The anti-Morey fever is back in full swing! God I hate the off-season...it brings out the stupid in people.
This season, Morey did one great thing(Howard), one good thing(Daniels), and a bunch of bad or inconsequential things. Again, I don't think the first round loss impacted the voting based on when the ballots are cast, but the fact of the matter is, Morey's moves aren't translating into postseason success(or even appearances half the time). Look at the top 6 execs on that list. San Antonio, Miami, and OKC are getting votes based on their reputations for putting winning ballclubs out there every year that make long playoff runs. Phoenix and Portland got votes because their teams far exceeded expectations this year. And Toronto got votes for reversing their record from 34-48 a year ago to 48-34 this season. If Morey ever wants to move up this list, his moves better start producing playoff series victories soon.
I really have a hard time with this one. We pulled two top 10 players in the span of one year, and still have a lot of flexibility to upgrade and bring in new players this summer. Although, the more disappointing thing is how horrible Houston Rockets' "fans" are once we lose.
Morey does not deserve it, it's not like he traded for Howard and Harden was luck so there is maybe some jealousy. However, Morey has not nothing special yet and I think indeed Lin & Asik's situation and his analytical nerd philosophy, which hasn't paid dividends in the playoffs, causes his reputation to drop. There is definitely jealousy here and ninth is ridiculous.
Morey didn't deserve to win it this year, but probably deserves to be ranked a few spots higher. Last year you could make a much better claim because of the Harden trade, but he will probably never win this award as long as the execs are voting for it. Even without the poison pills that could potentially hurt our flexibility in grabbing a 3rd superstar, I still couldn't see him winning the award. He seems as if he rub other execs the wrong way. He's one of the only executives that is extremely liberal with information given to the media, has a strong online presence, and just generally seems to do things differently than the old guard. Obviously we see a shift toward the new school with Masai, Hinkie, etc, but Morey is still the figurehead for the new school, and if you're an old dude trying to protect your job, especially if you don't have/believe in analytics, you're not going to vote for a dude that represents a philosophy that is going to get you fired. This isn't really based on any clear objective process, as seen with Ainge ranked higher than Morey. You can possibly argue for King, but there's not really any reason Ainge should be higher.
Signed most coveted free agent of the offseason, and parlayed that into a 1st round bouncing. Also, traded away his best pg for Jordan Hamilton, and got abused by opponents pg with no contributions from ours in the playoffs. Ranking seems high. Not sure on what grounds people could possibly think that he deserves to be in contention for this honor.
Morey snookered himself with the Lin and Asik contracts. After working so hard to get them, now we can't wait to get rid of them (esp. Lin. Asik was the one who wanted out from us.) Jordan Hamilton--trading for him and then dumping him. What kind of rep are we developing around the league?
Absolute joke Pat Riley is so high and any team that didn't make the playoff I fail to see how they get votes. It's not hard to come 10th. Pat nearly wins the award for sparking up a cuban while ring diggers ask if they can come play for the Heat. Cool.
The Rockets landed the biggest free agent available when Houston basketball was nothing more than potential and went from an OK team to one of the best in the league. Aaron Brooks was gone at the end of this year anyway.
Total travishamockery here! Clearly jealously from other league GMs. Morey massages the Rockets cap to not tank and still be put in a position to acquire Howard and trade for Harden? And those maneuvers only warrant him 9th place? Haters gonna Hate.
These votes are pretty random. No set criteria really. An exec can just vote for his friends to help them keep their job or for any purpose that he likes. Buford winning this seems like a "lifetime achievement award." The Spurs are a great team, but much of the foundation for this team was built in years past (whether we are talking about the "Big 3" or role players like Diaw, Splitter, etc.) rather than this year. He did make a good signing in Bellinelli this season but those moves are just filling out the team around the edges. As for Morey, he did a fine job. Landing Dwight is an important step and he deserves credit for it (those recruitment situations are always an organizational effort not just done by one exec). People complain about Lin and Asik's salary, but those guys are contributing. Not trading Asik for some sort of cheapo package (Brandon Bass + draft pick or something) may be Morey's best in-season move. Other Morey pick-ups like Parsons, Jones, Beverley, etc are also contributing. Of course, those guys became the Rocket last season or before, but if Buford can win it on the strength of moves he made in years past, we can credit The team is in a good place roster-wise now. 54 wins is not "title contender" but it's a step away, and it's not easy to be a step away. The roster still has upside given the age/experience level of the players and the team has draft picks and assets with which to pursue a significant addition.
Not sure if you know this is 2014. The Rockets were grossly outcoached in the playoffs by someone Morey hired, and quickly retained. We have 2 horrible contracts in Asik & Lin that nobody in the league wants. Morey is not the genius some of you hype him up to be
#9 and deservedly so. What have he done that impressed you so far? Not so much imo. He signed Harden and Howard but these are proven talents. He did something terrible along the way though...such as getting rid of Dragic and Kyle Lowry. That is uncalled for..both are great talents. He even got rid of Morris for basically FREE...wtf. I was also shocked at that. He got rid of Aaron Brooks but Hamilton haven't blosom yet. So i can't tell if it's a good trade or not. For all i know, we could have used Brooks talents instead of Canaan. He found talents in Landry, Hayes, Greg Smith, Jones, Brooks, Daniels but he also traded away proven and potential talents in Lowry, Dragic and Morris and possibly Greg Smith.
2012-13: DeJuan Blair, Nando De Colo, Tracy McGrady, Gary Neal 2013-14: Jeff Ayres, Marco Belinelli, Austin Daye, Damion James That's all you have to do to be Executive of the Year? Signing Howard and Beverley alone is more impressive. This award just lost credibility IMO.
1. You do realize if we didn't trade Lowry (regardless of his talent), we would not have gotten Harden right? 2. He did not get rid of Dragic. Dragic chose to sign with a team willing to give him a 4th year option. We were not about to sacrifice cap flexibility for an at the time, non-allstar player. Hindsight was cruel on this one though, considering we ended up with Lin. 3. We got rid of Morris in order to sign Howard. We didn't give him away for free. We traded him to ensure cap room going into the offseason. 4. Brooks is tradable as a veteran gunner. Canaan is a rookie out of D-League. Who is going to take Canaan for J-Ham? Granted J-Ham did not pan out, but at the time and still so, our woes at PF far outweighed our needs at PG. 5. Greg Smith? You just lost ALL credibility with that one buddy...
