Hear me out. What Morey has done since the Yao-Tracy injury riddled seasons is remarkable and how we ended up with Harden & Howard, that's just crazy while not having a losing season!! However, we all know he's had a few headscratches here and there. The most obvious ones are the Dragic player option and letting Parsons out of his contract and not matching the offer sheet. We all know Leslie has talked the talk and certainly walked the walk when it came to the big splashes and ocassional draft picks. However, going into luxury and overpaying to keep players is something that has rarely happened. With us losing two starting caliber PGs in Dragic & Lowry and banking on Lin was the craziest. We're hearing more and more it was about the fanbase that comes along with Lin's story, i.e. potential cash cow, than about that player option of Dragic. With that in mind, do you believe Leslie is more involved then we would presume? It's not that far fetched that Morey and Leslie had a meeting and they discussed Parsons, whom they knew was looking to get some serious bucks, and Leslie instructed Morey to look for a cheaper option? I'm just throwing it out there
Don't know about Dragic. I do believe Morey hates player options but maybe not that much. The Parsons thing, nah. That contract really would have destroyed our flexibility completely.
I'm not sure it's so much hate as he puts a financial value on them, such that you can have that option if you give up money for that option, or probably get more money for accepting a team option and so forth (or you're a max player like dwight so you get all the bells and whistles by default)
It's not just player decisions that I wonder about Les's involvement with, but coaching hires as well.
The last thing I recall reading, not sure if it was Feigen or one of the insiders on here, is that they just flat out refused to give him a player option on the fourth year. Most they were willing to do was a partial guarantee.
Its neither fault, Free Agents do not want to come to Houston. Rockets are lucky to get Howard. Landing Harden here was the start. Rockets had problems putting around good roles players around Tmax/Yao, but when they did they were injured to much. Lets hope Morey/Les can put the right roles players around Harden/Howard and hope they stay Healthy in the next 2-3 years for them to Atleast goto one finals appearance.
To me, the Dragic-Lin decision is partly marketing, but also partly the fact that the team didn't fully see or trust Dragic's potential. Remember, while Dragic did an excellent job stepping in for the injured Lowry to finish that season, the sample size of his excellent was also not very big. In fact, he did not play that well earlier that season when he was coming off the bench. The Rockets were not the only team that didn't fully appreciate Dragic, either. The contract that he got, with that player option, was $7.5M/yr. If any of the other teams thought substantially better of Dragic, they would have thrown more money at him. It's not like teams just would not spend money that summer, either. I mean, Eric Gordon got a max contract back then (from PHX, then matched by NOH). So, maybe the front office and McHale pushed for Dragic and preferred him to Lin. But if they truly saw Dragic as a future 3rd Team All NBA player, they would have pushed much harder.
- Lowry disliked McHale back then. Also, if Lowry wasn't traded, the rox wouldn't have enough asset to get Harden. If Harden wasn't in this team, we got nothing to begin with. Howard probably wouldn't come to Houston as well. - Dragic disliked the rocketing contract and he wanted a player option. If the contract wasn't built in this way, we wouldn't have enough cap for Howard. - If we picked up the team option for Parsons, of course we would get one year a cheap labor for one more year. but, he would definitely leave after that due to the rookie salary. And for the same reason, he wouldn't be as worthy as you may think. (probably a second round pick or late first round up at most).
Dude WTF?? They put great role players around Tmac and Yao (Brooks, Landry, Scola, etc) Yao and Tmac couldnt stay healthy You must be 12 or something
^ I think he is saying that Yao and Tmac couldn't stay healthy, you interpreted it the wrong. Not your fault, the sentence was poorly written.
Les has been "Big Name" chasing since before Morey got here and Morey has admitted he reads clutchfans and likes some of the ideas he sees here (lol)... So he's getting plenty of help.
I wish I am the Rockets owner, so I can make a smart decision. Here what I would do, I would match Parsons offer to keep him in Houston. I don't really care if its too much money. I would keep Asik and Lin because I am loyal. I believe loyalty is a factor in winning a championship because the players know their teammates well and understand same coaching playbook for so long time. If Bosh is really really sure he wants to join Houston, then I would be willing to trade Asik and Lin. But I would definitely keep Asik and Lin if I think Bosh is leveraging with us. I wish I am a owner.
