ClutchFans and Daryl Morey: A Call for Introspection and Reason

I'm not a 99ner or Super poster like Carl Herrera, DD or Bima but I can say I have been on clutch fans as a very active reader from the before the start of Morey as a Gm.

With that being said I will weigh in on what I think of DM the GM.
I will start with the good.

He is great at evaluating players who are all ready in the league. There a few that are better.

He is great at getting deals done by helping other teams reach their goals while meeting his as well.

We have one of the best Guard rotations in the league.We have two very solid Starters in the back court and very good backups behind them. There is a common thread in that rotation, Not a single player in our guard rotation was drafted by Morey. They where all traded for.

If you dig deeper into our current roster you will find that only two players on our active roster was drafted by Morey, Chase Budinger and Patrick Patterson. Yao and Chuck where not Morey Picks and technically are not even Rockets right now due to there contract status.

The point I am trying to make here is Morey is a better Trader then he is a Drafter.

In the last 2 years he has missed on at least 3 NBA Caliber centers. Which just happens to be our greatest need.

I think the Morey skeptics and so called haters have a lot to be disappointed about when it comes to Morey's Draft history. He has had more misses then hits in that category and he needs to get better or we as a team will not get better.

Morey is the Kevin Martin of NBA Gms. He is great at trades (offense) but is lacking when it comes to drafting ( defense)

Now every now and then Martin will have a good defensive game or he will just flat out score more points then the person who is guarding him. But he is not making a drastic impact with his Defense (drafting) every game.

So in conclusion I think Darrel Morey and Kevin Martin are good for the team but we still need a shot blocking Center ( Better Scouting and Drafting)

Just my 2 cents.

 

1) Morey has done an exemplary job given the circumstances. The amount of salary money committed that has not been on the court during his entire tenure is staggering. The fact that the team has even been as good as it's been the past 3 years is amazing.

2) There is no evidence that Morey "treating the players better" would have yielded any benefit AT ALL for the team. The League is a business. No agent is going to allow his client to be lowballed simply because he thinks management are nice guys.

3) The primary constraint in ALL the criticism that Morey has recieved boils down to money, and the fact that Les is cheap and that he hired Morey to run the club cheaper than conventionally possible for the same results. Everything starts with Les. Morey is doing the job that Les hired him to do.

4) In a way this is what the complainers wanted. Yao is gone. Battier is gone. The team is younger and more athletic. The problem however, which was obvious to most is that the team now has no franchise star and no prospects for it.

5) Morey is a big boy. Every GM, especially one who hasn't proven anything like Morey, is going to catch flack when the team is bad. The team is as bad now as it's been this decade, and even worse has no prospects. Even in the SF3 and Cat years they had legitimate stars. Morey surely has expected this flack and it's reasonable that people b**** and moan... after this is America and this is the internet. So have at it... wont begrude you all a good cry after a disappointing season.

 

People praise Morey for collecting assets, but what has he done with them? We've needed a backup for how long now? I love Chuck, but he should be a backup PF, or a defensive role player. Not a starting center.
There's always teams making a move, yet we never do. Remember when Dallas traded for Caron Butler and Brenden Haywood? And then signed Tyson Chandler? There's a good example of trading and getting better. And Portland snagged Gerald Wallace for scraps. OKC became and even bigger threat getting Perkins.
Maybe some those aren't the players aren't superstars or players that we need, but teams are making moves.
We've been collecting assets for years, but haven't made any significant moves that put us over the top.
That said, I still have some faith in Morey. Hopefully he can work out the Yao situation. I believe we will see Morey work at his best once the Yao situation is 100% clear.

 

LOLOLOLOL

This description proves that you are nothing other than a biased Moreyite trying to run interference. The premise this description is founded on is completely bogus. The FACT is, Morey hasn't had any success as an NBA GM. People don't resent his success, they dislike him because he has completely failed. He turned a team that was consistently power-ranked in the top 5 teams at the start of every season for a few years into a team that has missed the playoffs two years in a row. He turned a team that won 52+ games three years in a row into the LAST PLACE team in the division. To see you regale us with talk of his "success" is the height of hilarity.

