[The Ringer] Rockets Golden Era of Draft Protections

I miss this. A lot. Also... should have demanded reverse draft pick protection from Brooklyn...

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2021/3/17/22335035/nba-trade-deadline-first-pick-protection

Morey may not have invented pick protections, but he is instrumental in understanding its impact on the modern NBA landscape. Trading draft picks, and the ways in which they are conveyed today, has become a small outlet of creative expression born of the constraints imposed by the league. Morey has stood at the vanguard in that respect, molding the conceptual value of draft picks like a glassblower. In 2012, Morey and his Rockets front-office team introduced the concept of reverse lottery protection: guaranteeing that the recipient is given a lottery pick, rather than guaranteeing that a pick landing in the top 14 stays with the sender. The trade, between Houston and Toronto, in hindsight, was a monumental win-win. The Raptors landed Kyle Lowry, now considered the greatest player in franchise history; the Rockets netted a lottery pick that would become the linchpin of their trade for James Harden. “The reverse protection of the pick was to create a great asset in hopes of using it in a trade,” Morey said. “Now, did we know that James Harden would be available in a trade three months later? No, absolutely not. We were just trying to set up our asset base for the future.”

Other potential innovations to the art of pick protection didn’t quite make the cut. In an episode of The Woj Pod last year, current Sacramento Kings GM Monte McNair recalled a fascinating proposal during his time in the Rockets’ analytics department, made before the Lowry trade. The Rockets had three picks in the 2012 NBA draft: no. 12, no. 16, and no. 18. Prior to the draft lottery, Houston got in touch with Golden State about its draft pick, which was likely to land at no. 7, but had the potential to move up. The Rockets offered their no. 16 pick for the Warriors’ pick, as long as it stayed at no. 7. If it moved up, the Warriors would essentially receive the Rockets’ no. 16 pick for free. “Ultimately, both teams got a little scared,” McNair said. “That was a little crazy.”

Morey has also proposed roulette-style pre-lottery trades: If the pick lands on an odd number, it goes to one team; if the pick is an even number, it goes to the other. None of those has made it to a trade call—yet. “I’m always trying to grease the wheels of transactions, because I think it helps teams that are run aggressively,” he said.​

 

#bewell