I agree with you for the most part. But GS is just better than everybody they play. I think Morey's biggest fault is moreyball. That gimmick offense is reason alone for him to go. That and his blatant arrogance in dealing with players, coaches & media. He's created a negative stigma to this organization & catered WAY too much to James. He lacks people skills & stays on Twitter while crunching numbers on his calculator too much.
I guess I disagree with your assertion that you are knowledgable because you recognize Daryl has had 10 years to win a championship and hasn't done it. That's the kind of statement a casual fan makes. Using numbers in a vacuum with no context to back them up. You can divide Daryl's years up into two very distinct periods. The Yao & TMac Years Daryl's 1st 5 years were not about him building a contender but instead it was to add complimentary pieces around Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady; the two superstars he inherited. I think it's heard to argue against the fact that Daryl did just what he was ordered to do. Kyle Lowry, Aaron Brooks, Shane Battier, Luis Scola, Ron Artest, Kelvin Martin were all great people to surround two superstars with. Daryl had no control over the health of Yao and TMac. Had Yao not broken his foot it looked like we had an excellent chance of beating LAL in the play-offs in 2009. The James Harden Years In 2012 Daryl did something few GMs could have done, he transitioned from 2 superstars that could not stay healthy and either retired with an injury or was sent off to another city and replaced them with another superstar in what may have been the trade of the decade. James Harden has never missed the play-offs and only 3 wins away from a trip to the NBA Finals. Regardless what you say, that is getting a team very close to the finals. Daryl certainly hasn't been perfect. Refusing to give Goran Dragic a 4th year when he was one of Houston's free agents was a major blunder. Daryl has not been great at drafting 1st round talent. I think everyone would agree that drafting Marcus Morris and passing on Leonard was a mistake. Probably letting Chandler out of his contract a year early was a mistake but probably a condition of signing Dwight. So to say Daryl has never gotten the team close to the NBA Championship is certainly a lie. If you want to say that you are not satisfied with the job Daryl has done and you think there is someone that can do a better job while following Les Alexander's orders of not tanking then fine. I don't share that opinion but fair enough. But if you are going to hang your opinion on the fact that Daryl has been the GM for 10 years and not delivered a championship then I think you are looking at numbers without context and I don't think you are being objective at all.
There was nothing comfortable about that 4-1 win for the eventual champs GSW. We played them close in the first two games on their home court and after Playoff Dwight went down with the knee injury we didn't really have a chance anymore. I would contend that if he were healthy we would've won the series. Needless to say, if we had D-Mo and/or Beverley we would've been the comfortable 4-1 winners.
Yes, with regards to the players. But the coach selection is not on him. Les hired DMA. Morey was talking about shoring up the defense. So, fire both of them if we fail.
Actually, yes. Boston got a draft pick for Rivers, as compensation to release him from his contract. And so did NY for Riley. So, I assume GMs can pull in a pick, too. Too bad the team most in need of a new GM (the Nets) don't have anymore picks, because their GM was so bad.
I think this year's team is Les Alexander's team. He finally started meddling. Well really he started with the Milkhair firing
If/when the day comes for Les to fire Morey, He won't have a replacement in mind. He'll probably just give the job to Keith Jones, similar to JBB
Fine fair enough but adding another major cog say like oh Ty Lawson seemed to most enough to change that calculation.
You can't fire the owner, if they succeed then the onus is, why the hell did you want McHale when Les wanted D'Antoni in the first place. DD
Yes. His title plan has failed but so have the title plans of 22 other teams since he took the job. The seven guys who have GM'd a title team (Buford, Ainge, Kupchak, Nelson/Cuban, Riley, Myers, Griffin/Lebron) aren't options for us to hire. Bottom line success is thus not a sole criteria because there's no available upgrade with proven success. On a case-by-case basis his transactions have been good. His support for McHale was one of the few things I hated about Morey, but cutting ties with McHale any earlier than he did would have looked silly given the success of the team. (Plus, seems that Les had a lot of sway there.) The Howard signing failed but even in hindsight I would have done it too. The Lawson trade failed but that was a very low-risk move and Lawson wasn't responsible for the bad chemistry. The team is enjoying its longest period of sustained winning under him, even more so than with Hakeem, they just don't have the titles to show for it. I don't worship the guy but he's a top ten GM and no upgrade is walking through that door.
Les also hired McHale. MDA wasn't available. D'Antoni was coaching Melo and Amare and about to start the Linsanity year when Les let Adelman walk.
Voted yes, but becoming dissatisfied again. If there isn't reason for hope by this time next year, I'll probably flip on him. Love defining his tenure in eras, but I would define the eras differently: Yao & TMac Era: 2007/8 - 2008/9. This is where he was trying to upgrade the roster around two superstars. He still had Yao and technically McGrady after the 2009 microfracture surgery, but contention was over without them healthy. I do think this era is notable for how the relationship with McGrady turned very sour (which fans blame McGrady for). Waiting for Godot: 2009/10 - 2011/12. Morey, finally with a good supporting cast in place but no healthy stars to support, maintains cap flexibility and tradeable assets to score the big franchise player to replace Yao and McGrady. Three years of rejections by star free agents and even players under contract that didn't want to be traded to Houston. This went on far too long. And, it wasn't even until after we gave up on the strategy and liquidated the good supporting cast that the tradeable assets gambit finally paid off and netted us Harden. This period also saw some relationships go bad with Lowry, Dragic, and Martin. Harden & Howard: 2012/13 - 2015/16. Harden did play the first year without Howard, but we kind of new the plan was that finally having a top-shelf player like Harden was going to attract another star. It looked good for a little while and suddenly it didn't. Somehow, we estranged another star player (which fans blame Howard or Harden for). Harden & ?: 2016/17 - ???. Now Morey starts his 4th era where he has to reload after losing on his Howard bet. I expect another star player will come to pair with Harden eventually if we can stop looking dysfunctional this season. However, it's a bit hard to be optimistic when you look back and see Morey running 3 prior campaigns with each ending in disappointment within 4 years. I don't want another Waiting for Godot period, with Harden carrying a team of role players while waiting for that second star. And, I don't want to see Morey's next gamble on a second star go up in smoke like the bet on Howard -- or for it to succeed only while our relationship with Harden turns acrid. If this next effort is going to succeed, it probably needs to have a second star in place by the end of next offseason and it has to win a championship in 3 seasons, or else it probably never will. So, that's why I say I might flip next year. If Morey isn't on track with a second star in a year than my confidence in him will take a hit. And, if he misses the next bet and this era also ends in disappointment, then I'm probably done with him. As smart as he might be, at some point you have to actually deliver.
