We're in the middle of the the dull off-season dead period, post-draft and post-traders, but pre-training-camp. Time for a little fun. Conspiracy theories are supposed to be maybe-this-happened takes. Here's my new one: Daryl Morey purposely arranged to have De'anthony Melton's profile raised after we drafted him. With nothing but a solid summer league performance, he somehow went from being a mid-2nd-round pick to a potential All-Star. My theory is that Murray had people in the Rox organization leak info to the media about what a big steal we got and that this kid was going to absolutely blow up big-time. Keep in mind, although Maori says he tried to make a trade to move up a few spots to take Melton earlier, he didn't think highly enough of him to actually offer another team enough value to get them to bite. Eager non-A-list sportswriters totally bit, thinking they were getting a scoop that would make them look great once Melton became a star. So that's the premise. Here's how I got to it: ~~~~ Pre-draft, Melton was flying almost completely under the radar as a guy who showed promise, then had to sit out a season because of an NCAA investigation, not playing competitive basketball at all for an entire year. Most scouts seemed scared that at his young age, that year of stalled development would be too detrimental to overcome, especially for a kid who had a questionable offensive game to begin with. Here's where he was slotted in the NBA draft by the major sources: The Ringer: 19, 23 CBS Sports: 20 Draft Express: 22 NBC Sports: 23 BasketballInsiders.com: 23 USAToday: 25 Bleacher Report: 25 Washington Post: 25 SI: 26 ESPN: 27 Forbes: 27 NetScoutsBasketball.com: 35 NBADraft.net: 36 NBA.com: 2nd rounder at best SBNation.com: 2nd rounder at best Business Insider: 2nd rounder at best In NO major mock drafts was Melton seen as going higher than #19. Nobody saw him as worthy of a lottery pick. Someone actually referred to him as a "diet Patrick Beverley." Fiverthirtyeight.com said Melton had a 1-in-4 chance of being a bust but a 1-in-10 chance of being an All-Star, the biggest gamble of the entire draft outside of Trae Young. ~~~~ Right AFTER the draft, the narrative began to change. Suddenly his limited shooting ability was no longer a problem. Morey said Melton could be ready to help the Rockets "immediately" on defense. He said if Melton had played as a sophomore could have been a top 20 pick, that he was a victim of "out of sight, out of mind" (yet Morey had been content to sit back and hope nobody picked him before pick #46). Jay Bilas and others compared him to Avery Bradley. Within a few days, you started seeing stories about Melton being a steal and a potential star. According to the @ESPNStatsInfo analytics projections, only 6 players in the draft have a higher percent chance of becoming an All-Star. A high schooler on Reddit did an analysis that showed Melton was the best player in the draft: http://bbs.clutchfans.net/index.php...hony-melton-g-usc.291870/page-2#post-11838614 ~~~~ Then Melton had a solid and encouraging (but not spectacular) summer league in which he was a featured part of the Houston team. The press got even more intense. SBNation said: "Melton slipping all the way to No. 46 in the draft was a crime, and opposing franchises are going to regret giving Houston another potential gem. This is a hard-nosed guard who plays such a smart game on both ends of the floor. He’s a physical defender, a willing passer and can be a bull charging to the rim. The biggest question Melton faced in the pre-draft process was his outside shot. He showed solid progress in that area in Las Vegas, hitting multiple threes in four of his five games and even canning five triples against the Clippers. Summer league was especially telling for Melton because he didn’t play at USC last year after being ruled ineligible for his role in the program’s part in the FBI corruption scandal. It had been a long time since we’ve seen Melton in a competitive basketball game. He looked better than ever." And then CFers began comparing him to Kawhi Leonard, for f%$k's sake. ~~~~ After all is said and done, we have a second-round pick who is suddenly such an amazing prospect that we're able to use him to rid ourselves of Ryno's ugly contract without giving up any future picks. If that doesn't have "Morey chess move" written all over it, then Harden doesn't have a beard.
Maybe Melton is just this good and Morey was forced to trade him to make luxury tax profit for the lower class billionaire Financially Troubled Tilman.
I think we all kinda knew what was going on but didn't wanna put that stigma back on morey..... he played so much more than everyone in the summer...... kinda had donte green written all over it..... I for 1 was hoping I was wrong... but I just kinda felt like that
I wouldn't put it past Morey. I found it REALLY curious when Hartenstein signed his deal in late July that Melton hadn't signed too. I think all along Morey had Melton "in play" in discussions for trades. Bottom line for Morey: 2019 1st round pick is a more "liquid asset" than Melton's rights (and even more so a signed Melton) moving forward.
Not a fan of Chriss and I am indifferent to Knight since he hasn't played in so long. If he is able to come back to how he played back in phoenix before the injury then he can be a solid backup 3rd PG and get some minutes to limit the wear and tear on CP3 and Harden. That all said I think if I posted a poll before the draft stating Ryno + pick #46 for Knight and Chriss everyone would be overly hopping on that and saying it was a steal. No first rounders or multiple picks going out and we get 1 guy who could have an immediate impact off the bench if he is 100% again and a young big man project that at worst can not be extended and save some $. Given the Rockets formula for trying to best GS - Ryno had limited value but his confidence was beyond shot. I still believe that of the 3 players under contract in the trade Ryno was the best player, but his weaknesses became more of an issue for this Rockets team compared to his strength. Though this would be interesting for Morey to artificially drive up the value, but at the same time he could only do so much Melton still had to play well in the SL which he did. Of course playing well in the SL doesnt equal NBA success but its definitely better to play well in SL than not play well.
Ryno probably still is the best player in that transaction, but as they say, heavy is the head that wears the $80 million dollar contract. He couldn't live up to it; his teammates looked at him as though they knew. It just wore him down.
I read on reddit that a good way to look at a conspiracy theory is: how many people would have to be in on it? A lot for this one. I think Melton was fitting that mold, and maybe Morey pushed it a bit and took advantage of it. Melton could easily become a top 20 player in this draft, it's not that unlikely. It's also important to note Morey has a good track record on 2nd rounders. No one is good at picking rotation players regularly in the second round, but Morey must be batting above most other GM's. Helps having a GM like that, probably helps the Suns make that decision.
We traded Ryno but we took back basically the same amount in salary - the only "benefit" is we now have two players signed for another 2 years rather than one which in theory may make those contracts a little more movable for us while Phoenix essentially clears up a roster spot because Melton wasn't officially signed yet(his "draft rights" were traded) It was essentially a lateral trade with Melton being a small sweetener(for the roster spot Phoenix decides he either does or doesn't represent) for this deal but I doubt the deal hinged on the inclusion of Melton specifically and especially doubt the deal hinged on any hype that may have been manufactured. Will be happy when the season starts and we can talk about more important things...
man you saying thank you? you are welcome! you have some great manners...send my greetings to your parents they did a great job
I buy this. I like Melton, but he doesn't seem ready to play point guard in the NBA so that makes him an incredibly undersized SG. Also, I feel like I remember MDmA saying that he didn't think the Summer League guys were not going to be ready for the NBA next year. I can't find it though. Anyway, to me MDmA's attitude vs. the pump up job by Morey add to your theory.
Here is a conspiracy theory for ya. Morey is "paying" Suns back for stealing Ariza from us when they offered him 15mils a year. Morey gave them a ticking bomb Ryno who maybe out for a season due to unknown injury, Melton a bust for Knight who is healthy.
