I’m sick of all the Morey lovers blaming all of his mistakes on Les

You lost me OMR, are you complaining about DM or Defending him?

 

All of your examples include a team with a superstar in place, something the Rockets don't have. Also, of course Morey is going to contradict his boss in a public statement.

 

Morey def. has multiple times that this is the route he believes can be done. He has also said too that it has "frankly, never been done before." When he says stuff like that he's pretty much sending a message to the fans that hey... there are no promises or guarantees. People should temper their expectations. The Rockets are going to try, but try to enjoy the team we have now.

I dunno, but its tough to argue for or against because you look at the roster and you will observe that.... There is only three veteran type players on this team (now 4 with Camby, but expring this summer).

If Morey wanted to "blow it up" this summer he would only be trading two players, and you can argue that the Rockets are actually worse on the floor with Martin and Scola anyways at times. So I dunno. You might as well have these young players try to take the next step in their careers, get playoff experience, increase their value, and create buzz in Houston.

Whats the point of trading away Kyle Lowry just to draft the next Kyle Lowry??? The Rockets are at an odd place in the history books. Ive long sense tempered my expectations, but still will stay loyal through the good times and bad.

I look at two years ago in OKC how exciting their fanbase was to have a young team go head to head with the Lakers in the playoffs only to go out fighting in the first round. I would hope that our fans can have that kind of pride if the Rockets improve enough to be in that kind of a dogfight with a team like the Lakers.

 

Excellent post!!!

 

You know, like Bimathig, Les and others,I kind of like the fact that the Rockets are trying to compete. Makes life harder on themselves in some way, but feels like the honorable thing to do.

So, I don't really "blame" anyone for making a decision I like.

However, stuff like whether to tank or not is ultimately the owner's call. Morey presents him with the research on the pros and cons but Les has to make the call. He is the guy paying the salary.

 

Hear HEAR !!!

There is nothing wrong with holding him accountable for his mistakes and praising him for his wins.

I give Morey a solid "B" right now, up from a "B-" due to the trades, I think he did an OK job at the trade deadline though I would have liked him to get something for Kmart as I believe the best Rockets rotation right now does not include him in any way, but to keep his value up you have to play him, what a conundrum.

I do criticize him a lot, and for good reason, it is a results oriented position he has taken and his results have been mediocre at best.

Lateral move after lateral move - his wins have outnumbered his loses, though this year has been pretty bad with TWill and Lin, those are two big losses, IMO - losing out on a good solid NBA PG to keep Jeff Adrien is inexcusable and trading a first round pick to NJ for a malcontent was not a good move either - he should have done more homework on Williams before trading him.

Some would say "Hindsight" but GM's are paid to know these things and judged by the results that follow. TWill was a mistake - a miss.

Marcus Morris may or may not be a miss as well, but because Parsons was such a "HIT" he may have to get his shot elsewhere - so that ends up being a push.

The one big criticism I have of Morey is that if you are going to acquire all these assets, you have to PLAY them big minutes and consistent minutes to find out whether they actually will develop.

JHill got screwed, IMO, because he played out of position out of team need, he should have been extended, and allowed to play PF to truly find out whether he could hold down that position going forward, he is exactly what we need athletically and heitght wise.

I am down with Camby, maybe he will be the first "Tread left on the tires" guy to work out for Morey.

At the end of the day, I am marginally more excited for this team going forward as there are strories on the team I like.

Dragic - can he keep playing at the elite level he is playing at right now.

Parsons - holy cow this guy is good, does he have a killer instinct?

Patterson - his post game has finally started to show up - and it is pretty effective, get that man on the low block, stat.

Lowry - Get him back healthy and attacking the rim and playing the bulldog style.

CLee - finally hitting big shots, is he over the "Choke at the end" Gene he has shown up to this point.

And finally Camby - This is a real difference maker for this team, if he is healthy, he can play, and he also has 3pt range - a VERY good player when healthy.

Are we contenders - nah, but at least we are a little better.

As for Morey - he is on the hot seat for me, because I think McHale was an awful hire....and Morey needs to account for that.

I will still be critical, and if folks don't like it.....here is a quarter to call someone that cares.



DD

 

I came here prepared to argue

 

There haven't been any mistakes really aside from when Van Gundy was here bringing in garbage to play alongside Yao and Tracy... Daryl and Les have done the best they can. Every move has pretty much been a positive... We need stars and theyve tried.

 

How is McHale an awful hire? We have a better record than the Wolves. We have a better record than Adleman did the last 2 years. We have a better record than Toronto who got Casey and also Detroit who got Lawrence Frank. If anything, it was an excellent hire. Give some credit to the assistants too.

 

Morey pulled a Tanya Harding on Yao and that's why we don't have a championship team. Damn him to hell.

 

Fair points, OMR. At the end of the day, Morey was hired to manage the team and advise the owner. If he really believes our strategy is flawed, then part of his job is to convince the owner of that. Can't give him a pass for just doing whatever his boss tells him to do, no matter how misguided.

He's got one more year to turn the ship around. That's when his contract is up, I believe. If we're not on a clear path to championship contention by then, then I think we should strongly consider a change up top. The rebuilding process should have started 3 years ago, and the writing was on the wall that the window was closing a year before that. So after next year, that will have given him 4-5 seasons to remake the identity of this team and define a clear direction to contender status.

 

Most teams DEVELOP their stars - that is the biggest issue I have, if you acquire people you think MIGHT have it in them, then you need to play them and work your team around them to find out if they can develop into that type of player.

We acquired all these assets, and then let them rot on the bench - so they are not really going to develop there are they?

Either way, they are doing what they want and will be judged by the results.

In a league where more than 50% of the teams make the playoffs, not making it when you are trying is a big fail.

If the Rox are going to try to make the playoffs, they need to make it every year to let their plan have any chance of success.

DD

 

So your main criticism of Morey is that he didn't contradict the owner publicly?

 

Do you guys think it was Morey's decision to hang on to Yao for so long?

What do you expect him to say?

Les can have his cake and eat it too with such a good GM.

C'mon. Daryl will be here for a long time. He hasn't missed on much and has kept us flexible/in position for the window with Yao. And now, after Les has raked it in on Yao ...Morey will put us back together.

My main issue is that this thing is being done on the fly when it doesn't need to. The rebuild/reload should have started the minute Yao walked off against LA at the latest.

And it still looks like a reload to me. I'm not advocating tanking, but taking full advantage (basketballwise) of where you are and what is available at the time. There has been unnecessary depreciation. We have not maximized the talents of our GM/position. There is less margin for error in rebuilding and it plays to Daryl's strengths. What is the damn issue besides selling tickets? Achiving any sort of real window of opportunity is going to be tough going this route..and has downside risk which is UNNECESSARY for this franchise now.

As far Lurch goes, he's the ideal guy for us as he's great at developing players/instilling an old school culture AND knows how to win.

 

So let me get this straight, DD: If Morris busts out elsewhere and both he and Parsons end up as NBA starters, that's a push? Seriously? Finding two starting players with a #14 and a 2nd-rounder is a push??

I wonder how much of that is due to non-Morey factors. Adelman and McHale set their rotations, and Morris, Hill, Thabeet, TWill, etc. have to demonstrate value to those coaches in order to get time on the floor. As GM, Morey can bring in lots of potential contributors, but he can't guarantee they'll actually end up producing.

 

Wait, so you don't criticize Morey for agreeing with Les?