 

WOW!
Morey gets all the Praise . .. none of the blame

Rocket River

 

What?! But Morey!!... Then he... And then he... Jk. Put me in group B, although I am questioning the moves he's made as of late.

I agree the team was better after the trades, so I'm ok there. I still think RA coaching this team would have been better than not. I understand, the team taking a different direction and coach possibly not wanting to be a part of that, but how different is this team going to look?

For as much as I liked Morey being so accessible, I'm at the point now where I don't want to hear anything, I just want results.

Morey's made some great moves, but the team still hasn't won yet. I know, I know, the Rockets lost Yao and Mac, that is a very big deal. From here on out, it's all Morey's show, for as much as I believe he can give us a winner, he has to prove it.

So how about less talk of how smart he is and how his staff is ahead of the game, wins prove that, not talk. Still, I'm a supporter, but can we win some damn playoff series please?

Bima, I sincerely applaud you, for your attempt at harmony in the garm, even if for only one topic. Sadly, it will never happen, I get it though.

 

I personally thing Morey is a great/elite talent evaluator/scout. However I'm not so sure about him as a team builder. When he helped build the Boston team, it came out of no where, and I think Ainge's relationship with people like McHale made the deals happen. I don't think teams really want to deal with Morey in the same way because he comes off as arrogant and people see him coming from a mile away.

 

Bima, you could put me as a sceptical fan, which is a move from being an unabashed fan. Also, I was wondering if a post of mine (somewhere!) helped to "set off" this thread. The one where I think I blasted Morey in some nonsensical, semi-incoherent way, which you understandably responded to with "You can't be serious!" or at least along those lines, and I replied that I should probably quit posting for a week, because I was just too upset about losing Adelman to be making a lot of sense about the topic. (there are some personal issues with a close family member that haven't helped, but I digress) Did I help, in some small way, to instigate this? I'm all for Introspection and Reason, even if I don't always follow those dictates.

 

For the most part, I agree is business as usual as far as how the bashing takes place on Clutchfans. Just that the "long leashes" and "honeymoon" periods are getting shorter and shorter.

I think the OP is also saying that the critics of Morey claim Morey gets more protection than he deserves cuz of the Moreyites undying support to their demigod GM.

And he's saying if thats the case, the Moreyites will calm down but the Anti-Moreys need to equally stop overhyping things like treating players as "assets" and "Morey treat human player like ROBOT" to prove THEIR point.

Two-way street, don't bash the other for being too extreme in their way, but then justify your OWN exaggeration and hyperbole. Not only is it about getting a clean read on the situation, its about having a clean fight (if its even a fight)

 

Maybe not all that . . .but he simply does not have the connections and relationships.

Rocket River

 

Criticism will always be uglier and harder to swallow than giving praises. Its just easier to tear DOWN than it is to build UP. And how many people really attempt self discipline like that, ESPECIALLY in an emotionally charged thing like sports?

I do hate that aspect about life in general ... you can take 9 months to paint the Mona Lisa pt II to painstaking detail. Then some dips**t can splash water on it and fukk it up in 9 seconds, all that work for naught. Its very frustrating. But thats life and those are the breaks that come with it.

So yeah if you "insure" your work in keeping the detractors "in check" from messing with it, on a board with free expression thats gonna be kinda hard lol, but more power to you.

 

I never thought of myself as a well respected poster. You must not be reading enough of my critics.

To be honest my response to you started with Clutch's article who I totally respect and admire, but his Firing Adelman was the right thing to do and Morey was just doing what was best for the team thing made my stomach turn. Actually my stomach started turning listening to the guys on 610 tow the company line and twist it around that it was Adelmans desire to not play the young guys and not take Morey's stat stuff and not being a media type guy and that's what got him ousted and all of that just annoyed the hell out of me.

And your thread to me was just another extension of that. I don't dislike Morey. And I see the positive trades his made. Getting Martin in my eyes will forever be one of the great deals Houston has made. I love the Courntney Lee deal because it was a way to manage money and move a redundant player. Jordan Hill has turned out to be a much player than I ever thought and I love PPat and was wrong in wanting Sanders over him. But I never thought PPat was the shooter he was. That changed my opinion of him in the summer and made me understand Morey's decision better.

