Morey may not always get his 1st round selections right, BUT...

Morey is just great a drafting and talent evaluations period.

1st round - Capela (25), Terrence Jones (18), D-Mo (20), Patrick Patterson (14), Aaron Brooks (26)
2nd round - Landry, Bud, Parsons, Harrell

These are all fantastic picks relative to where they were taken. Capela, D-Mo, and Parsons all have borderline all-star potential, which is even more amazing.

 

This. I get super annoyed when people bring up things like "BUT BUT BUT HE SHOULD HAVE TAKEN KAWHI OVER MORRIS!" or "BUT WHAT ABOUT ROYCE WHITE?!?!"

It's obvious Leonard is a rare talent now, but MANY teams picked inferior players before Leonard; not just the Rockets. And there is no way of knowing if Leonard even would have developed to the point he is at without the tutelage of Pop and staff and the examples Duncan, Manu and Parker set in that organization on a daily basis. And I'd also add, that Marcus Morris is about what you can realistically hope for in a 14th pick. He's a decent NBA quality rotation player. He wasn't a bad 14th pick at all. He just isn't Kawhi.

As for Royce, Morey had three picks and opted to swing for the fences on one of them. It bit him in the ass that time, but every great GM takes some risks.

Overall, Morey's drafting record is really impressive. I would even go so far as to say that Morey and co. are some of the best in the business.

 

That would not be a stellar first round set of picks, but it's a noteworthy set of seconds. As far as I know, 8 out of those 13 are still in the NBA. It would be 9 if Llull wanted to be here. That's 69% of our second round picks still being significant. Somehow I doubt that the rest of the NBA can say that.

We flipped Marcus Morris for Isaiah Canaan who nabbed us KJ McDaniels. Everyone knows KJ > Kawhi. And if you want proof, it's in your spelling of the man's name. He's clearly not worth the effort to know how to spell. But I bet you've never misspelled KJ. Also, red and white are better than black and white. And spurs are only useful when riding animals. They are useless trying to control a rocket. Hence, they've NEVER EVER beaten us in a playoff series.

Mistake? I think not. Spurs suck, Rockets and KJ rule!

Further proof, how many former Spurs have played for the Rockets? How many former Rockets have played for the Spurs? I rest my case.

Your honor, the Spurs sucketh.

 

The PF we really wanted is Bobby Portis.

 

Dorsey was an early second rounder. (33)

At 16, White of course is a bona fide first round bust. But I give credit to Morey for trying to think outside the box.

 

Exactly success in sports in is dependent on confidence. When things don't go as excepted players start to press then that leads to questioning "what am I doing wrong".

I bet he heads to the Vipers and after a few weeks he'll show progress then he'll become a steady D-League player like so many Rockets players have done before. At some point he'll get called back up and he may not even get any meaningful time this season, but he will get used to traveling with the team, learning from the vets. Maybe he pans out in the long run maybe not but way to early to be calling any player a scrub. He's got a lot to learn for the style of play they want from him. He is not in the same situation as Harrell. Harrell will do exactly what he did great at Louisville, defense and dunk.

 

Ehh..... anyone that is taken in the second round "fell" and was "overlooked".

 

touché

 

Royce White was a bust..... Dorsey was taken in the second round and has played more than most players taken at his spot, he isn't really a bust.

Dekker hasn't even played a single NBA game and he is a bust? The Rockets expected he would take some time to develop.

 

This is the Morey "system".

Gather as much information as possible, look for patterns, properly value that information.

Find undervalued "situations" and exploit the hell out of them. Use the percentages to get an advantage........... keep gathering information to find the next situation to exploit.

It is what he has done since day one. Why he has remained successful is because he is willing to adjust his targets, system as new information becomes available. The league adjusts, and in turn, when that adjustment comes, new opportunities open up and Morey takes advantage of it.

 

His first round picks have been average at worst. He's almost always drafted solid players with his first rounders which is better than most GM's.

His first round picks since he's been a GM:


2007: Aaron Brooks and technically Carl Landry (31st)

2008: Nicolas Batum (traded for picks to draft Dorsey and Donte Greene who then gets flipped for Ron Artest)

2009: Patrick Patteron

2010: Marcus Morris

2011: Nikola Mirotic (maybe was drafted for Bulls, but he got Dmo)

2012: Jeremy Lamb, Royce White, Terrence Jones

2014: Clint Capela

Almost all of those players have been contributors or have been key to moving the franchise forward.

 

Can't call Dekker a bust yet, but he should be a rotation player in a year or two.

 

Well we have a guy named Montrezl. Silent Ls are the worst in the English language.