I actually think it is a tip of the hat to Morey, if anything. Today, the rockets are a team which the needle only really moves if big media splashy moves are made. However, before Morey landed Harden and Howard, he was making tons of small, but calculated moves. He amassed the picks which became the Budingers, the landrys, and the parsons, while making the trades for the scolas and lowers. Hinkies orginazation needs assets and assets Hinkie now has. Soon he will trade those 9 picks in for two hotels and then trade for boardwalk.
Hinkie is Jeremy Lin and Morey is James Harden. Everyone thought Morey was the main man, but now that Hinkie is gone we know that he was the one with greatness. Such will be the realization once Lin leaves: we'll discover that Lin was the great one all along, and we'll be stuck with the lesser man.
It's not exactly a stroke of genius to trade productive assets on a crappy team for 2nd rounders. The fact that Hinkie was not able to convert a single one of his traded assets for a first rounder would suggest he may have needed Morey quite a bit. Unless Hinkie was the genius behind all the great 2nd round draft picks by Houston, those 2nd rounders would not amount to much.
Lets just put it this way..... If I told you 2 months ago that Spencer Hawes, Evan Turner would be dealt for 3 second rounders and the dead weight contract of Danny Granger, you would tell me that the Sixers could get more. Hinkie did fine, but he didn't do anything amazing, his best deal was the Andre Miller deal to get 2 second rounders. Also, lets not forget these are still second rounders... 30 players will already be off the board.
Hinkie's acquisition of 5 2nds does concern me a bit. It shows a supreme confidence in his eye for talent, which makes me wonder how much of the Rocket's success in 2nd round and undrafted signings were due to him. And one cannot deny Hinkie has made 3 deals this year, and only one for Morey. But in Morey's defense, finding the finishing pieces for a contender is a more intricate task than to dump value-able veterans for draft picks.
Morey is a very capable GM, but to attribute 100% of the credit for successfully rebuilding the Rockets into what it is today is to unfairly remove guys like Hinkie, Rosas and Karnasovas from the equation. While I think it's ridiculous to imply Hinkie was the real genius behind it all, it's probably equally laughable to believe our front office was not significantly weakened by his departure. I wish we had more information on the subject from someone in the know, because to me personally, I find the inner workings of our front office somewhat fascinating. Even when our team wasn't contending on the court, the manner in which Team Morey rebuilt the Rockets from spare parts was as interesting as anything else going on in the league.
what did hinkie and the brain do that got some of yawl riled up? granger's best days are behind him. Maury for life, eses.
So people getting all pumped up about 2nd round picks these days. You do know that Evan Turner was once the 2nd overall pick in the draft and Spencer Hawes was a lottery pick? 7 footer almost averaging a double double and shooting over 40% from the 3 point line and you just have a handful of 2nd round picks to show for two of your top four players? I'm not impressed. Maybe he turns the corpse of Danny Granger into something salvageable in a trade next season. I guess you guys would have been happy with a couple of 2nd rounders for Asik and Lin then is what you're saying. Personally, I'd much rather keep them for the stretch run and take my chances. They are much more valuable to this team right now than some 2nd round draft picks. Fortunately, Morey sees that too.
