I doubt it. I think he realizes (just like most rational people) he made a mistake in trading Battier for Gay. I measure success in how the Rockets do in the playoffs not in how many regular season wins they get.
I remember the 1st season after the trade, Gasol gets injured for the first two months of the season and the Grizzlies just collapse. Just the season before they were the 5th seed in the playoffs. There's a few things to consider as well: would Gay have developed as fast and in the same way under JVG with two stars already on the team? Maybe, maybe not. But you can't assume we would have a 20PPG guy if we had kept Gay. Would the rookie had gotten enough time? It is what it is. Gay was a guy with potential and he panned out. It happens. You can't be upset that we took the sure thing over the guy with potential.
i doubt it. because he didnt trade Gay. he traded the pick, which could have turned into anyone. what if memphis had asked us to pick some total bust for them in exchange for Battier? then would we say Morey was smart? Memphis can afford to gamble, and they did. And luckily for them Gay turned out to be a pretty good player. So be it. Part of the value is that Battier is a proven commodity whereas a pick is a bunch of potential. The player I wanted (and I think most people wanted) in that draft was BRoy. Once he was gone, I wasn't too upset that they got Battier instead.
Do you want a prize for parroting the same opinions that have been vomited up around here for the last two years? Get over yourself.
I'm just going to say this, Morey has done a ok job. Not good,great, or poor. 5 To me its like a 77. Almost a B and almost a D. He has made solid picks in landry and brooks, he blew the 8th pick with battier, scola is solid. The events to get scola, taking on butlers 2.5m, trading a 2yr howard contract for a 3yr James plus 1.5m, is what have this team in LT land. I voice my opinions over some of the frugality, overloading on the same type of players, and not addressing the same needs that's keep plaguing this team. I wish the best for my rockets, I just question the lack of urgency by this squad.
When you have arguably the most talented player in the draft fall into your lap, you need to reconsider. Battier the proven commodity is nice if you're happy with mediocrity, but I want the Rockets to at least get past the first round. Look at the way the team is composed now. Even with the deficiency at the PG position, a talented, athletic multi-dimensional wing player (Rudy Gay) is exactly what the Rockets need.
Can you really say he blew the 8th pick though? Lets say for the sake of the argument that we "took" Battier 8th (we're ignoring the fact that we dumped Swifts 6 mil a year contract, but why not). Is that really bad? Gay was really a diamond in the rough. You have a couple of guys picked ahead of him that you would probably trade for Battier. And if you look at what 7-9 got you on average the last couple of years, Battier isn't that bad of an acquisition. Yes... if we could re-do the trade, I'm sure we would keep Gay. But thats like saying "oh, Josh Howard was picked 30, we could've had him". We can play that what if game all day. He was a prospect, Battier was the sure thing. On a title contender you don't have to take risks like that. And I'm sure if we had kept Gay and he turned into a bust we would've been saying "man... we could've dumped Gay AND Swift's contract for Battier!" Butlers 2.5 was expiring, we traded Howard for James and you say its a bad thing cap wise, but you fail to mention trading James for a nice contract that expires this year (and not to mention having Bobby Jackson on the team prevented having us start Brooks or Mike James in the playoffs). I disagree. I think we can all agree before last season our two most important needs were PG and PF. We basically filled both of those in one year. Not many teams can pull that in one off season.
' Who knows... Rudy Gay may have been better off had he been a Rocket. Won't get as much PT, maybe not as much hype as he does now with all these minutes. But he might have been forced to learn things like playing solid NBA defense, which he doesn't seem to have pick up from the Memphis staff.
Thanks for reminding us. Grizzlies made the playoffs for 3 consecutive seasons with different head coaches and a serious injury bug with Gasol in one season. 2003-04 50-32 2004-05 45-37 2005-06 49-33 Next season, they traded Shane Battier for Rudy Gay. Gasol and Mike Miller was still there. He was going to apart of Memphis's 3 pronged scoring threat of Rudy, Gasol, and Miller. The team didn't lose anybody important but Battier. The 2nd season would be better for Grizzlies supposedly. Grizzlies imploded further and gave away Gasol in a fire sale. A drastic downfall. In the 2007 draft, they picked up Conley with the 4th pick. They were never able get back to the win totals, after only 1 major trade that was going to bring a 3rd scorer to join Mike Miller and Gasol. 2006-07 22-60(4th worst record) 2007-08 13-33 (Before Gasol Trade)
if you judge morey and the rockets on how they do in the playoffs, then judge gay and the grizzlies the same way...their grade is an abject failure as in an F
Some guys get really good because they are forced into a role where they have to be good. Case in point, Kevin Martin. Got jack **** for minutes back when they were still playoff contender Kings, but then Adelman got canned, Martin got more minutes now that the team sucked and now he's definitely at Rudy Gay level. I seriously doubt he would've improved as fast (if at all) as the rookie backup to Tmac. Another case in point, Joe Johnson. Probably playing 4th fiddle to Nash, Amare and Marion. He gets traded to Atlanta and he's the go-to guy there.
The Battier supporters feel that they the Rockets got more than enough for the 8th pick. You guys have the right to your opinion but I and some of the others feel that the Rockets could and should have gotten more out of it. I'm not saying that they blew it but even a extra high future 2nd rounder could have helped.
