A Few Thoughts Regarding the Team's Approach and Morey's Tenure

I don't claim to be a Morey supporter and never have. I am also not a Morey basher as so many are. Naive on Dwight? Knowing he is a 2 month rental and can walk to New Jersey from any team he plays, Dwight decided he would rather give up his freedom and spend another year in the place he has been trying to get traded from for a year than spend 2 months with the Rockets. He hated the Rockets so much he locked himself in Orlando. Really? I am naive? So you believe he sacrificed his own well being to not play in Houston and be free to sign anywhere he wants? What are the odds he did that to spite Houston? Or, Orlando made a last minute pitch to assure him they would do something drastic to get another star next to him including trying to get D will to come to Orlando. As an educated man, I am going to lean towards the 2nd scenario taking into account my belief that Dwight is not an absolute Moron. Now if Dwight actually is, I would agree with your assessment that Dwight threw away a year of his life because of Morey and the Rockets. Can you see the conversation with Dwight and his agent in your scenario?

Agent: Here are your options; Orlando has agreed to a trade with Houston so you can spend 2 months there, opt out, and join New Jersey in July and Orlando gets a nice compensation package or Orlando wants you to opt in and stay another 15 months here in Orlando. Now they have promised to try and get you a star here for years, but they say they are actually going to do it if you opt back in and, since there are so many of you available in trade, they promise to grab one. Your goal of joining New Jersey is finally here. I talked to Daron and he is ecstatic you will be in New jersey in July!! Congratulations Buddy!!

Dwight: OMG! I have to spend 2 months in Houston with Daryl Morey. He treats his players like assets. I can't go there. I will opt back in and stay another year in Orlando!!

Agent: Dwight, opting back in for another year really wasn't an option. You have had me working for a year to get you out of here and you are gone. You are in New Jersey in 3 Months with your boy Daron. Think about what you are doing!! You will be stuck here for another year and your dream of "Teaming up with another Star" will be gone for another 15 months.

Dwight: I don't care. D Will will wait for me. I would rather stay here another year than go and be somebody's asset in Houston. Morey ain't treatin' me like no asset!!!

That's about the way it would have happened when he opted back in. One of us is not giving Dwight too much credit. I would have an easier time believing there was a large sum of cash under the table that convinced him to stay another year than to believe Dwight did all this to spite Houston!!

I do think Morey has tried and I acknowledge he has failed to get us a star. I attribute that to the difficulty of acquiring a star and not to lack of effort. It is not as easy as hitting "X" on the controller to OK the deal. If he was sitting around like waiting for lightning to strike in the form of the lottery, Then I would have a problem

 

You are making HUGE assumptions and have adopted a very narrow mindset on something we have very limited information on.

Dwight seems to want his cake and he wants to eat it too. He wants the max amount under the CBA which requires him being traded to NJ, while playing with Deron in NJ.

Houston's position is to take away that option and force Dwight to have to walk away from millions of dollars and sacrafice a year of his prime to make it happen, whereas at the same time, offering practically the same thing here in Houston, and a full year earlier by having cap space for Deron.

Very clear some of you don't understand leverage positions.

Dwight might not be kicking down the door to come to Houston, but it doesn't mean we aren't a realistic landing spot due to how we have positioned ourselves.

Sure Dwight can walk, but you can be damn sure Dwights agent is going to say "Why are we walking away from millions of dollars to go play with Deron? Why isn't he walking away from it to come play with you, a full year earlier?"

No, you make this trade and you make this gamble.

 

I guess you did not read my response or understand it, but, thanks for agreeing with me and backing me up. My point, to the person saying Dwight opted in for Orlando because he didn't want to play in Houston, was his decision was more likely monetary and had nothing to do with where he was traded!!

 

I am guilty of merely skimming over your essay

 

Guilty of the same many times.

