Morey's drafting record is not that good as people might think: + AB, Landry, Budinger & Patterson - Batum, Dorsey, JT, (Newley, Leunen, Llull and cannot judge Morris just yet) Especially with passing up on Jordan, who had great high school numbers, 6+ blocks average, and some ok college numbers at 6'11 / 7'0, twice !! even Omer Asik (who we pursued heavily) was available with both picks. It was in 2008 when it looked like Mutombo was leaning towards retirement and we needed a big man behind Yao desperately. Drafting a 6'7 "center" is beyond stupid in this case.
I avoided making a thread about this while watching the game, but it sure does look like he's earning that new contract already. Good for him.
You have lost your damn mind! No GM in the league has done consistently better with their picks than Morey. If nothing else DM is a very good talent evaluater. Instead of looking at players he did not draft to looking at the ones he did draft.
taling deandre jordan was a supreme stab in the dark. you think thabeet was clueless. thabeet was a rocket scientist compared to deandre was in college. deandre still isn't that great, but he blocks shots and is athletic
Listen to this man. There is a reason a 7 footer falls to the 2nd round or gets undrafted. I'll say this though, taking a 6' 7" Dorsey over a 7 footer (no matter the deficiencies) is incredibly baffling.
We're not talking about his overall performance, we're talking about drafting. And he's been a great drafter. Missing out on a 33rd pick does not make you a bad drafter. It definitely does not make you CD level.
I was watching the game last night. Monta Ellis actually exposed his desire for blocking and got about 5 assists off DJ's man... whenever he would dribble drive to the hoop... DJ would come over to help and create an easy basket for his man... You just have to be unselfish when you drive towards DJ and its an easy basket for your team.
If DJ had even a basic low post game or better yet a decent jumper he could easily be an allstar. Watching them foul him every time on the offensive end was sad. I don't care how bad of a shot you have, if your job is to play pro ball and you can't hit 60+% from the foul line your not working hard enough.
Being a GM doesn't mean you can do the impossible. I think DM's done a lot more than other Gms in trying to get us that player. Even if you replaced DM with someone like Presti or Buford, does that mean Tim Duncan or Kevin Durant will be available at the 33rd pick of the draft? Regarding Deandre Jordan, it sure feels good to say we should have drafted him in hindsight, but the truth is there are like 10 guys like him every year, and only 1 every 3 years pan out. What's the difference between De Andre Jordan, Saer Sene, Hassan Whiteside and Larry Sanders when they were all coming out? If we got every athletic 7 footer in the draft we would just be wasting valuable 2nd round picks. Guys like Thabeet and Joey Dorsey were at least productive in the college level. Jordan looked lost even in the college game, when guys like Thabeet and Dorsey were looking like the next Deke and Ben Wallace. I don't really fault DM for getting Dorsey, he looked like he would be a better producer in the pro level than Jordan, who as I said looked like he had r****ded bball IQ.
Deandre Jordan was a worthless piece of player until Blake Griffin showed up. He is more valuable to the Clippers than any other team. Playing next to Griffin fires DJ up and keeps his mind in the game. The presence of CP3 and Chauncey Billups will help even more in that regard. I have no regrets the Rockets passed on him. Regarding Joey Dorsey, I had him pegged as a zero from the start. He just isn't smart enough to play NBA level basketball. I could tell he was dumb and immature from his days at Memphis, despite the fact he was 3 years older than anyone else on the floor. My opinion of Morey took a hit when he said Dorsey could have an impact on the team as a rookie.
Basketball 101 If a man is beating off the dribble the Big Man is supposed to help and protect the rim. Its not DJ fault that the Clippers are not rotating to force Ellis to throw it out to the perimeter or take a contested Layup. No rotation = layups. Coaching and Team error not DJ error. Thats what made the Celtics so good when they won it all.. They made you shoot contested jump shots.
