Just curious.. What were your thoughts about Jerry West (considered as the best GM ever) when he was with the Griz?
Should he be(or have been) fired this offseason? No. He badly f'ed up the free agent pursuit by going after guys like Bosh(who never really wanted to be here) and Melo(who absolutely was never signing here) instead of trying to lock in Lowry(who did want to be here). And the Parsons situation while potentially complicated with the whole Fegan factor was still poorly handled. Plus, exercising that 4th year option on McHale while doing nothing to replenish the depleted core of assistant coaches was maybe the worst decision of all. That being said, he landed Harden and Howard in consecutive offseasons. You don't can a guy who pulled off that feat. Going forward however, the heat is on Morey to deliver something in terms of on-court success. If we're subjected to another first round flameout or God forbid a lotto season(which is definitely possible in the loaded Western Conference), it would be hard to justify him keeping his job. I will reiterate though that the main problem is not Morey. It's Les. I know you can't fire or replace the owner, but aside from the two championship teams that he essentially inherited(aside from the Drexler trade which I'll give him props for approving), his tenure here has been a borderline disaster. Since those two championships, the team has won a total of 4 playoff series in 19 seasons. And 3 of those were in the 2 years following the titles. His obsession with always pursuing star players and big name free agents while never tanking in order to rebuild has left this franchise mired in mediocrity for nearly 2 decades.
I agree on mediocrity, I also think Les is much better than the former Clippers owner. However, Clippers managed somehow to pass first round and has multiple young star players, and was a strong team in the west before changing owners. I think Morey could be better being an actor than a GM in NBA team. When it is time, Morey fans will flip again.
How many playoff series did CD win from 00-07? You have a clear agenda but no actual point, as always.
you need to add, also CD signed some people to bloated contracts. At least Morey hasn't done that yet.
No I do have a point, which is that Morey hasn't been more successful as a GM than CD. If I had an agenda I would probably try to refute that point while leaving out the most successful part of CD's tenure as GM.
That's simply not true by any stretch of the imagination. Morey has made more out of what he was given than CD did. GM's don't create teams. They build them. Like anything else, where you start and what materials you're given are defining factors, and all of that has to be taken into context i.e. what is possible in the league now vs. then. Morey has done a phenomenal job given where we were and now sitting on two locked up superstars in their prime - something Rockets fans have basically never had. He convinced a LA Lakers FA still in his late 20's to sign outright at a discount for the Houston Rockets. That is a massive achievement. Nothing else matters if you don't have the big boys on your team. If there's anything you can pick on, it's his choice of coach. The commitment he's made to keeping the coach has been good - you don't want the type of GM who has a quick trigger finger when trying to build a culture. But the choice of McHale is a big let down at the moment.
Is it a stretch to say that CD won more meaningful games as GM than Morey? Winning is fairly important in sports, is it not? I believe Morey was given Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady in their primes. He's turned that into one playoff series victory. What is impressive about that? Dwight is neither "locked up" nor in his prime. 2 years is locked up? The Rockets have never had 2 superstars in their prime locked up before? Yes they have, but not currently.
CD is the one responsible for the string of first round losses, he simply couldn't assemble any support players, but he also gave Amare Stoudemire contracts, to not 1, but 2 of them. They didn't play even one playoff series together under Morey's tenure, is that what you call being given in their primes? The primes of players usually involve, you know, actual playing, yet he managed to get a playoff series win. GMs don't win games, and there's no easier way to not win than to have injured players.
