The mess also regarded this team as elite as Spurs or Warriors, it turns out not very true. No one wants to play against in playoffs? LMAO.
with this same personnel it would look like garbage. How are you going to have a more varied attack when 95% of the players on this team aren't versatile themselves. that doesn't make a sense.
Mavs left Brewer open for a very obvious reason, because they knew they could live with him (or Terry) shooting, instead of Harden or Beasley.
So you want him to admit not only to the public but to his players that they aren't as good as another team? Yeah, that seems productive.
If you think Les is the problem (which I also believe) why blame Morey? What if Les is the one chasing Stars like Melo and Howard? What is Moery supposed to do, tell his boss no?
It is not like that. He apparently has something very wrong on evaluating player, team and coach. If coach is not that important, how many coaches we have so far in his tenure?
I have a quirky answer - I think Morey will be a better GM at his next gig - and that he and Les won't ever be able to get it done. Nothing wrong with chasing star players, but IMHO, Morey is bad at finding complimentary pieces to place around those stars. And is particularly bad at finding or valuing quality coaching. Which is important if you are going to actually win a chip. DD
Really? If anything he's at least over .500 in that area. You wanna attack him on drafting be my guest because he's mendoza line there but not signings and trades. That's a reach. When Morey signed McHale he was desperate. He needed a coach for his .500 team that starred Goran Dragic and Kyle Lowry. He needed a charmer player's coach to help him recruit players with more than just iPads and McHale did that. He was GM when the team hired your boy Adelman. He hasn't had a chance for choose a coach for a team built around James Harden since now we know whatever team is getting build has to revolve around him.
Complimentary pieces: Spoiler June 14, 2007: Traded Juwan Howard to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Mike James and Justin Reed. June 28, 2007: Selected Aaron Brooks (1st round, 26th pick) and Brad Newley (2nd round, 54th pick) in the 2007 NBA Draft. June 28, 2007: Traded cash and a 2008 2nd round draft pick (Sasha Kaun was later selected) to the Seattle SuperSonics for Carl Landry. July 12, 2007: Traded Vassilis Spanoulis and a 2009 2nd round draft pick (Nando De Colo was later selected) to the San Antonio Spurs for Jackie Butler and Luis Scola. August 14, 2008: Traded Donte Greene, Bobby Jackson and a 2009 1st round draft pick (Omri Casspi was later selected) to the Sacramento Kings for Ron Artest, Patrick Ewing and Sean Singletary. September 29, 2008: Signed Von Wafer as a free agent. February 19, 2009: As part of a 3-team trade, the Houston Rockets traded Rafer Alston to the Orlando Magic; the Memphis Grizzlies traded Kyle Lowry to the Houston Rockets; the Orlando Magic traded Brian Cook to the Houston Rockets; and the Orlando Magic traded Adonal Foyle, Mike Wilks and a 2009 1st round draft pick (DeMarre Carroll was later selected) to the Memphis Grizzlies. June 25, 2009: Traded cash and a 2012 2nd round draft pick (Kim English was later selected) to the Detroit Pistons for Chase Budinger. July 8, 2009: Signed Trevor Ariza as a free agent. June 24, 2010: Selected Patrick Patterson (1st round, 14th pick) in the 2010 NBA Draft. August 11, 2010: As part of a 4-team trade, the Houston Rockets traded Trevor Ariza to the New Orleans Hornets; the Indiana Pacers traded Troy Murphy to the New Jersey Nets; the New Jersey Nets traded Courtney Lee to the Houston Rockets; and the New Orleans Hornets traded Darren Collison and James Posey to the Indiana Pacers. February 24, 2011: Traded Aaron Brooks to the Phoenix Suns for Goran Dragic and a 2011 1st round draft pick (Nikola Mirotic was later selected). June 23, 2011: Selected Marcus Morris (1st round, 14th pick), Nikola Mirotic (1st round, 23rd pick) and Chandler Parsons (2nd round, 38th pick) in the 2011 NBA Draft. January 7, 2013: Signed Patrick Beverley as a free agent. June 26, 2014: Selected Clint Capela (1st round, 25th pick) and Nick Johnson (2nd round, 42nd pick) in the 2014 NBA Draft. July 15, 2014: As part of a 3-team trade, the Houston Rockets traded a trade exception to the Washington Wizards; the Houston Rockets traded Omer Asik, Omri Casspi and cash to the New Orleans Pelicans; the New Orleans Pelicans traded Alonzo Gee, Scotty Hopson and a 2015 1st round draft pick to the Houston Rockets; the New Orleans Pelicans traded Melvin Ely to the Washington Wizards; and the Washington Wizards traded Trevor Ariza to the Houston Rockets. September 17, 2014: Traded Alonzo Gee and Scotty Hopson to the Sacramento Kings for Jason Terry, a 2015 2nd round draft pick and a 2016 2nd round draft pick. December 19, 2014: As part of a 3-team