There are always available replacements for GM, but the purpose of firing Morey is to bring in someone who can do the job better. To fire Morey without a clear idea of who is out there that is better and willing to come is just stupid. I disagree. Adelman is clearly in the twilight years of his career, both in coaching and health. We all saw how things ended for him in Minny.
At some point Morey so gotta be given the Lions share of blame. All the adjustments of goalposts for this guy is hilarious. He's in top 7 of the longest tenured GMs. Guess who has the least amount of playoff success among those 7 outside of WASHINGTON GMS (Lulz)? He's been here since 2007 and not even a finals appearance to show for it. Laughable. Pathetic. Embarrassing. Treadmill of mediocrity personified
I don't WANT Morey fired, I think he will be fired, if the team doesn't turn it around. And I don't think he has anyone but himself to blame. I mean you don't give guys like Brewer 8 million a year - especially when you are a stats guy. You don't undervalue coaching when you have a very young team that is desperate for leadership. Morey has been good for Houston, not great, simply good. He has some big wins....Harden.....and some big misses, Ariza the first time. I do appreciate his nerve to step up and swing, but IMHO, I don't think he worries much about how pieces fit together, how individual players games compliment others - how the sum of the whole can be greater than the parts. Seems to me it is "Get a group of players and let the coach sort it out" when there needs to be more thought into the TYPE of players to get. We have a 3 and D team filled with players who can't shoot 3s or don't play D. I mean...COME ON...that is LOL funny. DD
Even before coming to the Rockets James Harden was one of the leagues most efficient players because of his ability to get to the rim, get to the foul line, and shoot from outside. The team that Morey put around Harden is designed to maximize his abilities and has been incredible at making Harden better for 3 years now. However starting last year Morey started taking some gambles on players like Brewer and now Lawson that don't necessarily complement Harden on paper, but it was a gamble to where if it works out, it could pay dividends because of Lawsons ability to provide Harden-lite when Harden sat, and Brewer's ability to get out on the break and push the tempo. As of this Summer, I don't think ANYONE had a problem with Morey taking these (what looked like) minor gambles at the time. Then there was the coaching... as of this Summer, you could make a pretty compelling argument that having a coach like McHale who simply got out of the way and "unleashed" Harden was the right move in the end... even though Harden's efficiency was a little lower than when he was reeled in more in OKC, getting more and more possessions of maximum Harden really was the Rockets best weapon. Now we have this season.... What has happened that is in Morey's control? Not much other than the Lawson trade, and the Brewer resigning. -McHale & co. failed at having an adequate Summer preparation program and training camp... one of the keys to the bad start -The Players have all really taken a poor approach to the season -Harden has had a down year (although his stats show he's still pretty damn good) If Les fired Morey over this season I would be pretty upset about that. I don't think he's done anything up till this Summer that hasn't put this team in a better and better situation, and he's always done everything he can to make his Superstar better and better. His record shows that is the case for 3 years in a row of Harden before this one. This year very little has happened in a negative fashion that was in his control, but I have full faith that he's smart enough to know that they need change in order to make this team really good again. He might go in with a scalpel instead of a meat cleaver but he's never going to stop doing whatever he can to make this team better. I got full faith in Daryl, and he deserves a shot at rebuilding this roster again, and putting the right coach in place for the roster he has.
I get the dumping on Morey thing but let's be realistic here - most NBA titles are owned by a handful of teams and Houston plays in the same conference with one of the most historically dominant sports organizations in the Spurs who are perpetually making deep playoff runs. Houston made the WCF last year and Morey had made the playoffs in a historically deep Western Conference in 5 out of his 8 years here(and likely soon to be 6 of 9) and that's with a rebuild thrown in the middle there. On the transaction front, he has mostly outwitted other GMs in the league - that's how he transformed our injured cast of star players for a semi-competitive squad, for an MVP candidate and deep playoff team. Morey is not without his faults and clearly there is some chemistry issues he has created, but very few GMs have drafted as well as him(GS and maybe SA have obviously excelled here), transacted as well as him, and signed FA as well as him - let alone all of those things at once. I mean with essentially this exact same roster he was 3 wins away from the Finals last year. This year has been a disaster, but again - nearly the exact same roster that was 3 wins short of the Finals last year and he is in charge of assembling the roster. Clearly the players are good enough and you could debate on who's job it is to accommodate the chemistry issue - probably equal parts GM and coach(Phil Jackson famously made it work with a feuding Kobe and Shaq - no one was blaming the GM for fit issues).