But there are many mistakes along the way too. And to many people want to overlook those but I won't. I know you disagree but I feel so strongly that I am a better evaluator of talent than Morey (Given all of the film he has). I am strictly basing that on the decisions he has made and perhaps he is not responsible for all of those decisions. If that is true than my assessment of his evaluation skills is wrong. I also believe that is something you can improve over time and all of his travels and trade mistakes (T-Will) can be a learning experience. So hopefully that is true for them.

Again I could go on about this (I posted Biyombo was my pick at the 14th back when he wasn't even listed in the top 25 that's on record and I liked him long before I posted that). Anyway my point is Morey is not perfect. I still want him as our GM I can't of anyone I want more accept for maybe Rudy T. I think Rudy would make a great GM and he does a a type of Moneyball stat work too. Of course not on the same level but his player evaluation stuff is second to none. But since I know Les will never hire Rudy as his GM than I have to say let's keep Morey. But let's also criticize him when it is deserving.

My biggest beef in all of this is Les Alexander stinks up the place. And hides behind the scenes acting like "I am just a good guy who loves the animals and hates socks". I would much rather him come out and say I don't like the guy and I don't want him working for me anymore. End of story. Instead Morey has to go out and cover up for him. Yeah that's Morey's job. But it just seems a little snakish on Les' part. Yeah it's his team and it's his right. And that's what all those crooked CEO's on wall Street do. But I hate the fact that we have an owner like that. Of course it could be worse. We could have a Donald Sterling.

Here is my opinion on the right thing to do. The right thing to do is to give Adelman one more year if he wants it. The reason why is because he has finally got a team that is totally running his offense the way it is supposed to be run. He has got a team that is playing with heart the way he wants and if Morey does his magic again and gets us one player that upgrades Bud and Yao comes back we have a team that can make it to the finals. Of course we will lose but that's because no one is going to beat Miami for at least 3 years. But next year was a reality possibility for us. I can say that because I believe we are just as good as Memphis right now and look at how they are playing San Antonio the best team in the NBA(record). Miami is the best. People don't realize the Heat were built for the playoffs. Rose Ha. Give me Wade or Lebron anyday. Okay I digress again. My point is Adelman had got this team to a level that was almost ready one more year would have worked for me. Maybe Adelman wasn't going to accept one year. Maybe LA is whispering in his ear. Maybe Morey reallyy tried to keep him but Les was to much of a stubborn dick (probably) but that is where all of my problems came from and that is why I got so annoyed by Clutch's article and your post. In retrospect I am an overeacting fool.

As for my personal opinion of you I don't really have one. I enjoy reading your money management articles but outside of that oh don't really knowyou. So if anything I said sounded personal it was just chatter. But I will add your response to my post was surprisingly unexpected and genuine and in the future I will be more open to your post. ANd I do apologize for coming off like a dick but at least you can see it was not about you as much it was my idea about which side of this argument you were on. Peace Bro.

 

You can try and box me into any category you want, but not only are your categorizations factually incorrect, they seem to be your way of coping with all the people calling you out in this thread as a blind Morey supporter. You obviously missed post #2 in this thread...

http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?p=6087719#post6087719

...as well as many others. It doesn't surprise me though, because people tend to only focus on things that they feel confirm their preexisting beliefs.

 

The Rox are damn boring and irrelevent. The team had way more mojo when Cat, SF and Yao were on the team and Yao, T-Mac as well.

Jimmie Kimmel would never invite any of the guys now on the team on his show. You can blame Morey for that, he hasn't put together a team that ABC, ESPN or TNT wants for their nationally televised games.

 

Fair enough, sounds good, and I will do the same for you. However, a lot of people on here tend to initiate name-calling and personalize the debates, to me, and from what I gather, to you, that is disrespectful. You can go back and read some of my threads/posts and see that I'm responding to those attacks and not initiating them. Leebigez also gets attacked the same way, but he usually takes the high road. I try to do that as well, but sometimes I give it right back to them. So, if people do that to me, don't expect me to respect them. I also hope you're consistent and hold everyone to the same standard across the board. Good luck to you as well, buddy.

 

And dammit that is what we need to be striving for! Give me National TV Games or give Morey death!