Interesting, would you mind elaborating? Im assuming you mean the longterm results of their decisions are yet to be seen?
I know it is a long term process..... but someone said Morey's contract is running out soon Results we all know... we are the champion of moral victories.... check Superstar ..... no Star or allstar players acquired or developed.... close but no Getting more two way players...... no Making the playoffs................. NO Any way out of mediocrity treadmill..... remains to be seen... but NO for now Maybe we are getting Howard but more than likely not. We have hope at the very least.
Which street? Inside the loop on Richmond or out near Katy off Mason road? Big difference in how much stock to put in it based on location.
Actually the results they had on their minds when they headed down a direction.... A direction the common fan cannot easily follow
People can question front office or anyone for anything. But there are legitimate questions and empty arguments made by tin-foil hat idiots. The fact is, when teams lose one or more of their All Star players (to injury, age, free agency, etc.), it's not unusual for them to have at least 3 terrible to not-so-great years. Even the Lakers, blessed with their location, history and money, spent 3 years floundering with .500-ish or below records after they lost Magic Johnson and again after they lost Shaq. They are the lucky ones. Look at teams like NY Knicks-- been decade since they were last a 50+win caliber team with Patrick Ewing-- or NJ Nets (still hasn't gotten above .500 after losing Jason Kidd). Having .500-ish lotto seasons is pretty mild as far as NBA hell/purgatory goes.
Nowhere, he never said that. He said that his priority is not money, but finding a good environment and a club, that will ensure him the position of the first point guard. He likes Houston and really likes Mchale, but is only returning to Houston as the starting point guard.
Carl Herrera explained this in the "Is James Harden a Max Player" thread. I can't remember the exact numbers, but I think the most they could have offered was around 2 mil per year. So yes, they could have offered a contract extension, but Goran more than likely would have turned it down.
Its all a short term fix for fans, especially armchair GM's who think they could do a better job themselves. Alot of people think they could do a better job themselves, but Im not sure anyone is going to win an argument about how easy it is make that short term fix. I would agree that doing things the hard way can be a good way to lose the fairweather fans in short term. Fans are just going to have to accept what the Rockets are, or move on.
So I threw out one question (less than 10 words) and I get more feedback than I thought. Sure. I never viewed Lowry, Kevin or Luis as allstars.... they are borderliners yes..... so are a group of players around the league. They are players who can thrive in one system and falter in another. More complimentary players. If you think you can build around one of those guys....then I don't know what to say And counting on an injury prone Yao late in his career was a mistake.... and it was more about the money.... I was strictly thinking about results and goals that they had set for themselves as an organization going forward. They did not do very well. McHale said he would develop some bigs. Well, Hill got shipped out, Patterson was below average most of the season. G.Smith and Morris never saw much PT. Parsons was a surprise... I think it's not enough I for one would go with the Thunder model
I guess some fans have more patience than others. Again I was pointing out the goals they have had in mind, and it included making the playoffs which they did not make. I think the beef some fans have with Morey is that he is not going to openly admit every mistake he's made. And he is not going to openly admit what his plans were, not those of the OWNER.
Well the original poster said Goran was on TV saying he would return to the Rockets, if all he said is what you put above that does not mean an automatic return.
You make some good points, but we all know that they were dealing a special set of circumstances with their move from Seattle to OKC with new ownership that was dumping salary for the sale of the team, NOT to tank for draft picks. The moral of the story is that, Just like San Anton. and Duncan, they struck gold and got lucky that they Portland took Oden instead of Durant. If the Rockets are going to turn over the franchise into a contender in the next 4 or 5 years, its going to take the same approach... getting lucky. Right now all they can do is swing for the fences, and keep trying to get younger, draft smart, and upgrade the team longterm as much as possible. Like alot of things that equate to success in life- Its not about luck, its about putting yourself in as many situations as possible to get lucky. The Rockets are trying lots of different options other than asking their players & coaches to lose on purpose. Unless they get lucky sooner rather than later, its most likely going to be a long rebuilding process, and the GM or owner that gets credit for the rebuild might not even be Morey or Les.
