[2016-2017] Donatas Motiejunas as a New Orleans Pelican

I don't get these comments....about "everyone in the NBA is a fit with MDA" in one way or another. What system doesn't a passing big man work in? And where is it essential to the system like Adelman's was. And what passing big man did MDA have at PHO. It's a non-starter comment, imo. It means nothing, since Dekker also fits in MDA's system.

Morey didn't screw up anything. At worst, DMo took all this waaaayyy too personally, making him a very bad chemistry fit on this team. I don't buy him being a team player for the Rockets for one year here losing minutes to Dekker and fighting for backup C minutes with Nene and Harrell. I think he whines, like he and BJ did in the media.

 

Like I said, it's on the GM to get the players, it's not on the players to join the team. That means Morey screwed up because a different approach improves the roster.

 

Be more specific.

Obviously, chemistry was a huge factor in the 17-2 run that was occurring when these negotiations were going down. I believe DMo has became a whiner, and the GM made the right decision to improve the roster with development of Dekker and Harrell over TJones and DMo becoming whiners.

 

Crooked Hillary and Whiny TJones & DMo. Deport them all.

 

not only that, but DMO's health concerns were (and still are) a factor in making the decision. Also, it's not like DMO has played better in his time with the pels, than harrell, dekker, or nene have played with us, so you can't just assume the roster would have improved.

 

Exactly what a lot of people don't get it. The basic stuff. They look at Pels and are like, wow TJ is doing amazing and Dmo is doing good tho, we could have used them. Basketball is so much about mental aproach and fit. TJ sucked last year and year prior, Dmo had (has?) medical issues, who's to say they would be doing great in our system, who's to say they won't suck if/when they get bigger contracts. Also the minuted opened up opportunities for Harrell and Dekker. And i would rather have Harrell over TJ and Dekker over Dmo, not to mention their contracts. People need to move on, the ship has sailed. If Dmo wanted to prove himself in Houston he could have taken 4.4mil, but he dragged all of that drama stuff, not Morey.

 

That sounds a whole lot like making excuses for Morey's failure. I just don't buy the "Sure he failed, but his failure was a good thing" narrative. The first attempt was to pretend like DMo was so broken that he'd never play worth a damn again....when that proved to be false, I guess it's moving into "he was bad for chemistry". It'a all just excuses to try and make Morey look better. Look, Morey is a damn good GM, no one that matters says otherwise but not everything he does is right. He does make mistakes from time to time and it's okay to admit it.

 

If Dmo was so ****ing amazing why did teams didn't make offers when he hit restricted free agency, Nets could have made that offer they did at the start of free agency and so could other team, but let's face it, Dmo lost quite a lot of money and some respek sittin' on the couch in Vancouver.

 

Are we neglecting DMo's representation throughout this c-o-n-v-o-l-u-t-e-d mess? Everyone knows everything, is an authority on what is absolutely not known. In the Fantasy genre certain 'rules' must be followed. This is 'our' Fantasy genre except no rules are in place.

 

For sure it was due to concerns about his health, the Detroit almost trade completely destroyed his market value. That's why he's playing this year for a minimum deal, to prove that he is healthy so that he can get a better deal this off-season. IMO he should have just taken the QO, but it is what it is.

 

I asked you to be more specific regarding "different approach to improving" wrt your criticism of Morey, and followed with part of my take.

You still haven't said anything about basketball here other than presumably preferring your personal opinion of DMo over the GMs.

I'll take Dekker and Harrell over DMo, for many basketball reasons. And I just have to accept that Morey failed to trade DMo for something else because DMo demanded too much. SnTs require agreement from three parties. Simple minds always blame one party for trades not happening.

Your turn to be specific, or can you only talk basketball by critiquing the takes of others.

 

More specifically, Morey could have just included the damn incentives in the matched deal. He could have negotiated that kind of deal with DMo before the season started. The point was making him feel like he was really wanted here after Morey tried to trade him. Instead Morey played hardball with him the whole time and eventually the **** **** games soured the relationship to a point where it was so toxic no deal could get done.

Also, there's no taking Harrell and Dekker "over" DMo, they'd be on the same team. Given that Dekker is really a SF (and should be playing over Brewer all the time) and Harrell only seems to play the 5, there's a spot at backup 4 and also backup 5 in games against legit big men that Harrell is too small for. It's about improving the roster overall and the assumption that D'Antoni would be too stupid to play the best players if we had more quality depth is not a very good argument IMO.

