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[NY Times] Twisting Path Put Rockets in Position to Sign Howard

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by Drew_Le, Jul 11, 2013.

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Drew_Le Member

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http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/11/sports/basketball/twisting-path-put-rockets-in-position-to-sign-howard.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

ORLANDO, Fla. — The transaction is simple on the surface, familiar and mathematically sound. An N.B.A. team creates salary-cap room. An N.B.A. star signs a rich deal using that room. The Houston Rockets sign Dwight Howard and become instant contenders.That sequence unfolded last week, in a logical and linear fashion. There was, in fact, nothing simple about it.

When the Rockets persuaded Howard to dump Kobe Bryant, spurn the Lakers and trade Hollywood for Houston, it was the culmination of a two-year campaign based on hope and hunches. It was the success of a strategy no one had tried. It may be the new template for rebuilding in the modern age.

For 24 months, Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey did nothing but shuffle bodies — acquiring talent, trading that talent, then packaging the new talent with draft picks to acquire newer, better talent, until those assets could be cashed in for a franchise star — like a kid at the carnival trading up for the grand prize.
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More in the article.

Another recap of Morey's expert dealings (but no better than NIKEstrad and Clutch's works). Great to see him and the Rockets get national attention for their innovative way of building though.

#1 Drew_Le, Jul 11, 2013

3 people like this.

SamFisher Contributing Member

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I was just going to post this - good article.

Morey’s impulse in 2011 was to strip down Houston’s roster and gamble on the lottery — the “bottoming-out” approach. According to the statistics-minded Morey, that route has the highest probability of success.

There was just one problem: no one in the Rockets brain trust had the stomach for losing, least of all the owner Les Alexander.
Morey needed an alternate path, a middle way.

“There’s this other way we can try it,” Morey told Alexander then, “but no one’s ever done it.”
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#2 SamFisher, Jul 11, 2013
sammy Contributing Member

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I.M.W.T.

#3 sammy, Jul 11, 2013
REEKO_HTOWN I'm Rich Biiiiaaatch!

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Great read

#4 REEKO_HTOWN, Jul 11, 2013
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Morey treats the NBA like an episode of Barter kings.

#5 tmacfor35, Jul 11, 2013
PainNoLove Member

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There's never been a team to do it like this before?

#6 PainNoLove, Jul 11, 2013
morpheus133 Member

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The article further confirms the reports that Morey did want to tank, but Les was against it, which was a major complaint of many of the fans who wanted to get rid of Morey over the past few years.

The whole Howard signing shoots down the idea that people didn't want to come here because of the city, or because of the GM. Stars come to play with other stars, which is why pre-Harden, Dwight had no interest, and post-Harden we were his preferred choice.

#7 morpheus133, Jul 11, 2013

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PainNoLove said: ↑

There's never been a team to do it like this before?
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I guess he means not in this new CBA landscape where the Rockets took advantage of other teams luxury tax situations, etc...to acquire and build assets.

#8 Rox>Mavs, Jul 11, 2013
Drew_Le Member

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PainNoLove said: ↑

There's never been a team to do it like this before?
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If you look at recent serious contenders, their method of building is very different than the Rockets, which the article mentions:

Miami-pure free agency
San Antonio- pure draft
OKC- pure draft

I think the only comparable situation would be the Boston Celtics (when Morey was working there, interestingly), where they turned a ton of young assets (Jefferson, Gerald Green, Telfair, a top 5 pick) into Garnett and Allen.

#9 Drew_Le, Jul 11, 2013
Amel Contributing Member

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“There’s this other way we can try it,” Morey told Alexander then, “but no one’s ever done it.”
Click to expand...

#10 Amel, Jul 11, 2013
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In Morey we trust!