 

You can do your player-agent dialogue all you want.. But if you find it purely coincidental only that.... He opted in at the 11th hour shortly after a deal was in place to send him to Houston, that's fine. You have the right to believe whatever you want. What Dwight did ultimately was buy more time. He could have gone to Houston, but by opting in, there's a lot more teams who would be interested in his services, being that it would be for an entire season and not a 2 month rental. So yeah, I probably over-exagerated his lack of desire to come here, but none-the-less, he chose to stay in Orlando and hope for something better.
So you agree that Daryl has tried and failed (for 4 years as you said earler).. Well several executives are out of a job for trying and failing. Besides the lateral moves he's made, what gives him the right to retain his job with seemingly no accountability held?

 

Why is it that people continue to ignore all the warning signs about how DM treats players and their contracts etc?

When have the Rockets had so many unhappy players? So much barking to the press...guys calling out their coach, others saying they hate how the org treats them like assets?

It is fairly clear that Morey's people skills need SERIOUS work.

DD

 

How often do players even talk to a GM? Just curious.

 

In a good organization - one would think quite a bit.

DD

 

I would expect infrequently at best. Morey should have almost nothing to do with the players day to day life. I believe that is the coaches job description.

 

Also isn't there some somebody filling the job of Personnel Manager or the like?

 

Well, he's a stats nerd, what do you expect?

It wouldn't be so noticeable if he'd managed to get Deron, or Carmelo (no thanks), or Pau/Nene (in hindsight....), because then those assets would be either gone or getting PT w/o looking over their shoulders so much.

 

A friend of mine that I grew up with and played B-Ball with growing up and all throughout high school is a journeyman in the NBA who has been around the league for the past 5 years. He has been with 3 different teams, 2 of which have cut him multiple times.

-Storytime- I went out with him a few friends last summer and he was telling us that every time he gets cut he gets those calls from his agent, not the GM. He told me a story about when he got cut once from his team, and brought back in the same week. It was an interesting story hearing his stories about the business end of the NBA. This is coming from a guy who has played in some of the most well respected franchises in the league from a player friendly perspective.


MOREY'S PERSONALITY SKILLS HAVE ZERO AFFECT ON ANYTHING THE ROCKETS DO. THIS IS MADE UP CRAP FROM UBBER SENSATIVE BLOGGERS LIKE HOOPSWORLD WHO HAVE AN AGENDA AGAINST MOREY.

Its the NBA. Its a business, and there is nothing special in a good or bad way that the Rockets front office operates.

The Rockets have a high turnover rate on their roster. Just like any business would, it will always come back to management. The turnover of the Rockets roster has nothing to do with the personality of Morey, but everything to do with employee performance, and the quality of the employee's that are representing the organization. In this case, the players aren't performing up to their job requirement, and the managment is having a hard time bringing in quality talent.

If the trend of having a GM that doesn't communicate with player frequently determines success in the NBA, then every single team in the NBA should suck. Obviously, it really does not matter.

 

I think Howard wants his cake and wants to eat it as well. He wants to make the BIG $$$ AND win an NBA title. With the superfriends down in Miami, that won't be happening anytime soon for him in Orlando. And it most certainly won't be happening for him in Houston which is why I don't buy into the idea of taking the chance that he'll value the money more than winning a ring and that he'll sign an extension with the Rockets. I believe he wants the ring more and that he'll call their bluff and walk out the door especially if it allows him to go somewhere like an LA, Chcago, Brooklyn, etc. where he has a better chance of getting that first ring. After all, how can he be considered great if there's no jewelry to back up that claim?

You will notice that I have been very careful to stay out of the "tank vs. no tank" debate and it's due exactly to the reasons you outlined here. We differ on the haed coach - I don't feel that McHale is a good coach. They would have to be VERY bad to get the type of high lotto picks they'd need to get that elusive "star" player and that could literally take 4,5 or more years. Plus, I don't trust the talent evaluation in this organization (ex. Morris over Leonard) nor do I believe that they would even be able to properly execute this type of strategy because their inability to develop and implement a strategic plan is one of the prime reasons they've in the current situation.

