Goran Dragic on if the Rockets ever had a chance to keep him

Yes, but last season, we were all laughing at Dragic for signing with Phoenix. He was mediocre. The Suns were mediocre. We thought HE screwed up.

 

He was sill better than Lin last year.

 

He did screw up. He took less money to be on a worse team. He could have been the starting PG on a contender, now he is stuck on mediocre team in Phoenix. Although to be fair, his actions will likely net him a larger contract in 2015.

People in this thread have a weird idea of what happened and what exactly a screw up is. He was a free agent, he could do whatever he wanted. We did not have some power over him. Sure, we could have caved on the player option, but for all we know, the 2015 free agency plan could have been a significant factor for ultimately luring Dwight here. For a superstar-less team, as we were at the time, the difference between having a Goran Dragic or a Jeremy Lin is negligible. We played our hand correctly, we just didn't get the perfect scenario play out. Oh well, we are still huge winners over the past two years.

 

Yes, Morey underestimated how well Dragic would be. His moves in general before acquiring Harden were to maintain cap flexibility. Lowry, not having a player option, enabled the Rockets to acquire Harden. The Rockets were able to clear space for Howard easily as none of the role players had a player option. The worst thing the Rockets did was include Aldemir to move White's contract.

As Morey can't predict the future perfectly, player options for non-stars is not an option.

 

I have never claimed to understand the financial side of the business; I just like basketball. In fact, the contract issues bore me. All I know the Rockets ended up paying more for Lin than Dragic. I realize they couldn't foresee yet to occur events. I love Lin especially as a person, but Dragic is the better fit on this team. It is what it is, water under the bridge. Still can't help thinking what could have been. The perfect scenario would have been to keep Lin under the small contract and sign Dragic to a new contract. Two huge costly mistakes.

 

So Dragic blew up at the age of 27 in comparison to Harden's 24.

So how long can Dragic play like this and is it his ceiling?

I sure hope Harden now is not Harden in his best shape because clearly at some point last season he was even better.

 

Great interview, Clutch.

Dragic is a class act and seeing this makes me feel good about any possibility of us ever reacquiring him somewhere down the road.

 

What is your point? We didn't NOT sign Dragic due to Lin, seeing as how we signed Lin AFTER we traded Lowry and Dragic signed with the Suns. We chose to not sign Dragic because we wanted to keep our options open for a superstar. Morey does NOT have a crystal ball to see that we would be getting Harden and Howard. At the time, it was a GREAT decision. It is also not fair to pin this on Lin as Lin just signed the best contract he was given at the time. I still personally thing that was NOT a Morey decision but a Les decision. Basically, it was just unfortunate how the situation turned out in terms of Dragic, how we went from a great PG to a pair of mediocre ones, but hey that's how the cookie crumbles sometimes. Does it suck? Yes. Is it Lin or Morey or Dragic's fault? No, not really.

 

Not sure why folks want to turn this into a Harden vs Dragic debate. It's pretty clear Harden is the best SG in the league. Gogi has been playing great and has been better than half of the Eastern Conference all-stars.

In any case, I think the short answer is yes, it was a mistake to not re-sign Gogi. But that's only evaluating him as a player. The tougher question is, was it a mistake for the organization? Probably yes, but only a minor one. It's tough to evaluate the importance of flexibility. But the truth is that almost every good trade that the Rockets have made has been due to their flexibility (McGrady for Martin, 1st round pick for Artest, picks and players for Harden, Scola for Jackie Butler) while our few bad trades have been due to inflexibility (Royce White to Philly).

 

I don't understand the pining for Dragic, with Harden and the system (assuming there is a system) the Rockets run, would Drajic contribute significantly more than Lin?

The Rockets' system doesn't seem to run through the PG, and if it does, then Harden is the PG. So what would really be the difference of having Dragic over Lin, they seem interchangeable in the Rockets' system given their similar skill sets and skill levels.

 

At their best, Lin and Dragic about equal. However, when they are playing poorly, Dragic still looks like he belongs in the NBA where Lin looks like a D-leaguer sometimes.

 

It is what to be expected for young players like Lin as Dragic has played professionally longer than Lin. Looking back, Lin is a lot like Dragic before his breakout season with us, swinging back and forth from brilliant games to subpar games.

So it is safe to say Lin could be potentially as good as Dragic a few yrs down the road :grin:

 

some of you guys here are delusional. I thought it was just the 2012/13ers.

 

I may sound like a LOF. But playing in Houston alongside Harden would have been very different from playing in Phoenix, not to mention the acquisition of Beverley later. Who knows how he would have handled the situation.

 

The acquisition of Beverley would have not affected Dragic in any way. If Dragic was here, he would be the clear cut starter and Bev would be coming off the bench.

 

I disagree.

Dragic is extremely versatile is well suited in just about any role. He is just a flat out awesome basketball player. Beverley and Lin are somewhat limited, and are more niche players, who are good in one area and try to exploit that.

It is kinda the same thing with Rondo. Rondo is such a talent he supercedes "fit".

 

Less money?? He got roughly the same deal with a 4th year player option

 

i think ppl who are saying Dragic wouldn't be a good fit w/harden haven't watched games when Dragic played alongside Bled. He was the clear SG when they were both on the floor becoming a cutter & spot up 3-pt shooter. then when Bled went to the bench, Dragic would take over PG duties. This allows them to have at least one of them on the floor at all times.

Imagine that kind of backcourt with the rockets. Either harden or dragic controlling the offense for all 48mins. Dragic is a better fit than Lin b/c of his abilities to be a true combo guard, not a PG forced out of his role.

 

Dragic is versatile when he has 3 screens set for him. When he doesn't have those screens, he's pretty average. Like when he had to go 1-on-1 against Howard and Howard blocked him without even jumping.

 

How likely is it that the NBA will make three screens a foul?