LOL from what I can see the ones here who keep whining are actually people who always go with their gut feeling no matter what. If you have an awesome team, then passionate guys like that are the best because they will be the ones who will bring the fight to everyone else and always bring zest and energy to games. The problem is if you have a mediocre team these guys will be the ones who will always rain on your parade. We're not the Lakers, Miami or OKC. No ****, right? However, what will change that if DM wasn't the GM? Will we suddenly get Durant, or get Howard to sign here? Is DM the one blocking all these superstars from coming to Houston? The OP hit the nail on the head, DM has been winning almost all of his trades, and his drafts weren't half bad either. So what the OP is doing is blaming the fact that Houston isn't a prime destination on Morey's lap and saying it's all his fault when really, very little of it is. Fact is, when you have a Non-glamour team you should either have a winning tradition (like Boston or SA) OR you should have a differential advantage (like a Billionaire owner). We have none of those things, DM can give everyone IPads but that won't change the fact that we built our team around Yao Ming and Tmac and those guys just didn't leave up to the hype. You can blame it on DM all you want, but at the end of the day if you're gonna blame someone then say what he did wrong. Don't put misleading statements out there like "We've never won for 5 years!!!!" without pointing out stuff he could have done. And no, saying we should have traded Yao Ming for Blake Griffin when he was still playing doesn't count. As far as I can see though, Morey got us an exciting young pg, a defensive 7 foot stud, and has a total of 4 rookies ready to suit up and show us what they got. Let's not forget that we have a guaranteed lottery pick coming in next year thanks to him trading away Rafer Alston as well. IMHO people complaining about Morey doing a terrible job esp. this offseason should stop trying analyze b-ball and just watch ESPN highlights instead.
I guess the question is.... given the circumstances, do you blame Morey for not upping his offer, or are you relieved that he wasn't willing to literally give everything they have to get Dwight knowing that there is a possiblity that A. he might not play significant enough minutes next year, B. You wouldn't have enough pieces to then aquire the oh-so important secondary star, or C. Another team that Dwight has interest in playing for finds a way to move enough significant salarly before the end of the year to try and sign Dwight as a free agent. As someone that was pro-trading for Dwight given the circumstances, those 3 reasons alone deserve to question the notion that you give up everything just to get that one star IMO. I was all about getting Dwight if they were still able to retain enough assets to aquire that secondary player. Since that wasn't going to happen, I personally would have no problem with Morey admitting that they didnt up the offer for this very reason or any other listed. The general un-educated fan out there would probably not see it that way though and flame Morey for not trading for Dwight when he had the chance, so it makes sense why they would play the PR game for that reason.
I think it's a valid thread. I'm not sure I've lost my faith in him - as we still have the ability to rebound, but I do question his valuation models. There are several deals that have transpired over the last 2 years - that I felt we could have had if we didn't take such a hardline stance with said valuation models. I've argued with Gator over the years generally feeling that morey wasn't scared to pull the trigger, but was pragmatic and patient. Now I find myself switching to Gator's side and thinking that Morey is so scared of overpaying that has missed the boat on several deals. The one major caveat I hold out is that I myself have not been sold enough on any of the 'missed deals' to warrant throwing the baby out with the bath water. I like our rooks - felt we needed to bottom out and that we now finally have a direction. I am disappointed with the general league perception that we are no longer attractive as a destination, but know that will change once a player of merit establishes himself. /rant
The thing with the NBA though is that there are always boats every year. You will always have that star player about to be traded, so if the asking price is too high, its better to wait then sell your soul for one season of Dwight Howard. In this case though, there's no way Morey could have beat LA's offer. Orlando took a bad contract (Harrington), a volume shooter (15 PER), Vucevic (good talent), and lottery protected picks (guaranteed low first rounders) for Dwight Howard. Clearly they weren't looking for the best offer available, because even if you discount Houston, Brooklyn's offer trumps that easily.
Wait just a second right here. Assuming the Magic have the slightest ounce of rationality it should not have taken anywhere close to "everything [the Rockets] have" to beat the offer they eventually took. What I take this to mean is that one of two things happened: 1) Morey was SERIOUSLY lowballing the Magic, probably to an insulting level. Maybe he said something like "We will give up Patterson, Morris, and the Toronto pick". Maybe he even offered Jones or White, but the point is, he insulted them by not even being willing to part with a blue chip prospect (the Magic clearly see Harkless as one), so they took the lesser offer simply to back up their threat. 2) The Magic are completely and totally irrational and/or Dan Fegan had their balls in a vice. I actually find #1 much more plausible. Morey is all about value, he doesn't want to give up a cent more than he has to in a deal. We've seen rumored trades get sunk time and time again because of this. If the trade didn't get done because Morey said "we will not give up Lamb/Motiejunas no matter what" then I do blame him. We could have given up one of those guys and still retained more than enough flexibility to add a 2nd big player.
It's not that I disagree, but how long can you keep kicking the can down the road without producing results. I myself am not a fan of going out and getting someone else's used goods. And quite particularly with Orlando's, we had already been down that road before. Now it is time for results. Be it a trade or from the development of our draft picks. And in my humble opinion, one of the four rook's this year (if not more) needs to establish true star potential or Morey's ass is grass.
I don't understand how you can have that both way's. I think Morey has done a decent job,considering the limitations Alexander has placed on him.I also believe the bigger problem has to do with the NBA and it's failure to ensure talent is spread around the league.
I'm starting to think there may another GM out there who can do a better job or at least provide better results when it comes to a superstar player.
In a results driven league it was bound to happen people would lose faith eventually. I still think he is a good GM when you look at the whole picture but if results is all you look at then he hasn't fully delivered.
He has definitely missed the boat on getting players that would have improved the team. I am absolutely confident in that. That said, the players he's missed out on, I wasn't in love with in the first place and I don't feel they would have made us a championship contender. It's not both ways, it's just not a black and white issue.
It's Carlos Delfino. Our direction won't be controlled by freakin' Carlos Delfino. He's a Marcus Camby kind of move. Solid play, leadership, good contract. Whether you're the defending champ, or a last place team, there's always a need for those kinds of players. We're not giving him 10 mill over 4-5 years.
Rockets are still always the person at the prom with no dates. If Maori can't get a superstar to come here in the next free agency then he simply has to go.
People are just being impatient. Do people remember how recent the first of our superstars went down the gutter? Tracy Mcgrady in 2009. Do people remember just how recent the second of our superstars disappeared from the face of the earth? Yao Ming in 2011. 2007-2011. Those years were spent not being mediocre, but hoping our superstars would actually be healthy and building around them with key role players. If you think that's unreasonable and thought Morey should have tanked, then I don't know what to say. 2011-2012. This is truly the wtf year, and you can blame that to Les, not Morey. Les wasn't willing to completely change the direction of the team now that we didn't have any superstars and wanted to "rebuild without sucking". 2012-2013. Now we finally have a direction. If you want to complain about results, do so 2 or 3 years from now, not right now. This is truly the first year in which Morey is in TOTAL control of this team. Seriously I don't see the rationale behind people's hate for Morey.
And are we really still blaming Morey for Les' decisions? Didn't Les say acquiring DH became less important to him during all this mess? Seems like he became content with making money off of Lin and staying competitive with the impressive rooks..
That seems contradicting. You want to develop your young players and possibly tank but you going to sign a solid player to a already full lineup.
