I just repped you. While other people in other threads are talking about him being the next Peja (LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL) you are being realistic and wondering if he can be Walt Williams. Bravo young man!
I'm not so sure he could have. If it's true that Les axed the the Tracy to Detroit deal, I doubt Morey would have been allowed to move Yao or Tracy in the past, even if he wanted to. As we're seeing this off season, tanking for draft position seems to be off the table too. It's the same reason why I can't really say Chris Wallace is a bad gm, because he's really good at doing what his owner wants, ie. saving money.
That's a great comparison Durvasa. I didn't know you were a baseball guys also,lol. That makes the most sense in the world. In rehashing what you just said, since he's been here, both guys have missed huge chunks of the season. After a while, it would seem logical for him to get rid of both for on court reasons. Neither is a leader and both are injury prone, but we continue to turn in this cycle. I think tracy is a high bbiq, talented playmaker, but I wouldve taken the best package offered and lesser,durable, cheaper pieced. Maybe morey wasn't offered anything, who knows but Morey. Yao is a hardworking, classy, big guy who no one can dislike, but like tracy, he pigeon holes the team into what kind of offense the team can play and he also misses huge chunks with his injuries. He should field offeres for him also. Its like I always use as the gold watch theory. Some people would rather work 40 yrs, make 40k, and retire at 65 because its safe. Some people would rather be their own boss, control their destiny, and retire in their 30's. The difference is the gold watch guy is looking at what if he fails, and the business owner is looking at when he succeeds. I think morey, which is not the worse thing in the world is more of the gold watch guy. Its not like the gold watch guy can't win, it just takes being almost perfect on every move.
Given what's transpired the last 3 seasons and where we're at right now as a franchise, I presume the Rockets would have done something different with that 8th pick. The Francis deal was a major flop, anyway you look at it. That money would have been used differently. I'm guessing we don't go for Dorsey last year. Things like that would certainly change ... in retrospect. But there's always things a team can look back at and do differently when they have a spell of rotten luck with injuries.
Oh I definitely agree on stuff like Francis, I'm not saying there isn't anything he wouldn't do differently. We ended up trading him, but with the pick we had Donte Greene doesn't look like the best choice either. If they didn't trade for Battier he would've picked Thabo, which would have been a bad move too. My point was only referring to trading Yao and McGrady, which in terms of championships is the big difference maker. Obviously they want to trade McGrady now, but before he got injured I don't think Les would've allowed him to get traded for anything less than a star that is equally famous. Also about your baseball analogy, I think it is definitely possible to win a championship this way. Accumulate as much talent as possible on cheap contracts, and when a star player becomes available on the market, hope you have more value than your competitors to offer for the star. Boston and LA have won the last 2 championships with trades like that.
Finally something we can agree on. I do not think we can conclude anything from a handful of summerleague games. Which is why I have noted numerous times in this thread this this is just for discussion's sake. A speculative thread in a slow summer.
The 8th pick, Francis,Barry,and dorsey were piss poor, but I can chalk that up to him still learning the business. I mean he spent 3 yrs in boston before coming to the rockets. Then he's thrown into the nba world, it not that easy. When Les first hired morey, many people thought les was setting up for the sale. We don't know if that is or was true, but that's water under the bridge. Hopefully now, he can make [bold]Basketball Decisions[/bold] to get this team into the upper tier. A good gm is only as good as his scouts and pro personel people. West had said it before he wouldve never drafted gooden, instead he wouldve drafted Amare. He listened to the scouts because he had just taken over and drafted gooden but traded him before completing his rookie season. I can question the Anderson move, but it wouldn't do any good, so by the season, I'll be riding with my squad again.
Accordingly, if that's something you can answer by preseason games, then why play summer league games?
This analogy is apt in regards to Morey's free agent acquisition model. I believe he has a set value for every player in the league and will not overpay. This is just sound business practice and takes the emotion out of evaluations of subjective things such as "potential". This is the essence of $Ball. Some may say this is not going for home runs. I would rephrase it as "a path in prudence". For the draft, on the other hand, I believe he has an unique set of criteria for evaluation. He has been after the right players when he had the resources- Roy and Fernandez- and when he had very little resources he turned them into sold contributors- Brooks, Landry. I think it is completely unrealistic to try to go for allstars in the second round. That is not called going for home runs, it is an exercise in delusion. I know this is not your position, but some others on here think it is rational. Very good point. It was imprudent to go for homeruns around the team that he inherited. That team was viewed as a contender, with a few missing pieces. The very essence of going for homeruns entails a low hitting %. You simply don't go around waiting for that one homerun while wasting away the prime of a contending team. In retrospect would we have been better served going for home runs anyways? Yes, but no one could have predicted our amount of injuries. We cannot live our lives in retrospection. Decisions are made in real time, and we live with the results. And the decisions at the time were correct. The results sometimes we cannot control, but as long as we keep making correct decisions, the %s will be on our side, and our path will be a righteous one. I immensely enjoy a discussion based in reason. And you are amongst the most reasonable on the board. I tip my hat, if I was wearing one. I completely agree with what you are saying. What I absolutely disagree with is when some people say one of Brooks, Landry, Budinger and Taylor have to turn out to be a top 10 player in their position- otherwise Morey has amounted to nothing. That is simply, utterly, irrevocably, insane.
No, he will not contribute. Another Novak, who can't play D. The reverse discrimination product with only shooting skills.
I never said he would be useless, I said he either needs to be lucky or good or the team will be just like the model in baseball, the A's. They were just good enough to make the playoffs and lose. Not only that, if Roy and Fernandez were your targets, why didn't you get them? Why not deal directly with the the wolves predraft and make sure u get the players u want. Not just that, the backup plan was the kid from switzerland. I guess brewer nor gay ever entered the equation as being the better prospects? This horse has had his ass beaten in for 3 yrs and whether the strategy works or not, we don't know because we haven't won anything.
Because managing a professional basketball team is not akin to coddling a spoiled toddler, were you get anything you cry for. Someone else offered something better. Deal with it.
i think he can contribute if he improves his defense....chase B. is a tall guy playing the SF position so it will be tough for him to cover quick and athletic/strong SFs.
This is what Morey had to say about him, courtesy of the transcript in the our thread: Even Morey has stated himself that you really have to take summerleague observation with a huge chunk of salt, however, this is all we have to go by so far, as far as speculation goes. With that in mind, so far Budinger has been by far the most impressive prospect on our summerleague roster. His defense has not been so bad where it is a liability. However this may, and probably will, change in the NBA. So far so good though.
The A's aren't a good comparison because they never spend money, their whole idea is to compete while spending half or 1/3 of what top teams do. Comparing the Rockets to the A's would be like comparing them to the Redsox, a team that also follows moneyball, but has money to spend. Neither comparison makes sense at all.
This is the best player I have EVER seen in the summer league, he is just so good.... Hopefully it translates to the NBA floor, but my GOD he makes it look easy. DD
I don't trust summer league since they don't play defense. Budinger is shooting pretty good but this is summer league after all.
The best thing about Budinger's play is its WITHIN the offensive flow. No chucking, no rushing, no ballhogging, no rebouding, no defense, 25 points on 9 shots. This is pretty much what Von Wafer did to make the team last preseason. Speaking of preseason, thats basically what summer league is for. Not so much if they can carry the performance into the NBA. Its more about trying to get a camp invite. Just making it to the next small step up.
