i mean unless he played for free, it didn't matter. people on here still don't understand the rockets would still be over the cap even if he played for significantly less? yeah looks like it now they're stuck with a worse player on a worse contract. ouch, things have a way of working out and it blew up in tilman's face. good for him
for me that's the problem. it's not a Bill O'Brien situation, but there's an element of that. We are in a mess. I don't want to play Debbie Downer, but we really are. Precisely because our roster is now a lot of aging high priced players that are hard to move for good value in return, and because we have no draft picks. I think Gordon and Russ alone are like 40% of our cap right? I think it's gonna be a long few years to rebuild this team, but if we actually do it right; hire a GM that has a vision; stick to a vision that includes drafting players and developing players; im willing to endure a few bad years. I think the big mistake in the Morey/Les years was the notion that staying competitive (at the expense of truly rebuilding) is what the fans wanted. The fans wanted to see the team continue to improve. Annually sneaking into the playoffs for a first round exit or picking 14th/15th consistently in the draft wasn't doing us any favors. Fans can get behind a team that's continuing to improve; even if it is starting from the bottom. I hope the next regime learns from this mistake.
I am not shocked, I called it after the China thing that Morey would resign. This has been obvious to anyone paying attention. DD
Ugghhh. 2020 just keeps on giving. Tilman running the Rockets like a good restaurant he's hell bent on turning into an over priced, not as good anymore formerly good restaurant. He does have that formula down.
That's just the temperament in Houston sports. Championship cities like LA don't settle for this crap. Morey is the one who sold them on the whole "2nd most wins" in the past decade garbage. As if it means anything at all. Harden alone can carry us to a mid seed. Credit to Morey for lucking into Harden because not even Morey would have predicted he'd be this good. Outside of that, his roster building around Harden has been ridiculously overrated. He overpaid for CP3 and i understood the move. It nearly paid off, but it was Moreys live or die by the 3 that resulted in our abysmal brick laying game 7 where we refused to adjust and there's the L in a winnable game sans CP3. Maybe it could have paid off later if he wasn't forced to trade CP3 for WB specifically in an awful overpaid trade, but CP3 was out either way. That was Harden forcing CP3 out so Morey gets a pass for that. Let's not forget passing on teaming Butler up with CP3 and Harden before it all fell apart. What was it again? He didn't want to include PJ Tucker? Please..... Morey was good..he was a big part of our success and also one of the main reasons behind our failures to make a single NBA Finals. I'd credit our success to Harden's talent more than Morey's skill as a GM. Those who are upset would have been in an uproar after firing COTY Don Chaney after a 26-26 start and his assistant going the rest of the year at nearly the same pace and missing the playoffs and still hiring that assistant as the future head coach. Don Chaney won 52 games the year before with Hakeem missing a ton of games. Change is always inevitable. Morey had nearly a decade and a half. It's not working. You could tell trading Capela was an all in move for one final experimental run. It didn't work. Now the roster is a mess and it's time for change. Why do yall want to keep going like this?
Yeah, this smells like CYA for Morey (again). After the Rockets were eliminated by the GSW, Paul spoke about the need to make changes to the offense that included more motion and less reliance on Harden dominating the ball. And just like that he was gone. Sure, his contract was hideous but they knew that BEFORE they traded for him. AND, if Tillman was so afraid of "scary" contracts, them why did he OK going after Westbrick whose contract was just as bad as Paul's? No, what you had with MDA, Morey and Harden is three guys who were always more interested in proving themselves right than in doing what it took to get this team over the hump and into the NBA Finals. MDA was always going to go down doing it his way no matter evidence to the contrary that his system did not work in the playoffs. Harden was never going to change his style of play (ISO ball) to adjust to the defenses teams threw at him - especially in the playoffs. And Morey aka "The Smartest Guy In The Room" was never going to change ramming MoreyBall down the league's collective throats until he proved all the naysayers wrong by winning a chip his way.
Exactly. Same will apply to JVG imo. He's proven similarly stubborn to MDA in going down his way. No adjustments. Doubtful time away from the game changes JVG the coach at his core. Harden will clash with JVG because Harden wants it his way. If you want to just let Harden have his way and hire Lucas as Harden's puppet? You don't want to win a championship and we watch Harden likely retire a Rocket for getting to put up historic numbers for a few more regular seasons and flame out in the playoffs a few more times. LeBron can get puppets and have his own way and win some rings because he somehow can recruit superstars to join him even though Bron gets all the credit and Bron's fans minimize that superstar teammates talents to boost Bron up higher. It's unbelievable how he manages to recruit despite all that, unless AD got his and now will go join and lead another team? Harden can't recruit like that. He just won't get involved.
