dude for someone whose been here this long id expect a smarter response out of you. CD was in charge of the Gay trade, drafting "munchkins" like luther head and chuck hayes (undrafted signee). Daryl has gotten us Aaron brooks who is promising, Scola who is a legit 3rd option, and Landry who is a man beast. Morey is a very resourceful GM.
When Shane plays well, Morey gets the credit. When Shane plays like Shane, CD gets the blame. However, most basketball realists know that Rudy Gay and Stromile Swift for Shane was a shaft that got broken off inside the Rockets backside. Aaron Brooks was a Rick Adelman choice, and Scola was a plum that fell into Morey's lap under the adage "even a blind hog finds an acorn every now and then." Landry is not a proven commodity yet, because you never know when his knee will get bumped and he can't play for weeks on end. I'll agree that Luther was a CD/JVG error.
you make a valid argument that people shouldn't be over-hyping Morey. Heck, organizing a draft camp thing doesn't make you a genius either. Morey's legacy will be what it is...which is uncertain. but i think you're argument's are off base. i've never heard anyone credit Morey for the Shane trade. Equally, most seem to think it was a CD move. Regardless, when the trade happened reviews were mixed, but most positive for Houston. Frankly, had anyone else in the draft drafted after Gay been the pick, or Randy Foye, drafted right before, it would still in hindsight be a great deal. Come to think of it, at this point in time, the only players out of that draft it wouldn't be a good deal for in hindsight, imo, are the obvious - Aldridge, Roy, Gay. Looking at it as a trade of a pick, and not the player, makes it the complete opposite of a shaft. Considering all reports had us drafting Thabo at that point anyway further cements that. All that said, you can and it is easy to say in hindsight, Rudy Gay was there, he was obviously going to be a dominant player in the league, it was a stupid trade. But we don't really know what Morey's impact was, at all, in that trade. And on top of all of that, for that team, with that coach, at that time, it was a good trade. Finally, taking credit away from Morey on any of Brooks, Landry and Scola makes no sense. If GM'ing is as easy as following the coaches advise, waiting for another team to dump a good player in your lap for basically nothing and picking 2nd team all rookie players in the second round...they wouldn't be getting paid as much. Giving Morey anything other than a high passing grade at this point would be ignoring the facts.
Hmm, I seem to recall a GM that got a Kevin Prichard shaft 10x worse than what the Rockets got by giving up Brandon Roy in order to save money, made bad in-season trades, even worse FA signings (Scalabrine, Blount), guided his team to the 2nd worst record in the league, and whose only good moves were benefiting from not one, but TWO firesales, then getting veterans to sign on the cheap, but I don't count those moves, because those were the result of having 3 superstars. Clearly, he isn't the man for the job. If all the GM does is find bargains in the lower rounds, doesn't draft busts in the lottery, collects expiring contracts, and waits to capitalize on firesales, it will work. Look up and down the rosters of the winning teams, and almost all of them are built on the foundation of getting lucky in the draft, and capitalizing on firesales: LA with Gasol, Boston with the 3Party, Detroit with Rasheed Wallace, Portland with BRoy, New Orleans with Tyson Chandler, Atlanta with Joe Johnson, Denver with Allen Iverson, potentially New Jersey with Melo/VC. And the only reason Phoenix and Dallas aren't up here is because they were given the opportunity to participate in a firesale, but overpaid. Now, Morey has only been on the job for one year, so let's not start sucking each other's [popsicles] just yet. I agree that how he utilizes these expiring contracts he's collected will be a true measure of his ability; if they are wasted, I will be extremely disappointed. But I believe that his vision for the team: perimeter speed to protect Yao and take advantage of the rules, and bringing in players whose value is depressed, is exactly the right way to construct a team. Morey is somewhat like Obama to me; he says things that make me believe he'll do a good job regardless of his lack of experience or definitive record. For the first time in a long time, I see promise at changing a front office which has had precious few successes over the last decade or so.
Yours and JayZ750's are well-reasoned responses. I get irritated by posters who idolize Morey when he hasn't really shown any serious --and correct -- moves. I will be the first to bow down if he constructs a taller, younger, more athletic team that has talent rather than a shorter, one-dimensional, less expensive team.
It takes more than one offseason to do it, and the current team as is, still finished a grand total of 2 games out of first place in the ENTIRE Western Conference. Morey has to tread carefully and add athletes and players but not screw up the chemistry.....he has a big job to do, but I believe. GET R DONE Morey ! DD
I liked Brewer before the draft and still like him, but can never tell with Utah players...is he playing better or worse because of that system? I guess I'd take him over Shane ONLY because he's 7 years or so younger.
Houston is having a group workout in Houston next week, at least according to Andy Katz. They can't do it before the PDC because the rosters are still being put together. This year was the first year the League didn't release the roster until the first day of the camp. The group workout happened after the PDC last year because 1) players at the camp would be able to attend, as the individual workout sessions can't take place until after the camp thanks to last year's new individual workout rule and 2) Houston wanted to maximize the number or player workouts given the shorter individual workout period.
