[610] Patterson assigned to Vipers.

Not true. Morey has chosen to develop our players in a certain way, to maximize their values while they are still rookies to give him the most options available for trades, and roster additions. Right now, they are developing Hill to see if he can become something legit or to make him look good for a possible deal. I think of the two guys, Patterson and Hill, that Patterson is the better player right now. But if they play Patterson and further demote Hill, then Hill's trade value goes to zero, just a throw in on a deal for salary matching purposes. Morey is hoping Hill shows some signs and somebody bites off on his potential. Thus, Patterson is down in D-League slaving away. I like the way Morey handles our talent.

 

Couldn't beat out Jordan Hill? Yes.

Couldn't beat out Jared Jeffries? Not necessarily. There can only be so many PFs in the rotation. Why have Patterson be "the top guy not in the rotation"? Better that he be playing significant minutes.

As for Davis, there's a difference in that the Raptors were not heading into this season with any expectations of doing anything other than rebuilding. Hence, Davis is expected to at least be part of the rotation this season. Morey said after the draft that the Rockets did not expect Patterson to play many minutes this season. Big difference. Also, the Rockets completely run basketball operations for the Vipers. Not so for the Raptors and their D-League affiliate.

I disagree about Presti. Sure, Durant fell in his lap. But sometimes you need some luck to be truly successful. Agreed that Westbrook was perhaps his greatest personnel move. As for Green and Harden, I think those selections were purposely made to have them fill significant ROLES on the team without needing to be stars. Green is a good defender and all-around player (just as he was hyped coming out of Georgetown). Harden is a little disappointing defensively, but the dude is a solid scorer who will be a quality player in this league for years. Give Aldrich some time. It's not like he's a top-5 pick. The 11th pick of the draft doesn't need to be anything special.

Presti's genius, however, is in his salary cap management. He turned some available cap space last year into Eric Maynor. He used this year's cap room to structure Nick Collison's extension so that it will never interfere with his ability to re-sign his stars and/or add free agents. Both of those moves rank (in my opinion) as among the savviest cap maneuvers of the last decade.

Give the man some credit. Drafting is only one small aspect of being a GM. If it was the main criterion, then Isiah Thomas would actually be considered a decent GM.

 

That's all conjecture. You see them developing Hill, I see them playing him inconsistent minutes to the point to where he doesn't even know his role. If Patterson was better than Jordan Hill, I'm fairly confident Patterson would be playing right now. I don't believe they intentionally chose to play the worst player to help his trade value -- especially when they got off to such a bad start.

It just seems like you're trying to spin it in Morey's favor when in reality.. we're 4-10, one of our big assets from the Knicks deal is getting 20 minutes than 5 minutes the next game, and our lottery pick that Morey exploded over still being available can't even sniff the court.

I understand why he went to the D-League (minutes, learn the offense, etc.). But this was also the guy we heard the Rockets board room go crazy over when he wasn't picked -- and now all he's done is grab some boards for Rio Grande. For someone that excited Morey that much when drafted, I expected more.. and I think a lot of fans did. Of course, it is still early and he could turn out to be good.. but the early returns are not good.

You talk about some picks filling certain roles on the team. Do you agree with that strategy? Personally, I prefer Morey's strategy of taking the best talent regardless of the position.

Harden was probably the big example of that strategy, as I believe they thought others were more talented but that he would fit better. Now he's gone from the fourth pick to their backup SG. They could have had several other SGs who are making differences for their team, but opted for the "fit" pick -- and it hasnt worked out.

I'll give Aldrich some time just like I'll give Patterson.. but by the end of the year, you would think both would be good enough to make an impact for their team. Aldrich was never an offensive center but a great defender. He was billed as the best big man defender in the draft. You would think that he'd be able to find his way to the floor eventually if true. I guess we're in a wait and see mode on that.

Eric Maynor was a solid acquisition. He's not earth shattering or the difference maker in the team, but for what they got for him it was a great pickup. I'd say Kahn outdid him this summer with the Beasley pickup though (I know Beasley wouldn't have fit into Thunder; just meant, as far as taking on a player with your available cap space).

As far as Nick Collison, I will say giving him a signing bonus of all the leftover cap was something unique that I haven't seen done before -- so he deserves credit there. I'm not a Collison fan though -- he's a 20 MPG player, so I'm not ready to crown Presti as genius for locking him into a friendly contract. But from a cap space fan perspective, I will say it was pretty cool how they structured it.

 

But Morey ALSO said that Patterson was not expected to see many minutes this season. Given that Morey preemptively tempered expectations, I don't quite understand the impatience.

Carl Landry didn't even sniff an NBA court until mid-way through his rookie year, and that was on a team with little veteran depth at PF (a still-young Hayes and a rookie Scola). By comparison, Patterson is on the same team as a veteran Scola playing like an All-Star, another young lottery pick in Hill, a more experienced Hayes, and a quality defender in Jeffries. Why WOULD he be playing? Because the Rockets are playing poorly? Scola is their best player!

 

Well I'm kinda arguing that PPat isn't good enough to warrant the celebration we saw from the front office, so Hill/Hayes playing ahead of him is part of that argument. I don't think Jordan Hill being a lottery pick the year before gives him the carte blanche to the rotation; I believe he beat out Patterson for it. And Jeffries was ahead of Hill to start the season, so that leads me to believe JJ also beat out Patterson for a rotation spot. But I do understand the idea of 'what's the point of keeping him here to be the 5th PF?' I'm hopeful Patterson can develop into what Morey believed he was -- but I also expect to see him dropping 20-30 a night in the NBDL. Brooks and JT both were averaging 20+ and have shown to be NBA players (I still believe in JT, cough cough) -- so I expect for Patterson's production to mirror theirs in time. Time till tell.

Morey talked about how they were willing to trade assets to move up to select Patterson -- so I would hope that by the end of the year we see the reason why. So far, we haven't.. we've just seen a PF whose in love with shooting the three for some reason.

I may be in the minority, but I would be disappointed if we drafted another Carl Landry. Good offensive player, but not a good defender, passer or rebounder. I was expecting Patterson to be more of a complete player -- hopefully in the end you're right.

 

I hear you. But Morey and Gersson Rosas did admit that this year's draft was only 5 players deep.

When they say that they had Patterson as the #6 guy on their board, they were saying that they had him as "the best of the rest".

So don't read so much into that. They don't view Patterson as a star. They just thought he was the best player in the draft who WASN'T a star.

 

Long shot, but do you happen to have a link or know where I can find that? I don't remember hearing that (not to say it isn't true).

Either way, happy thanksgiving -- stop arguing with me and eat some turkey!