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DICK says: Trading T-Mac will be Daryl Morey's toughest assignment

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by Rocketman2000, Dec 29, 2009.

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  1. Rocketman2000

    Rocketman2000 Contributing Member

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    PLEASE LOCK IF ALREADY POSTED.

    http://blogs.chron.com/sportsjustic...oustonchronicle/sportsjustice+(SportsJustice)

    Trading T-Mac will be Daryl Morey's toughest assignment
    Daryl Morey has been absolutely brilliant during his time as general manager of the Rockets. His overhaul of the roster has resulted in a team that's an absolute joy to watch, and he has done it without a high draft choice or big-ticket free-agent signing.

    He got Aaron Brooks at the bottom of the first round, Chase Budinger and Carl Landry in the second. He worked tirelessly to get Luis Scola from the Spurs and had the guts to trade a starting point guard on a team headed for the playoffs because he believed in Kyle Lowry.

    Yeah, but what have you done for us lately?

    This season began with virtually no one thinking the Rockets could make the playoffs without Tracy McGrady, Yao Ming and Ron Artest. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Despite a brutal early schedule — they've played 19 of 31 games on the road — the Rockets are on a pace to win 48 games.

    Better than the record is that Morey has refused to make short-term moves to patch the roster and win a couple of extra games this year. Every acquisition has been made with an eye to when he acquires an impact player, and the Rockets get really good again.

    Now he has his toughest assignment. Once upon a time, teams coveted an expiring contract because of the cap space it helped them create. Since McGrady is the NBA's highest-paid player at $24 million, the Rockets considered him a nice bargaining chip.

    A tough economy has made teams much less willing to take on big money. Morey has discussed McGrady's names for weeks, but has been asked to include a Landry or Budinger in the deal. This he's unwilling to do.

    As long as there was no urgency to trade McGrady, he could play the field, hope some team convinced itself McGrady was the answer, either as a player or by creating cap space for the coming free-agent sweepstakes.

    Two things have made a trade more difficult. One is Rick Adelman tired of McGrady telling him one thing behind closed doors, then going to the media and something something else.

    And there's the player himself. McGrady simply hasn't looked like a guy still capable of playing at a high level. He may get there in a few weeks or next season, but at this point, there's no reason to believe.

    Adelman is in a contract year, too. He didn't bench McGrady because he doesn't like him. He benched him because he didn't think McGrady could still help the Rockets.

    The Rockets could trade McGrady if he couldn't play. Some team could take him and collect the insurance money. The Rockets probably could trade him if he could play 30 minutes a night at a reasonable level. Instead, they're stuck in between not really knowing what they have.

    McGrady wanted the Rockets to set aside their team goals and allow him to work himself into shape. After last season's disaster, Adelman and Morey were unwilling to do this. So it's time to say goodbye. Figuring out how to do it is the difficult part.

    In Morey we trust. That's the bottom line is this deal. Whatever trade he comes up with for Tracy McGrady will make the Rockets better now or at some point in the future. That said, this is a tough one.


    Posted by Richard at December 29, 2009 08:46 AM
     
    #1 Rocketman2000, Dec 29, 2009
  2. durvasa

    durvasa Contributing Member

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    I hadn't thought of that before, but its a good point. Adelman must genuinely believe that McGrady will hurt the team, because the incentive for him to win is so high.
     
    #2 durvasa, Dec 29, 2009
  3. Chuck 4

    Chuck 4 Member

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    There's no way Rick isn't the coach next year. At least not by Les Alexanders choice. Only way Adelman isn't the coach is if he decides to leave. The guy will likely be Coach of The Year this season. He'll be back.
     
    #3 Chuck 4, Dec 29, 2009
  4. Codman

    Codman Contributing Member

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    Good read, but nothing new.


    I'm excited to see what DM could get in return.

    I just pray that he doesn't give up Luis, Carl, Aaron, KL...shoot the rest of the team.


    I'd be willing to part with Joey, JT and B.Cook. That's about it. Stubborn Rockets fan.
     
    #4 Codman, Dec 29, 2009
  5. Dave_78

    Dave_78 Member

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    This will be interesting. Up until this point, most of Morey's moves were small, low risk/high reward deals. He has made some bad moves (Mike James, Francis, Dorsey) but they were so low risk it barely mattered. Now that he is dealing with big money and big talent let's see if he is as skilled here as he is picking diamonds out of the rough (aka late in the NBA draft).
     
    #5 Dave_78, Dec 29, 2009
  6. baller4life315

    baller4life315 Contributing Member

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    Guess what? Water is wet.
     
    #6 baller4life315, Dec 29, 2009
  7. <3myrockets

    <3myrockets Contributing Member

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    i didn't realize adelman was in his contract year too. it makes sense now...
     
