i think some of us are still gauging where we are based on san francisco. there is a new favorite in the west, built totally different than oakland. what can management do to rebuild our team to go against the new giants? do we even trust management?
I’ve grown to hate the phrase “run it back” How are u running it back when you’re getting worse every year? #RunItBack? Nah, more like #LimpWalkItBack
Too late to rethink our strategy. This die was cast once Morey promised CP3 the max to get a trade done. Our best chance to win was always going to be that first year. Morey made the gamble he could dump CP3 if it didn't work out and now we're stuck waiting. No choice but to run it back.
Nope ride with CP3 like all y’all said when he was signed... Also for those saying morey had to lay CP it won’t matter because we’re over the cap. Don’t call Tillman cheap now
OKC is completely blowing up their team... and we're ****ing desperate to improve. If Morey doesn't land any of the remaining assets left on OKC, then we're really going nowhere next season. PG+Kawhi+Bev+Lou+Montrelz+ any bandwagoning ring chasers who wants to live in LA. Tomorrow, we're going to see all these remaining free agents sign in LA. I guarantee it.
we need to upgrade the power forward and center position. if Lakers and Clippers get the upgrade. Sign Howard and cousins are safe.
We were screwed even if Kawhi stayed East. We just aren't good enough. But yes you are right: we're built to compete against a team that isn't even the top dog anymore. So it really doesn't make sense to keep this team as-is just so we can pay the luxury tax for the 6th seed. But I suspect we will do just that. Rockets fans will delude themselves into thinking we can win it all and will blame the refs and/or NBA conspiracy when we don't, but in reality we just aren't good enough AND (now) aren't properly constructed.
Specifically tell me how they were built to compete against GS but not say, the Cavs. The idea that Morey built a team to beat GS was always stupid and unprovable to me. I will say, Morey didn’t really build that amazing 2018 team. CP3 decided to go, and Luc/Tucker were recruited by him. And Luc at a discount no less. Dumb Daryl was looking to sign Shumpert and Iguodala...
We tried to build a team to beat GSW. It didn't work, obviously. But we were building a team with a switching defense so we would never be too exposed by GSW's many shooters and ran a slower, iso heavy offense because they thought that stood the best chance (that's how LeBron and Co beat them). It didn't work. But we tried. (I honestly did not know this was something I would have to convince people of - I thought it was known.)
I'm fine with trading Capela Add McGee and JaMychal Green.... Another wing will become available. Maybe Avery Bradley.
I agree with Comet that there’s no choice but to run it back. When Morey traded for CP3 with the max signing guarantee he knew the last 3 years would be years they wouldn’t be favorites to win but could still be competitive enough to have a sliver of a chance. It was a bet he had to take to have a chance at winning it all the first two years. Morey is no dummy. He understands where we are and likely predicted it before he ever traded for CP3.
I bet Morey didn't know Kawhi was going to be healthy, traded out of SA to Canada and then decides to go Clippers.
Predicted where the ROCKETS would be. I’m sure he could have also predicted the Clips would always be a free agent destination as well. It’s freaking LA and they have a good owner now. GM’s make deals all the time that make other teams potentially better. I don’t see what the fuss is all about. Morey gave Houston two good chances at a title with the CP3 trade. He had to do it. We are where we are now, and nobody should be shocked when other teams have better superstar duos now several years after our title windows peak years.
The thing is he ain't paid here to predict things rather forced to act accordingly. If he were smart, he would have gone to an organization with a big market and a spender friendly owner. His offseasons have been lackluster at best, yeah, I blame Fertitta for it.
This is all logical, but.... I don't necessarily agree with all of it. Obviously, Morey knew that a very old CP3 would be a risk (at best). And obviously, the risk did not pay off, unless the goal was to have a couple playoff losses to GSW and trade away a 1st to dodge the tax one year. For that reason, I suspect he has all along been keeping in mind scenarios in which they could dump CP3. The idea that "we have to run it back" seems to undersell Morey's ability to be a good GM. I trust that he could find something for us. What, exactly? Hell if I know, but he has a staff of people who do nothing but this all day every day so they should come up with something. We should expect it of them. I think it's possible that we could dump CP3 for a loss, trade EGo, maybe PJT and/or Capela for lesser players and picks, and only be 5-10 games worse for it. 5-10 games can be huge, yes, but let's be realistic: we aren't winning anything anyway. (Note: @Haymitch goes back-and-forth on the soft-rebuild idea so this opinion is subject to change.)
It’s always funny to go back and re-evaluate the teams who won July in May of the following year. I def believe that not doing anything stupid in July to win the offseason sugar high is traditionally a smart quality in a GM I admire in Morey. What I blame now in Fertitta is the lack of a first round pick this Summer along with the interesting expiring salary of Knight for trades that could have been the difference maker in offseason moves. Morey has significantly less to work with strictly because of Tillman’s cheap a$$. Even without a trade or signing, if we had a legit 1st round talent being added to the team I think fans would have at least had that to be excited over. I’ll never forgive Tillman for this bullsh$t trade deadline where he openly sacrificed winning for his pocket book so he can buy another crappy failing restaurant chain or something. And yeah.... I think Moreys days here are limited. I think he’ll be brought in to a larger market team in the next few years. Maybe the Heat or some other high profile team with an aging team president who doesn’t want to run the day to day anymore.
Oh I def think Morey thought about avenues for dumping an aging CP3. He probably put some thought into maybe turning Harden into a treasure trove of rebuilding assets too if he couldn’t retool on the fly with another star to add to Harden after CP3’s window closes. I think he probably saw that this particular year would be the one where they’d likely have the lowest likelihood of being a top tier contender unless they could add a third star, and also would be a year early from being able to blow up the team if needed.