 

I agree, and that is why I question Les putting him in the GM's chair, IMO, he would be better suited as an assistant GM for several years.

DD

 

Thank you for the knowledgeable reply. I see posts like DaDakota's all the time with people putting up pure speculation as fact all of the time. Then there is a pile on effect like Roxtxia's comment. My view is heck why not ask the question? People actually have knowledge and are willing to help.

 

No problem. Obviously Im not friends with Daryl, and I dont know a great deal of NBA players, but from the ones that I do know and especially from friends that have played overseas.... The business side is extremely tough on players in the basketball world.

If you are putting your hopes on a GM or owner being "Nice" to players, agents, other teams, etc. to gain success then your truely out of touch with the business in general. Morey might or might not suck at his people skills because he's too nerdy for some posters on this board (who claim to work for a video game company ironically)

However, my personal opinion is that it make no difference to the outcomes. Obviously if he was physically or verbally abusing players then thats a whole other thing. I dont see him being that kind of a guy, and if he was doing things this obscene then the world would know about it.

Its a business and the reality is the players are bought and sold like commodities. We could all be so lucky to be in their positions. They are the elite of the elite products in an industry that has the highest demands the world has ever seen.

 

Man, you're missing the point.. It's not about the player-GM personal relationship. It's about not extending players or coaches for that matter. It's about low-balling other front offices around the league. It's about the lip service.. "We're looking to land a star, No one is un-tradeable, a nice piece, an asset for a future deal." He's made his bed. And I'm not going to get into how Houston, the organization/city itself has become a place where players do not desire to come. The attendance is a joke. The fan interest is a joke. Even though several players live in Houston, over the past few years, Houston has become a less desirable place to come.

 

I'm positive that all players are not treated the same. Your journeyman friend is going to be treated a helluva lot differently than a high level player. Its just the way it is. Now who is worthy of what treatment is a matter of opinion, thus some guys may not be happy with how an organzation treats them. But guys who have big time production are going to wanted to be treated differently than a guy who is just happy to be there. Especially when it comes time to negotiate that next big contract, which NEVER happens with a journeyman player. Its that way in every sport.

 

His opting in was 100% about money and nothing else just as larsv8 pointed out earlier. While I may have exaggerated a bit to have some fun at your expense, Dwight opted back in because for him to walk from any team, including Orlando, to go to New Jersey, he was going to lose a boatload of money signing as a free agent vs signing with the team having his Bird rights.

DD.

Man. When did you fall so far off the wagon? Seriously. You are waffling so much these days on which side of the fence you are on, I would think your name was Obama if I had not watched your "Rocket Talk" videos!! One day you are singing the praises of Brooks and about how our offense cant run without him and Lowry should never be the starter. Now you are on the Lowry bandwagon or is it Dragic. I cannot keep up. Now the on and off with Morey thing . Is there a political office on Clutchfans you are running for? You have averaged a post a minute for every minute you have been awake for 10 plus years. With that impressive record, You should win by default over any of the rest of us so no reason to keep flip flopping!!:grin:

I don't see your angst over Morey using the word asset to describe players. Every, and I do mean every, GM in sports has used the term at one time or another. That is what they are and they know it!!! Every player knows he is a trade-able commodity (asset) and trading is part of the business of sports. They accept that when they sign their first contract. Why are you really so upset? Our organization has so many unhappy players because of PLAYING TIME. Not enough of it to go around due to TOO MANY good ASSETS and not enough minutes to spread between them. If and when he makes a deal to clear some playing time err assets from the roster, the remaining players will get happier because they have more of it. There was grumbling last year with Adleman and it happened this year with McHale and it sure as hell happened with Van Gundy's 7 and 8 man rotations. Clear out some PT and the "unhappy" players get really quiet!!!