Not in the least, when Adelman was here he actively fought with the FO and tried to block what they were trying to do at every opportunity. Adelman NEVER played young guys unless he had absolutely no choice. He's simply not a coach for a rebuilding team. As to Lowry, he had no problems at all until he lost his starting job. After that happened, he constantly complained about it instead of outplaying Dragic and getting his spot back. He outplayed Brooks and won the job from him and then I guess he just thought that he was owed the starting job from then on out. I don't blame a coach for a player whining about playing time when they get outplayed.
Morey really hasn't benefited from a "patient" owner more than the tylical GM. For example: Milwaukee just extended John Hammond for 3 more years and he's done less than Morey. Brian Colamgelo still has a job while Toronto flounders. Isiah Thomas was given how many years of rather expensive mistakes before finally getting forced out by the NBA after a sexual harassment scandal? Even Morey's old boss Danny Ainge had 5 years of having his team between 24 wins and mediocrity before finally landing Garnett. Morey managed to first add to a strong core, cultivating in the 08/09 Yao-McGrady-Artest team and, when injuries cost him both stars and cap room (their max salaries didn't go off books), took only 3 years after Yao's last game (and one after his salary's expiration) to land a new elite player. Teams have spend many more years in higher lottery territory trying to recover from a lost star (let alone two).
Imagine what Morey could do to a big market teams like the Lakers or Knicks. We're fortunate to have this GM on our side.
This is a no-brainer. DM managed to rebuild the roster in 5 years. We're far from a finished product but we're the youngest team in the league, has max capspace next year and a 23 year old franchise player. He even got Jeremy Lin the cash cow as a bonus. DM hit all the spots, from building a good contender to making his owner $$$, and he did it all without a top 10 pick (apart from Battier if you're counting that) and with Tmac losing 80% of his trade value and Yao retiring prematurely. People who say no are either LOFs, Trolls, Idiots, or all three.
You do realize that McHale is Morey's hand picked head coach don't you? Also that Morey has final say on the assistant coach hires? And that Morey will always have a head coach that will gladly take Morey's suggestions and implement them don't you? Well I would wager that McHale will retire and take a posh FO job before he gets canned. And when would he ever be fired? Right after Morey is escorted out the front door. Deal with it.
NAMBLA (North American Morey Ball Love Association) Of which I am not a part of. Morey is responsible for McHale and Sampson as coaches. And they suck at coaching strategy, and player rotations. Money drafted Royce White who is a bust. Off-season moves didn't make the team any better. We are last in the league in defense. He gambled everything, all our assets on trading for Dwight Howard. And now were left with spare parts instead of a bench. When you see the Rockets chucking up 35 threes a game and make only 10. Thats Morey's logic in action. The 3 ball is no substitute for good shot selection.
Morey's made his share of questionable moves. But the positive ones outweigh them, therefore he's been good to solid. Just have to look at what the Rockets are able to accomplish in: -cap room, no lux tax, no costly long term contracts -roster flexibility, ability to take in MAX star player -replacing players without sacrificing team performance -receiving good enough value on player transactions. -young players with upside -purchasing draft picks -finding undervalued "diamonds in the rough", players that can fit (Ex: Asik & Delfino) -true d-league farm system -opportunistic, finding loopholes to acquire players, doing their due diligence -fixing mistakes quickly enough (Ex: Trevor Ariza) Some of those are redundant, but its things that lots of teams can't even accomplish ONE OF. Look at THE PHOENIX SUNS compared to Houston, and that should be proof enough of how front office competency matters. Rockets might score lower in: -Coaching moves -moves with "foreign markets" in mind -unproven "moneyball" philosophy, then making coaches adapt to it -choosing "safe" picks over "upside" -being too "geek friendly", stat crunching getting people big-headed, annoying purists and regular fans -treatment of people as "assets" -too much roster turnover, giving more validation for "assets" sentiment. -lack of #PROTOCOL and #TRANSPARENCY handling sensitive issues Though some of those are image related, speculative, subjective, and some are about the owner or team direction in general (Ex: COMCAST) Aggravations but maybe not too detrimental to actual product on the court.
Morey is in the upper echelon of GMs and that with a willing owner who wants to win is the surefire way for sustained success in the nba. My guess is that Morey will end up moving on to bigger and better things, but in the meantime, enjoy!
Kinda tough to say, since Morey would have 1 more year to redeem himself with a big move. But woulda leaned toward "maybe no" until then. Can you imagine this season JUST having Jeremy Lin and Kevin Martin? Ugh (Though doubtful Martin lasted past this trade deadline) Not must-see-tv for me Instead of the James Harden adoration, in its place would be ADDING more criticism on the polarizing Kevin Martin. It'd be same cries of "mediocrity treadmill", letting Scola go maybe premature, and with the Comcast fiasco on TOP of that. Maybe woulda had people calling for Morey's head. Only way to have justified it would be full on play-the-rookies" "rebuilding" approach, arguing if Jeremy Lamb should eat into Martin's minutes. Asik woulda been a nice move by itself. But I think with no Harden, Lin woulda just been seen as a marketing gimmick especially if they had a losing record. But Harden validates them all to look like a full offseason of good moves.
LOL...I'm not even suggesting that Morey isn't a great GM. I'm arguing that one of his worst moves was giving McHale the coaching gig. Read my original post. I gave DM plenty of credit for the job he has done. I'm just not pleased with McHale, record or not. I think the Rockets could be even better with a proven coach. Without James Harden, McHale would be on thin ice.
Morey is average at best. Picking p pat over Larry Sanders, Eric Bledsoe and avery Bradley is a perfect example of why Morey should have not received an extension. Morey still relies too much on advanced stats. Morey is too conservative, he does not value potential enough because advanced statistics cannot accurately measure it. 2011 is even worst the rockets were in desperate need of a sf and they picked Patterson the year before, so what does Morey do he drafts Marcus Morris over kawhi Leonard, iman shumpert., Nikolai vucevic and Kenneth faried. Once again Morey advanced stats let the rockets down, his formulas don't take into account Marcus Morris lack of athletic ability. Drafting nothing but tweener pfs is not acceptable. This year drafting Terrence Jones and royce white is not acceptable. If Morey could of hit in 2010 and 2011 the rockets would already be an upper echelon team. It is sad that so many rockets fans are satisfied with mediocrity. There are only a few elite gms, in the nba and Morey is not one of them.
