Morey's contention is 100 percent correct. He went for the wrong guy in Thabeet though. The team gained confidence after Battier and Brooks were traded.
I dont know why we are still talking about Battier. It was a bade trade value wise but not a bad trade roster wise for winning. If thats why you want to fire Morey now? I guess the Battier fan clubs love is stronger than the Morey love ever was. Now Adelman is gone doesnt mean we tank. Especially if Scola in a trade for someone nets you an upgrade somewhere on the roster. I am not seeing the doom and gloom crowd. Maybe coaching is worse? That depends on who they hire though. How much worse depends on coaching but if you get better players? Then thats offset completely and you still improve no matter what. So??? There is that.
The wrong guy? It has nothing to do with "the guy". He set himelf up to make a trade at the next deadline by getting two expirings and an extra pick. Miller and Thabeet are nothing but filler. Without that trade, we wouldnt be in position to make a trade when Howard becomes available.
I can see your scenario. If that's really the case, I'd side with Adelman. The fact is, picking discarded prospects like Thabeet and TWill hoping that they pan out is a crap shot. Getting mid to late 1st round picks isn't any better. Even if they can flip those horses (thanks to JV for the term) into higher picks, that still doesn't guarantee a superstar. Why not keeping the current core fairly intact, look for a true center and a good wing, and wait for a disgruntled superstar to be available? Either method requires lots of luck. What Morey needs is better luck. The current roster could be a second tier team under Adelman's coaching. With Morey's superior talent evaluation, we might even hit a jackpot with a mid range pick. Why not keep the coach and have some fun basketball while waiting for luck?
Rep, should Morey's nick name be " The politician" since he's so shady. But anyways, his Chuck Hayes comment was very telling and knowing how he likes to keep everything close to the vest til its official. He basically said Hayes is the kind of guy you would keep on a contending team but not on a team that's not there yet.
for free??? tell me how many times in nba paul gasol type trades happened. ppl here on one side demand morey to get a superstar and on the other side they want stability. i would be extremely happy if morey can get a star even we lose half of our current roster.
I think both Morey and Adelman agree it'll be great to land a superstar. and I think they both agree they want the team to keep trying their best to win even without such superstar (Morey specifically said they don't consider becoming "terrible" a good option). So, that much they agree. The disagreement seems be a peripheral one, and one I hope they could have worked out-- i.e. whether you have to keep turning over the roster even for minor value increase (i.e. a prospect and a pick for expiring contract) while you are trying to win with existing roster and looking out for an opportunity to land a star. Frankly, I can see both sides: No, you don't want to let an expiring contract go to waste when you can't afford to pay the guy as a FA. But then again, constantly churning the roster probably makes your roster underperform their talent level due to a lack of chemistry and, frankly, make your players look less valuable in a trade market. To me, the best way to try and land a star is to do all you can to win as many games as possible... it makes your team look attractive to both FAs (i.e. If these guys are winning 50 games already without me, imagine what they can do with me... nobody want to go to a team just to carry a bunch of stiffs) and to trade partners. Anyhow, the most important thing for them to do now is to pick the right direction and stick with it. Are we going to keep being a motion offense/fast break team? Are we gonna be grinders like JVG's teams? I don't care either way, because you can with either way... just pick a direction and go. This is who we are. This is our identify, lets get the party going so that a star can decide to whether to join it. Find a coach Morey can work with and let the team go to work. What's frustrating is so many totally different candidates being thrown out there.. I'm just not sure they know what they want the team to look like. By the way... even though the Rockets won some games after the trade, I don't think the trades were made to try to win this season-- not the Battier trade at least since he and the starting group were doing well. Maybe the AB trade since he was just terrible.
If the Battier trade (and the Ariza trade for that matter, I'd say even the Brooks trade) taught us anything, it's incremental trades don't make us better or worse. I think on hindsight, we all can agree that what made the team play well after the deadline was a more stable rotation, better chemistry, and less distraction. It has little to do with playing better players.
LOL! OK. I believe in superstition too sometimes. It was the team gelling more perhaps? Thats also a good excuse. Whatever makes the Battier and brooks fans sleep better at night. Lowry is not better and neither was Budinger.
maybe it was the trade dealine passing that gave them a sigh of relief? they could have just told brooks to go rehab. They didn't want to pay him was the issue, maybe right , maybe not. But I've seen to many moves to avoid paying someone on this team. Regarding the interview, almost felt like a politician talking. Its amazing how I was sitting there going wtf when I heard him deny the assets comment and get on clutchfans with 50 other people fostering the same exact reaction. Unless he was talking about pure cash, he was without a doubt talking about players, and expiring players I remember for sure reading a number of times.
Why don't you ask the players themselves? They pretty much stated that, in fact there was a thread on it just a week ago.
repped. Nice job citing the specific article or interviews where martin, chuck, and everybody pretty much stated that, and emphasized the DISTRACTIONS- portion. Wish i was able to search for it.
we can lose half our roster and still not get a star. The quantity of mediocre players is not what teams want. If theres anything we've seen, its that our players played much better than they were because of the system they were in, allowing them to be traded. I wish we had traded brooks away in the summer if we were going to trade him for a bag of spicy doritos you enjoy every once in a while. He was the only player on the roster that had the chance of landing a star, being a 20ppg scorer and a young speedy guard. Martin is a much better player, but in terms of him landing us a star I think teams are going to be hesitant given his injury record. Other than that you basically have 2nd round tier players.( Lowry played really well, but not for long enough to be key player in a trade for a star)
Check for yourself: The Lowry-Martin-Battier-Scola-Hayes lineup has a 69 win%. The Lowry-Martin-Budinger-Scola-Hayes lineup comes in second with a 62 win%. http://www.82games.com/1011/1011HOU2.HTM Yes, really.
you are satisfied to be stuck with the bunch of mediocre players coz no way to get a star and coz they are playing very well under ra' system, aren't you?
You know what True Beaner. Let's. Yo Kev, why have you guys been playing so well since the trade deadline? http://www.nba.com/rockets/news/recap_rockets_vs_hawks_apri_2011_04_03.html Well you don't say, Kev. Maybe the "whatever the case" is that he has no choice but to play the best players at the end of the game now since the other guy he was playing over you has been shipped out of town. You know, the WORST PLAYER ON THE TEAM this year. That could be why, you know, we have played better. Anyways, always nice talking to you. Take care, Kev.
did i ever say that? or did I refute your your pipedream of landing a star with them. No disrespect man, I sure as hell wish we could too, I want the same things you do, just being a realist and as bad as it sounds, a bit of a pessimist.
Really, really? The starting lineup actually played slightly worse than pre-deadline. So the "stable rotation, better chemistry, and less distraction" obviouslly didn't help them much, or at all. Yet the team as a whole won way more. There must be something else to it... Okay I'll stop pussyfooting around. You honestly think replacing by far our worst player this year with a player that doesn't hurt the team wasn't a major factor in our improvement? In fact THE major factor? Really?
I like the humor attempt. And here you do [QUOTET]guard Kevin Martin told general manager Daryl Morey that the uncertainty about possible roster moves early in the season contributed to the team's slow start this season. "I was telling Daryl, going into the season 90 percent of the people on the team felt like a trade asset," Martin said. "Having everybody looking over their shoulder, that's not going to get you anywhere. Hopefully, next year is a little different at the beginning, we get off to the right start and play like we did after the All-Star break." Houston Chronicle[/QUOTE] Sounds like he made a direct comparison regarding your comment... theres another article citing a bunch of the players coming out and actually saying it was the fact they had less distractions and things on their mind, but I'm not the best mole in finding things.
