I've been one of Morey's biggest critics over the past year or so, but to compare Morey's draft success with Kahn's is...yeah... Bucher's a hack. Let's not forget that Kahn came in with Kevin Love and Al Jefferson. There's just no way you can objectively look at his track record and think he's done well.
Forgot to add that this is likely a shot at Yahoo!'s Adrian Wojnarowski, who has done some critical pieces on Kahn. http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=188169 http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=230590
We'll start with 2006, since the general consesus is that he was the guy making those decisions, even though he was only assistant GM. We'll ignore players traded before ever playing for the Rockets. 2006 - Steve Novak (2nd rounder) - Good value for where he was picked. Lior Eliyahu (2nd rounder, bought) - Still not playing in the NBA. 2007 - Aaron Brooks (26th) - Great value, Carl Landry (2nd round) - Great value, Brad Newley (2nd round) - Still not in NBA. 2008 - Maarty Leunen (2nd round) - Still not in NBA, Joey Dorsey (2nd round) - Sucks 2009 - Jermaine Taylor (2nd round) - Sucks, Sergio Llull (2nd round) - Still not in NBA, Chase Budinger (2nd round) - Great value 2010 - Patrick Patterson (14th) - Decent player & reasonable value, 2011 - Marcus Morris (14th) - Decent player & reasonable value, Donatas Motiejunas (20th) - Good prospect, Chandler Parsons (2nd round) - Great value 2012 - Royce White (16th) - Good prospect, but market value is low, Terrence Jones (18th) - Good prospect, with value There haven't been that many stars that Morey has missed out on, and he hasn't really completely whiffed on a pick (2nd rounders don't count), though White is trying to threaten that. He's had 9 2nd round picks and 4 of them are rotation players in this league, and a 5th is still very up in the air. That is an extremely high success rate for 2nd round picks.
This is sour grapes from Bucher. Morey has long frozen him out, and he's hated it. So, while he says Kahn gets a bad rap from the media for his media relationships (or lack thereof), he's basically using the same tactics against Morey. Idiot.
Completely agree. Even if Khan (instead of McHale) had drafted Pekovic, this was not a move that deserves a great deal of applause. Conventional wisdom at the time of the 2008 NBA Draft was that Nikola Pekovic was a LOTTERY talent who was still under contract overseas and who WOULD NOT come over under the first round rookie scale salary. Hence, no team was going to draft him in the first round; however, MANY teams were dying to grab that #31 overall pick in order to get Pekovic's draft rights (including the ability to bring him over before 2011 at a higher than rookie scale salary). Sadly for those other teams, the Timberwolves were better at sucking than all other teams that year and held that #31 pick. So, for Minnesota to have taken anyone other than Pekovic at that pick would have been sheer stupidity. Clutch, I also love your comparison of Kahn to Sam Presti, as I think it is the most illustrative of the difference between a very good GM and a mediocre-at-best GM. Westbrook in 2008 was a stroke of genius by Presti, as I had heard most draft experts say that he should have taken someone like Brook Lopez at #4 instead. Also, there was much talk leading up to the 2009 NBA Draft that OKC maybe should take Ricky Rubio and slide Westbrook over to SG. Presti instead opted for perhaps the best talent on the board (Harden, who was amazingly not getting any real attention other than being slotted high in mock drafts) who also played a position of need (SG). Harden was a perfect fit, willing to come off the bench rather than be a prima donna as most top-3 picks would be if they weren't starting. All that said, I think Ric Bucher's primary point--regarding GMs' media relations playing a role in how their job performance is perceived--is a very good one. I think he just went a little too far into the Morey-Kahn dichotomy (which I actually think was an interesting one for Bucher to use) and got lost in the weeds. Still, his overall point should not be lost, as it is a salient one.
I am not saying Morey is worse than Kahn. Only that people seem to worship Morey as this incredible GM and Kahn as this terrible one when in reality neither to date have had any kind of incredible success. And I said Morey has been successful in getting assets. I am not saying he is bad at the draft. But he's also missed a lot of good players - he's not "amazing" - he's no Jerry West that is. Why that provokes such a crazy reaction on this board is almost amusing. My biggest issue with Morey and his drafts have been him taking undersized players - which is ok for role players on killer teams but not so great in rebuilding in my opinion. And to the other posters on this board. I wouldn't call Parson a "diamond" - yes, it's great that he has shown himself to be a solid player coming out of the second draft, but Parson wouldn't be starting on many NBA teams. It was a good pick. Too early to say he's the next Jeff Hornachek. Look, I like Morey - I think he's a solid GM. But all I am saying he is not above criticism. You guys fawn over him - good loyalty, but to me, it's a little of the LOF syndrome. The White pick though was absolutely a terrible idea. He deserves criticism for that. And I think Pat Patterson was not a great pick either.
Stupid article.. Ignorant opinion... False assertions by a disgruntled hack: #1 The best players on the Wolves pre dated Khan and were actually acquired by the much maligned McHale. #2 His only "hit" was Rubio, whom is far from a lock at this point. He has serious flaws. #3 Khan was allowed to suck, Morey was not. #4 The Harden trade trumps everything Khan has done. #5 I guess getting Parsons, Buddinger, Landry in round 2 is nothing special. #6 Lowry for Alston and Scola for VSpan doesn't matter #7 Signing Omer instead of Darko doesn't matter #8 Getting a 23 year old lead guard getting 26/6/4/2/1 with a PER of 23 isn't a great move. Gotcha Bucher.... Just like Kobe would never play for the Lakers again.
no s*** he hasn't been successful in the draft. This isn't the national football league, where you can find talent all over. You'd be lucky to find one star in a four year span with a fifth pick let alone 6th and higher. Ay dios mio, what happened to Bucher? he used to be legit.
You have to go back to 2004 for the last time the T-Wolves finished with a better record than the Rockets. Daryl Morey has never had a losing season.
I posted this on the comments section. This was just pissing me off. Rick, are you serious? Morey has never had 5 top-6 draft picks to work with. He's turned a roster that had to over come Yao/T-Mac, and turned it into what it is now. How many valued draft picks did Khan hit on? Look at Morey's finds: Aaron Brooks, Carl Landry, Chase Budinger, Chandler Parsons, Greg Smith, D. Motejunas, and Terrence Jones, even though the last two are based on potential. Even Marcus Morris and Patrick Patterson may out play their drafted slots. What about trades? Broken down T-Mac and Landry for K. Martin + 2 first round draft picks (1 pick was given for Jordan Hill via Lakers)/right to swap picks, Rafer Alston for Lowry, which then led to James Harden. What about basically nothing for Luis Scola? How about turning Camby's contract into 2 second round picks and Toney Douglas? How about getting Lowry on his 4 year 24 million contract, signings of Asik and Lin, Parsons to a 4 year $4 million deal? Rick, you're still not convinced?
Thank you for not including guys like Rudy Gay, Nicolas Batum, Nikola Mirotic, etc., as none of those players were even drafted by the Rockets. They were drafted by other teams but were merely technically selected by Houston for timing purposes before a trade could officially be announced. That said, I would add Donte Greene and Jeremy Lamb to that list, as both of those players were actually drafted BY the Rockets to play FOR the Rockets. They were just traded later, before ever playing a regular season game for Houston.
This was maybe the dumbest thing I have ever read. The **** I'm currently taking has more credibility than this. I'm glad bucher let's the fans know how little knowledge of cap room he has in this piece. And praising the contract that may be a lynch pin the departure of love is pretty damn hilarious.
