I'm trying to be optomistic about the Thomas Robinson trade, however.... I have long contended that Morey's biggest blindspot is that he overvalues players that were high on his draft board but have had bad rookie campaigns. Jordan Hill Terrence Williams Hasheem Thabeet To be fair, I am in favor of the trade (and I understand that some of the above listed players were involved in bigger deals) but I just don't have much confidence in bad rookies. In general, GMs are extremely biased toward "their" rookies... and they only get traded if they are true lemons. Bill Simmon's article listed plenty of players that have gone on to succeed in this scenario: Jason Kidd, Chris Webber, etc... However, I'm not going to be super excited about losing a quality player in PPat until Robinson produces or shows some real potential.
Patrick Patterson will never be anything more than a backup forward on a championship team. He might be more than that on a PRETENDER, but not a championship team. Morey made the smart move here. Robinson's stock is higher than Patterson's. Whether that proves out to be true or not, time will tell but for NOW, his value as a piece in a future trade can't be denied. Going into one of the biggest F/A periods in recent memory, thats something that can't be downplayed.
He isn't overvaluing players like that. He buys all the "lotto busts" that weren't given enough time in the off chance they pay off. It costs you a high value player for a lotto pick BEFORE they hit the NBA (see Thunder offering Harden for #3 pick). After the draft though, you can pickup these guys and hope you can change them. There is potential there that was seen to be willing to use a high draft pick on them, so they may only be bad because of their situation (Hill was on a horrible Knicks franchise, Thabeet was really raw and didn't get minutes, Terrance Williams had a high potential ceiling but was a little dumb). Trob is a risk just like them. Super high potential, smart guy, but was on a terrible run franchise. Has his faults, but most big men are really raw, and if you are going to get a raw big man, might as well get one who has a super high potential ceiling. After saying all that though, Trob is here likely to be flipped, and Morey will use the argument I just used I would guess.
Most of these "calamities" cost the Rockets very little, and were later redeemed for other assets - is this a serious thread? Hill's acquisition, and then flipping to the Lakers wasn't a calamity; rather it was part of a bicoastal beatdown by Morey of the knicks and lakers.
Yes this too. Highest cost was Twill who was traded for a future 1st rounder that ISN'T a lotto pick. That sounds reasonable for a lotto pick. The other ones you mentioned cost us absolutely nothing. Thabeet came as a salary throw in and we got a 1st rounder, Flynn for I believe a 2nd rounder, Hill was a throw in for a Knick's trade where we got a bunch of value back.
Low risk for potential high reward. It's a great trade even if he doesnt turn out to be what we want. The fact is that we didn't give up anything that is a vital part of our team, and we opened up room for several young guys at the same position who have much higher ceilings than what we gave up as well.
I think the only comparable example was T-Will. The other guys were likely draft busts that we picked up on the cheap. T-Will and T-Rob, we gave up valuable assets for. So, yeah, he's gambling on his draft board here, but I don't think 2 events makes a trend. I'm okay with the occassional gamble that a bust just needs a change of scenery.
To me, a calamity is when you overpay a contract and have a difficult time trading that player for equal or better value.
Jordan Hill- part of the KMart trade, it was about squeezing every asset possible from the knicks. TWill- this one is definitely a screwup, all the tools as a player but had no brains. Thabeet- we got him because Memphis threw in a 1st round pick to any team that would take him off their hands.
