I'm afraid he won't which will be his downfall. That statement of coaches only moving the needle a bit, 5 wins difference continues to be his dumbest. I guess you could argue because of his failure with coaches and his stance on it, he falls out of the top 10. This along with his failure to practice what he preaches. He lives and breathes analytics yet does not get players that fit the system on a consistent basis. He's an opportunist and I actually do not see a lot of method to his madness. On the one hand he let's Josh walk, or rather sign a KJ & Harrell over resigning him for more, which I still think was a good move. On the other hand, he signs Brewer to a ridiculous contract who just had a good play-off run. We're in win now, yet goes for the likes of Dekker & Harrell and takes a gamble on KJ who are not at all players ready to contribute now or much in the future if you look at Morey's supposed formula. Morey's moves like his personality, kind of weird, off putting, geeky, arrogant yet has some brains and the papers to back some of it up.
Again - offered an extension to JVG. Hired Adelman. Two elite coaches at the time. Brings in McHale (who I don't like as a HC) and the team goes to the WCF (so Morey wins). History doesn't support that he doesn't value coaching. I'm certain he regrets the 5-win comment. You guys take every morsel that comes out of someone's mouth and butthurt over it for years. Just use common sense instead.
I think the results speak for themselves. McHale took this team to the WCF, after his previous two hall of fame caliber coaches led their teams to a worse overall record. While coaching THIS GROUP matters (obviously there is mental instability, questions of effort, and the lack of ANY defensive fundamentals are appalling) in the past there is no evidence to suggest PAST TEAMS would have been better or worse off with a better coach. Maybe the Portland series a couple years ago could have been won with a better coach which does matter IMO. That's really the only instance where hiring McHale bit the Rockets in a arse potentially. Even then its debatable because the Rockets weren't supposed to switch on that last possession with the Lillard Dagger. Alot of that came down to the players too. So I think this narrative will be answered one way or another depending on what happens this Summer. If they keep JBB then I think there is some room to state that Morey's care for the importance of coaching is in question.
Here are my list of latest grumbles: #1 Ty Lawson was a gamble. Not with what we gave up to get him, but what we would lose in this season, the opportunity loss of this season, if the gamble didn't pay off. When you are in "Win Now Mode" because of your limited window of Harden & Howard together, then you need deals that work. And if they don't work, you need accountability. Fans, Morey apologists, and Les should demand accountability. #2)Morey traded away all of our 3rd string PGs in his Lawson gamble. Prigioni, who actually isn't too terrible as a 3rd string guy. Nick Johnson was shipped out too. And so then you just wasted a draft selection, and a guy who you had spent a year developing. So this was like doubling down on the dangerous gamble. #3)And number 3 really aggravates me. So you've already doubled down on your Lawson bet. So now if it doesn't work out with him, you're in an even worse position to salvage one of our precious Harden-Howard seasons (and a healthy Howard at that). So shouldn't you hedge on your gamble, and get a good PG in the draft? Morey should have drafted Jerian Grant, a 4 year Notre Dame character guy with hops and handling who comes from a basketball family. But instead, he gets a broke back nonathletic ho-hum SF in Sam Dekker. #4) 4th gripe is related to all the other 3. So Harden said get me help at guard. We need another playmaker. So Morey rubs J Smoove the wrong way by making Brewer and KJ his top priorities in the off season, so J Smoove, someone who really helped us on playmaking goes off and joins the Clippers for less money. #5) Morey locks up KJ for way too much money, and he is now a bust that rides the pine. #6) Morey locks up Brewer who has been a total bust this season. #7) Morey's analytic driven philosophy requires what basically is a machine operator running his analytic machine, instead of an actual NBA coach. We got away with it the last 2 years, but it was painfully obvious many moments throughout those years. When it came to real competition in the playoffs, the opponent coach severely out-coached our analytic machine operator. #8) Royce White - Bust Terrence Jones - Bust D-Mo - disappointment on being able to stay on the court. I hope it turns around. Traded away the right to Mirotic. Nick Johnson - turned into busted Lawson Joey Dorsey retread- just what the hell K-Pap - overpaid then turned into busted Lawson Isaiah Canaan - really good player we sent away for bust KJ Covington -nice player we sent away Looking at the last 5 years of draft picks, just nothing stands out as not being luke warm.
I would argue again that Morey is not that analytically driven, he's an opportunist. I don't see the method to his madness to be honest. If someone can show me all these players and moves are carefully calculated, make sense for his system of threes, lay-ups and dunks with an emphasis on fast breaks then by all means, please enlighten me.
I have said for the longest time he is not a top 5-7 GM Anywhere after that is fair game. I didn't need this season to come to that conclusion He lost me as a top 5 GM once he hired McFail. Not only that but more over when he extended him after that Portland humiliation which showed he doesn't value coaching and it's just a coin flip
To win a championship you have to swing for the fences. You can hit home runs like Harden and Howard, but when you miss you miss hard like with Lawson. People always get tunnel vision and forget to look at the big picture. Overall I think Morey has done an above average job.
I'd argue that DAL and BOS are thanks to great/top-tier coaching. A lot of B- players that turn into studs thanks to being awesomely coached.
Depends on how you're doing the ranking. Are you talking about wins? Regular season wins or how far in the playoffs? Are you talking about development of draft picks or signing the best free agents? Or are you talking about looking and sounding like he's the smartest guy in the room? He's #1 if you're ranking based on who looks like the smartest guy in the room. Overall, in my opinion, he's borderline top ten. Mostly because there are so few championship teams, so few horrible teams, and a whole bunch of middle of the pack teams. The Rockets are somewhere near the top of the middle of the pack teams. That's where I'd rank Daryl Morey.
I do not know why people assume Jeff Van Gundy is a great coach, yeah, he had success with the Knicks, but I think his time with Houston was not as good as people may think at the moment. Yes, though, The Rick Adelman hire was a great one in My opinion, but why let him go when he did so well with not so great of a roster? After letting go, it seemed to make Kevin's faults all the more glaring during the game, and although the Rockets made to the western finals with McHale as coach, to his credit, I think most people may think that extending him to be a mistake at the moment. If it were not for that miraculous come back over the Clippers, this teams failures would have possibly been a lot worse, but yeah, the possible next coaching move, or moves, probably will eventually dictate the coaching philosophy of Daryl Morey as a general manager. I still think he is possibly one of the best general managers in the league right now, and just have questions over his possible decisions on coaching the team.
