[Woj] Morey aggressive in all deals improving team even possibly Paul

Luxury tax is there to be punitive so of course we were limited. The question is this, would Ariza at $15M push us over the edge. Considering we had a better team the previous season and he didn't, it is highly doubtful that he would this year, especially being an year older and coming off an absolutely terrible playoffs shooting the ball. Keep in mind that if we signed Ariza, we probably wouldn't sign Faried and Rivers either so the question becomes which playoffs team you would rather have:

1. CP3, Harden, Ariza, Tucker, Capela, Ego, Nene, and iHart
2. CP3, Harden, Ego, Tucker, Capela, Rivers, Faried, Shumpert, Nene, iHart, and House

As for whether or not he would be a more financially flexible asset, that is only if we intended to trade him. Unless we absolutely imploded, that would never have happened.

 

Because everyone knew that Washington would be dumb enough to trade Oubre for Ariza at any point between last summer and when the actual trade went down?

It's easy to sit there and look at what acutally happened and said "see! That could have happened to us!".

It took a combination of two idiot franchises--one that overpaid for Ariza and another that made a hail Mary desperate attempt to salvage their season at all costs--working together for that trade to occur.

 

There’s plenty of data that supports this “your turn, my turn” approach working. Let’s be clear about that. Even with Paul’s fairly obvious statistical regression this year.

I get what you’re saying, though. At this point it’s not ideal, but the point I’m making is we’re kind of stuck. I think it’s a combination of: A) any attempt to move him will be viewed as a salary dump thus forcing us to settle, and B) he’s still Chris Paul; in both name recognition and capability. He might be declining, but there’s obvious value in having a secondary playmaker. What we’re lacking, and unfortunately proportionally paying Paul to do without the results, is a secondary scorer.

That needs to be the focus at this point, IMO. Hopefully, these two HOF-ers can recruit and try to give us the inside track to landing a Jimmy Buckets type. I believe that’s best opportunity to drastically improve the team and become less reliant on Harden. Not trading Paul for trash and making a move just to make a move.

 

Yep, and considering they were that close and all the #runitback talk, Fertita should have paid it if he's serious about doing what it takes. If he never wants to pay the luxury tax, which is what it looks like, well that's good to know

 

but this isn't hindsight though

 

What would you call it then? "Well if Ariza didn't work out we could have had Oubre because that trade was made therefore it could have happened to us"

 

i have no idea. i was told this wasn't hindsight though when i originally brought it up on page 30 lol

 

The reason I was ok with Ariza leaving at the time was because I thought Morey had a good plan to make the team better. Turns out the plan was just to avoid the luxury tax, and his replacements were terrible.

 

Never forget half of this website asking the question "who else was there to even sign?" to justify the obviously terrible Melo and MCW additions

 

I was ok with it because he said he had dibs on free agents. I didn't know he was going to be at MCW's doorstep and then he throws a disclaimer to avoid any accountability and says they have to outperform their contracts. Wtf! I dont trust him to draft, develop, hire coaches, maintain role players... he's just good at making lateral moves, seeking the spotlight, or making impossible large contracts to trade.

 

lol gotcha.

 

I think Morey would have kept Ariza if he could have.

House turned out to play well. Unfortunately we sent him back to the D league and then he was terrible in the playoffs.

 

We never even replaced him come playoff time. Gordon was playing the 3 and we added Austin rivers a pg, and Faried who was unplayable.

 

I agree with you on this. Some on here want to jump to conclusions that Ariza was shown the door and that's that. I can't fathom any scenario where Morey and the Rockets weren't transparent and honest with Trevor about what they can or cannot sign him for prior to free agency.

Morey probably told him that X dollars is what we can offer you but understood if he wanted to leave if Y dollars were offered. Unfortunately, Y dollars were offered by Phoenix and both parties mutually parted ways.

If Morey could have brought Trevor back for $7 I'm sure it would have been done.

 

What, you didn't like Shumpert? jk jk

Honestly, looking at how the postseason has played out right now, Morey not having House on the team earlier is probably the biggest mistake he made this year...even bigger than signing Melo, not bringing Ariza back, etc. If House was on the team all season and didn't miss that time spent in the G league I think he could have taken a big chunk of minutes away from Shumpert and Green in the playoffs and we might actually be in Toronto right now.

 

He traded Skip To My Lou for Lowry, why couldn't he have traded Ariza for Oubre. Morey needs to be more forward thinking......HE WAS LIKE THAT AT FIRST, NOT SO MUCH THE PAST 3 TO 5 YRS. After he got Pat Beverly, what else has Morey done, that's been considered FORWARD THINKING??

 

Fertita didn't let him sign him.

 

exactly. you can't improve the team by saving money. the warriors out spend us by large amounts every year.

 

Lowry was a malcontent on the Memphis bench. Most of the league didn't want him and he became a reclamation project here. As for Oubre and his availability....I'm not 100% sure he was actually ever mentioned to be on the trading block, much less for Ariza, at the beginning of last season. What you and others are asking of Morey was to match/sign Ariza to $15 million and hope that he can be traded down the road for Oubre (since that was the outcome)....does that mean you never wanted Ariza and only wanted him to facilitate a trade for Oubre? Or does that mean you really wanted Ariza but if he sucked then move him to Washington for Oubre? Because if it's the former then you are really gambling that an overpaid SF would materialize into Oubre and if it's the latter then you probably forgot his stats from this year were pretty close to what he produced over the last two seasons here in Houston.

 

Also I think you're underselling what Morey has done in the past 3 to 5 years in trying to build around Harden because he:

1. Signed Ariza to a supremely cheap deal when Parsons decided to go full blown douche
2. Signed an unknown from Russia in Beverly
3. Drafted Montrezl
4. Traded for Lou Williams
5. When that team couldn't make it past San Antonio, he flipped 2-4 for Chris Paul and that team got to a game 7 in the WCF against GSW
6. Signed PJ Tucker to a front loaded contract and that team got to a game 7 in the WCF against GSW
7. Brought in Luc on a vet min contract and that team got to a game 7 in the WCF against GSW
8. Drafted Capela in between 2-4

I'm NOT saying Morey is blameless because there's a list of that too:

1. Overpaying for Ryan Anderson
2. Bringing in MCW last summer
3. Bringing in Melo last summer

among his other misfires. Maybe my definition of "forward thinking" differs from yours but Morey had to be "forward thinking" when he didn't have a franchise player. Once he acquired a franchise player, the objective changed from accumulating assets to finding actual players that can complement and produce next to said franchise player.