You're right, but that's not how Morey operates as GM, he is a booster. If you follow the Rockets.... then you know how often Morey brings up Rocket success/being one of the most winning teams in the NBA since 200X... saying how our owner is one of the best often.... The man knows how to talk up his team/organization. I get the negativity, but come on dude, don't be upset because someone told you Santa Claus wasn't real.
Morey took a really good shot at opening up our championship window for another 3-4 years. It was pretty genius to be able to offer 4 first round picks with no hesitation for an opportunity to have Harden Capela and Butler all in their prime and Chris Paul still at an elite level. We got unlucky to have run into Glen Taylor and Thibs. I’d guess half the GMs in the league would have accepted that offer. We should recognize the difference between bad luck and bad GMing. The Warriors front office are immortal again this year. Next year they may lose Durant and Cousins, and if Steph suffers an injury may fall behind in a playoff race.
Morey 'went wrong' where Morey always goes wrong - failing to factor in or understand the human element regarding things such as chemistry... Ryan Anderson was the first in a series of missteps... but that could be recovered from - as evident last year... This year went out the window with this whole MDA/Melo/Bzdelik drama... and carries over into how its affecting CP3 and Harden... I'd really like to know the whole background in the melo thing - obviously all we're getting is the scripted dialog... but if i had to guess... CP3 and Harden wanted Melo.... and DM has always wanted to acquire Melo... MDA didnt (based on NY) - but wasnt going to make waves... so he just grumbled to himself... Bzdelik was like "hell no" (bc of Denver) and he quit.... gutted his d and hoisting Melo on him... he was like screw this noise... D went to hell to start the year and MDA looked lost regarding D and wasnt going to utilize Melo (started MCW ahead of him) So DM bit the bullet and exiled Melo to entice Bzdelik to return.... So now there's some kinda dysfunction goin on between MDA/Bzdelik/Harden/CP3... and its rubbing off on other guys if any tension exists... just guesswork... but thats what it's smellin like to me... oh, and to make matters worse... we paid to move Ryno while he was at an all time low... heaven forbid we try to build the guys value up a little before
Not gonna get into the rest of the post (CP3) … but this part is the key. Last year Dan Tony had multiple playable wing options - EG , Ariza , Tucker , Luc , Green , Ryno …. On any given night two or more of those guys would have a solid game. This year , EG and GG are in deep slumps. Tucker is playing heavy minutes (and playing well) , Ariza , Luc and Ryno are gone and there's only really one replacement in Ennis who isn't bad but should be coming off the bench. One of EG , GG , Ennis playing well isn't enough , someone else has to contribute off the bench.
Him not choosing the 'right replacements' suggest he has lost his eye for 'finishing his championship project'.
Why does it matter if GSW is falling behind next year as long as they had already won 3 championships and this year they could win another one? (it's possible at least) No ballclub has won it every year.
Or that when you only have minimum salaries available to build out a team around 3 high salary players, your risk variance is boom or bust and your year over year turnover is much higher. Leading to even more risk. So it’s risk on top of risk. Cannot be a comfortable place to be for a guy who runs an analytics conference, but seems to be the yearly role of the dice he’s accepting and I’m not sure he has many other options at this point other than trading one of the big three to build out a less risky supporting roster.
Was just saying things can go bad from one year to the next. Not directly comparing the two. If that was the case then 29 GMs should be fired.
That move led to the single greatest regular season in Rockets history and took us to the brink with likely the greatest team that has ever existed. The problem is that with the age of guys like CP3, Ariza, and Tucker and the injury to Mbah A Moute there wasn't a very good path moving into this season. Definitely when you trade for a guy like that the cap situation becomes difficult to navigate. Still, can't imagine that considering the results last year, that could possibly be the move that ends him. I'm terrified of the CP3 contract now though. And it's painful to see Montrezl thriving the way he is. I loved him so much and hated to see him go.
melton looks good? based on what, his only game he has put up statistically in a blowout loss from the start. but of course a post like this isn't all that surprising
we so desperately need a 3rd star the future is not bright at all...role player acquisitions aren’t saving this look at how bad the team is now, and it will only get worse from here as guys age and decline
I didn't like the trade cause even if i didn't like Ryan, i really liked Melton, he isn't proven yet, but you already know he's not going to be worse than Chriss. Let's see what Knight can give us, on the court or as a trade piece but yeah, i would've loved to keep Melton.
No he doesn't. Go look at his stats. His last game was literally the first good game he's had. The rest have been terrible. I don't fault Morey for that trade. We needed NBA ready players. We couldn't wait on Melton to develop, Ryno was broken, and Knight is a high upside gamble that hasn't paid off.
Chriss has been a total zero - Ryan could have given us something when all the shots go cold. Knight looks good in the G League but I will reserve judgment until he plays against NBA talent. Both are more valuable because their contracts are more easily traded, not because of their on court value. Of the 4 players, Melton had the most potential to be a rotation player in the playoffs.
He’s a rookie - need to take it with a grain of salt. He has the tools to be a rotation player - we knew that on draft day. Rookies don’t have that kind of stat line at all without having some talent. Have you watched the kid play? He is a rookie. You have to judge them differently. He’s just now seeing real playing time. He has the tools to be great.
I know vaguely what you mean. You see, GSW is a very special case, they have tons of talent but they also lack playmaking, Steph is a shooter and his assist rate is decent but not great. The Rockets are also a special case with 1 superstar and an aging star trying to squeeze the best out himself. GSW can and will lose talent next year, no doubt about it, but I do not know how many championships they planned for their core of stars. The Rox have 0 championships, 0 Final appearances, 1 WCF appearance under MDA and Chris Paul. They just cannot sustain the level of elite play for more than 1 season due to old age, inconsistency, suspension and injury, bad role players.
We didn't trade for NBA ready players though. The Rockets knew Knight's injury status when they traded for him and Chriss has been awful. Of the three players there (not counting Melton) Ryno was probably the safest bet to be an OK contributor as a backup 5. (Which he was last year at various points) The whole selljob on that trade was breaking Ryno into two smaller contracts would make it easier to make a deal.
