The Dirt: Near trade-ups, Biedrins and Flynn

Helps explain it totally. Thanks.

 

Yes, Morey is a good CFO, but is not a good CEO

 

There has to be. With the team not taking a center in the draft, they must feel very confident they'll be able to pull off a trade or attract a free agent. Otherwide, the draft would be a failure. Looking forward to getting a good-size, defensive, shot-blocking center, and seeing how Marcus M works as a small forward.

 

How does taking (what the team viewed as) the "Best Player Available" when the team selected mean that either (a) the draft was a failure or (b) the team is confident that they will acquire a center via trade?

According to multiple reports, the Rockets tried like hell to get into the top 5 to draft Valanciunas, but it just didn't happen for them. So . . . they took the guy they had rated no lower than #8(?) on their board when he fell to #14. (By the way, they view Montiejunas as a "4/5", so technically they did address the center issue in some small way.)

How this means they KNOW they'll be able to trade for a legit center is beyond me.

Sometimes something just is what it is. The Rockets tried to draft the best players AVAILABLE. Nothing more. Nothing less.

 

so sad i am because we miss jeremy tyler，so so upset

 

You couldn't be anymore incorrect. Cuban was trying to get Martin from Sacramento for a while and we stole him away, and how is Scola's 16 and 8 career avg. garbage? Lowry's actually improving quickly. If he continues at this rate, he could reach the Tier 1 of pgs.
You also can't put all of the blame on Morey either. Les wants to him to contend for a championship while re-building, which is very difficult.
The Thunder tanked to get to where they are now. I guess no one remembers when they were 3-27 in Durant's rookie season. The Lakers won 57 with games with Kobe and Gasol, you mean to tell me that would have only loss 2 more without one? I guess you don't remember the before-Pau era when Kobe was by himself. Riley's team wasn't going anywhere without the LeBron or Bosh coming.

 

Bima,
So trading for Biedrins would hurt our chances of signing a max free agent (ala Howard, Williams, or Paul) next offseason?

And i assume signing Dalembert this summer would also hurt our chances of signing a max free agent next year.

Is it possible to address our center position this offseason and not mortgage our chances of signing a max player next offseason?

 

It all depends on the new CBA.

But adding any player making $9M+ per year for multiple years (without trading Martin or Scola) would likely hurt those chances.

 

Since I have ZERO idea what I'm talking about - tell me which Center led all players in the league in offensive production rating in 2008 with 127... and generally doesn't even crack the top 50 in defensive rating?

Is it Chuck Hayes, or Anders Biedrins?

 

I think the team's calcualtion is that getting more wins by getting a good center in 2011 outweighs the potential loss of cap space in 2012. Specifically, in a blog response, Feigen said the Rockets will likely try to get a C in 2011 free agency. I imagine any quality C, especially one of the restricted free agents, will cost a good chunk of $ on a multi-year contract-- probably more than the $27 mil for 3 years that Biedrins makes. So, it doesn't look like they are terribly worried about 2012 cap space if they can get someone who is worth the money right now.


I think it's probably a wise move since (a) you don't even know whether any of the superstars will actually become free agents in 2012 (they can sign extensions with their own team, or with a team that trades for them like Melo did), and (b) you dont' know whether they want to come to Houston. The best way to make the team look attractive in a free agency or a trade demand sistuation is to win more games.

 

No, no...it's that he hasn't built a contender and that's why he's the smartest GM EVAHHHHHH!!!! That's why we we all parrot the "in Morey we trust" phrase around here. Because he hasn't done it...soooo...we know we trust in him because he worked for Stats, Inc...or something.

 

Not necessarily disagreeing with your point.

Just answering a question asked about the cap situation and free agency.

 

Since your sensitive of criticism of Morey, ill be nice.

But the draft was another indicator that Morey doesn't know basketball. Morrison could be a good pick, but why would you pass up on Jeremy Tyler in the 2nd round? We need size and athleticism and drafted another foreign player who isn't ready. This is why we're mediocre, because our GM makes terrible decisions and uses media outlets to save face. If the Rockets don't trade for a legitimate central before training camp, Les should simply fire Daryl Morey

 

And you believe Jeremy Tyler is more ready to play than the foreign guy we drafted?
What are these terrible decisions he makes?
I can list 3 I thought were terrible. Drafting Dorsey and signing Ariza, which he fixed within a year, and signing Miller, which he fixed within a year.

 

You might want to check for a malfunction in your sarcasm meter and read Meh's post again.

 

Motiejunas, drafted at age 20, was playing for Benetton Treviso.
Jeremy Tyler, drafted at age 20, was playing for the Tokyo Apache.

Neither the Japanese nor the Apache are known for being good at basketball.

 

One thing that struck me from the radio interview with Morey was when he mentioned that Les Alexander was the one who had given the order from above, not to rebuild. Morey went on to say that becoming a great team without a losing season in between past regimes had never been done in history.

This scares me because 1. he sounds skeptical of the Rockets' chances to do so this time around, and 2. the imposition of the owner's opinions upon the workings of the front office might just be enough of an impetus to get Daryl to leave once his contract is up and these Rockets have not reinvented the wheel by then.

Complain all you want about Morey but it's without question that he is one of the best GM's in the NBA at evaluating talent and negotiating deals with other teams. The other parts of being successful in the NBA--having a great draw of a city to live in, greasing up your hair like Pat Riley, getting David Stern to make things happen for you--are likely out of his control, and this franchise will be much worse off with another man as GM.

 

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/LAL/

This team come pretty close twice.

Between losing Magic Johnson and winning titles with Shaq and Kobe, the Lakers only missed the playoff once, and had losing records twice (33 and 39 wins). Their lotto pick was Eddie Jones, who was not on the team by the time they won titles. The pick they got from the 39-win season was George Lynch.

Between losing Shaq and winning titles with Gasol, the Lakers only missed the playoffs once (34 win season). They then got the 10th pick, Andrew Bynum.


They lakers never managed to completely "tank" as some people here would hope the Rockets do.

 

Rec'd.

Absolutely agree. With one season of tanking (i.e. a top 3 pick) I have no doubt Morey and co. would either draft a centerpiece or flip the pick for one.

This is also why I wish Morey would talk Les into selling the farm for an unsigned Dwight Howard and trading for Josh Smith. If we could get him here and bought into our program (great FO, good owner, playing with his buddies, etc.), our odds of signing him in 2012 would increase to at least 50% rather than the 5% chance he chooses us unprompted. As an aside, if we took Turkoglu and gave back assets and expirings, Orlando would actually have a much better chance of re-signing Howard in 2012 than if they stand pat and try and convince him they'll eventually have the flexibility to build around him again. If Howard then doesn't re-sign with us, the PR would suck, but we'd have a scapegoat to rally against and a reason to tank in 2012-2013. A top pick in 2013 gives us a chance at drafting the next Dwight Howard, Andre Drummond.

 

That's a glamour city that attracts free agents that we never will. Any team can reload when Shaq signs with you as a free agent.