The knock on Morey is that he hasnt been able to land a star player , a go to guy. The iussue there isnt really Morey's fault. He's had to compete with the more desirable locations in NY , Mia and both LA clubs in the FA market and "Stars" prefering to team up for a chance at a ring. He has been handcuffed by Les in that he cant get bad enough to get in the early lottery on their own and they dont have the pieces to trade their way into that position. He's kept the team competitive year in year out despite the lack of a "star" while keeping their options open to trade for or sign via FA that player by not handing out contracts that handcuff him further in his pursuit of that elusive star player. He made failed FA pitches to Lebron and Bosh .... who already had their minds made up. He passed on Amare twice , once in a trade with Pheonix and again in FA. I think that was the prudent thing to do especially in hindsight as Amare's wheels dont have much left. Tried to get Melo from Denver but NY gave up the farm for him. Went after Gasol - and even tho I didnt particularly like the deal I have to give him credit for attempting to improve. Has been rumored he's attempted to attain D.Howard and D.Williams .... tho other teams have more to offer and their current teams are reluctant to move them. Turned Brooks into Dragic and a first round pick .... I call that a win. Turned Landry into Martin. Another solid move as Landry hasnt been near the same player since leaving Houston while Martin has started and played well until recently. Stole Scola from the Spurs for next to nothing , tho Scola's contract is now questionable. The one poor decision was T.Will for a #1 .... at least its heavily lottery protected. The things that have been in his control such as draft picks he's done very well with landing Budinger , Landry , Parsons , Brooks & Patterson. The jury's still out on Morris. There have been no CD trades sending Gay to Memphis for Battier, no horrible trades sending three lottery picks to the Nets for "The Masterbaiter" and no Kelvin Cato like contracts..... I give Morey a solid B+. I dont think anyone could do much better considering the parameters he has to work within.
Between a low A and a B+ is fair. I have yet to hear a convincing arguement on why another GM would be doing any better in his shoes, but fair or not he can't get an A+ until he accomplishes his primary objective of aquiring a star, so I will go with B+ for now. On the flip side, it is the people who give him an F that must think he is supposed to be a "god" GM. Trades for superstars are not the result of "jedi mind tricks" on opposing GM's. It isn't a matter of out smarting the other GM's, as much as it is having a star already that can convince other stars to come here. Putting together a deal the opposing GM will accept doesn't matter much if the star in question isn't willing to sign an extension here.
Currently he is a solid B..as he trades for solid assets... If he doesn't make this team better until the trade line he might be slipping to a B-... I think this year and the start of next season is the make or brake period for Murray..if he doesn't deliver within that period we must consider replacing him...
It is pretty hilarious seeing all these unknowledgeable people talking about Morey's 0.4 year long rebuilding era as a failure.
Here is a counter argument to that, given by Mark Cuban and Kevin Pritchard at the Basketball Analytics Panel at SSAC last year (50:35 - 52:50): http://www.sloansportsconference.com/?p=681
Morey has acknowledged that the lottery is the easiest way to get a superstar player. Les has decided that is not an option he wants to attempt, so it's kind of a moot point. That being said even if it is the "easiest way" to get a superstar, it certainly isn't a sure fire guarantee, and in most cases is not a one or two year process. For some teams it never leads to becoming any closer to being a contender. It's also a pretty dangerous path for a GM and coach. Even if it is best for the long term success of the franchise, it can be difficult for a GM or coach who is responsible for a bottom 3 in the league team to keep their job long enough for them to see the fruits of that tanking/rebuilding process. I seriously doubt Morey would be getting higher grades on his performance by the majority of fans here if the team dropped from where they were last year with Adelman, to a 10 win or less team this year after hiring McHale, even if that plan did have merit as far as getting a high draft pick.
THERE ARE NO SURE FIRE GUARANTEES ANYWHERE. But if you're an NBA owner..and you believe your GM is capable of replacing a computer and has memorized the script to Tron...then you trust him to make the calls. You can't hold him accountable when you don't allow him to do what he thinks is best. Jerry Jones says, "hi." It's a moot point because the owner wants to sell tickets...how's that working out?
Solid B. I've liked essentially every move he's made, but it simply hasn't come together in any way that puts us in contention. I'm more than happy to give him 2 more years, as I understand that the odds of contending just one year after losing your franchise player to injury for nothing are microscopic.
