Revisionist History, Talent vs Fit & Daryl's Legacy

To be quite honest...I think Morey didn't want to abandon the 3 star model, its just that he was on the hot seat at the time and he had to sign guys to appease Les Alexander and MDA.

Morey was probably put on blast by Alexander after the season due to Mchale/JB boneheaded hc hiring choice and Les Alexander wanted a Nash Suns offense. They had all that money but Horford was the only star willing to meet with them, they allocated the max to Hordford and then also talked to the Hawks Ariza wannabe because they want to use the money. When they got turned down by both, majority of the FAs were signed and Anderson was one of the few decent FAs left available. Luckily he recruited Ego to play with him.

So if you look at who Morey wanted to sign at first, he wanted to at least try the inside out experiment again with Hordford this time and he was banking on the Ariza wannabe becoming a star. He also didn't believe in the MDA system and wanted to pull a fast one on Alexander and MDA because the guys he wanted to sign are defensive guys, Horford is a decent defensive big man and the Ariza wannabe is touted as being a really good wing defender. And the coach who was his first choice was defensive oriented too.

Luckily he got rejected by both Horford and that other dude and we ended up with better fit players. Honestly its ridiculous how many bullets Morey has dodged over the years, he has been incredibly lucky in terms of dodging potentially fatal roster moves.

 

You can deny it but its true. Dwight hard carried the team all way to WCF. Calling him a loser and cancer is just dumb because Dwight has brought a crappy team to the finals and the Rox to WCF.
Dwight reg season: 13 pts 12 rebs on 62% fg
Dwight playoffs: 16.4 pts 14 rebs on 57% fg
You are just so blinded by your bias against Dwight you've lost your rationality. In your mind DMo is probably the one who put up these numbers and lead the team against the Clippers while Dwight was the dude sitting on bench scoring 4 pts a game that's why you think he is a loser.

Dwight isn't some clown like Melo who hasn't proved anything, he is a legitimate superstar and the only thing missing from his resume is a ring. Calling him a cancer on every team he's been in is wrong, what kind of cancer leads him team to the finals? How has Orlando fared ever since he left? Oh right they sucked! When the cancer leaves ur supposed to get better, not go from ECF straight to lottery.

 

Very well written.

 

I actually think Dwight on the Warriors would have been pretty deadly for a while, regardless of what style they played. Iggy's contribution could have been easily addressed in free agency. I remember those July F5's though. Fun times.

 

They both are.

DD

 

I guess you are the expert when it comes to losers.

 

Not sure if anyone mentioned it yet but pretty sure Bogut was already on the Warriors prior to the Dwight signing. He was traded to the Warriors for Monta Ellis and others. Pretty sure the only way the Warriors could sign Dwight was a sign and trade with the Lakers namely centered around Bogut

 

I certainly recognize them for what they are, Dwight is never going to win anything because of who he is.....

It is ok to disagree - doesn't bother me.


DD

 

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Did you even watch the game. Harden was on the bench not Dwight. Dwight showed up in the playoffs. I don't get this dwight hate. He came here when no other superstar has. We got WCF which was the best result in 20 years. Please stop with this negative crap.

 

He took a team to the finals.

 

The OP did have some things not correct as many posters have pointed out. But I agree with his basic premise.

First about Dwight. His contribution in the playoffs in his first two years were arguably at least as important as Harden. But (1) his FT shooting has always been an Achilles heel. (2) We did play better in the regular season in 2014-15 without him than with him.

Second, while Dwight is not a bad guy in general, his ego is a chemistry killer and his game doesn't really fit Morey's scheme.

Third, I agree with the OP that Morey's problem, at least in the past before this season, is overvaluing talent and undervaluing character and fit. Again, Dwight is not a bad character guy in general but his is a bad character in basketball. The disaster of Lawson, while surprised everybody at the time, made perfect sense in retrospect. Simply put, it's character issue. Morey got rid of a whole bunch of character players since 2010 and brought in a lot of questionable character players. The whole culture changed.

Remember this?

Spoiler

IMO, that was the most embarrassing moment of Morey's tenure with the Rockets.

This season, we brought in two team-first guys in Anderson and Gordon. Harrell, Dekker, and Capela, while not without flaws, all are willing to play the roles they are asked. TBH, I never saw Brewer as the problem. He can't shoot. But he plays hard and does whatever is asked of him. Hopefully, Lou is in the same mode but with a much better shot.

I've criticized Harden for his lack of leadership and lack of tough mindedness when things aren't going well. This season he is clearly motivated. I hope this is not just when things are going well. We need him to be the tough leader when things are getting tough in the playoffs.

 

I would respect your opinion more if you weren't fanboying over DMo who is not even 1/10 of the player Dwight is.

Dwight leading teams to WCF and Finals= loser
DMo scoring 6 pts 4 rebs on 33% fg = winner

Amirite?

 

Burn! Lets not take things personally lol we're all rox fans here

 

Signing Dwight was a great move.

But with the advantage of hindsight, yes, perhaps if we had scored Bogut and Iguodala instead we may have been better off?
So hard to know though - we've no idea what would have happened had they been in our system.

 

Define loser in this case. If loser means didn't win a championship, then yes that will likely be said about Dwight and probably most of your favorite players.

I thinks it's a stretch to call someone who carries a team to the finals and then went to the wcf with another team and has basically been a core piece for good teams his entire career a loser.

 

Lets talk about "overvaluing talent". a GM's job is to put his team as close as possible to be a championship contender. And just like building a house, you establish the pillars before you put up the walls and doors and windows. When you look at the top teams in the NBA today, GSW has 2 big pillars in Curry and Durant, 2 small pillars in Green and Thompson; Cavs has 1 gigantic pillar in LeBron, 2 small pillars in Irving and Love; Spurs has 1 big pillar in Kawhi, 1 small pillar in LaMarcus; Whiners has 3 unknown size pillars in Chris Paul, Blake, and Jordan. When you up against these teams, you cannot fault Morey for trying to establish a better foundation in the vision to compete for a championship.

And about "undervaluing character". To me, Rockets never undervalue character, the players they sign or draft has a list of hard-working, team-first guys such as Aaron Brooks, Carl Landry, Chuck Hayes, Patrick Patterson, Trevor Ariza, Patrick Beverley, with only a few exceptions like Royce White, Ty Lawson. But it is still better alot of teams in NBA. In the last decade, championship teams like Lakers and Heats, and even Spurs has their roster consisted with fair share of questionable character guys, yet with talent that needed for a championship team.

Only thing Rockets didn't get it right was "fit", but you cannot Morey is "undervaluing" fit, because it is such a thing until you put them together, you cannot really value it. Just like in a relationship, until you:
1. have sex;
2. live together for a period of time;
3. meet both parents and family;
4. rise a kid together.
you cannot really know what kind problem you gona run into with each other. That was the same for the DHoward scenario. You can point out he had his drama in Orlando and LA, so it is indicative. But he also had a good moment when he went into the Finals in 2009, that team had no chemistry issues.

The "fit" problem is not really a front office issue, it has always been a coach issue. Coaches need to establish a system for front office to know what kind talent that is needed in order to improve. Unfortunately Jeff Van Gundy & Aldermen had some out-dated system, Kevin McHale had no system. If we are lucky enough, MDA can put in a good system for the team to move forward, even with only 1 pillar in James Harden.