On the hits or the missis? For years we have all heard how bad Carroll Dawson screwed up by not drafting Rashard Lewis. I blamed Ray Patterson for years for drafting Rodney McCray instead of Clyde. We are now starting to here how Daryl Morey may have made a mistake by not drafting Dejuan Blair. So how do you grade your GM's? Did DM screw up because he did not draft Blair or did he hit a home run by drafting Chase Budinger? Personally I think its easy to look back and say we should have drafted this guy or that guy but at the end of the day you have to look at who you drafted and not who you didn't draft.
Given these two options, Mobley over Rashard doesn't bother me so much, and I don't strongly disagree with any of Morey's drafts so far. I'm not sure how to vote, but I picked the Morey one because it was positive.
You grade draft day decisions like any other decision in life. Given what he should have known at the time (in this case, the players, his team's needs, the state of the league), did he make a wise decision? Sometimes you can make a good decision, but due to unforeseen circumstances it doesn't work out. Blake Griffin was a good draft pick for the Clippers, but supposing he never recovers from his knee surgery and Tyreke Evans ends up having a HOF career does that mean they failed their 2009 draft? No.
You also forget, even though CD was the gm at the time, Morey was the one responsible for the Rudy Gay trade. Instead of Aaron brooks to build around we could of build Rudy. Battier never helped get the Rockets where they needed to be during the Mcgrady/Yao era. So I would say the trade was a fail.
I think it's this line of thinking which also goes ahead with stating that trading for Artest was a fail, which some idiots here have stated. The Rockets made a move to get Battier whom has helped quite a bit, and thus we lost Gay and dumped Swift's dumb rear end. Yay. Honestly, though, we got one out of three good picks in this draft, and Taylor and especially Llull could become somebody. Not sure why anyone's whining yet.
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=ygxq4vg i know it has nothing to do with the thread, but plz do look at it
Kupachak has 3 rings, and wouldn't consider him a great GM (definitely not at drafting by any means). There is such a thing as free agency that can keep teams competitive. But, realistically speaking on Dawson, he might've drafted well 2 or 3 seasons and that is about it. You can clearly see from the Rockets' team roster from about 2000 - 2006 that the Rockets weren't making the right choices in the draft (which is another reason why the T-Mac/Yao years weren't better). 2000 - 9th pick Joel Przybilla (C) United States Houston Rockets (traded to Milwaukee for Jason Collier and a future first-round pick). The Rockets traded for the inferior center. Still available: Desmond Mason (17th), Hedo Turkoglu (16th), Morris Peterson (SF/SG), and Quentin Richardson (18th) 31st pick Eduardo Najera traded for Dan Langhi (PF) 2001 - The Richard Jefferson trade, which also included Brandon Armstrong (23rd). Even with what people consider to be an inferior pick. Still Available: Gerald Wallace (25th), Samuel Dalembert (26th), Jaamal Tinsley (27th), Tony Parker (28th), Trenton Hassell (30th), and Gilbert Arenas (31st). 2002 - Yao Ming's pick is kind of obvious. 2003 - Malick Badiane (44th pick), didn't even suit up for regular season team, only made it to summer league. Still Available: Matt Bonner (45th), Mo Williams (47th), and Kyle Korver (51st). 2004 - 55th Pick 2005 - Luther Head (24th) [After, it was clear we needed some more athleticism on the team...we draft someone who is like other guards we have, undersized - one-dimensional - not really helping the scoring cause] Still available: Jason Maxiell (26th), Lineas Kleiza (27th), David Lee (30th), Brandon Bass (33rd). Untouched players in that draft: Jose Calderon, (our own) Chuck Hayes, Will Bynum, Kelenna Azubuike, Fabricio Oberto It's strange that all of those players would've made this team better and been more of what we needed than Luther Head. 2006 - Gay for Battier trade...I'm not touching that one. Fair deal, though. If it was one or two drafts, it would be ok. But, if it is repeating year in and year out, while other teams are able to stay competitive even after losing stars to free agency and retirement. That is what GM is supposed to do is find the best available players or the ones with the most NBA potential. How does a GM keep missing so many talented players or ones that would could used more readily than the run of the mill undersized guard or forward who is limited in skill. At times, I almost get tired everyone blaming everything on T-Mac and Yao, when it the talent around them absolutely...sucked at times. It's like why can't find one or two decent players in the draft or free agency...and that goes on the back of the GM.
People talk about Morey like he's the perfect gm. Let be make a list of all his mishaps so far. 1. Of course trading the rights of Rudy Gay. 2. Trading the the expiring contract of Juwan Howard for the 20 million left on Mike Jame's contract. 3. The resigning of Steve Fancis 4. One of his stupidest moves, spending a million to buy with the first pick in the second round for Carl Landry's rights. Then only offering a one year contract. Now he's paying triple then he had. 5 Drafting Joey Dorsey and skipping onthe likes of Deandre Jordan, Mario Chamb, Chris Douglus Roberts. 6. Lastly skipping on Blair not once but twice. 5. I still think we gave up more then we needed to with the Ron Artest rental.
No but if he were Gm at the time I strongly suspect that he would have. CD did draft Yao. The point I was trying to make was that you should grade GMs on their rings not their drafts. GMs build their teams to win championships.
1. you're ridiculous for saying "of course" and calling that a clear mistake. 4. It was stupid to spend a million to buy the first pick in the 2nd round? Yeah, I'd rather NOT have Landry and have $1 mil. Good call. 5. Why does 5 come after 1-6? Either way, you thinking something doesn't make it a mishap. He got Ron Artest, and all he really gave up was Donte Greene and the #23 this year. Except Morey managed to get Budinger out of this draft for cash, so it's almost as if he didn't lose that pick
Let's just say that this is not a clear mistake, much less a mistake at all. I'm in line in that this was a good trade, as we got a veteran leader and got rid of Swift's bum at minimum. Don't remember this move at all, so no comment on about it. Either way, it's the first anyone's attacked it. Uh, no. It was a move that had high reward and low risk. If Steve panned out, than we get back a highly popular star who would be motivated to play for the city's that given him so much love. If it didn't, we don't lose a whole lot, as it's not like we're paying him a bunch. It was unfortunate it didn't work out, but it was a calculated risk. So Morey's stupidest move causes him to lose.... 2 million dollars. Not bad for a really stupid move, as you claim. And he offered a one year contract in case things didn't pan out, which fortunately they did. WAAAH WAAAH HE CAN"T GET EVERY SECOND ROUND DRAFT PICK RIGHT WAAAAH. I mean, seriously? The worst errors of Morey's tenure are that he overspent by about 2 million on Landry according to you and that he can't get every second round draft pick correct? Are you serious about this? The only real mistake Morey's done by my book was the Barry signing. That one I just didn't get. We gave up Donte Green, a draft pick, and Bobby Jackson in exchange for a very legit shot to win the title which we could have won if McGrady hadn't been a p***y and Yao hadn't collapsed at the very end. If you think that's too much, than you're just some armchair fool who thinks he knows everything about running a team.