 

This is pretty much what I believe at this point. Morey finally threw up his hands and said, "I give up. It's not worth it." If the Rockets were struggling and in need of big man help, he might have been a bit more generous."

 

The problem with blaming Morey for the whole Dmo fiasco is that Morey didn't do anything differently than any other front office did. Dmo had his chance to get offers and none came until the Nets finally put something on the table, Morey matched it. Not sure what else Morey could have done here?

The fact that Dmo is getting paid league minimum right now and still buried on the bench behind T-Jones is pretty telling, don't you think? I mean, sure there are plenty of things you can blame Morey for but the Dmo situation just isn't one of them.

 

Which is very un-Morey like, so maybe this was Les? Morey generally takes a much longer view.

DD

 

He could have matched the incentives too - the fact that he didn't and used that as a lever to force him to move his dates of the 2nd year guarantee and thus screwed Brooklyn's out of their deal is the crux of the problem.

If Morey REALLY wanted Dmo he could have negotiated last summer given him a little more money to get him into camp, he CHOSE to let the market set the price - and in the end, our team got weaker.

This is not a "Morey" did everything situation, Morey did what he wanted to do - and that strategy untimately cost us a 7foot skilled post player who is good on D and can shoot the 3, thus made us weaker overall - this was poorly executed on Morey's part.

That doesn't mean it was ALL him. BJ was terrible....if they knew all along they did not want to be in Houston, they should have signed the QO and played the year...and cashed in next summer.

This is a cluster**** on both ends, and the thing that bothers me, STILL....is we might be able to withstand these 3pt droughts with DMo, having one more bullet in your gun is always better than an empty chamber.

DD

 

Morey is taking a longer view. DMo's back is a real long term risk. I believe that Morey wanted to take a shot at signing him not because of the long term but because he felt that DMo could help NOW and if his back went out, all the team options would kick in to protect the team long term.

Since the Rockets were doing so well, in addition to all the hooplas BJ and DMo were throwing, he decided that it's not worth the trouble anymore, even for the short term.

The only thing I do not agree with HP is that if DMo signed the QO before the season began, he might "pass" the physical and started playing. It is clear to me now that there is no objective standard for passing or failing a physical. It is up to the team to decide whether certain physical conditions are acceptable or not. Nobody knows what exactly happened. But I believe that they did not find out anything they had not already known about DMo's health. The different between then and before the season was how the Rockets were playing and how DMo/BJ had behaved.

 

the f??? Are people really still complaining about Morey not matching the incentives????
WTF??? Are posters really arguing like its a fact that Morey made the Rockets "weaker" by not agreeing to BJ and DMO's demands?
Really??? Dmo's had a few good games and good for him.

But he's also had bad games, games with very limited minutes and at this point he's barely played 11 games at 15.5 minutes per game. ELEVEN.

In this extremely small sample size, DMO's has shot really well. 53% fg and 42% fg. Those are great %, unfortunately they are also from a sample size of 19 total 3 points attempts and 49 fg attempts. NINETEEN AND FOURTY NINE. He's also averaging barely 6 points and 3 rebound in those 15 minutes and 11 games.

Anyone ready to make any sort of declarative statement about the rockets being weaker or Morey making a mistake based on these limited numbers, is not only acting premature but also may be slightly delusional and obsessed.

How bout we wait till DMO plays at least 25 games or 400 minutes or until his shot attempts is at least 5 digits higher than Morey's age before we conclude how big a "mistake" (if at all) it was to let him go. TJones says Hi btw.

 

Yet it was not a long term risk, DMo's contract was only guaranteed this year.

This I understand, but IMHO, it is a stupidly shortsighted viewpoint. Because any good basketball person can see that it is better to have MORE talent than less, and DMo is a lot more talented than guys we kept, like Bobby Brown. And he is in a position we are woefully short in....in both stature and number.....makes no sense....your sole JOB is to acquire talent and the coach clearly wanted DMo....

Yeah, I don't think the physical is relevant at all, I think it is a red herring....or an excuse for their decision, and actually they NEVER gave a reason....which is bizzare.

Either way, IMHO, the Rockets team is WEAKER because we let him walk - and that is what Irks me more than anything, not that I like DMo, which I do, but Harden's window is only there for X amount of time, this weakened this year's roster.....and that to me, is the opposite of what a GM should be doing.

And yes, I know Dmo did not want to play for Morey and the org, but man, tough crap...shut up and play.......he would have gotten over it.

DD