Morey's draft picks in recent years may hinder him... Sanders Bradley Bledsoe Leonard Shumpert Faried Fourier Zeller Sullinger
Shhh...don't let Morey hear you say that, he may trade himself to the Kings for a guaranteed lotto pick.
Morey gets an All-Star who just may be a top ten player next year (arguably close to it this year!). Complains about players he didn't pick, who 85% of them may never even make it to an All-Star game.
Trades require some luck. Drafting you have the destiny in your own hands. Morey is an above average GM, but he's not the messiah that Bill Simmons or MIT Conference claims him as.
I would argue the exact opposite. The draft is a lot of luck - they have to measure players against other college players and determine if they would e a good pro... With a trade, you normally know what you are getting in return because the players have competed against NBA talent.
"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." (Usually attributed to Seneca, but it is on the wall of every HS football locker room in Texas as being said by either DKR or Lombardi.)
Let's consider this statement to be true. Morey has put himself in EVERY position available to stumble upon that luck. See, the thing about making an NBA trade (or almost anything in life) there are opportunities all over. You may not be able to notice them. You may sell yourself too short. You may simply just not have the resources to capitalize on them. Morey was able to do all of the above. That takes a lot of patience, knowledge, competence, strategy and yes, luck. Every successful GM has had their grand share of luck. But the thing is, it doesn't just stop at luck.
Jeremy Lamb is already a success in my opinion because he was part of the package that got us Harden. In the end it's not how you start but how you finish.
Don't understand the knock on Morey with his draft picks. We've drafted in the middle of the pack these last few years, and usually with those kind of picks it's a tossup between them actually being decent or useless. Hence why teams who draft in the middle, usually stay a mediocre team.
He didnt miss on Harden, who is better than everyone listed. So, for me, that makes up for everything else he's done in the past.
If you look at it that way then you can make a case that every GM sucks because they missed on one late round prospect.