trade, the Houston Rockets traded Sergei Lishouk and a 2015 2nd round draft pick to the Philadelphia 76ers; the Houston Rockets traded Troy Daniels, cash, a 2015 2nd round draft pick and a 2016 2nd round draft pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves; the Minnesota Timberwolves traded Corey Brewer to the Houston Rockets; the Minnesota Timberwolves traded Ronny Turiaf to the Philadelphia 76ers; and the Philadelphia 76ers traded Alexey Shved to the Houston Rockets. (Minnesota's 2nd-round pick in 2015 and 2016 are protected for picks 50-60 and 31-45, respectively.) February 19, 2015: Traded Alexey Shved, a 2017 2nd round draft pick and a 2019 2nd round draft pick to the New York Knicks for Pablo Prigioni. Coaching success: Spoiler 2007-2011 Rick Adelman 193-135, 58.8% winning percentage, #2 all-time in Rockets history 2011-2015 Kevin McHale 193-130, 59.8% winning percentage, #1 all-time in Rockets history
I have a problem if that is the ENTIRE plan - or too much of one - we should be trying to build through the draft at the same time in case it fails. DD
I don't think Morey is the kind of guy to put all of his eggs in one basket. He tries to minimize risk. And to do that means he has to be diversified in his approach. Draft, Free Agency, and Trade.
So the Rockets didn't DRAFT Clint Capela (who is in line to replace Howard if he leaves)? The Rockets didn't DRAFT a million PF's to eventually replace (and we THOUGHT would upgrade) Scola?? Before that, the Rockets didn't DRAFT point guards like Brooks, and trade for a young Kyle Lowry to eventually replace & upgrade Alston? ........ If I had complaints (I sure as hell do), its that historically Morey has attached his destiny to the wrong stars to build around more than his problem of grooming, and trading for role players. Even then, I don't blame him 100% for taking what he was given. Harden has been his best star to build around, and even he presents challenges in fit around him as the centerpiece. The role player problem has only really been a problem this year. In past years, it was an obvious strength of Morey's. Now its a glaring weakness THIS YEAR. But Morey's history points pretty telling to his ability to find undervalued players to fill in as quality role players. This year, I don't know where he dropped the ball with guys like Brewer, the PG position, the PF position, and even (dare I say) Ariza who we overestimated his glaring weaknesses offensively when he's not hitting shots. You're whole point resides on one single year sample size. You take the whole of Morey's career and it paints a completely different picture. Again... If Morey needs to go then fine, but if you are going to suggest that you need to own up to the following 2 items- A. What are your goals that want the New GM to accomplish with the Roster? B. Who is out there AVAILABLE that is better suited to accomplish those tasks other than Morey??? If you can't clearly define the above two questions than its just lazy complaining. We can work through these problems in a much more productive manner than just throwing S#$% on the wall and seeing if anything sticks.
I've been asking this question for months now, and I've yet to see ONE response. Who the hell do you guys want to be the GM THAT IS AVAILABLE??? All you guys do is say crap like "well Pat Riley is better, etc. etc." Sam Hinkie is available. Danny Ferry is available. Charles Barkley? Kevin McHale? Joe Dumars? I. Thomas??? BimaThug (*thumbs up) .... Who out there do you guys think can do better and what do you want him or her to accomplish?
I've said repeatedly the star chasing is all Les. Morey may buy into that approach to building a team as well, but it definitely starts at the top. Unfortunately Les ain't going nowhere unless someone's got a Donald Sterling-type recording of him they can leak to the press. But where I do fault Morey is his offensive "system" of shooting 3's and attacking the rim to reach the foul line. Not only does it not work if you don't design actual plays and have movement on the offensive end, but it's even less successful when you load up your roster with guys who can't shoot 3's or make free throws. Plus he's on record saying that coaching doesn't matter. Ironically it's the coaching which in large part may land us in the lottery this season. If I truly believed Morey and Les could change their way of thinking, I'd feel a lot more optimistic heading into the offseason. The Rockets won't be very good next year, but they could begin to turn things around by blowing up the roster and rebuilding around young players. The problem is I don't trust Morey and especially Les. I think when they're rejected by every big name free agent this summer, they'll make a panic move and give superstar money to a decent player(I'm thinking it'll be Harrison Barnes) instead of doing the right thing and looking to the draft.
