Come on Clutch, I'm all for giving credit where credit is due, but be realistic. At least a minimum part of his decision came down to understanding the marketability of having an Asian on the team. I am not saying he didn't see some talent but why bring him over if you are not going to give him a serious look. For that matter why bring him over if you have 3 pg's under contract. Yeah alot of other GM's passed over him but we had him in camp. Mchale decides who plays but Morey decides who stays. Keeping Flynn over Lin is Morey's decision. That's a bottom line decision that Les probably wasn't even involved in. This one is on Morey. We have more stat people and scouts than under any other GM in our history. Shouldn't we use some of those guys to at least evaluate the guys we have on the squad, How could he not realize that Lin was better than Flynn. Not that he was going to be a star but that he was simple more talented than Flynn. Minnesota who gave Flynn ever opportunity to shine and knowing that releasing him would amplify the stupidest draft night decision to pick Rubio and Flynn, still dumped him. That should say it all there and you have a player on your squad who is obviously better than Flynn. What good is it to have all these scouts and find talent if you our not going to keep the best ones. And please I am not saying Morey is the worst GM! In fact he is one of the better ones. But let us not put him on a pedestal. His idea to roll the dice on 3 2009 1st round lottery picks is a complete fail. His theory sometimes players just need a second chance is more wrong then right. His idea that you can never have too many assets has proven not to work. (assets are not assets if they stop you from keeping a more talented player on the squad). Not getting the trade done for Tyson Chandler when we so desperately needed him because he didn't want to up the ante up. His botching of the Gasol trade when he knows the league owns that team and the GM does not have the final say. The stupid idea of running around chasing free agents in a red truck and giving the Ipads is going to get is done. These are all signs of inexperience and fallability. And do not give me this lame excuse that If anyone says they knew Lin would be great they are lying. It's his job to know. It's why he is supposed to be one of the best! It's not even completely about LIN! He is just an eye opener on what I consider an underachieving GM! Not the worst but certainly not the GM many on this board consider the greatest! The bottom line is where's the rings are even playoff victories. IMO nothing else matters. And I will only grade Morey and all this so called genius when I see those results
I pretty much agree with you here. The only question I'd ask - if I had a question to ask - would be if it was true that Lin actually outplayed guys in practice (this includes Flynn). If that was so, then it made more sense to keep him around. For what it's worth, I think the kid is playing in the ideal system for someone with his talents. However, I don't think that Morey should get flamed for this. Now, if Lin had been a 6-10 or 6-11 PF or C, then Morey, McHale et al would deserve to raked harshly over the proverbial coals because that would have meant keeping a zero like Thabeet over a legitimate NBA talent at a position of critical need.
But the world is not all about money, it's about being happy and free. Spoiler *BAM* shot to the head, someone collects the wallet off my dead body.
I don't believe that it's so much a case of unrealistic expectations at all. To me it's more a case of intense frustration with an organization whose record of talent evaluation over the past 12 years has been pretty awful.
The Rockets were trying to make a trade which would have included one of their PGs under contract. In the event that happened, they probably would have kept Lin. That's why they brought him in -- just in case.
Knicks had like a month. They were about to cut him. Houston had days, and cut him. The knicks didn't find anything. They had more time, more need, and yet reached the same conclusion as Houston. I get fans being upset that Houston didn't keep him longer to give him a longer look, but implying the knicks saw something more is ridiculous. The knicks's staff is nowhere near the top in the NBA. They got what they go through luck and/or location, not talent evaluation.
Maybe, maybe not. That's just speculation on your part. Morey just may have thought "OOH another asset and Asian at that! Asian asset let me grab and decide if I need it later."
Morey hasnt been here for 12 years though. If we're going to blame him primarily, then we have to stick to the time he's been here, which is what, almost half? Talent evaluation has been A LOT better since he's been here. Think about the 2 biggest events that affected his ability to upgrade this team: 1)health issues of tmac/yao, players he didn't acquire. You could argue he couldn't even trade them, if saw flaws in talent, because of Les' infatuation with them and the money they brought in. 2) a blocked trade, which was all but done Those two things have nothing to do with his ability to evaluate talent. They were outside factors he had no control over and couldn't have predicted (more #2 than 1). If you wipe either of those two off the table a lot of the criticism against him is also wiped off. you can't be serious...right?
Knicks will not have a chance to have him, this one matters most although none can predict that, but the result is what have now, we could have a better pick.
If that was the plan, why didn't they keep him? And if they didn't keep him because there were 3 PGs under contract, why did they bring him in to training camp in the first place? And its not speculation that the Rockets were trying to get a trade done that would have sent Dragic out of here (the Gasol deal).
Actually Lin got a truly legit shot. Morey traded Dragic which would've meant that Lin was going to make the final roster(short of a horrendous preseason). No, they didn't think he could perform at a star level. But they also felt he was capable as a rotation guy. But simply that Dragic and Lowry were better.
