Chron.com: Interesting comments from Morey about team strategy

Actually... Asik's reasonable contract and young age could very well factor into a trade for a superstar... If someones gonna gve up a center (with a few exceptions) prob want one back.... given tax, prob prefer cheaper option... example, if utah was willing to give up AL and give the reigns to Favors, then giving up 15M contract for Asik's 8M + a rookie scale contract or two (to fill a hole) + a pick or two - wold be attractive - gets a bu for Favors, fill a hole for 1-2M + future pick(s) and trim 5M off expenses... (NOT sayin AL is a superstar or thats best move...just an example...)

Additionally, we may get something back on CLee (and Camby) by facillitating S&T.... even pick(s)....

 

The one thing I don't understand is why people are against the Lin signing. He is younger than Dragic and put up comparable numbers in that time. Dragic sat behind Nash and learned to play point while Lin was kicked around the D league and then broke out. Dragic had way more experience as well.

I can see why people have issues with the Asik deal. I don't, but i get why they ask the questions.

Lin is young and has shown that he has a ton of potential and is really young. I know it's likely NY will match him and hes wont be playing here. But I would be psyched if he did. He can score and dish. If NY doesn't match I will be off to the bar to celebrate.

 

This. After these many years, Morey has always talked the talk. When will he walk the walk? As one poster stated, just because you have a great looking blue print it doesn't mean you can build a house. Besides, the blue print might turn out to look good on paper but would turn out to be a house of cards.

So far, what Morey has built year after year were sand castles. They get washed away when the tides (trading/drafting) come. Then he starts over and rebuilds the sand castle again, and so on.

 

Yes, true if the team you are trading with also values Asik.

It does seem to me though that most Superstars are traded for matching contracts but more importantly future picks - which have more value.

I really like the pick we got from the Lakers, as Dallas is imploding, IMO, that is the type of future return we should have been looking for - from the last few years.

And to be fair, Morey has done some of that, he got one for Brooks which gave us D-Mo, more of those types of deals and we will have our superstar by getting a future pick of a team that falls apart and we end up with a very high pick because of it.

 

I'd call this bull***t. If you really want to bring in a star through trade or free agency, you need veterans to surround him to be contender. If you want to develop a star, you need to have complementary pieces in all positions, which we do not have. So the only way left in the current situation is draft. This will just put all fans to keep hope for the long run. All indications point to, we can safely say, do not set our expection high for the next a few more seasons.

 

Superstar player-
-Replacement/young center on a semi-short term contract of only 3 years.
-Lin has alot of appeal in trades for many obvious reasons.

Higher draft pick-
-The Rockets are not going to lose games on purpose to gain draft position. Despite rebuilding with youth, this is a moot point. No point of debating this further. The current players on the roster now will develop more with a valuable role on a good team than a bad role on a bad team. Nobody values a selfish scorer on a bad team.

Not worth pursuing? Not sure if you are also taking this into account or not, but the salary cap implications to two major market teams CHI/NY will force them out of the conversation of future deals due to the nature of their salary cap situation. These teams should be forced to "pay up" for their role players to help the balance of power in the NBA for mid-market teams like the Rockets. More teams should take note of these moves and follow suite.

There is talk of Houston working out sign and trade deals for Camby and Lee. There also might not have been any trade scenarios available at the trade deadline that allowed the Rockets to not take back bad salary in the process, or they simply had interest in bringing back those two players this summer if other moves made them fit better into their long term plans. We aren't entirely sure what moves were out there.

However, Im sure both GM's from the Bulls/Rockets wish they could have worked out a deal last year to trade Lee for Asik.

Regardless sometimes the best move is to make no move at all. Obviously Morey would have loved to get quality assets back in return for both players. They were both rumoured to have been shopped around. The obvious answer was that there just wasn't a deal out there for both players that made sense for the Rockets. That is pure speculation from both you and I so there really isn't an argument that either of us could make that is beyond speculative opinion.

They saw Yao retire, and what have they been doing since then.... other than the Terrence Williams trade, what move have they made that made you think that they had no interest in aquire draft picks???

I agree that they are being forced, "kicking and screaming" to rebuild with young talent. Im sure they would much rather have been able to aquire a superstar that they can build around through trade rather than go this route. They seemed to articulate that its a difficult thing to do. Im not sure what fans were really expecting to happen.

I personally thought it was worth a shot for a year or two. It did not work out, and here we are rebuilding through the draft. The former Rocket's disgruntled fanbase is now getting what they want. Its time to stop the b****ing and TRY to enjoy watching a team rebuild, or just root for another team.

 

“When you’re close and have a foundational piece, you should be willing to give up picks and overpay players, whatever it takes while you have that precious foundation to get better,” Morey said. “When you don’t have a foundational piece to build around, you should do every move in reverse, which is how does each move get us closer to getting a star, how does it get us more cap room, how does it get us more high picks and how does it get us more players with potential.”

It is interesting that he said that. It was what Knicks were doing two years ago. And Morey was laughting hard on them. Wonder how it will pan out here.

 

w/o Dalembert, we would have had a higher pick than #12 in this summer. instead, we have to trade him to move up.

 

People who whine that the high-risk, high-reward guys we take don't work out are like fans in the stands shrieking for the coach to go for in on fourth down. It's not based on a rational, realistic assessment of the situation - it's based on a fantasy of what they imagine should be.

 

The Bear may have helped a bit but I submit you may be vastly overestimating his contribution to last years glorious sideways campaign.

 

Great read!

Really guys does it matter who's right and who's not?

If you are a fan, you do what you need to in you mind to accept what's going on and hope this team gets better, by playing young, going all in for DH, any which way it can to get back to relevance. If you hate the direction so much you want to "move on", then it is your choice. But I suspect most here will continue as fans.

As for signing Lin - I know, NY will match but he is a difference maker. And too bad the same line in the sand for flexibility will make it obvious for NY to match - no poison, at least not strong enough in that pill.

As for Asik, they need someone to man the middle and you must overpay for centers, even if for defensive minded only ones. Besides, all that moaning and Chi is still thinking of matching. Imagine that! Guess he is sort of OK as a center....

 

You do realize that the Rockets have to meet the required minimum NBA team salary next year right? If my memory serves me correctly we are currently right below or at the minimum salary for next year once the Camby contract is resolved. And Martin's huge salary is coming off the books next summer if not before. It seems to me like Morey is structuring the contracts signed to be the most trade-able. I believe that he is straddling a fence right now (and probably through next summer) between signing a super star and going full rebuild (not tank). Asik and Lin may become valuable trade chips next summer if they are not matched.

I do not believe that Morey and his front office are inept. In fact they are probably leading the field. The luxury tax implications forced on the Bulls and Knicks are a masterful stroke.

I really believe you are over valuing Dragic and Lee. Dragic has had what - 25 good games in his career? NBA teams will start scheming for him in their defense soon and his production will likely drop. The same applies to Lin of course. And Dragic left over the final year of being team or player option. Lee will never be anything but an average SG in this league. Martin putting up 22 ppg is more valuable to a team than Lee. And of course there is Lamb, who is the prototypical SG as far as height, wingspan, shooting and skills. He realistically is the future PG for the Rockets.

 

Actually I think the current strategy is for money-saving. that make sense for every trade so far, i.e. send out veterans with relatively high contract and get back draft picks.