The problem for me with Morey is that he seems to make decisions based upon business, rather than simply looking at the talent. Yes Flynn had a guaranteed contract, but if the org is really, truly dedicated to winning, shouldn't they keep the best player, no matter what? Keeping contracts/assets in the hopes that the Rockets can hit a home run in a trade is costing this team true NBA players. Too many contracts, not enough talent. Keep talent over contracts and we would still have Lin. There is no excuse for that, just a bad decision.
The way they handled Lin here, he doesn't deserve to be here. Plus he's starter material and shouldn't be playing backup to Lowry. In NY, he will get all the media and lime light while in Houston, he'll just make highlights for sports center even if he's performing this well but for Houston instead.
I'm crying! This is a tragic loss for the Rockets organization. (And I say that as someone who is not a drama queen and who hates them)
It's not only about Lin, Lin's loss isn't the problem, but that has proved the Morey's problem in the team's business manage
The Houston Asian fans were already lining up way before Lin was blowing up in NY... Even if the media hype wasn't as big as it was in NY, the Asian fan base will still come out even with Lin on the bench...
If we didn't cut Lin, he would just rot in the bench like twill and flynn. Heck, even the Knicks were about to cut him until he got a huge break when Dantoni had to play him because of injuries to their players. And yes, that's how much Knicks point guards suck. This was his fate and destiny, it was already pre written. Besides, do you think any team in this league would give him a shot at being a starting point guard playing 30 to 40+ mins a game aside from the knicks? Maybe but highly unlikely. So please stop regretting and blaming Morey. Anyone would have done the same given our point guard rotation and our crowded roster. Be happy for the man and enjoy one of the most, if not the most inspiring success stories in basketball which would never had happened if he stayed in Houston. How awesome is it that Jeremy Lin happens to be a born again christian as well. Faith! God is good indeed!
True story. A friend of mine and I went to our one pre-season game in December vs. the Spurs. The asian couple in front of us went absolutely nuts when Lin came in at garbage time. They were seriously excited. My friend and I kinda just looked at each other and laughed under our breath.
Very well said. It's incredible more people aren't saying this. Most people are writing it off as an honest mistake that every GM made. But Morey isn't supposed to be "any" GM given his background. That's why Alexander hired him -- with the expectation that he could make better decisions with personnel using data, analytics, etc. Now the question is how long will the Morey experiment continue? This was his moment to really show he knows his stuff, and he whiffed on it.
Heck, maybe ALEXANDER needs to hire this guy, not Morey, who has shown he's not the best in picking talent. And maybe this guy should be the GM-in-waiting.
Please tell me how you tell your boss that you are going to cut Flynn, even though your boss still has to pay a few million dollars, to keep Lin who while showing "promise" in practice has never shown anything in a real NBA game? Plus, If you are going "blame" the Rockets, why not blame McHale and the coaches? Aren't they the ones who are supposed to say this guy is better than this guy so we want to keep this kid? Or say, we really need some big men or we can get by without more big men? So in other words this mistakes outweighs all the other hits that Morey has made? And you are willing to make that claim when Jeremy Lin has only played 10 games at the level? Do you know how many one-year wonders litter the history of NBA? He has not even played in the playoffs yet.
Do you read what other NBA peers have been saying? Did you see the stat they put up in the Mavs/Knicks game? And so far in 10 games, he has outscored in points other NBA players. Andrew Bynum, Jason Kidd and Magic Johnson says he plays like Steve Nash. One of the most underrated game of Lin is his defense, he draw charges, strips and steals. Mavs brought S.Marion, one of the better defenders and he still can't stop him. The only thing that undo Lin is injury and team infighting.
Yeah, Morey doesn't know what he's doing. Scola Landry Brooks Lowry Patterson Budinger Parsons Motiejunas (?) Llull (?) Smith (?) Buncha scrubs right there.
I'm sure this has been brought up...but if we kept Lin, where do you play him? Even if he sticks around he'd probably end up getting limited playing time, showing potential and flashes of starting play, then he'd leave later to get paid. Wouldn't be the first, or last time, a back up pg was held back by minutes/situation and blossomed elsewhere. (nash, billups, lowry )
Keeping Lin would have allowed the team to trade Dragic (upcoming unrestricted FA) for a pick or some other value and putting Lin in Dragic's position. Lin would have been a restricted FA subject to the Arenas clause, thus easier to retain.