I've stated before, Swift contract isn't that bad in nba money. Not only that, he played without yao and tracy for over half the season that one year. If you just go and look at what players traded for the number 8, none had a scoring avg below 10. The Grizz drafted Battier 6th and his best offensive yr was his 1st. We could do revisionist history, but there is no need. The Rox were a very good defensive team prior to Battier. They needed a playmaker with upside, not a glue guy. This team was in win now mode eventhough they had no pg and a older pf and 2 injured stars. U can try to sell win now, but then a 20 yr old Greene is drafted this year. Where are the win now moves? Tracy, Yao and 2 coaching staffs have suffered with sub par, nba talent since inception. One day they'll get it right.
Dude... Swift is garbage. I shouldn't have to argue this. Memphis didn't even want him. I don't understand what you are trying to say here. Are you saying that of the usual players traded for 8th pick, they all averaged over 10 a game? I'd be interested in seeing some examples because I can't think of any off the top of my head. I mentioned before... look at the average type of player taken 7-9 (I don't want to use JUST the #8 because there wouldn't be a large enough sample size. I'll just throw out a couple of names. For the past 3 years or so: 07 7 MIN Corey Brewer University of Florida 8 CHR Brandan Wright University of North Carolina 9 CHI Joakim Noah University of Florida 06 7 BOS Randy Foye Villanova University 8 HOU Rudy Gay University of Connecticut 9 GSW Patrick O'Bryant Bradley University 05 7 TOR Charlie Villanueva Connecticut 8 NYK Channing Frye Arizona 9 GSW Ike Diogu Arizona State 04 7 PHO Luol Deng Duke 8 TOR Rafael Araujo BYU 9 PHI Andre Iguodala Arizona Out of the 12 players I just listed, only 3 I would definitely take over Battier. Gay, AI, and Deng. Maybe Villanueva and Noah because they could develop into something. But thats exactly why we made the trade... we couldn't afford to wait. Just take a look at the past drafts and see for yourselves. Guys at Gays level usually don't come off of the 8th pick. We were in win now mode because we had 2 stars about to enter their primes, a bunch of old vets, and we were doing it with 3/5ths of a starting lineup. No young star to build around. Gay would've been a gamble... he wasn't a sure thing to build around. I'm telling you... its nice to look back and say you would've made the right move back then. But say we had kept Gay, and he flopped (which he could've easily done... if he was a sure thing he would've gone higher in the draft)... then the news came out that we could've unloaded Swift and gotten a solid vet in Battier for basically Eddie Griffin v2. You guys would've killed the front office. And with JVG as the coach? Gay would've been Eddie Griffin v2. Scola.. drafting Landry (24), drafting Brooks, signing Francis, signing Bonzi. We can't exactly pull Lebron James out of our ass. And just because we are in "win now mode" doesnt mean we throw away our young guys Miami Heat style in an effort to win just 1 title before we collapse all the way to the worst team in the conference. I'm going to say it again. If Morey could do it all again, he would keep Gay. But at the time of the trade, it was a solid trade. Virtually all of the experts called it a win for both teams. Tracy, Yao and 2 coaching staffs have suffered with sub par, nba talent since inception. One day they'll get it right.[/QUOTE]
Welcome to the boarts AgentKirb87, your argument about the number 7,8,9 picks and their limited value is spot on. I have been saying that since the Battier/Gay trade, that past the first 5 or 6 players, it is a real gamble. I think you said it best.....well done. DD
no i know for a fact that morey would make the same trade again for battier. you dont know how strongly he feels battier is misevaluated. he would not trade battier for gay today straight up. just because some of you would does not mean morey would. no player has been as overrated here as gay...all he does is put up big numbers and LOSE.
Ok... I take it back. We can't know for sure if Morey would, but I know I would. I was for taking Battier with the pick because I was tired of us grabbing up guys with potential only to see them flop. This one happened to pan out, but you know what? We still got a solid vet out of the deal. You have to remember, he was our first legit role player. We had guys like Wesley, Howard and Barry back then... now we have guys like Battier, Alston and Scola.
That was a good breakdown, but u forgot about Marion,Amare,Butler,T-mac,Pierce and Dirk all drafted 9 or later within the last 10 yrs. As DD always contend, Gay was never the pick, cool, but as u look at that spot, most times its the most talented or one of the most talented guys left to draft. That 8,9,10 guy probably has high upside and a few flaws. I can dig that but for a team fresh off a injury plagued lotto season with a chance to develop a guy with talent, just take him. they could have always signed a veteran insurance policy guy like udoke,griffin or a guy like that. One point i was trying to make was, right now, we're in win now mode, but we took i project. I actually like Donte, but Donte was better served 2 yrs ago. I've said with young guys, you have to develop them just like the spurs did with a 19 yr old parker when they were in win now mode and a 20 something yr old S.Jackson. Win Now still has to be accompianed by development or your team bottom out quick. The Rox were in win now when they drafted horry and cassell, but the backed up horry with Elie and cassell played behind brooks and Smith. DD can attest, i was hoping for Brewer who is turning out to be that guy. Effecient,atheletic wing defender who can slash,finish, and defend and is 23 yrs old. I know the Rox could have used that guy.
