Did we all forget about Kelvin Cato's and Mo Taylor's contract, the previous draft picks (most notable besides yao being: luther head, nachbar, and eddie griffin), the plethora of free agent choices before Morey (stromile swift, talks of jason williams to name a couple). Be thankful to have Daryl Morey. There was a time when there was no hope. A Steve Francis headache away from sinking the entire ship. There was a time when we complained about our huge hole at power forward and Antoine Walker didn't sound half bad. Instead we got a near 20/10 power forward for nearly nothing and now we're complaining about too much depth. 90% of the NBA couldn't acquire a superstar free agent during the lebron and melo sweepstakes.* Think about it. If you were a rich young millionaire athlete with very powerful agents, would you want to live in Miami, New York, LA, or....would you want to live in Houston. If your a junior accountant making 50k, then cheap housing and no state income tax might sway you. But then you see the beautiful beaches of Galveston and then you begin to weigh your other options. Be thankful you're not Minnesota or Milwaukee. * *
The name of the game is about winning championships...if your thankful for anything else or being above mediocrity maybe you should look into a different sport to follow?
Great thread. I no longer spend draft day locked in an all-day cringe. I trust Morey to try to SENSIBLY move up, to explore REASONABLE trades, to buy a couple of 2nd-round picks, and to surprise everyone with a head-scratching pick that ends up making other GMs jealous 6 months to a year later (Brooks, Landry, Patterson). Morey's 10 picks in his 4 drafts so far have produced: 5 starters (Brooks, Landry, Batum, Budinger, Patterson) 2 benchwarmers (Dorsey, J. Taylor) 2 probable never-NBAers (Newley, Leunen) 1 juries-still-out (Llull) 50% productive starters? 70% make an NBA squad? That's a far sight better than most GMs do. The CD-induced cringing is no longer a problem on draft day.
Also, keep in mind that most of those were crappy picks. We aren't a franchise like Charlotte or Minny that, despite years of high lottery picks, continue to suck through their own ineptitude. I think the highest pick on that list is Patterson at 14. Will I be disappointed if we don't make a splash tonight? You bet! I really, really want the Rockets to make a big move that gives us a solid foundation to build a contender. But I'm not going to be upset. Morey's done a fantastic job since he's been here, and if we don't make a big move, I'll assume that it was because there wasn't a favorable one to be had, not because Morey doesn't understand the team has problems.
Russilo made an interesting comment in his podcast; "The Rockets are very active. However, side note to that, the Rockets are always active because they offer nothing"
This would be Morey's soliloquy. " Draft days I own, Fear consumes my enemies, hiding from me, leaving me with no one to exploit. Though I see no stars in the horizon, I dream of winning big. Thy listen to my words of wisdom on twitter Mine tummy is growling, three a.m, o'er what is the fuhrer doing at this time, I ponder. I must send out this last tweet, before I put myself to sleep, to the soothing vocals of buble. I'm awesome." Daryl morey
there isn't much to offer. no all stars. often injured best player (martin), aging second best player (scola) on a long term deal, and a bunch of young guys who proved next to nothing yet.
True, true, every work of it, I think Morey has done a brilliant job, but I disagree with him on rebuilding. Sooner or later, we're going to need to tank. I hope I'm wrong, though, I hope Morey surprises everyone tonight.
