The Marcus Morris pick sucks even worse when you also consider that Jimmy Butler, Tobias Harris and Vucevic went after him. Having said that, getting TWO legit contender caliber starters allows 2011 to take the cake. This should be the standard that all his drafts are measured by
I wanted to give him credit for Scola but it wasn't a draft day trade. Scola played several years of pro ball after SAS drafted him. But it was a great trade.
You people need to get over this. How many other GM's also passed up over Leonard? It's easy to make these comments in hindsight. Fact still remains we ended up with some pretty good players of our own.
I'll admit I'm a bit overly-obsessed with the Morris pick. It's not really hindsight in my case, for months leading up to the draft I was hoping they'd be able to land Kawhi (I don't typically do much pre-draft research, but I got really involved in it that year), and when he fell to them I was ECSTATIC.... only to be completely crushed moments later.
I'm not using a double standard with the Pat draft. In the end Pat provided absolutely nothing for the Rockets and they dumped him for cap purposes to a team that desperately wanted to get rid of Robinson. If KPapp's non guaranteed contract helps land an impact player then that will be Pats best contribution to the Rockets. By far the worst draft IMO. Of course Morey only had one selection that year. I think Marcus Morris is a better basketball player than Patterson by quite a bit. Having said that, neither player was lottery worthy IMO. DMo & Parsons were both lottery talent level picks. Which is what made their draft so good.
Id go with Donte Green because it later fetched us Artest & paid instant dividends. The Brooks/Landry draft followed.
From that list only 2 players are currently starting in the NBA. And they both were drafted in the same draft. So I really don't understand people who vote for anything else but 2011. You rate draft by who you drafted, not who you didn't draft.
You guys are loco! Everyone knows that after top 10 picks it's a lottery what you gonna get from your pick. Morey got 2 western conference playoffs starting caliber players outside of top 19 in the same draft, that's absolute brilliance. And you blame him for not getting good pick at 14. If Kawhi was such an obvious pick for you, why the freckles he was drafted so low? BECAUSE HE WASNT A SURE THING. How many more GMs do you know who drafted 2 starters in the same draft at 20th pick and worse?
In 2011 draft there's only 1 guy who was a starter this year and wasn't picked in top 19. Jimmy Butler. Only 8 players total in entire 2011 draft were starters on this year's playoff teams.
Patterson is a solid role player, got injured way too soon, low ceiling player though yet solid projection at that time
I'm also sure there were other times when you were clamoring for a player who turned out to be bust, while Morey took a different player who has succeeded. The draft is a volume thing. Go by individual picks and even the Spurs look stupid (check out how many lol worthy picks in hindsight they made) but totality is really what it matters. And while I don't know if Morey's the best, he's certainly in the upper tier.
I can't believe the hate for Marcus Morris and especially Patrick Patterson. First off the criticism of Pat p is completely without merit. The guy has an ORPM of 2 plus. Of non-Allstar level PF he is the best offensive talent. As for MM he is a rotation player on a team that is playoff worthy. Of course other better players were available but Morey still got ROI.
I take Parsons and Aaron Brooks as "successful" picks although both are flawed and might be on the decline already
I have often wondered if we picked Kawhi would San Antonio have taken Morris with that pick and if so, how would he have turned out as a player and how would Kawhi have turned out on Houston? There is a lot to be said for an amazing coach. Pop probably could have made Morris a much better player.
Morris played about 1/3 the number of games for Rockets as Patterson did. Morris gave Rockets some moping about being in D-league his rookie year, then a half-season of ball before being dealt. (With worse numbers than Patterson). That is pretty much "nothing" going by the standard used. All in all, this says something about Morey's drafting that [at very least getting] an actual NBA level rotation player [of out a single draft, all picks added together] is the CRAPPIEST that he's done.
