Part of what Morey does to evaluate players is to find players that are undervalued by their current team (perhaps having a bad role and their talents are not maximized), and then trade for those players that would be better served in the Rockets system. That is kind of why I mentioned Brandon Knight. His play is off and on and uneven. He is a SG in a PG body and is miscast as a PG on the Bucks. But on the Rockets, Knight would mesh well with Harden since Harden is more of a PG and Knight can be that off the ball penetrating/shooting scoring option. And be a threat on the floor while Harden is resting. Kudos to CH for posting all of those Trade Deadline trades. That was a fun read.
Martin was a stud at the time. I was a little upset because I wanted iggy, but that was still a good haul for the corpse of tmac.
I think Kidd likes Knight, but I don't think he loves him. The reasons the Bucks MIGHT look to move him if the right deal comes around are 1) Knight is a SG in a PG body. So he is not a great distributor, not the type of PG that Kidd would prefer. He would prefer a pass first PG. 2) Bucks fans feel Knight shoots too many shots and takes shots away from their core guys in Gannis, Parker, Middleton. 3) Gannis, Parker, Middleton are the 3 key pieces Bucks fans say are their core. 4) Knight is a RFA, and Bucks fans fear he will want 12M+ per (Lowry salary). Bucks fans would prefer Teague money at 8M per. So they don't want to overpay for him. 5) Bucks fans like Knight, but feel he is best as a 6th man, scorer off the bench (so he doesnt take shots away from the core guys) 6) Middleton is also a RFA and is expected to command a decent raise. Perhaps Wes Mathews money. Bucks fans fear having to pay BOTH Knight and Middleton big dollars when they know Gannis and Parker will be getting their soon enough AND they have dead weight Sanders on the cap for 3 more years. So a number of factors. ;-)
I would add Morey acquires more years of service. 1.3 years of Patrick Patterson was traded for 3.3 years of Robinson which was then traded for rights to 2 guys in Europe and 2 picks. Aaron Brooks was drafted in 2007. He was flipped for Dragic and a pick. The pick was then flipped for rights to Motiejunas with rights to another pick. It is 2015 and the Rockets are still getting solid rookie scale performance out of a mid 1st round draft pick in 2007.
I'm not so sure I believe in this reasoning. People often rate future draft picks too highly. So, they are rating the trade too highly, too. You can't overrate a pick, thus overrating the trade. You cannot give a future pick best-case value. You must discount the value of a pick due to the very reason many are busts...especially mid to lower first rounders. Now, should a complete, utter bust like Royce White fully count against the re-grading of a historical trade? No, but we should not have given that pick maximum value in the original grading of the trade, either. Let's replace your Shved trade with the Asik trade. If NOLA makes the playoffs and we pick another marginal role player with the 16th pick, then that does devalue the Asik trade. It means we overrated the trade/pick, if we don't get a legit NBA starter out of it.
I think most people would agree that the Lowry trade got us the best deal in hindsight. The TMac trade was obviously the most ingenious. Kevin Martin was a serviceable scorer for a while. But Linsanity ruined the NY draft pick.
First, great thread OP. We need more of these! I'm in the minority, but Brooks for essentially Dragic and DMo (after trade) was a phenomenal deal. If we had just kept Dragic instead of Lin. Lowry and Martin deals were great, and led to more Morey magic, but the one above gets my #1 vote. Come home Dragon!
If that's the case, a team shouldn't be praised for picking a player who is better than expected. They always are, though.
1) tmac trade 2) rafer for lowry 3) brooks for dragic and a pick 4) crap for bobby jackson most of the time the deadline deals are about asset management more than finding a player that fits. these 4 improved the team immediately. the other moves were made to improve the team in the future. the tmac trade improved the team immediately and for the future which is why its #1 IMO.
When T-Mac was traded away from the Rockets??? Because when he was traded here back in 2004, that was under C. Dawson as GM.
I wonder if there is a "2009 Lowry" or "2011 Dragic" out there this year. Hard to tell, though, with young guys. Some of the turn out to be Goran Dragic, others turn out to be Jordan Hamilton.
Brandon Knight. (though he is a bit more accomplished then they were at the same timeframe). How about Greivis Vasquez? That would fit the Dragic/Lowry timeline.
I like Knight and Vasquez but don't think that they fit the mold. Lowry and Dragic were young guys whose development seemed to have stalled/regressed when they got to Houston. Knight is having himself a pretty nice season. GV is also a rotation regular and playing about as well as he ever does. GV is also 28 years old-- kind of outside the age range we are talking about with Lowry and Dragic.
The McGrady for Martin trade was the one that impressed me the most. But the trade for Lowry eventually netted us the draft pick that we flipped for Harden. BUT, in all fairness, the Sergei Lishouk draft rights seem to have been traded multiple times.
