As we drink the Morey Kool-Aid...We are all Guilty

I won't respond on a point by point basis, since others have said exactly what I think.

You can split hairs with any GM, but Morey has set up a team that has been much more successful after the loss of two all stars than anyone thought they would be. I call that success. Unfortunately, the early season overachieving and success has given some the impression a few "mistakes" by Morey could have made the difference between where we are right now, and a serious playoff run. That just isn't the case. Chill out, and enjoy our highly entertaining, overachieving BB team.

I think all these minor decisions you list are BS, but I do believe that Morey has made one flat-out serious mistake. That was trading Gay for Battier. I have said all along that only time would tell how smart that deal was. We essentially traded a super-role player for a potential franchise player. Why would you do that? The only answer is to win a championship. Since the Rockets have not yet won a championship with Battier, and we now need a replacement for McGrady, I would call that trade a serious mistake. Had the trade not been made, we would have a young core of Yao, Gay, and Brooks.

That trade was the safe (and early payoff) thing to do, but it HASN'Tpaid off in the only way it could have.

 

But at the time I would argue that the Battier trade was smart, and you do not plan for injuries etc, so I give him a pass on that one too.

The one that I think is a mistake is Ariza, while I know he is only a role player, the lux tax line is dropping, and role players will not command MLE money in one or two years.

And personally, I believe we WAY overpaid for Trevor's skill set...the Lakers knew exactly what they were doing when they let him go without really making an offer.

Trevor is just not very good at the fundamental things basketball players are required to do, and he seems like another Mike James style of signing to me.

DD

 

Nobody is perfect. but morey did a good job so far. He isnt rushing into bad trades that he might regret later on.

 

so is he going to fail the clutchfans bbs spelling test...? Oh wait, let me rephrase that, "Is he going to fail the Clutch Fans spelling test?"

 

I completely agree. Why can't we be like other teams and draft hall of famers with all of our second round picks. Why didn't we sign Artest to a 5 year contract, I'm sure he'll still be DPOY when hes 35. Joey Dorsey sucks, I bet he'll never get a single rebound in the NBA. Why doesn't Morey do that 3 way deal, McGrady + Cook for Lebron and Wade, what he is waiting for? Man, if only we had a good GM.

 

So far I am dissapointed in Morey.

We had such a good chance of getting Caron Butler and Brendon Haywood but morey just sat and watched.

What could have been.

PG: Brooks/Lowry
SG: Butler/Battier/Taylor
SF: Ariza/Budinger
PF: Scola/Landry/Hayes
C: Yao/Haywood/Anderson

In Morey I trust is a lie to me.

 

The OP has one point that I totally agree with. There is a tendency by many fans here to put Morey on a pedestal. It reminds me so much of Jerry Krause who destroyed the Chicago Bulls. He was called a "genius" by many Bulls fans, and for years, his every move was praised, but when they turned out to be mistakes he was always given a pass. The Bulls fans only found out many years later that they were taken for the ride all along.

The jury is still out on Morey. The weaknesses of Brooks and Landry are starting to get exposed so it would be interesting to see what our "genius" is going to do. I really hope he doesn't turn out to be another Krause though.

 

You have to be kidding me right? We have no all stars and you are complaining about our record? I fully expected a down year (i.e. 2005-2006 season). The fact that we are winning at this high of a clip in the western conference is simply astounding. I think what boggles my mind even more is people continue to overreact on this board. Man, I miss the days when this BBS was...dare I say, sane.

 

I didn't like the trade myself DR in the respect that we didn't get enough in return for the #8 pick, but I believe they aquired Battier to pair together with a healthy Yao and a healthy T-Mac which of course never happened. And who's to know if the rockets would have drafted Gay if they had kept the pick anyway, he's a talented offensive player that is not strong on the defensive side of the ball.

 

Your roster assumes that we would have traded for TMac for Butler + Haywood.

Laughable.

Even the Wizards aren't dumb enough to do a deal like this.

