With all the bashing that has been unleashed on Morey so far, I think it is time to actually look at what he has done so far and realize how good a job he has actually done. First the misconception of the term moneyball. The reason we didnt trade for Camby is because Morey is all about moneyball, the reason we didnt get Rashard is cuz moneyball, the reason we didnt sign a FA is cuz moneyball, Brooks and Landry are moneyball picks. None of that makes any sense. The rox have only the MLE to offer. That is why we were never players in the Rashard chase. Camby is a very good established player and isnt going to be obtained for the junk people here offer (Rafer, Sura, Head). I dont even understand how draft picks can be moneyball related since the first round pick's salary is predetermined whether it was Brooks or Oden at 26. As for FA, if moneyball kept us from signing Rashard Lewis to a 6 year 113 million dollar deal, Jason Kapono to 24 million, Matt Carroll to 26 million, Gerald Wallace to a 57 million dollar deal, and Amir Johnson to a 25 million dollar deal (as proposed by many here), then thank god for moneyball. Second, is the thought he screwed up the draft by not picking a PF at 26. Clearly the PF the Rox wanted was Landry. Thats why they passed on Mcroberts, Davis, and Fazekas twice (the 26 pick and the 31 pick). They also loved Brooks and seem to have gotten both players they coveted. Think about it, Morey went into the draft with just the 26 pick. He ended up with Brooks, Landry, and Newley and all it cost was next year's second round pick (hopefully late in 2nd round). Third is the thought he traded one Euro who wouldnt play next year, for another who might not play next year. I would think the Rox are sure Scola wants to be in the NBA next year and can work it out financially. Even if he doesnt, Scola has far greater trade value then Vspan. So if Scola cant come over for some reason, we still have a player who could get us more back in a second trade then what Vspan would have brought. Basically Scola is much more sought after then Vspan and all it cost us is a 2009 second round pick to swap the two, not to mention Butler being included. All that being said, I think Scola comes in and by midseason, if not sooner, is our starting PF. Fourth is how Morey addressed the PF and PG needs. Everyone agreed those were the two spots that hurt our team last year. Morey has turned the PF situation from (Howard and Hayes) to (Scola, Hayes, Landry, Reed). He turned the PG situation from (Alston, Head, JL3, Vspan) into (James, Alston, Brooks, Head). I think most people agree both spots have been upgraded and more changes will probably follow. Overall, Morey has significantly changed this team without blowing it up. He basically turned Juwan Howard, this years 26 pick, Vspan, the 2008 and 2009 second round picks and some of Les' cash into Mike James, Justin Reed, Aaron Brooks, Carl Landry, Brad Newley, Luis Scola, and Jackie Butler. I dont think anyone would complain about that switch at this point. Plus Bonzi has to be considered an addition after giving us zero last year, not that this was Morey's doing. Of course we still need to see what Brooks, Landry, and especially Scola can do, but I know Im excited by the offseason so far. Anyone disagree?
My only disagreement is that if Scola signs a 5 year deal to play in Spain then his rights are worthless.
You and I are seeing eye to eye. I actually posted this in the Scola trade thread, but it fits well with this topic and maybe people will actually find it here - (note- I edited it a bit before posting in this thread so it's actually a bit different from the post in the Scola trade thread) It seems like a good time to examine Morey's moves so far: 1. He hires Adelman. Some are displeased with how he handled it, but the general consensus seemed to be that it was time for Van Gundy to go and Adelman was a good replacement. At the very least the Rockets should be more entertaining to watch, and most of us were/are pretty happy about that. But then, as a result of Adelman being hired, Bonzi decides not to opt out of his dirt cheap contract. Rumors even start appearing that Bonzi's in shape and excited to redeem himself next season. If those rumors turn out to be true and Bonzi returns to his playing form of his last season with Sacramento (under Adelman), that alone makes signing Adelman worth it in my mind. 2. He traded Juwan Howard for Mike James. While the majority of us were thrilled, many still said "Now we have no power forwards and Mike James does not solve our point guard problem." Well, now we're far deeper at point guard than we were last year and I'm thinking the worst case scenario for Scola is that he gives us what Juwan did last year. That being the case, at worst we're a better team than last season. At best, Scola is FAR better than Juwan, becomes our starting power forward, and we're now FAR better this year than last. p.s. Mike James said Adelman was why he wanted to come back here. Did he mean it? Who knows with that guy, but it's interesting nonetheless. 3. He drafts Aaron Brooks, Carl Landry & Brad Newley. And (Despite the fact we started draft day with just the one pick at 26) the board goes nuts with doom and gloom forecasts that it was the worst draft ever. Summer league starts and, hey, what do you know? These guys aren't so bad! In fact, most folks are starting to like the picks! 4. He signs Mike Harris to a 2 year non-guaranteed deal. Again, the board goes ballistic talking about what a horrible move this was - despite the fact the contract is non-guaranteed, and then Mike Harris steps into the first summer game that very same night and puts up the best performance of anyone on our team. I know it's just a summer league game, but considering the low risk I think it's fair to call this another score for Morey. 5. He trades Vassilis Crytohismomillis, a 2009 2nd round pick and cash considerations for a Luis Scola, widely believed to be the best power forward in Europe and very NBA ready, AND Jackie Butler, whom a sports writer who is generally respected on this board, Kelly Dwyer of Sports Illustrated, has named as one of the more under-rated centers in the league. In fact, in this very thread Kelly has claimed that Butler should be a starter somewhere. So Morey has done all of this and what have we lost? Juwan Howard's contract, a whiny greek who couldn't get off the bench and a 2009 2nd round pick. Assuming we re-sign Hayes and Mutumbo, we have maintained ALL of our other assets and still have them to work with if need be. So we've added Luis Scola, Mike James, Jackie Butler (all of whom I think will get significant playing time in our rotation) and rookies Aaron Brooks, Carl Landry, & possibly Mike Harris (all of whom are young, developing talent which is a valuable commodity in the NBA). We also have the additional overseas asset of Brad Newley. And again, all we lost was Juwan Howard, Vassillis Spanoulis and spare change. Conclusion: Morey is smarter than us.