    #7 <3myrockets, Dec 29, 2009
  8. BimaThug

    BimaThug Resident Capologist
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    DD, I hope this puts to bed any notion of yours that the Rockets could somehow intentionally sit a healthy-enough-to-play McGrady and still collect on the insurance.

    As you've said before, Richard Justice CANNOT lie in his articles (although I tend not to fully agree with you on the whole "facts/opinion" issue with him).
     
    #8 BimaThug, Dec 29, 2009
  9. Vanilla Rice

    Vanilla Rice Member

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    The great thing about it is that Morey holds the hammer. There is nothing that says he absolutely HAS to trade him. The Rockets have proven that they can compete and win with McGrady on the sideline.

    If no good offer comes, Morey can sit tight with waiting for the contract to expire and not take back any garbage contracts.

    I have confidence Morey will make the right deal for the Rockets, regardless if he deals McGrady or not.
     
    #9 Vanilla Rice, Dec 29, 2009
  10. Air Langhi

    Air Langhi Contributing Member

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    If you win coy you know you are getting fired soon.
     
    #10 Air Langhi, Dec 29, 2009
  11. Carl Herrera

    Carl Herrera Contributing Member

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    Not suprising. Contract year or not, coaches generally have one overriding agenda: Win the next game.

    Why Gundy no play Spanoulis? Gundy's trying to win, and doesn't think playing Spanoulis helps with that.

    Why Adelman no play McGrady? Adelman's trying to win, and doesn't think playing McGrady helps with that.

    You might argue whether the coach is right or wrong about whehter a player really helps with winning, but the motive part is generally pretty simple. No personal agenda, just trying to win. Like D'Antoni said, most coaches will play Satan if he can help the team win games.

    As for McGrady's trade value... I don't think it's all that complicated. The guy's primary value is an expiring contract. The value of an expiring contract depends primarily on the Rockets' willingness to take back longer term "bad" deals. None of that changed.

    The other stuff, his ability to play, is really just a bonus. A lot of potential trade partners (say, NYC) really don't care much about that. NYC won't really want to expend their cap room on Tracy next season, and they are not really competing for the title this year anyway with or without McGrady.
     
    #11 Carl Herrera, Dec 29, 2009
  12. DaDakota

    DaDakota If you want to know, just ask!

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    I agree Carl, but sometimes it is beneficial for the GM to step in and FORCE a coach to do something for the good of the franchise's future.

    Danged JVG and the Denver win costing us Brandon Roy for instance.

    However, most of us have been saying this forever, that McGrady doesn't look good and has no explosion and others are ahead of him on the roster.

    It is no surprise that he got benched, he just isn't good enough to play, and the team's margin is too thin to let him work it out at the expense of wins an losses.

    Bima,

    Yeah, that seems to nail it down, quite well.

    DD
     
    #12 DaDakota, Dec 29, 2009
  13. Dave_78

    Dave_78 Member

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    Everyone needs to relax here. Morey and Adelman just told an aging superstar and the highest paid player in the league that he doesn't fit here. Trust me, after doing that they are going to make damn sure they bring in talent without an ego or they won't bring in anything at all.

    It's now reported that Morey wants an All Star or a player who can develop into one or there is no deal. I think we are in good hands here.
     
    #13 Dave_78, Dec 29, 2009
  14. blacktopKING

    blacktopKING Member

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    There is NO DOUBT about that. Morey is no moron, he will not trade Stacy just for the sake of trading him. The Rockets WILL get something good in return...I just can't wait to see what it is.
     
    #14 blacktopKING, Dec 29, 2009
  15. raj87

    raj87 Member

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    72% probability that no exchange of player occurs, and McGrady's contract is allowed to expire.
     
    #15 raj87, Dec 29, 2009
  16. blacktopKING

    blacktopKING Member

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    Where did this figure come from?
     
    #16 blacktopKING, Dec 29, 2009
  17. raj87

    raj87 Member

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    raj himself :cool:
     
    #17 raj87, Dec 29, 2009
  18. dbdb49

    dbdb49 Member

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    we might get two or three scrubs

    What if we would have let him stay here and sign him for two years
    just to see if him and yao could stay healthy for a year after that so be it

    Brooks
    McGrady
    Trevor
    Scola
    Yao

    That's a nice line up
     
    #18 dbdb49, Dec 29, 2009
  19. blacktopKING

    blacktopKING Member

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    What if is no longer an option and no they will not get 2-3 scrubs. Morey already said he isn't going to take garbage for him.

    Morey will push hard but if they don't come across anything that will help the team short/long term, he will simply expire on the sidelines.
     
    #19 blacktopKING, Dec 29, 2009
  20. Rocket River

    Rocket River Member

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    Like Christmas morning all over again!

    Rocket River
     
    #20 Rocket River, Dec 29, 2009
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