I love responses like this. Morey is certainly not a man who can do no wrong. So specifically, what did he do wrong?
I would have liked to have seen those free agent contracts come in at slightly lower figures, but I'm not going to complain too much at the outcome of this past offseason. Like the OP said, all 3 of those contracts (Miller, Lowry, Scola) are structured so that the last season is only partially guaranteed. That will make Miller's contract an attractive trade asset after next season, Lowry's contract an attractive trade asset after the 2012-13 season, and Scola's contract a VERY attractive (Dampier-like) trade asset after the 2013-14 season, when most likely only a small portion of Scola's $11M+ salary will be guaranteed. While they failed in their attempts to land Chris Bosh (which may or may not be a blessing in disguise), it was a positive series of moves overall. There is a plan for this organization. Some of the plan is, by nature, outside of the control of team management (Bosh WANTING to come to Houston, for instance); but it looks like the team is in good hands.
What was essentially a new team needed time to gel. Adelman didnt have his rotations figured out. Miller and CBud missed training camp. Brooks and Yao were out for a huge stretch. It looks like things are finally starting to turn around. Morey is by no means infallible, he just takes calculated risks that tend to pan out. When they don't, he fixes the mistake. Think about what he's been able to do given that he's basically lost the two cornerstones of the franchise that were here. Most GMs might go into tanking mode, but not Morey. I'd say he has one resilient team and we should be somewhat appreciative. Besides Jeffries, I can't think of anyone on the team that has negative trade value. Besides the T-Mac and Yao injuries (which were beyond his control), our roster is continually improving due to the moves he has made, and we have a brighter future for it. Can you really deny this?
What did he do right? Why are you making a thread celebrating a GM that's responsible for a sub .500 team? This is the type of thread that should be made at the end of the year, not when we're coming off a two game win streak against bad teams. Last I checked, we're still 12 - 15 and 10th in the West. Can we hold off on the praise until we actually crack the playoffs?
Well you can't be this overly critical. Just TWO seasons ago we had 3 primary franchise players who were meant to carry this team. We did everything we can to win with these 3. Now, we don't have neither McGrady, Yao nor Artest. Can you imagine what happens to most teams after losing their best player? Let alone 3? Just look at the Cavs. After losing Lebron, West and big Z, they've become one of the worse teams in the league despite playing in the east.
Miller+Hayes would also be great for any young BIG we bring in...Randolph & Thabeet !!! This team has a workman's culture where getting better everyday is the standard. This team works hard and plays their heart out. Thats why we loved this team in the Laker's series after Yao went down and ever since. Young talented guys like Thabeet and Randolph will SOAR by being around Miller+Hayes+Battier. And now obviously Hill is starting to listen and respond to what it takes to earn playing time and to get better. That kind of mentality on a basketball team is contagious. Randolph and Thabeet will also get infected with it !!!
He just did: we are 12-15!!! Look, what you did there was put things into context. Some people do not like that since they live in a black and white world. They see it all as excuses. All or nothing. They see us now at 12-15 and on pace as a lottery team just like we were 0-5 and on pace for 0-82. Injuries? Details. We lost close games to good teams? Details. We've won 7 out of 10? Details. We are 12-15!!!!!! Look, at some point down the line, the team that Morey and Co. has constructed will be and should be judged based on results and results alone. However, managing a team is a long-term proposition. This is Morey's 4th year as the GM. Throughout his tenure we have been working off the failed premise of building around two falling stars. This is no one's fault, just like no one is at fault in Portland now. Sometimes it is just bad luck. And luck is enough of a factor in building a team where shrewd management can only improve us incrementally, or sometimes merely putting us in a POSITION to improve. Over time however, the cream will rise to the top as they say. Some people are too short-sighted to see this, and any move that does not vault us straight into the finals are seen as failures. Anyways, this is all of course wasted breath to the instant-gratification crowd. "WHY ARENT WE CONTENDERS? NOW!!!" "WHERE IS OUR SUPERSTAR? NOW!!!!" "WE ARE LOSING! NOW!!!!" Solutions? "Don't look at me, now..."
