Hill was never high on his board. The trade was to get the limited protection draft picks. Thabeet trade was to get a draft pick. T-Will was a bad trade.
If Morey was a super hero, he'd be Dr. Manhattan <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/f05Mnxm7wJ4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Yeah, it's a calculated risk. I like it. Little chance he'll ever be a homerun but I think the chances are pretty good that he can turn into a double double kind of guy.
You do know that a draft producing more than 2 all-stars in the top 10 picks is a lot right? Most other players become good rotation players or nobodies. 7 of 10 players in the top 10 of the 2009 draft are starting for their respective teams, the only real player who has no minutes at all is Jonny Flynn. That's not bad at all, you need to look at the history of drafts and drop your expectations.
Trevor Ariza and TWill were the only moves that didnt pan out imo. Hill and Thabeet were just throw-ins and prospects that were worth the risk. One great thing about Morey is that he fixes those mistakes almost immediately.
It's true that Morey has picked up guys who ended up being trash. But I'd rather have a GM who makes 10 low risk moves and 2 pay off, than a GM who makes 3 low risk moves and 0 pay off. This is majorly over-simplified; but I just think Morey's pros outweigh his cons at the moment. I haven't always felt this way. Circa 2011 I was getting close to throwing Morey under the bus.
The problem here is you have the wrong mindset when it comes to trades and GM moves. What you're saying is that Morey is over-valuing these busts (most notably the 2009 draft class), and keep on trading for them. The thing is, Morey isn't over valuing these guys, he gave up very little in return to get him. Thabeet was the 2nd pick, Flynn was the 5th pick, Terrence Williams was the 5th pick. Normally to get picks that high you'd have to give up an arm and a leg, and yet all we gave up Battier (who was gonna leave the team), and a lottery protected 1st rounder. So he isn't over valuing them, he's just taking a chance on them. Those are two very different things. As I said already, Morey and his staff aren't idiots. He didn't cream in his pants when he learned Memphis was making Thabeet available, they have their own scouts and they read the forums just like everyone else. He knows there's 90% chance Thabeet would be a bust. But what if Thabeet pans out, and all it would take was Battier to get him? Trading for him was the correct move, whether or not Thabeet pans out, because at the time you don't know what would happen. Same thing with T-will and Hill, broken down Tmac and a lottery protected first rounder is worth giving up to take a chance on players with star potential. So really, although Hill, T-will, Thabeet etc. turned out to be busts, the fact that Morey took a chance on them shows that he's doing a good job as GM, because he's been trying to get star talent by looking through the garbage bins of the NBA. The point is he's been doing this by giving up very little, so if you look at the risk/reward ratio it is a good move whether or not they pan out. The simplest way I could put it is this is like dating: it doesn't matter how many times you get turned down, somebody saying "yes" more than makes up for it. On the other hand, if you don't ask somebody for fear of getting turned down, then you'll never get a date. P.S. Trading Battier got us to take a chance on Thabeet, and Battier putting Grizz over the top and taking us out of the playoffs allowed us to take a chance on Marcus Morris. Battier was a good player, but trading him allowed us to take a look on 2 potential star players at a time when we were desperate for a franchise player. It was a good trade.
No mention of the extra 1.5M or so in cap space next offseason - or the additional roster spot... MMorris on the 3rd year of a 14th pick rookie scale contract (after what we've seen of him so far...) OR Morey armed with a second round pick in next years draft.... which has greater upside?... No disrespect to PPat or MMo - I appreciate their efforts while with the rox... but clearing their salary off the books and opening a roster spot isn't a bad thing... TRob is a gamble - but I'd consider him a throw in as well....
This thread is r****ded. Morey had to take a chance on potential players like that, because his owner wouldn't allow him to tank and get a top pick... so he acquired players who had some questions, yet had top pick potential. The guy has the youngest team in the entire league paced to make the playoffs.. a team that is currently featuring new starters at almost every position and the one guy who started last season is only in his second season.. quit yo b****in.
There's gotta be some metric with drafts picks split by round, projected potential and values and what constitutes busts, and the number of years it took for said draft pick to make projected numbers or what they ended up being. I bet you we could see a rating system made by the numbers if you look at draft picks alone and split it to rank GMs. Similarly along with trades they mid mid-season or players picked that weren't drafted. I bet you Morey would be at the top, if not first for making the right picks. It's not easy pickingp layers and expecting them to live up to their potential.
Worst case scenario is that the trade does nothing more than free up more time for D-Mo, and that's good enough for me.
really? Name all these draft picks that "ended up busting", because more than not.. Morey's draft picks ended up "working" and the ones that didn't ended up being moved for pieces that helped this team. Also it's not like this guy was given top ten picks either. How old are you? If you have a problem with what Morey has done you must be too young to remember Carrol Dawson at the end of his tenure. I actually tune in to the NBA draft with Morey.. under Dawson I simply turned the channel. Morey has done a fantastic job with what he's been allowed to work with.
This is possibly the dumbest post I've read on the internet... not just this board, but the entire internet.. congrats.. I'll skip over the stupidity of point 1 and 2 and go straight to #3. How can your score card possibly have Morey listed 0/3? Unless you're discounting all the other moves that have paid off hand over fist. I repeat, this guy has the youngest team in the league currently perched upon a playoff appearance, roped a 23 yo superstar with a bag of peanuts, and has the ability to sign another max player....and you bring us this crappy thread? Yes Newsflash.. G.M.s don't make every correct choice, just like gambling the one's who are right more than they are wrong get paid. Morey has scoreboard and has been taking the house down..WTF? How anybody can criticize what he has done so far is mind boggling.
Also netted a 2nd rounder and $1.5M in cap space for next season and Mooks was addition by subtraction.
Picking up a guy on a rookie contract is rarely a disaster. The disasters are GMs who sign mediocre players to big money long term contracts. So far Morey has signed Harden, Lin, and Asik to long term deals. Thumbs up to all of them.
