I respect your reasonable tone. I have to assume Les Alexander and Morey are at least as motivated as we are to win, and they are at least as knowledgeable as we are. One day after the series, a year after the series, right this very moment, they know just as much as we do, and they care more. Yes, they care more! Posters on here are all "I played JV ball. Listen to my coaching philosophy." And Les Alexander is all "I won two titles. I hang with Hakeem." OK, people are upset that we lost. But the idea of fandom seems to have been lost. If it doesn't bring someone joy, he ought to improve his life by turning to something else. This endless dumping of pain goes deeper than Rockets basketball. These are people who do not feel well.
Morey has been solid, now he has a mid-level exception and an additional $5 million in cap space to work with to add some frontcourt depth and one or two 3 and D veteran players. I'm excited to see what we come up with. I'm more curious as to how he will approach the coaching situation, since it seems pretty clear he has a huge say in this. I think the Kelvin Sampson departure was a much bigger blow than the front office let on - they (rightfully) swept it under the rug to focus on the playoffs. With a couple of top notch assistants, McHale might be able to maximize his talents as a recruiter and motivator and let others do the playcalling. Between finding vets to round out the roster and finding McHale some coaching help, he is going to have a pretty busy summer. I was bummed after the game 6 loss, but only one team gets to go home a winner. With a few moves (we are closer than we have ever been) Morey can put us in a position to be that team.
Absolutely awesome post. I was just planning on reading the posts but this one is really excellent so I could not help but compliment it.
Excellent post -- thank you. I like to have fun with basketball, fandom, and this BBS. If one can't have a sense of humor about it, I agree that I hope they can find some pursuit that brings them some laughter now and then.
don't exactly want to leave it to assumption. these high level FAs will be limited. competing with other organizations. I don't think the roster is all that far away. i do think the way the roster functions seems to be further away than most think. the window is smaller than it appears.
This is pretty much perfectly said. For some reason most of those losing their mind on clutchfans can't comprehend that as much as they care about the Rockets, Les Alexander (who owns the team) and Daryl Morey (whose job depends on it) care more.
Also I'd like to clarify that what I meant about this is that he turned: Tmac into a lottery picked prospect and two first rd picks Rafer into Lowry Vspan into Scola Donte Greene into artest Brooks into dragic Kevin Martin/picks into James harden.
Caring too much is better than not caring at all. Les and Daryl should worry when fans stop caring about the team period because their legit concerns have been ignored by retaining McHale. It feels almost like a betrayal.
Your joking right?? Les Alexander came out publicly bashing Sterling, and suggesting they should liquidate the contracts of the players on their roster, and Les is Morey's boss.... What kind of F-Ing relationship do you think they have??? If I had to guess I would say Morey has probably never even met Donald, and might have never had a trade phone call with him on it since the Rockets and Clippers never trade with each other. Again... I really hope your just attempting a joke here, and not trying to insinuate something moronic.
Les and Daryl are doing just enough to make the crowd content for the regular season. They are making a move (Allstar move) and then either wait or move slow thereafter. They rarely make plethora of fast moves. Sometimes you go for it all. Kind like go all in.
I don't see how signing Brad Miller was Morey's worst move. Miller was signed to back up Yao. He was one of Aldeman's guys and brought 3-point shooting and great passing. Not Morey's fault that Miller didn't last as long with injuries. The T-Will trade has to be the worst move. Sure, he has immense talent and I admit I was very high on him, but even then he was one of those big IF guys. Much like Cousins or JR Smith: IF they have their head on right, they are great talents. In the case of T-Will, he rarely got his head on right. Overall, Morey still gets an A in my book. He was stuck with two useless contracts in McGrady and Yao, an aging roster that had no hope of growth, and in 3-4 years has changed the whole future of this team with Harden and Howard. How many GM's could do that and without ever getting top 5 pick, no less? He has made this team a contender again without having to tank and make Rocket's games an embarrassment to watch ala the Astros. AND he is not finished yet. He could add another star this summer or fill out the bench. Definitely a top 3 GM in the NBA or even sports world.
Exactly. Like I said in another thread, the Rox are in dangerous territory right now. I keep using the example of the Texans as an example of holding on to a coach too long and people losing interest/faith in the organization but Texans will always have a larger margin of error in this town more than any other team as far as a significant part of the fan base losing interest. In my opinion, the Rox are going to have to have a HUGE regular season and playoff run next year to make up for this with a significant part of the fan base.
I guess he is rather perfect. You could even argue that the talent we have given away plays an imperative role in making other GM's think they can get good value from dealing with us. If you keep schooling the league nobody will trade with you. Maybe it too is a good thing. Possibly. Probably not, but oh well. I love lamp.
Morey = genius at finding undervalued talent, landing all-stars, and managing cap space. Poor at picking a coach or arranging a roster in a way maximizes player potential. But I still think he's better than 90% of the GM's in the league
Lol. All of you using hyperbole and saying things like "the rockets are in dangerous territory right now" and "the rockets are going to lose so many fans by keeping McHale" are being silly. How many of you will actually not watch the rockets next season? Be honest. The rockets aren't in any sort of dangerous territory. Most, if not almost all of the high value tickets the rockets sell are to corporate buyers and long term season holders who will continue buying those tickets regardless. The rockets are in no danger whatsoever.
I think he's done a nice job on building the current team out of the 'remainder' of Yao's era. He brings two stars here in three years without having to tank (I don't mind tanking actually), while keeping the salary flexible which is important for further enhancing the roster. Some praise Morey for good at drafting players. I basically agree on it. Most of the lottery era picks ended up being traded, this on one hand shows that he actually picked (potentially) good players, but on the other hand tells the fact that he didn't bring us good role players. It's fine because the trades were operated to acquire Harden and Howard, but he needs to bring around strong supporting players quickly, while expects no high picks in the near future. Now is the time of real challenge.
A quant/stats GM hired someone from the old boy club who knows nothing about X/O, go figure. Shouldn't a quant/stats GM like someone who knows about X/O? Otherwise, how do they communicate? One is number driven, the other is eye-ball driven, guts-driven.
