1st Time Things Don't Go Daryl Morey's Way, What Now ?

I think the rockets are more determined to win the title now more than ever. I hope we shock the world. We had Olajuwon and a bunch of role players who gave us our first title. Then we got Drexler. Dont be surprised if this group goes far beyond what anyone of us can vision now. It takes the heart of a champion and we will see if our rockets have it now. Heres to all the doubters. We can win a title. We will just have to be the hardest working team in the NBA. I see it happening. I still expect it as a rockets fan. Our time has been way over due.

 

It's time to let this go and move on and get the team better so we can whip Miami's ass ...

I believe in the Rockets!!! In Morey we trust!

 

You can't blame Morey that Bosh was blinded by the limelights it's all good.

 

Ah! Ok, I thought he was referring to him making the mistake of passing him in the draft. I forgot about that.

 

I would suggest that, as always, we will make a few deals that leave most fans scratching their heads, and by about mid season when we are punching well above our weight, everyone will realize Morey is pulling all the strings.

ALL OF THEM.

 

I never thought they had a shot anyway. He has assets to make trades with guys under contract,but in truth, other than brooks,buddinger,and hill, they dont have any high upside guys. When dealing with free agents, its the free agents choice. He had the jersey for lewis and he was already in orlando. He offered gortat 4m and orlando was going to match anyway. Bosh gave him 30mins because bosh is actually a nice guy.

All in all, morey has done a good job getting good players, but can he get great players? He could build it like the pistons in early 2000's and thats cool,but u cant have a max player on ur team. That seems like the best way to do it right now.

 

They didn't come up out of nowhere. They made it to the conference semifinals in 1993, after winning 55 games and winning the division. They went to 7 games before finally being beaten in OT @ Seattle.

There is this notion that somehow that 1994 team just came out of nowhere...that it was a team of nobodies and Hakeem....how in the world did that notion get started and how is it being perpetuated at a Houston Rockets fan site?

This current bunch does not have that sort of pedigree behind it yet.

 

The only worry I have is this.

Morey, with little to work with, has done a great job of getting enough talent for us to not be terrible. As Rockets fans, thats great. We don't want to be losing and having terrible seasons.

However, will Moreys ability to keep us close to a playoff team, but not quite there, hurt us in the sense that we won't be getting high draft picks.

Its a nice problem to have, an owner that is willing to push for wins and a GM that is smart enough to turn nothing into something. However at some point, and I think its not too far away, it might be worth blowing things up and going through some pain to get long term gains.

 

the best thing about morey is he will not panic over the bosh deal and go give max money to someone like boozer or David lee just so he can come out of the off season with something. Even if we make no big trades before the season, we will be in prime position at the next trade deadline when someone like carmello or Chris Paul hits the trade blocks.

 

The last couple years, the Rockets have been close to getting a high draft pick through trade. I think they're likely still after Rubio.

 

I'm not dissapointed that this deal didnt go through at all... we all new that this was a long shot. There was an article in the Chron that summed it all up. Morey will figure things out... this team is in good hands.

 

You're basing this notion upon what? Morey's comments to the media? You can choose to buy it. For me, the Rockets' issuing a "we'd like to move up" statement to the press is more PR than substance.

You probably didn't intend to do so. But you've placed a direct hit on the Achilles' Heel of $Ball. When you limit the amount of risk you'll take, you'll limit a significant portion of upside potential.

The Morey Rockets will always have low-salaried hustle guys. But (if/when they ever have 2 or more healthy stars), they'll always be in contention with teams that will take bigger risks.

Case in point. Kwame Brown didn't pan out to be worth the risk the Lakers' took. But they found a rebuilding team that wanted a large expiring contract. And voila...Kwame becomes Pau.

If you never have numerically low draft picks...and you never have overpaid contracts to trade to a rebuilding team...and other teams with cap space can drive up the FA price of your "finds" (Scola, Lowery, etc.)...it takes the glitter off of the $Ball. At least for me. :grin:

 

If we still had Olajuwon, yeah I would agree with you. Unfortunately we don't have anyone close to that right now.

 

Currently, we are a decent team that, at best, could land anywhere from 5-8 in the playoff rankings and play against anyone competitively. I dont see us as being the type of team that can get to the semis or crack the top four of the playoff rankings, which, if we did, would be a huge surprise.

Morey said explicitly that he's, "looking for maybe a real top-end player to pair with Yao Ming.” The reason being is that, as I've mentioned many times, he sees the writing on the wall. This last injury to Yao was not an isolated injury, but indicative of a pattern. Yao is getting older and more worn down. The years of play in China + NBA paired with his frame dont bode well for his long term health. The team knows that and I'm sure Yao does too.

A top-end player means that the team doesnt have the luxury to wait and see what materializes with this squad over the next few years, but at the same time he doesnt want to be hasty and get ripped off in a trade. He's trying to catch a medium- trade away talent but not the bulk of our roster and not the players with the most potential.

Personally, I'm conflicted. If we want to get premium talent, we'll have to give up a lot of potential players who might become really good...or might not.

I could see us landing someone around the trade deadline, but then the problem becomes that we have to spend half the season integrating that person into the offense. It rarely happens smoothely. Just my 2 cents...

 

Gater, is that really you? :grin:

 

How often do bad teams give up high draft picks?

 

Personally, im torn between two courses of action:

1) Take in the best talent you can, and build your offense around those players strengths.

2) Build a team to matchup well against the Lakers.

Let me start with 2). Although it seems a bit tunnel visioned in concept, its a realistic fact that to advance to the finals, we probably stand about a 80% chance of having to go through the Lakers. If you build a team to minimize our matchup problems and maximize theirs, you stand a decent chance of taking them down, even with slightly inferior talent. I also believe that a team designed as such would do reasonally well enough against the rest of the league to get us a decent seeding. At present, even assuming a reasonable contribution from Yao, our chances in 7 games arent too good.

Now 1). Overall, we may have a better team this way. It would maximize assets for future flexibility. But would it be balanced? Often times, the best talent available is a area you already are staffed full of. Its also possible that if the chemistry is really working, we can turn the tables and make our opponents have to play to OUR strengths instead. But its a gamble without a specific makeup in mind.

Getting the most wins in the regular season means little compared to how you do in the playoffs. Ask Lebron.

Seemingly, as always, the team with the stronger inside presence usually wins. And the Rockets have quite a ways to go in order to call that attribute a strength.

So we ask, what now? I say stock the 4 and 5 with all the talent you can muster and hope someone emerges into super stardom. Then sprinkle players at the 1,2 & 3 that best compliments what you got at the 4 and 5. With this thinking in mind, im really not sure a Brad Miller type player is going to be enough. Pursuing Bosh was a good idea, he had other plans.

I agree with those that feel the Rockets are in the "Win now" mode. Yao's best potential to help us is in the near, not far future. And once he is gone, we are back to a team of role players without a star. So the next 2 years are our best chances.

But who to get? And how? Most probably someone "pretty good" on a team thats "pretty bad" in a trade. A team that is poised to win later, not now. And is willing to give up some of their better assets now, for a chance to have more of them later. And thus, our NY picks and expiring contracts become our biggest trading lures.

 

This is not the first time, not the last one. I am rating Morey at below average as GM.

 

I would love to see that list.

 

Tweet from Morey:

"Congratulations to @chrisbosh on his decision, on behalf of the Rockets, we thank you for the consideration and wish you health & happiness"


sounds like Morey is taking a shot at him...