That is a fair point Donny, and not saying he has had a FAIR shot. He did hire Adelman, and according to Les that didn't work out, and he did not trade Yao's contract this year. I think Les is really the issue, he handcuffs DM, and RA....but what can you do. And yes, I do think this is DM's last hire and shot, if he fails to make this team a championship contender, Les will fire him, that to me seems to be what he does, right? DD
This is what I'm saying. Who sold bosh and james on miami while also retaining wade? Riley. Who sold Amare on the knicks? His old coach and walsh. When guys take less to play for La,Dallas,or the spurs, its either the coach or the owner. Now money does have something to do with it, but I'm certain that if all things are equal, you have a better chance attracting quality free agents with Adelman as the point man vs the next coach or Morey. These player talk and look and they see adelman and his coaching style. Look at the amount of players who have flourished under him. Porter,Clyde,Kersey,Duckworth,Robinson,Peja,Webber,Christie,Bibby, and one and on. Thats why I dont buy this Adelman is not right for a young team bs. Anyone who needs any proof needs to look no further than the kings. Immature,underperfoming webber, Bibby,peja,hedo,and christie were all undeveloped players. He turned Peja and Webber into consistent all stars and into mvp consideration. He can do whatever you want,whenever you want, but communication is the key.
Actions speak louder than words...Most of us are not worshipers of "The Money Ball" Morey. Key: We have a young group of core players that gave us 43 wins...just 7 wins away from the critical 50 win mark which usually put you in the contending category. We made some mistakes in 4 quarters that probably cost us a few games. These mistakes would have decrease as the team mature as a core team. Morey admitted that Adelman spoke out against the last 2 trades (TWon't and Thabust - your philosophical differences excuse here). Morey fired Adelman because he wanted a coach who is willing to believe that TWon't and Thabust are going to be key players. A good GM would bring proven key players to core to get you the next step. Morey is telling the next coach to play these guys. To most of us, that forcing unnecessary change the core players we have built...and it's going to make it worse (tanking).
This is by far the best criticism of Morey that Ive seen. The writing was on the wall two years ago that it was going to take a near miracle to be able to ever contend with Yao and TMac on the books and we probably should have sold some of our assets alot sooner. And yeah, the uncertainty for many of the players almost definitely had a negative effect on the team and Morey had plenty of time in the offseasons to make some of these trades. I think that he's been hearing this repeatedly from the players now, though, and it's something he can learn from and hopefully be better about. And I agree with you about what his plan is, he's definitely trying to find that great talent that somebody doesn't realize they have. And I think he's smart enough to find that guy. A couple years from now, if he still hasn't then we can call him a failure, but let's give him a chance to carry out his plan.
People need to understand what is realistic and what is unrealistic. We need to stop attacking the strengths (coaching, management) of our team and instead focus on filling the weaknesses. All the DM hate is not warranted and is incredibly overreactionary. Personally, I stand behind Morey 100%.
This has got to be the stupidest poll I have ever seen. I am not sure which is worse. The fact somebody posted this poll or which direction the vote is going!! This poll should read: 1. Do you want to win today at all costs but have no chance at ever being a championship team? or 2. Do you want to take the time to develop the players we have until their net sum can net us the franchise players we need or they become franchise players themselves and try to go for championships? Right now, win at all costs is winning the poll vote. What a bunch of Rocket Scientists we have on here!!
I think Morey's ability to bring in under-rated players is uncanny. You don't have to be a great GM to bring in top names, just need money. I think Morey brings a lot to the table.
Bad contracts...you can't change history, dude. He should of traded TMac after TMac shut it down in the early playoffs series. Many here were yelling for him to trade Yao to get some kind of ROI early on. Basically, Morey didn't make the gutsy trades that he should of made. Now, he is using all failed GM excuse of rebuilding/tanking to get new talents. Look, Fakers traded Shaq almost near his prime to get some sort of ROI. Morey would have gotten zip.
Fair enough. I just disagree on how difficult it is to get those additional 7 wins. I don't think there is any move immediatlely on the horizon that would be able to get us those key proven players to get to the next step without losing too much of the current core to remain intact and contend. If all we needed to do in the offseason was sign a guy like Chandler, Jordan, or Dalembert and we'd be instant contenders in the west, then Id agree that we should have stayed the course with Adelman and the same core. I just think that it would take more than that and that we're also unlikely to be able to sign one of those centers. I think we have to take a risk on some young projects and have one of them develop to get us to the next level.
I agree that the poll is bad. But your 2 choices aren't right either. Morey's plan is not "take the time to develop the players we have" as far as what he's been saying. His plan is "continue to tinker the roster and increase the value of our assets (maybe by playing the young guys more, not sure) until we get a superstar or three."
