I guess Bucher doesn't realize that you are supposed to hit on top 5 draft picks and are considered lucky to hit on guys drafted 14th or later. He also must not realize that using late picks, like #16, on high upside players is exactly what you are supposed to do. Especially if you have 3 picks.
He's being an idiot. On purpose. Morey is the only GM who's team remained competitive through a rebuild. In other words, the Rockets are playing by the rules of the NBA that every team is trying their best to win. Tanking is a loophole in the system that every team has figured out and tries to exploit. Bucher is writing a fake opinion for the sake of writing and getting webpage hits.
Did we already point out that Rich Bucher is an dummy who is dumb and if his dumb sources and dumb opinions had any truth to them, then Kobe Bryant would be with the Bulls right now? Oh we did point that out? Alrighty.
Where do you get this from? You think drafting Parsons, C-bud, Landry, Brooks etc. are not a resounding success? Obviously you can only draft where your position is, right? Or are you saying Morey has to get Lebron in the 2nd round before you acknowledge he's a good drafter? As for playing the numbers game, that's because we get low end picks and you can afford to take a gamble on those. At the end of the day if you missed on 2-3 second round picks so what, you can buy those every year. Morey is human and is not above criticism, but his drafts shouldn't be one of them. One last thing, I see people here dismissing the asset building like it's nothing, but that's a trait that makes Morey and his FO one of the best. If you can build your asset base year after, then eventually you can trade that for a superstar, like what NYC did for Melo, Celts did for KG/Allen, and the Lakers seem to do every cycle of their contention. That is so much more reliable than tanking and drafting because the superstar trade will be inevitable once your asset base becomes too good to pass up. Case in point, we started out capped out and with no young players on year 0, and have completely turned it around by year 4. On the other hand, you have tanking teams like Sacramento looking to rebuild again, 5 years after they got Tyreke Evans. Or how about Toronto, how many years has it been since they got the number 1 pick?
Nah, it's all good (sorry if I sounded whiny). I edited the original post to include all the comments.
You're that guy that extremely underrates a person when you think that everyone else is overrating him. Your entire argument is illogical just like that Harden argument you made.
Bucher uses Pekovic as an example of Kahn's success pulling a useful player late in the draft. Kevin McHale drafted Pekovic.
One thing Bucher is missing in his analysis: Minnesota's best player (Kevin Love) wasn't acquired by Kahn. He was acquired by his predecessor, Kevin McHale. Morey, whether you like the results or not, has pretty much built up this roster on his own. And he's done it while evidently under orders to keep the team competitive year in and year out. Bucher blasts Morey for his selection of Royce White. No doubt, it was a high risk move and its looking like he swung and miss on that one. But Morey also hedged his bet by acquiring multiple picks. While some execs may have gotten nothing out of a draft in which they traded away one lottery pick and blundered on another first rounder, Morey maneuvered to get a third first rounder with which he selected Terrence Jones. In Bucher's defense, there may be something to his point that Morey gets more "benefit of the doubt" from the media due to his accessibility and openness regarding the rationale behind his transactions.
Lol maybe someone should point out to him that Pekovich and Love were Mchale picks, and they could have had both Parsons (drafted him) and Dmo (sold his pick to us).
Bucher's making the same mistake you get from comparing box score stats - he's not adjusting for context or relative situations. Put Morey where Kahn was a few years ago with Love & a slew of high lotto picks - I would believe the Wolves roster looks much different and better. Under Kahn, the Rockets probably end up tanking - maybe they're even better. Not by choice though.
Not to be an overly Super Morey defender or anything but Bucher's argument here for comparing the two GM's side by side is a bit ridiculous. The only thing you can say about their similarities is that they both have young teams fighting for a playoff spot with one young all-star player, some up and comers, and salary cap flexibility in the future. Many teams should feel so lucky. Look as hard as everyone has been on Kahn the past half a decade, you can't argue that their team is in the worst situation in the NBA by a longshot. The only thing they really have going against them is the fact that they are in Minnesota, and the owner/gm might have ruined their relationship with their one star player, and that player might force his way out in a couple years. So despite Kahn's reputation as being a complete idiot, he's still managed to put the team in a desirable position moving forward, just as Morey has managed to put his team in a desirable position moving forward as well. So aren't we just comparing two GM's who have done their job well up to this point despite some controversial moves? Both GM's have been sort of gunslingers in the past that is going to open them up for major criticism but that gunslinging and making risky bets is mostly what is to credit for them getting to a desirable spot moving forward. -The Royce White situation, the Terrence Williams trade, etc. have been risky bets that haven't paid off for Morey, but think about everything else risky that has paid off... the asset accumulation that led to James Harden, the Asik & Lin contract negotiations, the unpopular amnesty of Scola, etc. Those risks that haven't paid off are incredibly small in comparison to the big risk that so far have paid off dramatically. So would you rather have Morey NOT taken risk at all and be stuck with Dragic, Scola, Camby, and Courtney Lee for another 4 to 5 years, or would you rather have a controversial GM(Kahn or Morey) in charge who has the balls to make moves like this to rebuild the franchise??? If my team is where the Rockets where last season, give me the gunslinger all day long.
I could understand people making outlandish claims, but never have I seen something as wrong as what Butcher wrote. It's like attempting to argue that Kwame Brown = Marc Gasol.
Exactly! Was about to post this. Kahn came on in May of 2009 and the T-Wolves drafted Pekovic 31st overall in 2008, under McHale. He also said, "Check the players taken later and feel free to point out the picks that a dozen other GMs wouldn't have made drafting in the same place" -- it's not like they aren't there. He did that with Morey, but not with Kahn. In 2009, Stephen Curry and Brandon Jennings were both point guards taken after Flynn. In 2010, there was DeMarcus Cousins and Greg Monroe -- both have quite a bit more value than Wes Johnson right now... and as for wing players, so does Paul George. In 2011, Jonas Valanciunas jumps out right away. But the point is -- Daryl Morey hasn't been drafting in the same place as Kahn... he's been drafting from a much weaker spot, and he has been trying to get as high as #2 in several of those drafts (in many cases, talking trade with Kahn). His targets were Rubio, Cousins and Valanciunas... that's pretty good. People like to point out that Sam Presti has just been "lucky" because he had high picks. There definitely was some luck to it, especially in 2007 when he got Durant. But he still had to do a ton of scouting and make the right calls in 2008 (Westbrook) and 2009 (Harden). It seemed like #4 was high for Westbrook that year, and I remember many saying they should have taken Tyreke Evans over Harden in 09. Kahn, despite having the 5th, 6th, 4th and 2nd picks over 3 drafts, hasn't had that much success.
Bucher and Morey do not exactly get along... So this is nothing new. Bucher has long been angry that Morey won't leak him information.
This point x 1000. Bucher pretends that Houston and Minnesota have had the same lottery odds in the past few years, and tries to bring up Bledsoe, and others to justify this. Also he forgets the pressure that Alexander put on Morey not to tank at all, but to keep the team fairly competitive, which of course makes rebuilding a lot harder.
Maybe...signing Russian national teammates Alexey Shved and AK47? Those don't look like McHale's moves. Although I'd argue that failing to give Kevin Love the Love he deserved with the extra contract year, cultivating discontent like that, easily outweighs whatever good Kahn has done this year.
