For once I actually agree with you DD. There really isnt anyone out there that could have done a better job due to the circumstances, confines of ownership(even though I actually believe Les is in the top half of better owners, despite clearly not being the best), and sports market. He is stuck with the confines of not tanking for draft picks, broken stars, and a sports market that can be tough to lure stars to even though unrightfully so. So what has he brought us. -Draft situation - C+ -Contract Value/flexibility - A+ -Competive roster- B- -Trade ability- A- -Young Talent- B- -Overall I give him a B+ job for things in his control. *Pay close attention Dec 9 - 12th at what Morey does preseason. some predictions I can think of- -Will trade for starting center with existing contract, ending with Jordan Hill not being on the roster, possibly Thabeet as well(Thabeet has much more value at trade deadline). -Will look to sign value backup Center in Fesenko -Will try hard to trade either Flynn or Dragic for draft pick or picks. (I believe Morey would like to use TWill or CLee as 3rd string PG barring injury)
I see absolutely no way one can judge Morey fairly before the start of the 2012-2013 Season. If one is to judge him now, it will be based on what you believe Morey will do, rather than anything he's done already.
Pretty sure he has plenty of rope. All info indicate that Les Alexander likes the guy. And Les Alexander is the only one whose opinion matters.
Morey has NEVER had a chance to rebuild a team from scratch. He's be dealing with a gimmpy Yao and T-mac most of his stay. I say he has 3 more seasons to get results.
The key factor is what do you think a different GM would have done better during Morey's tenure? Personally I don't think there is a GM in the world that would have convinced Bosh to come here instead of Miami, nor gotten us Carmello or Lebron or Wade. So who should Morey have traded for that you think another GM would have gotten for the team? Getting a Vince Carter or some other near max contract player who isn't a superstar would have been "doing something", but in my opinion it would have been a step backwards. Some times the best trades are the ones you don't make, rather than handicap your salary cap for years to come with a bad deal that still leaves your team out of real contention for a title. On the flip side it is hard for me to imagine another GM getting significantly better return on his drafts and role player trades. No GM is going to hit a home run with every single move, but Morey's success rate is certainly very high considering the assets and circumstances he has worked under. Certainly drafting has been significantly better than the Rockets have done in the decade prior to Morey taking over. There have been no Cato/Moochie Norris/Matt Maloney contracts handed out to average role players. Past GM's have had better success in luring "superstars" to Houston than Morey so far. Barkley, Pippen, and Tmac for example which shows that stars aren't against coming to Houston because of the city, but the Rockets also had the benefit of offering the chance to play with Olajuwon or a completely healthy and young Yao Ming to tempt those players with. Of course it does bring up a sub topic on the "should the Rocket's tank?" debate, which is what that would do to Morey's job security? Even if it may be in the long term better for the franchise to tank, it would be more difficult to defend the job Morey is doing if the team becomes bottom 5 in the league bad. If some fans want him gone now, what will the general feeling about Morey be like if they did tank? The fact that Alexander is unwilling to give the green light on tanking or purposely having a "rebuilding" year means Morey's options are limited even if he agrees with the fans who say that tanking is the best option. Of course even if the team did decide to go that route, it doesn't seem like it would be something that was publicly announced.
Morey's been put in a tough situation. He's built a roster of excellent complementary players with the hope of getting a superstar that would put the team over the top. It's a smart plan, and he's executed it very well, except he hasn't managed to find the superstar yet, but I don't think that's his fault. Morey's done a good job, but the ultimate success of his entire blueprint hinges on acquiring a superstar caliber player. If we can't do that, I think it would be much smarter to change the plan, not the GM. Unlike really good coaches, really good GMs don't have a "shelf life", IMO. The problem with tanking is that it essentially puts us back at square one. Sure, we might end up with a superstar through the draft, but to get to that point we need to get rid of some of the really good complementary players (Lowry, Martin, Scola, etc.) that Morey has been able to acquire. Then you run the risk of your lottery pick being a bust, or being burdened with a crappy supporting cast and having to wait another few years to reload, at which point your young superstar may decide he wants to jump ship. I think some of the pro-tanking crowd are ignoring the inherent risks of doing so.
