Yeah they were lucky he was raised in that very area. They were lucky that they happened to suck major ass the year that he was available in the draft. And they were lucky he stayed there when they couldn't put ANYTHING around them. And now they're lucky that he's back despite all the **** that they gave him for leaving (fan base and ownership). About 6 very distinct things had to go into the Cavs having Lebron and because they have Lebron (and still failed to win a title) their GM is better than Morey?
I think it comes from the standpoint of understanding that there will be mistakes made. That's the nature of doing business. That's why there are those who "worship" him, if you want to call it that. I don't necessarily think that's what's happening. But when you come to that understanding and realize that in a league with many other organizations, you cannot win them all, you gain an appreciation for the fact that the Rockets' front office wins most of the time.
As I said in the post before, the Cavalier's GM was fired in Feb, 2014. Are you saying the new guy is responsible for everything now?
Even this is a complicated thing to say. Because you have to define what it means to pick the "right" players and coach. And to do that you have to define what "right" is. So given the Rockets' organizations philosophies on basketball (which undoubtedly come from Les Alexander) how would you define those things?
And what do you mean he didn't have a coach to help him out? He hires coaches to follow his orders. He basically is the coach. McHale's dumb a** is just a figurehead.
McHale is actually a pretty good HC. Players tend to really respect him (like Dwight). McHale needs a solid team of assistant coaches. Now whether that falls to Morey or to McHale himself, I don't know. But with a good team of assistant coaches, McHale would actually be a pretty good coach. He's a good motivator, and he's been getting better at using the rotation. He just needs to learn how to draw up an inbounds play in a 20 sec timeout.
Morey has learned a valuable lesson. Best comparison I can make is like when im on the BlackJack table grind it out. play the aces and 8s, double down correctly, hit when your supposed to, stay when your supposed to. Pocket your winnings and play only on what you won. and grind it out again. Morey, grinded it out, had some black chips in his pocket, won some hands and was feeling good. Pulled out a couple black chips and went all in. Dealer drew an Ace and asked him for insurance. He of course said no, and boom, blackjack. Morey is going to grind it out again, no stress.
Oh, so you didn't say this: Just admit you didn't know the Cav's GM was fired last season. Quit backtracking.
It's should be based on the moves they made and how each turned out. There's definitely a curve if you are in a market like Milwaukee/Sac/etc. Those teams literally have a 0% chance of winning the title so a GM can't be held to that. I think handing out terrible contracts is the quickest way to get fired.
There's nothing to admit, I knew David Griffin(had to Google the name at least) was on his first year on the job. So I don't derail the thread no longer, Griffin of course isn't responsible for LeBron's return. What I saying is that who knows if the whole 4 year break from Cleveland was planned. 3 #1 picks no matter how bad a team has been could be a lot more than just luck. Makes great marketing too.
Other than the part you mentioned about players being "people, not assets" that coincides with pursuit of another "star" player at the expense of possibly gutting a team, I don't have any issues with Morey as a GM. The only 3 cases that made me question Morey at any point (in no particular order) was: 1. Morey would have gutted our team in order for Chris Paul to go to the Lakers. I know many people here despise David Stern (myself included) for vetoing that trade for these "basketball reasons" that were never mentioned publicly even to this day, even though we here all know the REAL reason for it not going through; but I liked that Stern blocked that trade because our team would not have been watchable at all, and we have had to watch that team tank away, and Harden and Howard would have never been on this roster if that Paul-to-Lakers trade happened (because we would have had nobody to give to OKC for Harden and Howard never would have considered playing here in Houston). 2. This offseason (so far): I was disappointed, but I fully understood, Morey's pursuit of a 3rd "star". I know the NBA is a business, but when Morey went "star-gazing", that was a very clear message that our team, as it was last season, wouldn't be enough to get over the hump and truly contend for a title. When Howard came to the team, we were predicted to win the SW Division and likely get to the 2nd Round or even the WCF. We were embarrassed in the first round to a team that IMO, was an inferior team to us. Our flaws really showed in that series. I do like that he wanted to upgrade our team to make us more likely to contend in the stacked Western Conference. But other than LeBron, Morey should have known that there were no real marquee FA that would get us over that hump. Melo just wanted to be wined and dined, but never really considered coming here. Bosh was LeBron's puppet (wanted to be joined to the hip with LeBron and simply wanted to stay in Miami all along). 3. Hiring McHale: When Morey got rid of Adelman, many of us believed that if you get rid of someone who did well as a coach like RA (considering the circumstances he had to deal with), you better find someone who is better than who you got rid of. When McHale was on that final list of candidates, many here were upset and had a bad feeling (due to his poor track record as both an Exec and Coach in MINN). The bad dream became a nightmare when he was hired to be our coach. We missed the playoffs the first season due to a major collapse at the end that cost us a playoff spot. We thought he was brought in as a "transitional coach" until Morey felt that Finch was ready to take over. With time, we were all justified in not liking his coaching style, whether it is not having a defensive philosophy, awkward rotations, not making in-game adjustments, looking lost when things go wrong, and not holding players accountable for their poor play. Most of us wanted McHale to be fired (again, myself included), or, at worse, an Xs-and-Os kind of assistant added to our staff. Again, other than those 3 issues, I don't have any problems with Morey, but as you posted at the end, if he were to go, who would be an upgrade to bring in as a replacement? That is the one question nobody has been able to answer so far.
Oh, so Dan Gilbert's letter to the city of Cleveland after the Decision ripping LeBron, whereby Stern insisted on an apology, was planned. Quit trolling this thread. I caught you in your lack of facts, and Dan Gilbert's letter clearly says it wasn't planned.
Morey is starting to remind me of a GM version of John Starks. He ain't no Jordan, but somehow a group of people with blinders on have no problem keep feeding him the ball even when he's stone cold.
