Daryl Morey on the Rockets 2009 Lottery "Bust" Pickups

minimized version?

 

This is VERY important when you are looking at the decisions that Morey and Les Alexander make in regards to evaluating depth and the players they draft at certain positions (Especially positions of need)

Morey - MIT Professor. Statistician. Expert in Microeconomics and quanitative method.... in short... this dude would bank on Wall-Street.

Les Alexander - Made his money in the 80's and 90's mostly as a Stock Trader.


Taken from Boise State Economist R. Larry Reynolds

Pure Competition-

Purely competitive markets are used as the benchmark to evaluate market
performance. It is generally believed that market structure influences the
behavior and performance of agents with in the market. Structure influences
conduct which, in turn affects performance.


-Look, its common knowledge that anyone who has picked up a basic Economics textbook knows that a competitive market drives the highest results. Therefore its ingrained in the minds of Morey and Les that putting the highest level of competition in the positions of need (Small Forward & Post) will get the best end results for the team.

You can argue against this model in professional sports but its the reality of what these guys believe in. I tend to agree with Morey and Les that it does translate to sports. Case in point- Why do the playoffs bring out the best basketball of the year, because its the highest level of competition.

 

In economics, you are dealing with consistent variables. In sports you are dealing with humans, and if I know anything about humans is that they are unpredictable when put in certain situations. You know how you make a good player better. You pamper the **** out of him, you spoil him- you make him feel like a star. In practice, you get someone he can dunk on and beat up on every play. You let the other team be the enemy- if he doesnt deserve it after a while, you put him on the bench and transfer the all star treatment onto someone else. You never want to be the enemy when dealing with you players.
You dont treat your human players as if they were assets or stocks that you can discard whenever. It will always bite u in the butt, case in point- Morey

 

He didn't say anything negative about any of the players personally, and he did not saying anything that the players involved have not heard a thousand times before. You don't seem to get that NBA players are professionals and know they can be traded at any time. Want to know what pisses them off? Telling them they will not be dealt, and then dealing them... they don't like being lied to... ask Eric Gordon, Chris Kamen, Chauncey Billups etc.

 

want to know what pisses them off even more than that? Attempting to deal them, failing in the process and having to deal with pissed off egotistically nba players. At least, Eric Gordon and Kaman are pissed off in New Orleans. The clippers dont give a rats ass anymore

 

I suspect Morey would agree...... and then deal for a #1 pick........

 

if it was that easy- we would have the top 6 picks already

 

LMFAO Now it is Morey's fault that Fuhrer Stern blocked a deal to bring that would net us Gasol and Nene and Hayes?... Wow......

 

We didn't deal the top 6 pick for Williams........... because the deal is lottery protected..... so most likely looking at a pick in the 17-23 range.... which will be available for trade.

 

nah, its not his fault. He was just unfortunate to have this and other shortcomings happen during his tenure. Personally as fan, I'm happy that trade was blocked. We were practically paying for Chris Paul to go to Lakers (since they didnt have the right players to give up) and was rewarded with that old crap. Paul Gasol is just a lil bit better than Scola, and I'm not a scola enthusiast btw

 

So your saying stars are made by NOT competing against the highest level of competition but they are made by beating up on the 13 year old girls YMCA basketball team because it makes you feel like Michael Jordan?????

You must be kidding me. I dont know how many sports teams you've ran before, but Id be interested to know how that works out for ya.



My point was just to help people understand what is ingrained in the minds of the front office, and ownership of this organization. You dont have to agree with them, and no they are not assets they are humans. And you might be right that it will might come back to bite him in the butt. However, that is what is ingrained in their brains. Competition breeds results.

However, I disagree with you that humans are not predicatable a GOOD PERCENTAGE of the time, but thats an argument for another day.

 

nah, i'm just saying- if it was that easy for Morey to deal for a #1 pick, he would have dealt for the top 6 already. Teams that know they might end up in the lottery rarely trade their picks anymore except for dumbass clippers. this is because no sane team will trade a major star this days unles they were disgruntled- therefore the only other place to acquire "cheap" superstars is the draft

 

Daryl Morey didn't say anything that all the DNP CD's these guys are picking up isn't saying much louder. Once we decline to pick up their options there won't be any trade value left anyway.

It was a worthwhile gamble - sometimes players take a while to fully develop in the pros. Almost all the guys we picked up had something that made them worth the risk - Thabeet is tall, Williams is a 6'6" point guard, Jordan Hill looked a tremendous athlete and they just didn't put it together. It won't be an issue in a few months anyway.

 

Not only have i played professional basketball overseas, i have made it to a few nba camps. Funny exaggeration about the 13 year olds. The good teams/scouts can tell a star in the making, and they treat them differently, even from the camps. They get better hotels, always have constant attention. Now mind you, not all of those receiving this star treatment pan out, but for the few that make it- its worth the risk.

Your future star is going to naturally want to be better and is going to practice his ass off especially when u keep showing him how much he stands to make during his next contract negotiations.

There are several reasons you don't give your future star someone as good as him to compete with in practice.
1)He is going to be worn out in practice everyday, making him less effective during real games. Mind you, most players get better on their individual skills working on their game alone, not with the team.
2)He's uncomfortable with his position on the team, not knowing if he will start or how many minutes he will get, because the other guy is just as good.
3)the chances of injury and fights (yup scuffles) are more common, because not only are both competitors fighting for a playing spot and to get better, they are only staring at a couple more zeros on their contract.
4)what do you think all of the above does for player morale and team chemistry

At the end of the day, you end up producing zero star, or at best, one gets tired or loses it, and you are stuck with half a star

 

thank you, finally some sense

 

I think for Thabeet it is talent -- that guy is painful to watch. And not just Jordan Hill's offense painful, more like turtle on its back painful.

 

Who exactly has left Houston to play elsewhere under Morey? Believe it or not, we have resigned all of our important players over the years. You could argue Ron Artest left, but I would sure as hell rather have Courtney Lee right now...

Dan Gilbert pampered LeBron. Look where that got him.

 

It takes big men a lot of time to develop cos the nba today is geared towards guards. Look at Bynum, look how long it took him to develop and he has been working with Kareem all along. Also, remember Thabeet recently started playing basketball. The rockets should never have signed Dalembert. They should have given Thabeet the center position from day one and let him sink or swim. Its not like Dalembert's acquisition is gonna take us into the second round. All it did was delay the in-game development of our future. The rox management are so short sighted

 

Its not about leaving Houston, its about the 09 draft picks that we have rotting on our bench their contract year. Why is Thabeet not starting at center and developing in the game to be our future center. why not let him sink or swim. Why is old man dalembert being allowed to prevent him development especially since its not like dalembert is going to take us into the second round or finals.

Dan Gilbert pampered Lebron and Lebron put the Cavs on the map. Can you say that much about any of our abused assets

 

He'll change his mind when we're 4th seed this season since we have Kevin Martin.