Morey's done a good job considering the circumstances... Morey and Rick were hoping the best with the Yao situation and they rolled the dice and came up snake eyes. The move hurt them in more ways than one, now the team is trying to find that chemistry to get them going again. Personally I would like to see them trade the old guys and go young and just run and gun... nothing to lose at this point. T_Man
I wouldn't mind trading for Steve Nash. He might be what we need to ignite the offense. Keep the young athletic guys, Lee, TWill, Bud. See what our young bigs (PP, Hill) can do with a true PG. Go all out with run and gun offense. It would certainly be more fun than watching the group of mediocrity that the Houston Rockets 2010-2011 have become.
I would hate that move.... I loved the YOUNG Steve Nash, but getting Nash at this point of his career would be bad for us and him. T_Man
let's get Kevin love, this guy is definitely charles barkley junior in the making, he will be a superstar for a long long time.
The plan was to trade for a superstar or to attract a superstar in free agency. Neither plan is going to work, because last Summer changed everything. So if the old plan is out of date, what's the new plan? Morey must have a new plan, since he publicly dissed the idea of rebuilding, so what's his new plan? You either draft, trade, or sign superstars. Can anyone here name a top 10 player under 30 that we have a chance to trade or sign? Names please? Because if we can't sign or trade, that leaves drafting as our only other option, but we're winning too many games to have a realistic shot at getting a top five pick. Right now, we are making zero progress towards being a championship contender. We've been spinning our wheels for almost two years with nothing to show for it. But I'll be generous, please name a top 15 player that we have a realistic chance to trade or sign?
Daryl IMO one of the top 5 GM in the league, he has done wonderful job for the rockets, even though he didn't bring us a star, but he tried his best and he has put us in great position to acquire one.
You are right. People tend to forget that it's Les' team not Morey's. It was Les Alexander who wanted a run and gun team like the Suns. It was Les who fired SVG in place of a more offensive minded coach like Adelman. I think the players we have in our rotation today are a result of what Les wanted, more so than Morey. He's trying to produce a competitive team while making the boss happy.
He never should have been regarded as a "god" in the first place. I like him and think he was a good hire. I'm glad he's the Rockets' GM. I think he has made some terrific moves. But ultimately, he should be judged on the team's record, and right now, the team has a losing record. The series of smart draft moves and trades he has made are not enough to declare him a great GM. A great GM will find a way to put it all together and turn it into something great. He has to find a way to build a contender, and he hasn't yet. Yes, they've suffered horrific injuries, but he has had time to compensate for them somewhat -- for instance, to make sure we had sufficient defensive capabilities in the frontcourt to help compensate for our diminutive backcourt.
Team's aren't letting superstars walk away as easily as they used to. Honestly, outside of just tanking the rest of the season. The Rockets best chance of becoming competitive would be to trade for lower-level stars (Igoudala, Granger, etc) and a defensive oriented center(s). Even then, we would be lucky to be a 5th seed. And it's not like teams are easily letting go of their mediocre stars either.
The overachieving with yao and t-mac out has deluded everyone into thinking Morey was a genius, reality has set in now... moneyball tactics and guys that just play hard can only get you so far a the end of the day you need talent in this league. If anything he put us in a worse position by tying up our cap space with martin, scola, lowry and miller's longterm contracts before we even have a star player, now if a one were available in free agency we wouldn't be able to offer the max and we don't have another star here to attract that player through sign and trade.... were not bad enough to get a lottery pick either the way I see it were in a bad position going forward.
Morey has done a GREAT job of collecting pieces and assets to move in the RIGHT deal while keeping the team competitive. Problem is that Yao and the NBA betrayed him, the NBA is moving in a direction of super teams and Yao just couldn't stay healthy. I think once we didn't acquire Chandler in the offseason, Morey knew this season was about battling and staying a float until something came up. The trade deadline will be HUGE, he doesn't need to collect a superstar but atleast a star to go with Martin and Scola will be ESSENTIAL.
Yet look at the other thread...some people are blaming Morey for making this team good enough to where they don't suck. So he can't win with some. Either get a superstar even if it means tanking, or make a trade for a superstar so we are contenders. That is extreme. Your GM is one part of the equation and if you ask me, Morey has done his job extremely well. Just look at the drafts and every move he's made has been low risk high reward. No we don't have Melo but I bet we would if Melo WANTED to play here.
For me, Morey's performance has always been dependent upon "The Big Trade" that all this asset-building seems to have been leading up to. It's not a strategy I completely agree with, but it's hard to criticize until the plan bears some kind of fruit, be it a franchise player or a top lottery pick. There's really no honeymoon to speak of with Morey, because the actual marriage hasn't even begun yet.
Corpusfan, this is a great post. It's great because it neatly summarizes the sentiments of the anti-Morey crowd. The underlying assumption is that different management would have put together a better team. It sounds wise to say that you judge a GM by the product on the floor, but that's just not the case. Jerry Krause has 6 rings. Was Crumbs a mastermind who overpowered the rest of the league with his matchless wits? Of course not. He was a bumbler and a screw-up who had the good fortune to take over a team with a top-5 all-time player. Over the course of his career, he blew far more moves than he succeeded in, but because of his fortunate circumstances, the teams he managed were greatly successful. How about Mitch Kupchak? He's got rings, too. Does anyone think that if he hadn't taken over a team with Kobe Bryant and a Shaq-load of assets, or if he didn't have access to one of the highest payrolls in the league, or if Memphis hadn't completely lost their ****ing minds in the Gasol trade, that he'd still have all those rings? Of course not. He, too, benefited from fortunate circumstances. Dumars has a ring. CD has two. Presti and O'Connor have zero. Pritchard was fired. My point is that it's inaccurate to judge a GM simply by wins and losses because chance plays a much bigger role in outcomes than managing prowess. This is why I'm happy with Morey. He's done a fantastic job of leveraging the resources available to him. We've come out ahead in almost every deal he's done, we haven't shackled ourselves with big, cap-killing contracts (though the jury is still out on Scola's deal) Yes, in hindsight, it would have been great to trade Yao and T-Mac before they became injured. It would have been equally nice to sell all your Enron stock in 2000. Let's judge the staff by things they control, and by the decisions they make with the information available.
For those who are roasting Morey for the Center situation, keep in mind he almost had a deal done for Chandler in the offseason (for Jeffries.. LOL). The rug was pulled at the last second. Then the Mavs get Chandler (for basically nothing) and become one of the best defensive teams in the NBA.