I've said I'd rather Ariza starting next to Martin with Battier on the bench and Budinger at the 2. Rather than Battier starting and Courtney Lee off the bench. Ariza had a VERY acceptable close to the season after Martin stepped in. (Which helped his trade value) Still not sure about that opinion. Don't need a brain to know Lee is the superior shot maker. Lee helped fill a need a backup 2 to stop using the Lowry/Brooks combo. But for a little over $1 mil Lee is an absolute BARGAIN. And Ariza has regressed cuz he's still in "expanding my game" mode. That might mean expanding our loss column on this team. Even Jeffries isn't THAT terrible. He isnt Brian Cook, he could actually be counted on to start on a couple teams.
Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady being injury prone wasn't a secret to anybody. Morey chose to continue to build around those two stars. It didn't work.. because of injuries. Shocker. I can't give Morey a free pass for sticking with them. I don't want to run him out of town for it, but I'm not going to just look the other way either. In 2007, the Lakers were actively shopping Kobe Bryant. I never heard Morey try to pry his way through that door like he has for Carmelo or Bosh. The Blazers ignored the red flags with Brandon Roys injured knee history. If you take a risk on a guy who has medical red flags, it is your fault if they don't pan out because of injury. That's the risk. I find myself worrying less about remaining competitive right now (because we're just not good enough) and more about how competitive we'll be in the future. To Morey's credit, I was one of the guys who was up in arms about the Ariza-Lee swap. I'm now completely on board with it -- I'll admit that I was wrong. It's still a little baffling to me that most can agree that the Ariza-Lee swap was better for us, yet Lee is getting ~16 minutes a night less than Ariza did. PLAY THE MAN, RICK. I don't care where, you find minutes for him. I also liked Morey saying yes to potential in the Terrance Williams deal. I think another move needs to be made now to give Terrence the playing time to develop. I wish he would have done the same thing with Anthony Randolph.. I would have been extremely happy then. I'm only stating the facts of the reality of the situation. A thread praising our GM when the team can't even play .500 ball seems a bit much, don't you think? I can understand if we finish overachieving and making a run into the playoffs.. but we're 10th in the West right now. I don't know why I'm getting killed for stating the reality of the situation -- is it so obvious to everyone else that we'll definitely be a force this year, despite winning only 42 games last year with essentially the same team? You guys keep telling me that we're continually improving -- I feel like I need to consult with JCDenton for my rebuttal. 2007-08: 55-27 2008-09: 53-29 2009-10: 42-40 2010-11: 12-15 How can we continually be improving if we're on pace to have a worst record than last year? Because now we have Patrick Patterson, whose seen 0 meaningful minutes for us? Because now we have Terrance Williams, whose seen 0 meaningful minutes for us? Because now Jordan Hill has developed so much that he's playing 1.3 more minutes than last year? Did I miss Chase Budinger taking the next step to take our team to the next level? Look, Morey is a solid GM -- I'm not advocating for him to be fired. But I hate the "don't second guess him!" mantra. If he drafts Chase Budinger, it's "Morey strikes again!" If he drafts Joey Dorsey, it's "It's a 2nd round pick, what do you expect!" His best acquisition was Luis Scola, which absolutely fell into his lap. Morey had a guy who wanted to leave the NBA and out of his contract.. it doesn't take a genius to inherit that. I have a hard time giving him full credit there. His worst acquisition was the Gay for Battier trade. His fingerprints were all over that. For a guy who talks about looking at the long-term in every move, I don't think he was thinking too long-term with that one. In his time here, I'd say he's been one of the better GMs we've ever had. But I don't see the point in praising the guy right now when our team is no where near the level that the fans or Morey himself expected it to be. We have a long road ahead of us to get to where we need to be. I'd like to see us be further along in the process before starting a thread asking fans why they have the nerve to question the GM of a sub .500 team.
Just utter face palm. We are rebuilding. Both Sacramento and Memphis have so called "franchise players" and we are still better than them now and in the future. Stop with this nonsense.
I never mentioned Sacramento, Memphis, or "franchise players" in the post you quoted. If you're going to troll, stay on topic at least. And if Memphis has a franchise player, I don't know who he is. As far as Sacramento's future vs. ours, that remains to be seen -- we're clearly the better team right now. But I'd gather that the majority of this board would trade any player on this roster for DeMarcus Cousins. I don't think the Kings would do that deal though.
