You have to hand it to Morey. I have always been one to think he was a good GM who took risks, value oriented, but incapable of building a true contender because of his hog assets without tanking mentality. Rockets would be trapped in Mediocrity forever because of his refusal to blow this team up and start over. Well. Somehow...somehow, this team is now completely, COMPLETELY transformed. There is not a single Rocket player from the start of last season. NOT A SINGLE ONE. Everyone is gone! He not only blew this whole thing up. When the pieces fell, we now have a young talented player at EVERY POSITION, with one being a superstar, another being a guy who has show he can play at a star level and no reason to think he won't again, Parson who is is steadily improving and looking like the next Toni Kuckoc, a center that is a defensive beast and maybe the best rebounder in the game, and now a PF who was picked 5th in last year's draft!!! He blew it up and when the chips fell we have the highest scoring most exciting team in the league that all of a sudden everyone wants to play here? And enough cap room to sign another superstar in the offseason? What the heck happened? Has this every been done in NBA history? Thank you Daryl Murray - happy days are here again!
Yes, he was. He was technically on the team. It helps you make your point to say he wasn't because his contract took longer to finalize, but he was there in the gym watching practice.
It's nothing short of incredible. Even if Robinson, Jones, White or Dmo don't turn out to be great players, Morey hasn't committed us financially in a way that would hamstring the franchise for years to come; and they could likely be repackaged for something off value. In fact, the only player Morey has really tethered the franchise to happens to be a superstar. So few GMs can really say that. Morey's gambles usually have incredible upside and very limited downside. This is a guy that doesn't get caught with his pants down, even when he makes a mistake. He always has an exit strategy. Hes also put together arguably the best farm system in Pro basketball with the Vipers. He's very talented at what he does.
Chandler played off the bench and then worked his way into the starting line up 1/3 way though the season so he was definitely here. Greg Smith, I'm not sure. Either he was on the bench or in the D-League. He was technically apart of this team though I believe.
IIRC, Smith was in the D League. He was here for what little camp they got. and yes Lou, Parsons was here as a part of the team....he wasn't a starter at the start of the season, but it didn't take long for him to become one.
He signed after training camp - I was confused by the lockout since he came in on Dec 17th. Close enough.
Other teams need to take note of this. In a couple of years this might be the norm. Morey is a trendsetter.
Happys days are one the days we win games on this site. We are not done yet. Too early to say. But I will say the Harden deal is a freaking robbery.
I feel like this thread is getting derailed. Regardless of whether or not Parsons and Greg Smith were Houston Rockets at the beginning of last season (and they were), what Morey has accomplished is mind boggling. When he started trading all of our veterans for draft picks, I thought this was a team that would be lucky to break 30 wins. Generally speaking, saying a team is 'the youngest team in the league' is just the nice way of saying they're the worst team in the league. Instead, the youngest team in the league is looking playoff bound in the Western Conference. I feel like this team would be safely a top 4 seed if they were in the Eastern Conference (to me, only the Heat are clearly better than the Rockets in the East) and may still finish as high as the 6th seed in the West. And then there is the cap room. We're doing this with the cap room to sign a max salary free agent. That's completely bonkers. Meanwhile, a team with three former MVPs is desperately trying to catch up with us. It's a good time to be a Rockets fan.
Two players with seven years experience (Delfino and Garcia... neither expected to be here next year FWIW), Harden has three years of experience, and the rest have two or less. And... beaucoup bucks in available cap space. All the while improving the team. In Moorey We Trust.