Best GM in the league with the worst luck. The guy gets the bases loaded consistently and swings hard. If McGrady/Yao didn't crumble we would of been legit contenders 2007 - present. Just look at that 2007 roster again, that team was stacked. Last summer, we had a deal in place for Bosh, room to make it happen, and a team in place to be contenders using Adelmans system. Again, bad luck deters us. Next summer, we will again be in position to become a near dynasty with the flexibility to land both Howard and a superstar PG with supporting pieces in place and no bad contracts. I don't care how many times we strike out, eventually we have some good luck and we will hit that grand slam. Morey doesn't accept a building plan that makes you good, not great. Being good is easy, being great is not, he has positioned us every single year to be great and to me, thats what you want. If you want the next Tyreke Evans, or Steve Francis, or Andrea Bargnani built franchise, then fire Morey, but if you want to be trully great, then have faith in his system. He is our greatest asset.
I don't expect much of him now and don't actually trust in him. When Rick left us and McFail joined, Morey died for me as a good GM
Morey is one of the best GM's in the league? Fool's gold Every GM knows that great team needs great coach. You can't fire the coach that is definitely one of the best in the NBA and who is ten times better in coaching that you are in managing, especially if you replace him with Kevin McFail Stupid move that shows the real Morey's level. If the coaches work is good (and Rick had the best results possible due to his time in Houston) don't even try to touch him and to change thing, let him work, it's not about your f+++ing assistants.
He was hired to bring in players around Yao and McGrady, he did that, but McGrady and Yao fell apart. The way I see it Morey has only made three mistakes thus far: 1) Trading for Williams 2) Trading Battier for Thabeet and what eventually became Motiejuanas 3) Signing Ariza Of course, we all know he righted the ship and managed to get rid of Ariza without sacrificing anything of value. The Williams trade puzzled me then and puzzles me know, but then again I don't read Morey's scouting reports, so who knows. I think we got below value for Battier, but we'll see how Thabeet and Motiejuanas shape up, if those guys turn out ok, then maybe it wasn't as bad of a deal. Let's not forget Morey's pulled off a lot: 1) Trading T-Mac (the deal might not seem as good now, but remember that no one knew that Amar'e and Melo would join the Knicks, at the time it looked like we were getting quality draft picks, and a top propsect) 2) Getting Artest (I remember when I heard this, I was floored. We gave up literally nothing for a player that, had a couple of bones not broken, would have been the missing piece) 3) Budinger- how many GMs can get a solid rotation guy in a weaker draft for little more than some cash?
Draft situation - C+ Contract Value/flexibility - B+ Competitive roster - C Trade ability - B- (wants to much to get, but doesn't want anything to give) Young talent - C Overall Grade: A - before the last offseason C- - after that (Brad Miller, T-Will trade, Battier trade for Thabust, bad draft job, it will be a miracle if one of those dudes will have more than 2 contracts in this league) Welcome to reality my friend
Here's the sad truth; Morey has just been too good for the team's own good. Imagine a world where Morey sat on McGrady's contract and not acquired Kevin Martin, let Kyle Lowry and Luis Scola go in free agency, let AB and Ariza shoot the team to a 25 win season, and ended up with DeMarcus Cousins and Jonas Valanciunas/Bismack Biyombo in the past two drafts. I would think that the vast majority of fans here would have been calling for Morey's head even more than you are here. Bottoming out is simply not as neat and clean a process as everyone here expects it to be. You don't get bad making good moves, you get bad making bad moves. Root for a good GM, or root for a lucky bad one. You rarely get both.
In my book he has a ton of rope. We're lucky to have the guy. I'd bet there are other teams that would kill to pick up Morey as their GM. Especially after they repeatedly witnessed how good he is at fleecing other teams. Morey has drafted well without having top ten picks. I know he'd pick up a franchise guy if he picked higher. He's the type of guy that finds the Ginobili's of the league.