I still dont understand to this day why Morey didnt draft this kid, as young as he was( he ahd drawn Dwight Hoawrd comparisons). I mean a talent sitting there for you right there, and you pass on him(WOW) Also Morey traded Nicalous Batum( who also has a lot of trade value to other team( its seems to me Morey, is passing on talented players, for no reason at all). If Morey would have just kept these players) we might have traded them for a superstar by now
I came in here to say exactly this. I think the best thing to happen for him was to be drafted by the Clippers... the city of LA, Blake Griffin, and now CP3; he has all the motivation now to do well. I think he would have panned out differently if the Rockets would have drafted him.
He was not just NOT impressive. He was a cancer on the team. He fought with the coach, got mad when he didn't get minutes early in the year because he didn't hustle, and most of the team was glad when he decided to enter the draft even if they were surprised that he did. Sure he had a lot of potential, but he was very risky pick up which is why even after the work outs when he was projected as late lottery, early 20's pick he fell into the 2nd round. Looks like he might have gotten his head on straight, but I wait to say that until he performs like that consistently and against teams not called the Golden State Warriors.
I think he' just had to find the best value for the spot....given a higher pick he's had good judgement. Later in the draft he seems to go for offense, which is harder to teach, than defense.
Bad News for Those Who Didn’t Do Their Homework Early... March 26, 2008 Texas A&M lost a very close matchup with UCLA, but that didn’t have all that much to do with DeAndre Jordan’s play. The freshman came off the bench and contributed 6 points, 4 rebounds and 4 turnovers in 15 minutes. He was immediately called for a moving screen violation right after entering the game, but seemed to be off to a good start after making one very fluid pivot move in the lane for a nice looking basket, and then scoring on an athletic offensive rebound put-back dunk. Things mostly went south after that, as he was called for his second offensive foul for hooking Lorenzo Mata-Real while trying to establish position in the paint, and then committed another turnover after being doubled-teamed in the post, not having the strength or reaction time to handle it quickly enough—which has been typical for Jordan this season. He did score another basket on an easy layup after his man left him alone underneath the basket to double-team someone on the perimeter, but was finally benched late in the game after a foolish turnover on a lazy cross-court pass, and two rejections he suffered underneath the rim courtesy of Kevin Love. Defensively, things weren’t any better. He left his defender wide open for at least four wide open jump-shots, not hedging and recovering quickly or aggressively enough on pick and roll plays, and did a poor job denying position inside the paint, which gave Kevin Love a fairly easy jump-hook shot right over him. His lack of awareness was really exposed when he was supposed to switch on a screen and cover Darren Collison, but instead tried to get his teammate to switch back in mid-possession, and ended up giving up an easy 3-pointer. Jordan did not finish off the season very well at all, scoring in double-digits just four times in all of January, February and March, after he was able to do so nine times in November and December. It’s pretty obvious by now that Jordan is a project with a capital P, one that will demand a great deal of nurturing and patience before he’s able to contribute much of anything in the NBA. He obviously needs another year in college to help prepare him for the pros, but the danger of not improving enough and damaging his stock badly may be too much to risk, even if it’s rumored that he is currently leaning towards staying. That’s the sad state of the NBA draft unfortunately. Jordan will have to develop a great work ethic and love for the game if he’s going to have any chance of achieving his great potential. From DraftExpress.com http://www.draftexpress.com#ixzz1hflbHyLC http://www.draftexpress.com
There is a percentage of 2nd round bigs actually panning out. I am not sure it's so clear..... one thing for sure....Morey wanted to take on undersized talents rather than go for size.
Jordan was a 5 star recruit coming into A&M. Anyone that watched him in his freshmen year was underwhelmed by his play. He slipped. Every GM passed on him. Should DM have drafted him early in the second round? Sure but it's easy to say that now.
He took a shot and he failed......but normally nobody would blame him based on a 2nd rounder and Jordan is a better fit on the Clips....the constellation is just out of this world
*EDIT* OOPS you said DRAFTING for defenders. I talked about trades and free agents. Though how many "defenders" has Morey tried to draft?