Its his boss, just as Im not going to tell one of my customers that my CEO doesn't know what he's talking about, Morey isn't going to put himself at odds with his boss who pays the bills. Morey has done enough to let us know that he has enough common sense to know that forcing his team to lose games would be the easiest way to get a higher draft pick that MIGHT rebuild the team quicker. Unless someone puts a polygraph detector on Morey, we aren't going to get him to sell out his own boss.
i think its dumb to not decline dragics player option when the most he could have made was 5 years, 30 million. did morey and les really think another year would have made him worth less than his current market value at the time? they saw what he did in the playoffs and they watched him in practice.
Yes. See here: http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q58 Given that Dragic made $2.1 million in 2011-12, the max starting salary the Rockets can offer him on an extension is roughly $2.27 million. Even back when Dragic was still playing 20 mpg, there's no reason for him to accept such a low $ amount contract since even experienced backup PGs frequently make more than $3.5 million/year on multi-year deals (examples: Sessions, Duhon, Ridnour, etc.). Beyond the $ amount, given that Dragic has made it clear that he wants to be a starting PG for his team (or at least to have a good chance of becoming one), it is doubly unlikely for him to sign a cheap long-term deal with a team that already has an established young good starter. The extension route simply could not have happened under the CBA. As for the "not pick up Dragic's $2.1 million option route," Bima has already explained why it's not some magic bullet to keep Dragic against his will: He could have signed a qualifying offer ($2.46 million) and become unrestricted after this past season anyway. In fact, there is a very good chance that he would have gone the qualifying offer route: Marco Bellinelli, a similarly situated player (an RFA playing back-up minutes), did exactly this. http://www.nba.com/hornets/news/marco_belinelli_signs_qualifyi_2011_12_13.html. The fact is, the severely compressed free agency period (2-3 weeks instead of several months) made it hard for the 2nd/third level restricted FAs who played back-up roles to negotiate any long-term offer worth signing. So, they might as well try their luck again next season. Hell, even some of the unrestricted guys ended up signing 1-year (-ish) contracts (Humphries, Landry, Kwame Brown, and Sam Dalembert).
I think the thread is actually about Goran Dragic. Sorry for assisting in de-railing it further. The issue is going to be finding that sweet spot in an offer they can make for Goran where what his contract still keep him in the asset column and not a liability. I think they have the upper hand in getting the first swing in signing him if they can stay competitive in their offer. Especially if they can move Lowry before July 11th. Look at Nene last Summer as a great example of "the most sought after free agent." Teams were going after him with near max level contract offers. Now, just a couple injuries later, who wants to take on that contract in a trade? There has been alot of discussion on what is the limit that the Rockets should pay. I personally have no clue, but if the price goes over 10 mil a season I would start to get nervous, especially with the new CBA ramifications coming up in the lux tax provisions coming up.
1. The Thunder/Sonic spent 4 years winning 20 and 35 games after 2004/2005 (when they had a 52 win season with Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis and Nate McMillan) and before they got into 50-win territory again in 2009/10. And the 4 years that the Thunder spent sucking is about the minimum that it takes going the "Thunder model." Most teams trying to follow the Thunder model end up looking more like the Sacramento Kings and the Washington Wizards of the last couple years. Whether you go the "tanking route" or the "non-tanking route," it takes at least 3-4 years for teams to recover. There is no magic model. 2. Who says the guys on the roster during your "rebuilding/recovery" period have to be the stars you end up "building around"? After Magic Johnson's retirement, the Lakers stayed competitive with good, but not quite elite talents like Vlade Divac, Eddie Jones, Nick Van Exel and Elden Campbell. None of these guys were even on the Lakers roster by the time they became title contenders again with Shaq, Kobe and Phil Jackson. Lowry, Scola, Martin, Dragic, Patterson, etc. may not be the stars that you "build around", but they are, yes, "assets" to the team.
