You do realize that Kanter played 9 minutes, Ibaka 33, and Adams played 24 minutes, right? Westbrook-Waiters-Roberson-Durant-Ibaka is the line up that is doing the most damage because these guys are switching on an amazing level. It also helps that Curry is having a 2011 Lebron type of performance. This has nothing to do with bigs lol. Okc is just simply out playing them.
Morey is about Moreyball. I'm not sure he would have picked those same players or make the trade for Waiters. Steven Adams was picked 12th overall which is not far from the usual 14th pick we had grown accustomed to.
Isnt Morey the biggest swing-for-the-fence "Star-Chaser" GM there is? Cant fault him too much about that, he does go for the biggest free agent fish. Definitely CAN fault Morey with the coaching and roster building past the stars. He's great at finding minimum bargains or 2nd-chance players. But then there's only so much distance a Pat Beverley can take you (not counting the Ty Lawson attempt) before needing even more talent. A middle 2nd round to end-of-draft pick generally WILL be BAD. Not gonna find many players there to even make it past pre-season roster. Also generally 2nd round has been one of Morey's positive areas. * Thats considering that I myself blast Morey for drafting Joey Dorsey passing on DeAndre f'ing Jordan (AND Omer Asik) in 2nd round
Daryl hasn't been a perfect GM and there have been questionable (non)signings, pick ups, or trades. I will admit this much. He's on a very short leash at the moment, and if he can't get the Rockets back on track then I won't be upset or confused if he is let go next season. Let's not forget that Presti was likely on a short leash as well. He was very well on the verge of losing Kevin Durant, but it's not his complete fault due to some unlucky injuries. The Waiters trade has worked out for him, and getting Kanter as a replacement on missing out on Brook Lopez isn't too bad either because he was essential in the Spurs series. Also, taking risks on signing Billy the Kid is pretty admirable too. Presti is a risk taker, and sometimes they don't work out, but this time it has been working out. I mean freaking Randy Foye is getting WCF minutes lol. That's almost like Brewer getting WCF minutes. Daryl and Les need to strike gold with their coaching situation and get some god damn competent players this off-season.
Maybe he regrets not dipping into the college ranks for a coach during the search giving Donovan's success with his team. Bill Self or Shaka Smart would have been nice places to start, but who knows, maybe they did reach out to them but got turned down at the time.
OKC is showing that you need to be able to draft well, develop your players, look at need, do not settle for just any coach and that you need some luck. They also show you that having a couple of bigs who are not soft like TJ & D-Mo goes a long way.
What is your point exactly? That Morey should have tanked like the Thunder after Yao retired? Yeah, i agree, too bad Les doesn't allow it. The role players eh...things change, sometimes pretty quick, last year our role players were really good and OKC ones really bad, that's just how the game goes, nobody has the crystal ball.
Crazy thing is that year bev hurt Westbrook they were super deep #1 in west headed to finals for sure. People talked all that ish about presti trading harden, when they were about to go right back to finals year after trade and we moved up just one seed that year.
The way things are going, I think we need to move on from the current management team. It's all about chemistry when trying to break out into the top five teams perennially. Morey's philosophy accounts for that fact, but he doesn't have the basketball experience to create it. I'd love to work for Morey, but I'm a computer programmer and not an NBA superstar Let's move on and hire a guy who can create a culture that facilitates the success of role players and challenges our star player(s) (currently only Harden and not Howard). Once Harden realizes, like the Thunder stars, that he's just one player on a twelve man roster, we might just have a chance to take the trophy home. Let's git er done!
Hindsight is always 20/20 buddy. You dare to say you weren't happy when Howard signed with us? You dare say an inside outside complimentary game weren't going to make it? Seriously Morey is not stupid, his game plan from 2 years ago isn't working out today, big boohoo. Just wait for an adjustment, I am sure he will find a proper way in reshaping this team.
Yeah, if the you get to pick Durant in the draft then that's amazing I guess I'm not really sure we can "learn" from OKC's success because they tanked and got like 4 or 5 top 5 picks in a span of 6 years. Not only that in that span they only are about to reach the Finals now, just 1 level ahead of what Morey achieved without any top lottery picks. So basically Houston started out as the oldest team in the league, with no capspace and 2 old and injured superstars whereas OKC started out with a clear cap and Kevin Durant. 9 years later Houston managed to reach WCF 1 time, OKC is about to reach Finals. And Morey is the one who needs to learn a lesson? I mean I understand results matter but you also need to take into account what they've been given, it's hard to **** up if you get Kevin Durant, Westbrook, Harden and Ibaka.
op's advice is for morey to land a second superstar and build a good bench. morey's been trying to land that second star for years. that's actually been the problem, and its not morey's fault: 1)okc didn't land rus, kd, ibaka, and adams.... they drafted them. 2) morey isn't allowed to build through the draft because les won't approve of 'rebuilding'. he wants to be in 'win now' mode all the time. again, he can't do what okc did, and its not his fault. les should take a lesson from okc. how can he think morey is able to acquire another superstar and borderline stars to complement them... and have all of those players in their prime... and some of them still on rookie contracts to be able to afford so much talent on the roster at the same time... and he's not allowed to draft them? how is that even possible? its not. we'll never be as talented as gsw or okc without hitting the lotto a few times as they did.
It's on Morey. Instead creating a fantasy big 3, OKC went & built a great supporting cast of role players like Steve Adams & Dion Waiters. The Rockets were too busy chasing Chris Bosh
IIRK that was Morey's original plan for about 30 secs, before Les said he wants fans in the seats. So we play to win the game, no matter what.
This is OKC's 2nd trip to the Finals. Lost the 1st time to Miami's big 3. Including this year, it'll be OKC's 3rd trip to the WCF. Not that i disagree with you. I think Morey's done well with the cards he's been dealt. Les didn't want to go the full tank/rebuild route, and Morey's probably gotten better results than many other GMs probably would have gotten. I think that's more on Les and folks higher than Morey. I give credit where credit is due that Morey has had the ability to make a run at big fish stars on several occasions because of payroll flexibility he's able to create. I would only fault him for not retaining and making things work with Rick Adelman and pulling the trigger too quickly on McHale.
So you're saying Morey should try to pair up one of the top 3 best players in the NBA as his second star? Morey really is an idiot for not thinking of this stratagem. They should have a panel about pairing up superstars at that conference of his.
Morey should learn from OKC's success ... if and only if ... they make it to the finals. If they do not, OKC should be ignored.
