They reached on Harden and took a major gamble on Westbrook. Both of those players weren't amazingly hyped up going into the draft. And they drafted Reggie Jackson late who has shown flashes of being a very good player.
Drafting Kawhi #15 was a slam dunk, even if it came at the cost at George Hill. They were likely to lose Hill in free agency anyway. Picking up Danny Green after getting waived by the Cavs, developing him and signing him to a bargain deal was a slam dunk as well. Same with drafting Splitter, although they may have slightly overpaid him this off-season. Of course the Rockets could have had Kawhi themselves but went with "franchise player" Marcus Morris instead. The Rockets obviously get credit for drafting Parsons, of course, but considering they went with both Morris and D-Mo before drafting Parsons + some other moves that didn't turn out all that well, I don't see a case for the Rockets management being better than the Spurs.
The jury on Dmo is still out though. Post players take longer. But if he ever becomes a Bargnani, I cannot really complain because that would be an NBA player. If he can become a defender, more power to him.
Rockets management has a long way to compete with Spurs management that got Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili. Recently, the Rockets have added Harden, Howard, Parsons, Asik, Lin, Beverley, Dmo, Jones, Garcia, and Smith. Rockets had more cap room to work with to get Howard, but Spurs had opportunity to acquire the other players listed via the draft or trade. In less than a year, the Rockets acquired two top ten (or 20 if you aren't a big fan of Howard or Harden). Rockets current management still needs to show it has the marathon like skills of San Antonio's, but they are looking very good right now in the sprinting category. It amazes me how underrated Duncan and Parker are. The Spurs have been dealing from a position of strength and stability ever since they drafted Parker.
30 teams out of 30 would have drafted Duncan. I'm not sure if Spurs management deserves credit for that. Maybe for tanking in the right year. Their other moves have been solid throughout the last decade, and they were clearly ahead of the curve with international scouting. They deserve their spot as a top ranking management, but the fact remains that the pillar of their success lies with drafting Duncan, a move anyone would have made. On the other hand, the Rockets current roster is constructed wholly based on management's own merit. With many non-traditional, and innovative maneuvers such as the poison-pill contracts for Asik/Lin, and the reverse lottery protection in the Lowry trade that was the key to acquiring Harden. And even the Harden trade itself, with the Rockets one of the only teams willing to bet a max contract on him through their own due diligence and analytic projections. All leading up to and setting up the window to lure Dwight Howard, a top 5 player when healthy, in free agency. The Rocket did their own work and created their own luck. No one handed them a Tim Duncan or Kevin Durant.
How glorious life would have been for us Rockets fans if the Nets had won that draft. To add insult to injury, the Nets shot themselves in the foot by drafting Keith Van Horn. Not that it was a great draft otherwise; few knew Chauncey Billups, let alone Tracy McGrady, would wind up being so good. But still. Oh, wait. De-railing thread! ESPN Future Power Rankings! Rockets #3, Rockets #3, Rockets #3.............
This...infact, the Rockets had to fight an image of indifference by other star athletes in the league. ie. Melo, Bosh, Gasol, Dwight, The Rockets were able to project Harden as a star even though his role was limited in a OKC uniform. Morey was desperately trying to find someone marketable... really the only luck that the Rockets had was that Presti called Morey first to offer Harden.
Those other teams turned their respective deals down because they lack Morey's player analysis skills. Morey called Harden a foundation player and designated him for the 5-year supermax before Harden played a single game with us. At that same time, half the media and fans were calling the deal "good haul" for the Thunder and how the Rockets were "forced to overpay" Harden. You think the Wizards would turn down a Beal+stuff for Harden today? Of course not. But they did last year because their GM could only look at Harden's superficial stats and contributions.
100% agree with you. I was just pointing out that our luck wasnt only when Presti called Morey but when all the other teams said no to Presti first. Which really made our chance to get him a crap shoot. Hence the saying Hind sight is always 20/20.