#11 shawn786, Jul 11, 2013
Carl Herrera Contributing Member

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Drew_Le said: ↑

If you look at recent serious contenders, their method of building is very different than the Rockets, which the article mentions:

Miami-pure free agency
San Antonio- pure draft
OKC- pure draft

I think the only comparable situation would be the Boston Celtics (when Morey was working there, interestingly), where they turned a ton of young assets (Jefferson, Gerald Green, Telfair, a top 5 pick) into Garnett and Allen.
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Miami did draft Wade.

#12 Carl Herrera, Jul 11, 2013
Drew_Le Member

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Also, I think Morey did an incredible job taking advantage of relative value. If you look at a lot of his trades, he will pilfer picks from a younger, rebuilding team where picks are less valuable due to the inexperience already on the roster and the team's impatience on waiting for players to develop. Then, he tends to take on players from experienced teams that undervalue known assets and overvalue young talent, hoping to hit a run on less known products.

For example:
He traded known asset (Kyle Lowry) for a pick from Toronto (probably undervalued by them given the youth on their roster and their need to compete).

He then traded this unknown asset, the lottery pick, along with another unknown (Jeremy Lamb) to an established team with plenty of talent (OKC) who probably overvalued their unknown return for their known asset (Harden).

Other examples include trading
-PPat (known) for TRob (unknown)- Sac is young and tired of youth
-Rudy Gay (unknown) for Battier (known)- Memphis was a playoff team at that point
-Alston (known) for Lowry (unknown)- not as straightforward b/c it was a 3 team deal, but the young team (Memphis) was giving up on their young asset.
-Dalembert (known) for right to move up (unknown)- Milwaukee was a young team.

#13 Drew_Le, Jul 11, 2013

ccjj Contributing Member

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Mark Cuban will trade Dirk for Morey.

#14 ccjj, Jul 11, 2013
RocketRaccoon Contributing Member

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Thank you Les for having the wisdom to hire this guy.

What an asset Morey is to Les!

#15 RocketRaccoon, Jul 11, 2013
morpheus133 Member

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Drew_Le said: ↑

I think the only comparable situation would be the Boston Celtics (when Morey was working there, interestingly), where they turned a ton of young assets (Jefferson, Gerald Green, Telfair, a top 5 pick) into Garnett and Allen.
Click to expand...

Yes but the key difference is that the Celtics weren't close to as competitive as the Rockets have been in their rebuilding period, prior to picking up Garnett and Allen. They got their assets from being in the Lottery regularly.

#16 morpheus133, Jul 11, 2013
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Trusting Morey is a very good idea.

#17 TJ VS TR, Jul 11, 2013
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ccjj said: ↑

Mark Cuban will trade Dirk for Morey.
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No deal!

#18 rocketman84, Jul 11, 2013

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Terrific read...is that it takes a certain kinda person to do what Morey has done so far... A true geek...And Morey fits that bill to a T.

But for every success story, there are gonna be a lot of failures...the reason why it worked for us, is bc no one else has tried it before...as more and more teams employ this kinda strategy, eventually Morey will change, and adapt.

#19 sugrlndkid, Jul 11, 2013
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Drew_Le said: ↑

If you look at recent serious contenders, their method of building is very different than the Rockets, which the article mentions:

Miami-pure free agency
San Antonio- pure draft
OKC- pure draft

I think the only comparable situation would be the Boston Celtics (when Morey was working there, interestingly), where they turned a ton of young assets (Jefferson, Gerald Green, Telfair, a top 5 pick) into Garnett and Allen.
Click to expand...

Why is OKC talked about? Try using Dallas and Boston as examples, and Lakers. Those are the teams that actually won.

Boston did it this method, but by also tanking and cashing out, but mainly young assets and flipping them ultimately to get a greater talent or two(Boston is Morey's roots). Los Angeles used star power, Dallas was just luck no offense. Miami and San Antonio were already mentioned.

We did it the least likely way, all it took was for one team to bite and for us to not bite the bullet prematurely. That's exactly what happened; once Harden came on board everything trickled down. If he still hadn't come here, would we have been patient?

#20 DraftBoy10, Jul 11, 2013

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