Morey doesnt necessarily have to get fired, but he seriously needs to not even think knows how to evaluate rookie talent. This guy has had some of the absolute worst picks I can remember. I dont know what his method is, nmaybe he got some fancy advanced stats for college players, whatever it is, it sucks. Stick to contracts and attending conferences with other basement geeks, Daryl. Go hire Ruby T or somebody else that actually knows what it means to play a basketball game
I agree, firing him would be a big mistake. Morey needs to just swallow his pride and hire a coach that won't be a "yes man".
Considering the draft picks he's had in recent years (mid-to-late teens/20s) I'd actually say he's done mostly pretty well. How many top-10 picks has he had the opportunity to select (unlike OKC or Golden State)? Wasn't his directive (apparently per Les' directives) to NOT tank? The fact that the team never bottomed-out (as much as Morey would've preferred, as we can clearly see with Hinkie) proves that he's done just about as good as one can do under the circumstances. Do you remember Carroll Dawson? Mo Taylor, Shandon Anderson, Stromile Swift, Matt Maloney...Dickerson, Drew, Rhodes... Firing Morey would be dumb. He's been able to build an impressive roster, but with major flaws. Surely he'll learn from this lost season.
Morey will not be fired. This team is one year of going to the WCF. You don't fire a GM after one follow up bad season. He'll get next year to bring the team back to contention before he'll be at risk.
There are too many issues to fix overnight and I do not believe trade is necessarily the answer either. The "easiest" thing to fix first that IMO has the widest reaching effect is effort. I don't mean just defensive effort, but effort at both ends of the court. We simply need to hustle all game. Things like set plays, chemistry, free throw shooting, lower turnovers, ect... those take time to coach away, provided we even get a good coach. This team is too talented to not blow at least the lesser teams away through sheer talent if they maintain effort. Can or will they do that consistently? Who knows.
So didn't we fire McHale? After 2 months or 1 months and a half into the season? McHale was part of that WCF team that you speak of. The truth is the owner is an irrational man, he might not fire Morey in the end but I sure think he is considering it hard. And I am sure he got no clue whom he would hire afterwards.
The fact that this team can beat and be competitive with elite teams shows that the bigger problem is leadership first and foremost. Changing the personnel will only work if it changes the leadership in the right direction. We don't have a talent issue except maybe at the 4.
What you are saying it is still his and Alexander's fault. - Both hired McHale therefore are responsible for his failure and success (WCF) alike - One dimensional system of ISOes, shooting 3s and inconsistent D - Always makes mistakes with role players, bringing in inconsistent shooters or 1 dimensional players that either just defend or just score points - Being too cocky on Twitter when things are going good and his way. Always in twitter fights with the likes of Cuban.... - Not entirely his fault but players around the league do not like his asset gathering procedures therefore without McHale FAs are not excited about Houston (Older problem)
Yes, exactly this. People in general think about things that aren't directly consequential to them in a very linear black and white sort of way. Morey has some shortcomings. But overall is one of the best GM's there is.
If Morey is able to take responsibility and take a step back from attempting to dictate how the coaching and gameplay should be carried out, then yes, it'd be beneficial for us to have him as GM. If he continues to insist that the coaches and players must conform to his ideology, then he's not a good fit for the organisation anymore and should be fired. Such a principle occurs very often for players and coaches. There are many great players who have certain shortcomings that make them a bad fit for certain teams, and they eventually found success after being traded elsewhere. Many coaches specialise in certain schemes that make them great for one team but not another. This should apply to general managers too. Morey used to be a great fit for us when the team was rebuilding, because he's great at finding undervalued players and getting maximum value out of them. He's no longer a good fit when we are on the cusp of contention and chasing that chip.
We all know Morey's abilities to find talent and he has had some good trades. But even in the WC his results are mediocre at best. Not real good given the talent he has been dealing with.
