, playing amazing ball at the right time to make the Finals. The rest of that time period had one major factor in common: Hakeem Olajuwon. We've never had a player like him since and likely never will. He was a once in a lifetime player. Without a once in a lifetime player like that, the best most franchises can hope for, and this is with GOOD decisions, is to get into the playoffs and hope all the cards fall in your favor.
True, but we all know what Morey's going to do because he keeps reminding us: we need that third start and until we day, cap flexibility is our #1 priority. With 'just' Howard and Harden, I don't think Morey and maybe even Leslie will not go deep to get some great role players. A lot of people here laughed at Dallas, but at least they got proven veterans unlike us. There were so many good players out there for a small price, but we chose to go for Dorsey and company..
True. You need an all-time great(if not 2 or even 3) to win a title in the NBA. But you don't need one to win a playoff series. Shoot, the Warriors knocked off the 67-win Mavs in 2007 with Baron Davis and Stephen Jackson as their best players. The Blazers managed to beat us last season with two very good players in LaMarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard, but both have a long way to go before ever being considered for the Hall of Fame. It's like you said. Franchises have to make good decisions in order to win. Trading for Harden was a no-brainer. So was signing Dwight. But we've also traded away Kyle Lowry and blew a chance to resign him this summer. We let Dragic walk and replaced him with an overpaid Jeremy Lin. We let Parsons walk and got nothing in return. We signed Joey Dorsey. We retained Kevin McHale as coach. The bad decisions seem to outnumber the good ones and they're starting to add up.
Good post. Morey appears to have been given an eternal free pass by the red koolaid drinkers because and I quote: "He inherited a mess in 2006 from CD and he's had to rebuild this team from that Yao-TMac disaster". While that is certainly true, it is now going on year 8 of the Morey tenue and I fail to see any difference between his approach and Dawson's which was/is to chase after the "star" players while cycling through lesser players until you somehow wind up with a combination that actually works. Both appear to yield the same results which is a profound lack of playoff success.
Exactly. People on here have a right to pine for the glory years from the 80s and early-mid 90s but it's a totally different time and a totally different NBA. 1. Not having an all-time great like Hakeem will not get you far as you stated. 2. Injuries after injuries derailed this team's chances of doing anything 3. If Morey had his way, I believe he would have had at least one season used for "tanking" purposes. Les kept the franchise on the treadmill of mediocrity. Les chose to not bring back Dragic and wanted Lin instead. Morey has had his fair share of blunders especially after this summer but if everyone wants to believe that blame starts at the top then we need to question our owner with greater frequency than we are right now.
To that I'd like to ask you who was it that wanted Lin instead of Dragic? Who wanted the team to try and get an 8th seed in the playoffs with the likes of Scola, Martin, and co rather than blow it all up and start over, especially with McGrady and Yao gone? Morey has someone to answer to and that's not us--it's the guy writing his paychecks. I think it's time that we hold not only Morey but also Les accountable for what's been going on with this franchise. Hell, I'm sure there's an international financial impact as to why they are still playing in these sh!tty jerseys.