Morey definitely chased after Rashard. What are you talking about? The reason why we were never players in that chase was because Orlando gave him a max contract...
Although I liked the Aaron Brooks pick, I remember being concerned that Morey was either too content with the roster as it was at the end of the season or that he'd be afraid to make any big moves. Now I realize he's just not someone who panics like us fans do. His patience appears to be paynig off. Look at what we've added to our roster already, and what we gave up. Bear in mind, Morey was brought in for his ability to use statistics to find underrated players. Brooks is already tearing up the summer league, but his other acquisitions haven't even had a chance to surpass expectations. In summation, I very excite!
As a teen Morey impregnated every nun in a convent tucked away in the hills of Tuscany. Nine months later the nuns gave birth to the 1972 Miami Dolphins, the only undefeated and untied team in professional football history. Morey needs a monkeywrench and a blowtorch to masturbate. Morey once created a flamethrower by urinating into a lighter. Morey knows the last digit of pi.
I'm a fan of Moreys moves so far too, but please wait until we have our first season game underway before we glorify him with the best
Exactly... MONEYball they paid more money than he was worth, we offered what he was worth and they overpaid thats moneyball
honestly i think that was a PR move and that morey had no intentions of signing rashard unless by some odd reason rashard was willing to sign for the MLE. if morey did not actively pursue rashard, a hometown native that a lot of fans are still upset over for not drafting then the fans would have screamed for his head. by trying to pursue him even knowing that other teams would certainly pay more, morey can say he did all he could and it was rashard that chose not to come to the rockets
Morey has my complete and unconditional vote of confidence in his abilities from this day forth. He's been conventional, (getting James), creative (buying Landry and Newley in the draft), omniscient (Brooks is killa' good), and wiser than the powers that be here on Earth, (the Spurs). I gladly take a bow to him!
Agreed. It's just so exciting to finally have a competent GM isn't it? Forgive the exaggerations and apologies that are sure to come about him - but he deserves our support and belief in his abilities right now.
Read more carefully. I was saying people say moneyball is the reason we didnt land Rashard, but that makes no sense. Later I point out it was because we could only offer the MLE that we werent players in the Rashard chase and that there is no way a six year deal worth 113 million dollars for Rashard was worth it.
I agree. However, there should be a Morey appreciation thread for the simple fact that he's been blasted quite a bit over the past months here on this board. Simply because no one wanted to "wait" to judge him. But certainly, things look very positive for the Rockets on paper. We added James and Scola while giving up Howard. I don't count rookies since they're too far away from contributing. Since Howard was obviously not part of the solution to our PF need(especially now that JVG's gone), we basically added Scola and James to our roster for nothing except part of the MLE. That, IMO, is a great offseason so far. Whether it translates to the court is another thing. But as of right now, I'm pretty giddy.
Way to add a lot to the discussion. Say something related to the topic, than criticize me. See, I even gave you something to correct again.
Well, with all due respect to the Morey acolytes, I remain a cynic, one of the great unwashed. Pulling off a Scola/Butler trade for Spanoulis, cash and a distant second rounder was a coup and a step toward redemption. However, Scola is not yet a reality so our power forward dilemma still is not resolved. Also unproved is the "next level" value of Aaron Brooks over John Lucas III or bypassing Petteri Koponen. Morey still has "negative value" IMO for the trade of Rudy Gay and Stromile Swift for Shane Battier. Gay will be a future star, and as much as I celebrate Battier's intelligence and effort, he remains a plodder -- a solid, steady but mediocre player. No, I remain unconvinced but, for what it's worth, I would love to be proved wrong. Until that time, his track record remains spotty.
I stopped reading when it said Morey didn't trade for Camby or go after Rashard because of moneyball. Morey didn't make that choice, Lewis did when he took money that the rockets COULDN'T offer.
2. He traded Juwan Howard for Mike James. While the majority of us were thrilled, many still said "Now we have no power forwards and Mike James does not solve our point guard problem." Well, now we're far deeper at point guard than we were last year and I'm thinking the worst case scenario for Scola is that he gives us what Juwan did last year. That being the case, at worst we're a better team than last season. At best, Scola is FAR better than Juwan, becomes our starting power forward, and we're now FAR better this year than last. what excatly made u think Scola'd be better than Juwan? his stats dont say a thing.
I'm not sure why people seem to be so high on Gay. The guy may or may not be a star, but last year certainly didn't seem to indicate anything. The Grizzlies were tanking it and basically played no defense, only caring to develop young players. Putting up numbers in such a system meant very little, just as Ricky Davis was not a 20 ppg scorer simply because he was allowed to jack up 30 shots every game with the Cavs a while back. Had Gay been on the Rockets, his minutes would probably be similar to that of Lucas or V-Span, not full rotation player.
