I would trade Morey for a late second round pick but I doubt there’s a team out there willing to give up anything in exchange for him.
Being an all Houston sports fan, experiencing Tim Purpura, Ed Wade, Rick Smith, Charley Casserly, Steve Patterson, and Carroll Dawson (plus athletic directors Greenspan and Kaarlgard) makes me appreciate Morey. The only ones that are Morey's peers are Gerry Hunsicker and Jeff Luhnow (plus Chris del Conte).
I would trade him to ESPN for Zach Lowe, Kevin Pelton, Tim MacMahon, Molly Q and cash considerations But only if ESPN promised that Morey would replace Kellerman and that we promised to permanently bench MacMahon
I put down 1 top 10 protected first because I thought you were asking what ownership would deal him for realistically. For me the absolute least it would take is 1 x unprotected 1st and enough cash to buy a 2nd rounder in the 31-35 range. I would start negotiating at 2 firsts though.
Morey had a bad summer, but this team still should have been better. We had everyone but Ariza from last year's playoff run. We quickly stopped playing Melo and MCW. We've had a plethora of injuries and guys who are having career-worst years. Also, the defensive mindset from last year is gone, which is a coaching issue. Blame Morey for not adequately filling the Ariza spot, but other than that the problems lie elsewhere.
James Harden Seriously though, this man assembled the greatest threat to the Warriors dynasty and won Executive of the Year. He propelled us from a perpetual 9th seed to title contenders. There's nothing any team could give up that would be worth trading him for
Morey deserves props for signing Capela and trading for Harden but he also deserves a lot of criticism for signing players that can’t shoot while hiring a coach that runs an offense based on 3-point shooting 75-80% of the time. He got himself into this mess and now he needs to clean it up. At this point the team is looking more and more like the Cleveland Cavs of last year. James was surrounded by guys way past their prime and a bunch of d-league quality players. This years Rockets team is similar. Actually, it’s even worse sinse one of our aging injury-prone players is locked into a long term max contract. Add to that another injury prone player that can’t dribble and whines every time he doesn’t get a call, and it’s easy to see why people are so upset with Morey. No one else on the team besides Capela has any real value.
Just look at all the incompetent GMs out there. The Cavs GM gave away their first round pick to the Lakers to acquire Nance and Clarkson when everyone thought the Lakers would have to attach a first rounder to get rid of Clarkson contract. And he did all of this knowing Lebron might leave them for LA that summer. The Hawks gm just traded away Luka Doncic. The Kings situation is a joke. They are terrible at drafting. The Suns situation is even more of a joke. They drafted a center first in a guards league and for some odd reason traded for Anderson and signed Trevor Ariza to 15 million.. The sixers GM traded 2 first round picks to draft Markelle FULTZ?? Memphis is in shambles and Mike Conley makes over 200 million. Not to mention the 100 million dollars to Parsons. Orlando has been a joke. The nets haven't made the playoffs or had a first round pick in years. The Knicks are a joke. Minnesota is in chaos. Chicago is a joke, The list just goes on and on. Morey at worst is a top 5 gm in the league too bad he is working for a cheap owner like Tillman. If he had Cuban money it would be a totally different ball game. I think he's by far the best gm in the league considering our assets when he first started as a Rocket. Unlike Ainge who all those Brooklyn picks and Myers who lucks into getting KD and Boogie. Morey has actually had to work for us and he's done a heck of a job.
What has he done to bring in talent at a veterans minimum level though? That's how you can tell if he's competent.
Luc last year was a steal on vet min deal. We got Faried this year and will see how that works out. Think of all the countless no name players he brought in on low end deals or drafted or traded for that panned out. Kyle Lowry Chandler Parsons then let him go at right time. Patrick Beverley Clint Capela Jason Terry Josh Smith Luc DMo Pablo Prig Gerald Green Delfino Francisco Garcia Casspi Jury’s still out on Faried. Can’t bat 1000 with vet minimum players but he has hasn’t his fair share of hits. The one head scratcher was MCW. All gms woulda taken a shot at Melo with CP3 here.
