True enough, we were lucky. But Morey put us in a position to be able to take advantage of that situation by NOT pursuing Parsons when it was so difficult to let him go. That's the sign of an excellent GM.
The great thing about DM and his crew is they don't let missteps screw up their plans, they don't panic and let small missteps become bigger mistakes. When Melo/Bosh chose not to sign with Houston and Parsons got offered that ridiculous contract, DM and his crew might have folded and retained Parsons anyway just to "complete the team", in fact IIRC even Clutch was for it. Instead, they realized that the cap could be used more efficiently. Sure, DM couldn't have known that Smith would be available down the line, however since he didn't panic he was able to capitalize on an opportunity which presented itself. If he had burned all his money on parsons, maybe Houston would have had a worse record and wouldn't look as appealing as other contenders. Contrast that with Cubes and his FO, the ultimate masters of emotion and "gut" moves. Breaking up the championship core for the D-D-D gamble was a ballsy move, but when that failed they basically went into panic mode and just signed just about every big name they could at the expense of everything else. Look at them now: no bench, overpaid starters in Rondo and Parsons and no hope of contention. They let one mistake ruin everything when they could have retooled properly and built up a good team again behind Dirk.
Yup. As far back as I can remember Morey has been saying "My job is to field as competitive a team as possible while keeping the roster flexible, so that when the opportunity presents itself, we are able to take advantage." He has kept true to that mantra despite what the pundits and fans said, and now the Rockets are benefiting from his single-mindedness. Whatever luck we're noticing, I would attribute it to Dork Elvis.
Also we were able to offer Smith more than any other team due to the Jeremy Lin trade and the exception we received
Are you high? LOL. Ariza was one of the top three point shooters in the league last year. He shot over 40% beyond the arc.
One year - he is not an elite 3pt shooter - come on... He is an elite defender, a decent 3pt shooter, and pretty much crap at dribbling and passing... But he is worth what we are paying him and he fits...I wish he would shoot a tad less, but at 21-7...can't be all bad. DD
And I would point out that after adding Josh "Cancer" Smith, we've promptly started a losing streak. Tonight the Brick Brothers Ariza and Smith (who are at the very bottom of the league in FG%) combined for 7-21 from the field. Chandler Parsons in his last game went 10-16 for 26 points and 5-9 from 3. Chandler Parsons was our third star and we let him get away. Ariza and Smith were leftovers and it shows in their play.