It most likely would have been McGrady + Bud for Butler/Haywood/Stevenson.

Do you want to give a young asset on a very good contract in Budinger as well as taking Stevenson's attitude and garbage contract JUST so we can get a rental center that will be asking for a large raise this offseason along with a 30 year old SF (which we have too many of) who is playing the worst ball of his career?

So, it's basically Budinger for Butler and Stevenson when looking to next season. Is a team led by Butler and Yao a contending team? LOL is all I can say.

And the year after that? We're back to where we started.

 

Trevor isn't a go-to guy and he isn't being paid like one. The only reason he's filling that role now is because we have McGrady and Yao on the bench. I'd be more interested in revisiting the signing next season after Yao returns and we pick up another scoring option to replace McGrady.

 

I'm sure that's exactly how it went down. He probably just sat and let the phone ring. Because we all know when a trade goes down and we're not involved, someone in the organization dropped the ball.

 

Damn Daryl, curse you for picking players with weaknesses with such great draft position.

I mean, with late first rounders and second rounders, you would think he would be able to find flawless players that dominate all aspects of the game.

I am thoroughly disillusioned with Morey's wizardry. Let's ship him out with McGrady.

 

Wow, you must have been in on the phone conversations between Morey and Washington, if there were any to begin with. By the way trade deadline is on the 18th. How do you know we had a good chance at getting Butler and Haywood?

 

This should be a 1 star thread. Not 2

 

Who said he was a Go-to guy?

The point was that the tax line and cap are dropping, overpaying for role players will be a bad move as it will handicap your roster going forward.

DD

 

As an aside, I'd like to add -- I'm really, really glad some of y'all weren't around for Rudy and CD.

 

I miss CD bigtime. Can't stand this Morey guy anymore.

The guy comes on sports radio and talks like he has huge plans in mind week in and week out. This guy actually thinks he can bring a "top talent" to Houston after the crap he and his coach pulled on a player. These kinds of things go noticed by players and they will be want to be in situations like this as well. I really wished CD would have showed him the ropes a bit more at least. Unfortunately we have to settle for this guy as our GM and its really sad.

CD actually took risks while this guy is coming across like an incompetent GM. He had a few good moves but the rest of his moves are suspect.

He slept on the Butler deal. There is no way in hell the Wizards were asking for "Rockets young talent" because the deal was clearly stated as before. Dallas just came in and became a step quicker than Houston.

In Morey I Dont Trust.

Bring back CD or another GM with balls

 

One thing that people fail to realize is that there is a limited numbers of talented players out there, much less available.

So it's easy to say, "Hey, Morey never got us the big man we needed!"

Well, who was available? Gortat? He's not even worth the MLE the Magic signed him to.

Look at who was available. We had to go "down under" to find an actual 7 footer with some semblance of basketball skill that was available.

And this plays into all of the other arguments.

It's very easy to say that Morey has been unable to find a legit superstar SG through trade and free agency. Guess what? Look at who was available. NOBODY.

There isn't an infinite pool of Joe Johnsons and Dwyane Wades. Not every team can have an all-star SG.

There isn't a limitless amount of reputable or starting 7 foot centers. Not every team can have an all-star center.

Morey has done ridiculously well in terms of what's been available.

Imagine if we didn't have a GM who drafted Brooks, Bud, or Landry.

Imagine if our GM was a typical one whose late first round draft picks are usually trash.

Imagine if we still had a GM who drafts Luther Head.

Imagine our current state without our youngsters along with our injured stars. We'd have Rafer Alston and Juwan Howard still starting for us.

Who would we be this year then? Would we be a relatively young team with nice young talent? Or would we be a team that would be below .500 who has no future whatsoever, with no assets whatsoever?

We wouldn't even be discussing the Rockets right now because they'd be so incredibly dismal (well, we still would because we're all hardcore fans, but not with any sort of enthusiasm whatsoever).

 

Don't let the door hit you on the way out.