What is better - Camby,Fisher and a pick or hill, thabeet, flynn

Let me clarify. I think Morey would admit to not fully realizing how good both Gay and Batum would turn out to be.

That said, I think he may still have advised CD to trade the #8 pick in 2006 (which they would NOT have used to take Gay, mind you, but would have instead taken Thabo Sefalosha) and dumped Stromile Swift's terrible long-term contract in exchange for Shane Battier, who was more useful towards winning a championship during the McGrady-Yao era.

On Batum, he just flat out missed the boat on him. He'd say as much. But you can't get every pick correct and select the best eventual player. Even then, he would still make the Artest trade every single time to pursue a championship in 2008-09.

 

The logic is....

Morey would admit that he missed the mark on Gay. And you let him off the hook because they'd have taken Sefalosha? Give me a break. Missing the mark on Gay is not excused by "we were looking in the other direction".

And the error was compounded by thinking that you're a one-dimensional Battier away from the Spurs and other WC elites of that time. (A.K.A. "Win Now").

And that was compounded by ignoring what took you to #8 in the first place...McGrady's back.

Most of the uber-fans who ride the Morey bandwagon are ignorable. But there are a handful of very respectable posters who mimic the action. And that's unfathomable to me.

Especially in view of the fact that no one here knows exactly what deals may have been turned down in the Rockets' managements unified efforts to avoid Kelvin Cato signings. While ignoring that contractually...no Cato...no McGrady.

Too focused on the bottomline.

There's a Joey Dorsey out there for every Parsons. And several players ranked as Top 10 Rookies that were available after Morris who languishes in the D-League.

Lastly, I have always felt valuating talent drastically different than 29 other teams has serious pitfalls. There will always be teams ready to exchange high-priced contracts to head in different roster building directions. One will leap frog you in talent (a .500 Lakers with Kobe complaining netting Gasol). And the other will match you in cap space (turning Kwame Brown expiring into ZBo).

If all you are doing is managing not over-paying...and collecting low cost assets...and targeting free agency to build...that doesn't come without serious competition. Most of whom will take more risks.

Anything beyond a C+ for Morey's methodology is partiality. Time will tell.

 

Why does either option matter all the players besides Fisher are expiring

 

The Rockets chose to roll the dice on getting McGrady and Yao healthy together for at least one playoff run. This was viewed as the single most likely way to win a championship. And given that strategy, Battier was going to help win a championship more than a talented rookie.

You disagree with that strategy. So be it. But don't insult those who do agree with that strategy as somehow not understanding basketball or what it takes to win. Neither side is fundamentally right or wrong. You're not "just some whiner", but also we're not "sheep".

Also, I can appreciate your argument that having a large "mistake" contract like Cato's helped facilitate the McGrady trade in 2004. But Morey did EXACTLY this when he took on an extra year of Hasheem Thabeet's contract in order to get that first round pick from Memphis. That 2012 large expiring contract then became a key part of any large trade package leading up to the deadline and almost assuredly would have been part of a Dwight Howard trade. Even after striking out, Morey still managed to use that "mistake" contract to get Marcus Camby.