I'll give you that Miller was a bad move, but Morey salvaged it by trading him away for talent. T-Will looks like a bad move, but if he plays well this year that trade might not look so bad. I disagree with you about Thebeet. I think he was worth the risk, even though it doesn't look like it's gonna work out. And as far as the draft, obviously it's way too early to know how well Morey did (how can you bash Morey for the draft when our rooks haven't played a second of NBA basketball?). You forgot McHale, which for me has been Morey's most questionable move to date (but again, it's too early to tell if it was a bad move). So we're left with a pretty damn good track record for Morey as far as I'm concerned. Pulling some good second rounders and late first rounders out of his butt (Bud, Landry, Brooks). Turning the Greek kid into Scola. Turning Landry into Kmart. Drafting PPat. Getting Dragic for a guy we were gonna lose anyway. Trading Ariza for Lee. Locking Lowry up long-term for cheap. All while dealing with an injured maxed out center and over-payed, broken down T-Mac (which he turned into a potential lotto pick). I really loved last years' team despite missing the playoffs. Our guys have played hard and we've been competitive. I think Morey's done a great job under tough circumstances. If we were to give him his walking papers, believe me, there would be a long line of other organizations waiting to bring him in. I think he's got plenty of rope.
Rafer Alston turned into Kyle Lowry Carl Landry turned into Kevin Martin Vassilis Spanoulis turned into Luis Scola Bobby Jackson/Donte Greene turned into Ron Artest Patrick Patterson and Marcus Morris are going to be monsters... There is not a GM in the league that I would rather have.
*cracks fingers* So you went from A to C in one offseason. Ok.. Brad Miller- Morey traded Brad Miller for a future draft pick and Johnny Flynn and that is a bad move? T-Will Trade- It is risky but you do know that until we make the playoffs we keep our fist round pick right? What's wrong with seeing what he can do this season? He sure as hell didn't get to show anything last year thanks to Adelman. The book is still out. Battier for Thabeet- Why so down on this trade? Battier was an expiring contract and why should we resign him? He's old, he's nothing special and do you think he would sign for anything less than the MLE? He made over $7 MILLION last season. We also got a draft pick from MEM that we used to get Montiejunas. Great trade. Bad Draft job- This must be a joke or you're just trolling. I'm not waking up to your Delusion.
Brad Miller was at Adelman's request from what I have read. TWill trade may be "bad", but then again Adelman never gave him significant minutes. It doesn't look good so far, but even if he doesn't contribute this year and is a bust, it doesn't really hurt us that much. Likewise with losing Battier, who is a free agent now anyway. I get the impression that Morey wanted to play some of the younger talent even if it cost us wins in the short term and Adelman was focused on winning now and sticking with the veterans he trusted, which is part of why they parted ways. No GM is going to make the perfect move every time, but if the worst thing he does is the mistakes you listed then I will willingly take that. It is a bit premature to call this year's draft a bust before they even play a minute. No one should be expecting a super star player, but many of Morey's other drafts didn't look that impressive to the majority of fans here when they happened. If you want to see bad drafting, look at the Rockets draft picks for the ten years prior to Morey taking over. Until we see what players, if any, that were drafted behind where the Rockets picked turn out to be great players, it will be impossible to evaluate if he should have done better. If our picks turn out to be busts or average players, but so do all the other players taken behind us, then it's just a bad draft for every one and changing GMs wouldn't change that. I will say that the public declaration that they hope to win now with McHale seems contradictory with the precieved reason they let Adelman go. Which to me is that Adelman was too focused on winning now and not playing some of the younger players if it would cost him wins. I wasn't happy about Adelman leaving, and I am not excited to have McHale as his replacement. But we shall see if they do have more of a rebuilding year, even if they would never publicly admit it before a season even starts.
What had Rockets done? I thought borderline playoff (lottery) team was massive fail and the easiest thing to do in NBA system. Again, which other teams had done less with two superstars than the Rockets?
JVG was just on 610 and he said that Morey couldn't have done any better than what he had. He was put in a very tough position - to still win and rebuild at the same time. He also said that Houston is on a tough road because trading for or signing a big time free agent is the hardest way to go. JVG also said that it doesn't matter what the Rockets/Morey do in free agency - ultimately, the free agent will decide where he wants to sign. All Houston/Morey can do is try their absolute best to get them to sign. So from that standpoint, I think Morey still has plenty of rope left. He was given a very difficult task - to rebuild without tanking, and I doubt anyone else could do it in this market.
