GM Daryl Morey's vision becoming a reality behind sharp-shooting Rockets

Good writeup, glad we chased OFFENSIVELY oriented players this offseason, and glad Bazemore said no.

DD

 

You keep saying this in all the threads, DD. You think the Rockets were specifically targeting players that couldn't shoot?

 

It is funny that the narrative is being written with Morey being the pro-active player, hiring D'Antoni; etc.

Morey deserves a lot of credit, he WANTED to play like the Rockets are playing now........ he had an owner that wanted a dominant center because it was the franchise tradition........ and he had an owner that hired whoever the hell he wanted to be coach, and insisted that the team target particular players.

So, yeah THIS team is more like what Morey wanted from day 1 (sans too few stars); but it was Alexander that insisted on money being spent and changes made on the court and from a philosophy stand point.

Either way, Morey deserves redemption.... he is still viewed as an outsider by those inside the NBA, but Morey has done a very good job.

 

Morey "won" a long time ago, not in the sense of his own personal success but in that analytics have taken over the entire league and many teams, including very successful ones like Golden State and San Antonio, are big on 3's, free throws, and lay-ups. If I was to criticize Morey, I would say that his problem had been that everyone else had caught up to him and were basically implementing his philosophy even better than the Rockets were.

 

Wait, what? David Aldridge said Capela is likely out another month?!?! I was hoping for another week. It's already been 3 weeks. Would love to have Clinty back before the Golden State game on Jan 20th. If true, make that Jusef Nurkic & Gary Harris trade now Morey.

 

Spurs lead the league in Mid range shots. They are kind of the Anti Morey team.

 

It just clicked for Morey, but I think he has done it since 2007 or 2008? Almost 10 years.

 

I think this sentence is so spot-on. He didn't draft Yao Ming, so not transitioning into this style when he arrived is excusable. Now, after Yao was done, it became about getting a 2nd star, regardless of style (thus Dwight) and that's where your assertion above rings true to me. I don't remember who else was available that offseason and how they viewed Houston, but was there a player we could've landed instead of Dwight that could've gotten us into this system sooner? We didn't bring here Dwight to be DeAndre or Ty Chandler, i.e. a guy that just sets screens and rolls to the basket (basically what Clint/Nene have done this season).

BTW, I refuse the believe we went after Dwight because Les had to have another big man to put in his collection. Morey wanted a star and was going to get one any way he could.

 

That has more to do with just how their personnel is though with Aldridge being a prolific mid range shooter.

 

Moiety should save his passive aggressive gloating after a ship, but it's the Twitter Age, so what do I know?

 

Daryl Morey has said that he was targeting superstar players regardless of position. So there is no doubt that he would have pursued Dwight Howard either way. However, yes, Les Alexander has his preference when it comes to pursuing players and he has said multiple times that the plan was for Howard to join the list of previous centers the Rockets have had.

Alexander seemed to have this belief that his team could play like the Suns/Warriors AND still have a center that required post ups.

 

Yeah, first of all this is the roster Morey wanted on Day 1, everyone knows it because the system he has been wanting to implement has been predicated on shots in the paint and 3s. So in a lot of ways people call DM an outsider but the reality is he has had a ridiculous impact in the league and anybody who questions the 3 and paint model and keeps arguing mid range shots are the way to go have now been exposed as people behind the times, like when people were arguing horses were still the way to go back in the 1800's or whenever cars became mainstream.

Secondly despite Morey's big vision you can't really fault him for getting Dwight because Dwight back then was just a season removed from compiling 20-20s in the East, posters poo-pooing the move now please show your backdated post protesting against signing Dwight when it was announced the Rox got him. With a guy like Dwight who made his position known in that whichever team he signed to has to give him the ball in the paint, the logical conclusion then is you play a half-court version of the MDA system, similar to what the Spurs do. I guess the biggest problem the Rox had before they experimented too much, instead of getting a legit coach after RA left, DM hired Mchale who really should've just been an assistant coach helping big men develop their games, as a head coach he clearly had no idea what he was doing and ultimately that hurt the team. His interim replacement was even worse and IMHO it was the single biggest issue from last season, a competent head coach would've implemented a much better training camp and would've diffused the conflict in the locker room.

I know Charles was the biggest hater of Morey and the Rockets, but the team performance is also a big F U to all those posters talking trash in the offseason about how Morey should be fired and Les should sell the team. I guess kicking the can really worked after all, if we paid money to subpar talent like a max contract to Pasons and didn't have that flexibility we wouldn't have been able to sign both Anderson and Gordon.

 

It's not that impossible in theory, it's not like the Rox were bad in the Dwight model they reached WCF and IMHO would've given the Cavs a decent fight, they just lacked talent because outside of HnH, Ariza and Bev the team was crap. Give us Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon last season and I guarantee the Rox get 2nd seed in the West last year.

 

David Aldridge's writing style is f--cking weird.

 

Houston wasn’t the only team that coveted him, of course, as Atlanta and Washington were among many hot on his trail over the summer. And the Rockets didn’t offer him the most money, even though they offered him a lot -- $80 million over four years. But when the Rockets met with Anderson, they were able to show him exactly what kinds of shots he’d get playing with Harden, and that he shot almost 50 percent on 3-pointers when he was open -- and that with the Pelicans, he got the fewest open shots of any stretch four in the league.

 

It isn't impossible, but it isn't an ideal match with Dwight even on the Rockets as currently constructed because Howard would demand touches.

I remember Cyberx stating that Daryl Morey preferred DeAndre Jordan to Dwight Howard. At first blush it seemed absurd, as De'Andre did nothing offensively and was foul prone defensively. I asked someone in the organization, and they didn't know if Morey actually said it.... but it made perfect sense to him, because Jordan did everything that the Rockets were asking Dwight to do.... finish off the pick and roll, not clog the lane for penetration, run the floor to finish in transition and rebound and limit penetration.

So had Dwight been willing to do basic basketball things, it may have worked better.

Also I agree with you, anyone that calls the Howard signing a bust is wrong, the Rockets made it further in the playoffs with Dwight than they had in nearly 20 years.

 

This is why Anderson won't be included in trade talks at least this year, either for Millsap or otherwise.

 

Well there's also the fact that he's scoring almost 15 pts on 40% 3pt shooting. At this point you don't trade Anderson unless Anthony Davis or Blake Griffin are coming back in exchange.

BTW reading up an Anderson rumors there was potential for a DMo for Anderson trade before DMo's back conked out last year. If that trade happened pretty sure McHale and Dwight would still be on the team lol

 

Morey deserves credit this year but the criticism he had before is DEFINITELY justified. His first mistake was blindly chasing a 3rd star passing up good role players in pursuit of this imaginary pipe dream. Secondly, he undervalued coaching. He said himself coaching is overrated. Which comes across as arrogant and out of touch. Third, he wanted too much control over coaching decisions. Moreyball turned into a gimmick without a coach to draw up plays. Morey figured just taking 3's will make us successful. But anybody who knows basketball knows you have to get guys open. Luckily MDA is one of the best playcallers in the league