The Rockets are the homeless man's dodgers basically in the past decade. At least the Dodgers still have young talent
Good to see something from Codpiece. Let's see how this all shakes out. Tear it down? Wander aimlessly through the wilderness?
No matter how you feel about Morey, he has been a top 3 GM in this league for over a decade. Our very own dip$hit-in-chief-lite owner made it untenable for him to stick around. Some of us have been around for the entirety of the Rockets existence in Houston. I haven't felt this bummed since Hakeem went to Toronto or watching us go 14-68... We are worse off without Morey.
You realize why he would do that? There are only three possible reasons. Either he (1) intentionally sabotaged the team knowing full well that he would leave, or (2) he was forced to do something he didn't believe in and had enough of it, or (3) made a huge mistake and did not want to clean up his mess. Only a real scumbag would do #1. I know you believe in #3. Most of us think #2 is far more likely based on the past actions of Morey. Morey made mistakes. Some very big. I have been criticizing him throughout. But he always tried his best to correct it quickly rather than denied that it was a mistake.
TM: This was not Tilman Fertitta's decision. It was initiated by Daryl Morey. This was not Tilman pushing out Daryl Morey but Daryl saying 'Hey, I want to step away.' ... He came back from the bubble and decided he wanted to step away. This was not Fertitta's plan. Morey decided to take some time, catch his breath and spend time with his kids. For the Rockets, they promote Rafael Stone. Rockets will operate very similarly to how they did under Morey for the time being. ... TM: This is no secret: That trade was made because Tilman Fertitta wanted it made. He thought Chris Paul's contract was the worst he ever saw in business or in sports and because James Harden wanted it made. There was a personality clash. This is all well documented and reported. I still believe if necessary they could have managed that situation but once Russ became available, they saw an opportunity that Harden & Feritta wanted to pounce on and pounced on it. Daryl Morey was the biggest Chris Paul backer in that organization. No one has ever told me he made that trade with objections but I just can't help but think it was a deal where his two bosses - Tilman & Harden - said 'Hey, we want this deal made, get it done' and he did what he had to do to get it done. When that trade was made, it felt like this is either gonna work out or I'm not gonna be around to suffer the consequences. ZL: There has to be a shelf-life to this style of play. It's hard to sit around & watch Harden do his thing. ... There seems to be a shelf-life. They need a new pivot, new identity every 2 years and how much of that is because the way Harden plays. TM: He is for some guys like Ben McLemore, Harden can resuscitate a career. You put a guy in a very defined role, things he's good at, it can resuscitate a career. I can also see how it's so challenging for Chris Paul. ... TM: Harden will have heavy influence on who their head coach is. Jeff Van Gundy has widely been considered the front-runner, even before the job was open, so I think that comes down to Harden & lesser extent Westbrook and their enthusiasm or lack thereof on playing for Van Gundy. I don't know what that's going to be. Both of those guys & several other players have great relationships with John Lucas, which is why he has been able to emerge as a strong candidate. Stephen Silas is a really sharp offensive mind. In some ways, he might be the in-between where he could build those relationships & great from a strategy standpoint. (Still all in on microball?) TM: They went all in on microball but thought at the time they could find a bargain big man. If Clint is a full service Marriott, they thought they could find a Courtyard by Marriott big man. For example, they had discussions before the trade deadline & were optimistic they could get a deal to bring in Nerlens Noel, who will be on the market this year & would fit in a limited Rockets budget. Not saying they're signing Nerlens Noel but hypothetical, informed speculation, he's the kind of guy they're interested in. They'd like to at least have that tool in their toolbox. They don't want to have to be all the time microball but still be primarily a microball team. ZL: A lot of teams are looking, are watching PJ Tucker, who is in the last year of his contract. He's eligible for an extension. People around the league are watching. If they don't want to give him an extension, teams are sitting there looking, if he grows unhappy & wants out of there, he'd help us a lot. TM: PJ has made no secret he not only wants an extension but believes he's earned one. ... This won't their marketing slogan but if you're the Rockets front office, aren't you really operating on a year-to-year basis? TM: After they hire a head coach, what is the biggest question about the Rockets if you're taking a 2-3 year look? ZL: Unquestionably do they have a come-to-Jesus moment and