I don’t really trust him as much anymore. Looking at his work this past season, the T-Will and Thabeet trades seem pretty terrible to me. Morey ignored a lot of existing red flags about T-Will and we lost a first rounder because of it. Losing a first rounder IS a big deal, lottery protected or not. Thabeet’s salary was too much to take on for a really bleak looking project who’s also been reported to have a questionable work ethic. It also helped Memphis keep the best young center going on the market. (Not to mention we get idiot posters here who question RA’s coaching because he couldn’t make the best use out of these gems). I don’t know how much Morey tried to keep Adelman, but my gut is telling me he didn’t value him much. I never saw the quote by him, but posters here have said he alludes to coaching being overrated. I really don’t like this at all. I think there is a lot to be said for getting the most out of your players, being good at developing them, and having them enjoy playing for you. Just like RA like did. I’m willing to see what happens next, but I’m not so gung-ho, “In Morey we trust,” as most people are. I see from the comments here that that makes you an idiot or a fake fan, but oh well, so be it. I still love my Rockets and hope Morey erases my doubts when his new plan starts to unfold.
That's a fair criticism. I think Morey has held out for a dream deal on too many of the players he traded away and ended up selling way too low. TMac definitely could have gotten us more than Jordan Hill, Terrence Williams, and the right to swap picks that we won't even use if we traded him a year sooner. Yao should have been able to net us more than minimal cap space. And I think he got less for Brooks and Battier than he would have if he traded them the previous offseason, as I feel he should have. Although, Dragic has atleast appeared to be a very good find.
Morey just stood there and ate Yao/Tmac contracts. It was like watching a deer getting run over by a freight train in broad daylight.
One difference between a bad GM and a good GM... Bad GM trades TMac, when he is in the prime of his career and a top 5 player in the league along with Tyron Lue and Juwan Howard for Steve Francis, Cuttino Mobely and Kelvin Cato. In less than two seasons Bad GM's team has nothing left to show for TMac. Good GM trades used TMac that is not even a top 100 player in the league anymore along with a career back up / undersized power forward for Kevin Martin (the most efficient scorer in the league), a 1st round draft pick and that seasons number 8 pick in the draft (Jordan Hill).
Yeah, he did. It wasn't good. Im not sure how much other teams were ever willing to take on TMac and if Morey even ever would have been allowed by Les to trade Yao's contract, but 3-4 years ago those were two of the hottest commodities in the game and to hget virtually nothing for them now is pretty frustrating. Still, I think Morey's moves to find diamonds in the rough who have turned out to be very good players like Lowry, Scola, and Lee demonstrate that he has a good idea of how to find and acquire talent. Im willing to forgive the mistakes with Yao and McGrady if he keeps snatching up quality young players, which I think he is very capable of doing.
Kevin Martin, Jordan Hill and a 1st round pick (possible Lottery) for TMac and Carl Landry (a DM 2nd round pick) seems like pretty damn good value.
Are you saying that Morey and the Rockets had better alternatives out there? Like, there were teams out there that were clamoring to take on either player's contracts with their long list of injuries? The only two trades I can think of that MIGHT have went down is the McGrady to Detroit for Rip/Prince or the McGrady/Vince Carter swap. And with hindsight, those two trades would have crippled our salary cap for years to come.
Sorry Pizza but I have to disagree with you here. So, the past 4 years under Morey were what? Practice? While it may have initially been someone else's game plan but that does not negate the fact that Morey bought into it and continued to follow it long after said plan failed to produce the desired results. He shouldn't get a pass on this at all. Also, he's been making real decisions all along - it's just that they haven't worked out the way he planned. This other person's gameplan (and the corollary "Yao Got Hurt Again" ) is nothing more than corporate PR the organization is using to buy more time. Yes, Yao getting hurt set them back this season but this has been going on for how many years now? And yet, DM and the organization continued to blindly follow the same gameplan year after year despite the result. So, if I understand you correctly here, if a fan isn't buying what Les and Morey is/has/will be selling or if said fan dares to question the organization's motives/competence, they are to be labelled "irrational"? I find this extremely arbitrary and a bit on the "homer" side. After all, anyone who has stuck with this team and organization over past 11 years has certainly earned the right to be more than a bit miffed at the mediocrity that Les and his organization has managed to deliver. Actually, it's a good sign that so many Rockets' fans are choosing to be "idiotic" and "irrational" because it shows that despite the continued lack of success, they still care enough to get emotional over a team that has yet to achieve success. I'll bet that over at Minute Maid Park, they'd be dying for this situation with Astros fans right now.
It's not hindsight 20/20 to know that the Yao/TMac experiment was not going to end in success. There were signs early on before both got shutdown by injuries. TMac was showing signs of quitting on Rockets like he did for the Magics. And Yao too fragile to be a long-term center that get constant poundings like Shaq or Howard. He didn't have to keep both players until he had no leverage in trade values for both.