There was no camp this off season. There was ~ a week of practice, much of which no doubt was focused on the starters and rotation players who were learning the new coaches system. But you bring him in because Dragic was being traded away in the deal for Gasol and then Linn ends up as your 3rd string going into camp. Again, we had ~ a week of 4th string PG practice time to evaluate more than the rest of the league. I think it's safe to say he wasn't looking like the next coming of Steve Nash during that limited time. You say the Rockets should have recognized it, but seem to be ignoring that the Knicks didn't figure it out for the first 20+ games of the season. Maybe the Rockets didn't notice it because at that point Lin hadn't shown it? Perhaps Lin didn't show he was better in that one week? Even if he had shown one good week of practice would you let that over rule what you had seen in the year prior, which wasn't much? That would be like when the Rockets offered Cato a huge contract after one monster preseason game. Even if they did recognize it, paying both Lin and Flynn so you can have what at that point projected to be your 3rd string PG be slightly better isn't something any other GM would have done either. Sure he isn't perfect, but you can't blame him for the Gasol trade... Stern botched that considering the league gave the GM authority to make the trade, and then after the fact rescinded the trade. It was an unprecedented move that could not possibly be predicted. Chandler was a free agent who chose NY, and I don't recall the Rockets ever being in the discussion. Underachieving GM's don't have their teams in the middle of the playoff pack after losing 2 superstars to injury in the West and having zero top lottery picks to rebuild with. If you want to say he isn't the greatest GM to walk the earth, then I agree. But underachieving? What do you possibly think another GM would have done that would have us achieving more right now? Pick up Lin who no other GM in the league including the Knicks predicted would be playing this way and who would be sitting on the bench right now? Maybe Lin does go on to become a star, but Raymond Felton averaged 17 pts and 9 assists last year under D'Antoni and is considered an average PG at best in Portland and every where else he played. Everyone wants us to get a super star, but I haven't yet heard a good explanation on which superstars the Rockets would have landed with a different GM, in the time since Tmac and Yao both went down. The rings arguement is kind of like saying Steve Kerr is a better player than Charles Barkley because he won rings. Sure rings is the ultimate goal, but unless you think another GM would have won us rings during Morey's tenure and can explain why, then you are holding him to a standard that no one could live up to. Perhaps there is another GM that could do a better job, but there are definitely many more who have done worse.
Who knows? You certainly do not! It could have been part of it. It also probably something to do with the fact he was a low risk asset who happened to be Asian. Those are all reasons to grab him. My point was why release him if he is better than Flynn. And how could you not know that. That is Morey's job to know who the better talent. How could he not know that Lin is better than Flynn. He was in our camp. That is his job. he failed. Don't give me this nobody knew crap! Be a man! Take responsibility and admit you dropped the ball on this one. He was in your @#cking camp for christ sakes! It's your job to know at least that he is better than Flynn. We released him for Adrien where the @#ck is Adrien. It's his %##king job! We are talking small change here the minimum salary. A simple rule of thumb should be keep the best talent.
You asked why he was brought over when we already have 3 PGs under contract. "Because he's Asian" isn't a good answer, because clearly him being Asian didn't prevent him from being cut even with 3 PGs under contract on the team. He was brought in because there was a possibility one of those guys would be traded away, opening up a spot for him. Its not speculation. Just applying logic and the fact we know the Rockets were trying to make a trade before they brought in Dalembert (that's the reason why there was a delay in his signing, it was reported). Because Flynn had a guaranteed contract, and the Rockets don't like waiving guys with guaranteed contracts when instead they could use them in a trade down the road. Its really that simple.
If you read my earlier post you'd see that I also don't hold this (releasing Lin) against Morey. And while the Tmac/Yao plan wasn't all his fault, he followed that flawed script until the bitter end long after it became obvious that it wasn't workable so I really can't give him a pass and pretend that the last 6 years never happened. At some point Morey has to be judged on results - and those results which have been mixed at best. But his stockpiling of 2009 draft busts has not worked out and that goes directly to his ability to evaluate talent. Even so, the Lin situation is a freak happenstance and certainly not one a reasonable person can hold against DM. However, it appears that the "blocked trade" will now replace the "Tmac & Yao broke down" excuse as the major reason to continue to give Morey a pass on results.
Camp, practice WTF difference does it make. He is better than Flynn in so many ways it isn't even close. It's not that you see he is a star. Simply see he is better than Flynn. How many days do you need to see that. We tried to land Chandler before Dallas got him but the Bobcats wanted more! And Dallas got him! Fact check before you comment! Maybe underachieving isn't the right word. But you play the hame to win! Show me the wins baby! That's all that matters!
The knicks were going to cut him. Obviously he wasn't showing he was better than their point guards, so what makes you think he showed here he was clearly better than flynn? Would it be so hard to believe that Lin was the one who was underachieving? Personally, i think it's much more likely that one player stepped up his game when he finally realized it was now or never, rather than thirty GMs failing once, twice, maybe even three times.
DM didn't draft Larry Sanders. Let it go! It has been said a million times. DM was handicapped by Yao and Mcgrady. We were on our way to the WCF or potentially further if Yao didn't get hurt. Cut the BS. Do you actually think that we should have been contenders with 40 M out? SMH.
That is the definition of speculation. Guessing what you do not know for fact, logical or not. Why couldn't the fact that he is Asian play some part. Certainly we have a fan base in china that would have loved to see Lin in a Rockets uniform. Of course it is not the deciding factor. But let us hope it is not based on your idea that it was a money decision. Because we are talking half a million bucks here! That's how much it would have cost us to release Flynn and keep Lin!