explore what they can get for James. TM: Or does James come to them. ZL: Either one. They had championship or bust expectations. They have a volatile owner & didn't think they would meet those expectations. They're not close. TM: The Rockets mentality is Harden is the best player in the league. They're going to chase a championship as long as he's at that level but again, it's a year to year thing. James has given no inkling this is his thinking but at some point, Harden could come to the decision it's time to link up with a superstar on their turf. You look at the contracts, it's a 2-3 year window but it might be tighter than that. ... ZL: The legacy of Daryl Morey is the Harden trade & immediately after the Harden trade, he was in win-now mode the whole time. They don't even have any first round picks left on the roster. They traded everything and everybody to win now. They pivoted from identity to identity to co-star to co-star to co-star so fast. He chased everybody. The churning, the constant churning, it's hard. I don't know how much of that is Daryl's stars-above-all-else mindset or the difficulty finding a partnership that can last with James Harden. They seem to have expiration dates. TM: The Dwight thing, it's hard to blame Harden or Morey. It would be fascinating to see if Dwight had the mentality he finally got to this season during his time in Houston. ... The CP3 thing, there should be regret from Harden. Chris Paul didn't want to leave Houston. Morey didn't want him to leave Houston. D'Antoni did not want Chris Paul gone. Fertitta & Harden decided that was the best route for the Rockets. I don't put that one on Daryl Morey. ... ZL: They did look at Ty Lue. Any thoughts on what the Rockets saw in Ty Lue? TM: Ty Lue was a proven championship coach who had instant respect from Harden & Westbrook. If James Harden has his choice of guys, it would have been Ty Lue. At the same time, no one in the world is surprised he got the Clippers job. That was always expected, assumed. Rockets knew they would have to pull off an upset to hire Lue. Van Gundy, whether it's Van Gundy or not, will come down to how he meshes during whatever conversations he has especially with Harden. I don't have a feel for how that's gonna go. If it goes well, I still think JVG will be the guy. If not, Silas & Lucas are the other two candidates right now. I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility the search will continue but certainly seems like it'll come down to those three. ZL: I thought Kenny Atkinson would be a name that would get in there. TM: They talked to him. The thing there with Atkinson, maybe in 2-3 years he'll be a great fit in Houston when they're a franchise that could be similar to what the Nets just went through. No picks, find & develop players the hard way, develop/build a culture but not sure Atkinson is the guy you hire to try to take a team that has strong, veteran personalities & a very defined window that is short and say "Win now!" ZL: They're trying to figure out the locks on that window. I think Ty Lue is a really good tactical coach. ... ... TM: The Rockets will feel disrespected going into next year, I can promise you that. I still think they'll be a factor in the Western Conference, at least next season but at this point, it's a year-to-year thing. Their time table will be determined by what James Harden wants. Does he want to stick it out in Houston or a year/two from now, seek greener pastures.
I was wondering when this shoe was gonna drop. I'm pretty sure China mobsters own the league. Good thing my loyalty and attention ain't for sale and I can choose to root for another team. Made in the USA only.
Yeah, but baseball analytics is so mechanical. Once Moneyball was there, there has not been much mystery in it. Basketball analytics is much more complicated because the game has so many interconnected moving parts. I am not sure if Morey would be satisfied with doing baseball.
Every. Single. One. I like taking my kids to Rainforest Cafe. It’s a cool atmosphere, and they love just walking around. Then you look at the menu and everything cost 50% more than you expect, and is about on par with fast food. Same goes for Saltgrass. Deer antler chandeliers, servers in button up collared shirts...food is tasteless, but set at steakhouse prices. I worked for a private company that specialized in high level, personalized service. We were bought by private equity and then merged with another company that hollowed us out, but kept the veneer of the former company. We became drones with menial, pointless tasks. I hope we aren’t switching out the filet for the sirloin and keeping the price the same...but I’m afraid that’s what’s going to happen.
Dude exactly. I’m not some fortune teller, I just have common sense. The writing was on the wall last season and all these deep throating fake fans would call you negative and are the same ones now talking about finding a new team since morey is gone. us real fans were here before harden and will be here after. There will be a rebuild and we’ll be here for that too.