B. Durvasa's assessment is good enough. Morey, IMO, is too smart to be a great GM. He will forever be a B/B+ GM instead of A if he keeps focusing on moneyball . Every move is so well calculated, analyzed and guaranteed to be the choice that makes most sense and of min risk. But sometimes things don't work that way. He drafts very well and maybe it is through draft that Rockets ultimately transform into a contender instead of a, well, B/B+ team, but not via trading. And it is my own impression that---he has not really achieved anything big via trades yet but already rang an alert bell for other GMs that he is super smart---hence not a good partner for deals. While most people think TWill move was a disaster, I don't agree. Result is obvious but being a GM you have to be confident enough to take a risk once in a while. Only in this case it did not work out. Things could go both way and the willingness to take a risk is in itself a virtue. As we all can see now, the cut of Lin hurts. He saw the raw talent from Lin, but not wild enough to cut a 1-2 million expiring contract for a gamble----and that may well be THE thing that keeps him from being a great GM. Made the decision based on conventional knowledge, and now we lose out on a potential superstar which this team is dreadfully lack of. Decisions (well calculated, rational, safe/nonrisk moves) like this are the reason why this team is married to B/B+ when radical/wild/risky/dramatic changes are really what this team needed in order to become a real contender.
I don't think Morey being "too smart" is holding him back, nor do I think teams are "scared to deal with him". He hasn't gotten a star primarily because none of the stars who have been available have been willing to sign an extension to play in Houston, when we don't have a star for them to team up with. They weren't going to leave one mediocre team with no other stars to join a different one. It has much more to do with where the stars want to be traded (where they can play with other stars), than other GM's not being willing to trade with Morey for fear of being ripped off. If we replaced Morey for failing to recognize Lin then we couldn't hire any other current NBA GM without getting someone who made the same mistake. Jeremy Lin hadn't shown anything to make one believe he was capable of doing what he is doing now prior to starting for the Knicks. Obviously he didn't show anything in the first 24 games the Knicks played where they had no quality PG on the roster either since they sent him down to the D-league 3 weeks ago. Lin has been great, but people need to realise that Raymond Felton put up 17 ppg and 9 assists under D'antoni. Chris Duhon had his best performance as a pro under D'antoni. Nash went from all star to MVP under D'antoni. Lin has talent, but this is the perfect system and situation for him and he has been playing at a historically high level that is still more likely to decline than maintain or increase. It is likely that with virtually no practices this season for Lin to prove himself, that he would just be sitting on the bench where Flynn is if he was a Rocket. The Knicks sent him down to the d-league 3 weeks ago, and every other GM in the league also passed on him. I'd love it if he was a Rocket, if for no other reason than the Knicks would be losing more games and we would get a better draft pick from them. But I don't think it is realistic to expect Morey to have that much more insight into Lin than the rest of the GM's in the league after a week of practice prior to the season starting. Certainly his performance with Golden State and the D-league last year didn't make him look like a superstar or even a starter.
Based on the way we do performance reviews at my company, I would have given him a C - Meets Expectations. Based on your definitions, I gave him a B. He has made more good moves than bad, but that is the expectation.
The only problem I have with Morey is drafting "proven" older players in the draft rather than swinging for the riskier, young player. Granted he hasn't had great draft position, but the Patterson and Morris picks are both "let's get the safest player who can contribute soon" rather than "let's pick this young player who could be great or be mediocre." It feels like those players are picked because we really felt that we could gauge that they would at least be serviceable players in the NBA. That's not good enough for me. I'd rather draft a player who might suck and be off the team in a few years if it means also drafting a player who might become a star with some good coaching. Other than that, Morey has been great. He's been given a tough situation and done a very good job.
I'd say B -- Of course not all of his moves have been slam-dunk winners when you rate things on a trade by trade basis he has done pretty well. i don't really fault him for not being able to land a 'superstar' because of how hard those are to pry away from teams to begin with. At least he is very active and tries to improve the team constantly.
D considering with what he started with and the things he could have done. IMO we need a new owner and gm, these two are leading us in the wrong direction.
He has though. Look at D-Mo, 20th pick last season, now looking like a top 5 pick this season. And the problem with the concept you are proposing is it only works when you have top lottery picks. Players fall down to 14 or below for a reason, specifically because they don't have the potential. That's why literally the majority of late first round and late second round players don't end up in the league in a few years, because they don't have the potential nor the skill. This is what Morey excels at the most, players that fall off the lottery may not have potential but he can pick out the ones that are servicable. That's the most you can ask for from a non-lottery pick player.
considering that l.a is not going to trade kobe, chicago isn't trading us Rose and okc isn't going to give up Durant, there are not many "superstars" available that can carry a team. Obviously, I left Howard out because he is one of these tag teamers. With that in mind and the no tank policy by Lex, I have to give Maury an A+. If he had just been able to acquire Gortat, we would have five more wins this season. My IBM 5150 has made me aware of this. Keep working hard, Maury!
