Other than Dwight Howard, is Morey any good at chasing free agents?

I think Morey does what he can do really well. It's easier to get ring chasers when you have Lebron, Wade and Bosh on your team. It's easier to get ring chasers when you have Paul, Griffin and Doc Rivers on your team which is based in LA.

It's simply not as easy to get FA's to join a team in Texas, for roughly the same amount of money, and where it objectively looks like right now like we will finish below SA, OKC, LAC and MIA.

He's "gotten better" at it every year, which is purely a function of having a better team. If he follows through on the plan to have plenty of cap space in 2015, I think he is going to make huge noise. He has two years to recruit the FA's, he knows exactly how much money he'll have to spend, he'll know exactly what a Harden/Howard/Parsons trio needs as role players... I'd like to see someone snatch FA's from us then.

 

Not sure if Granger is "important", but can't fault Morey for losing players to cities like LA or MIA. Riley and Doc don't have a difficult sell.

Morey attracts free agents. Before Dwight, the problem is we had no healthy stars already on the team. Outside of a LA or NY, it's not often stars go places where they are solo. Harden helped allow Dwight. Josh Smith wanted to be here. Our injuries over the last decade hurt us. Morey did snatch lower tier players like Ariza and Asik in the meantime.

 

It's not luck to acquire all the assets needed to trade for someone like Harden.

 

Wrong quote. Whatever. It's Friday.

 

Nope. Definitely wasn't luck that Morey acquired the assets for a star. Morey certainly did his due diligence. But it was luck that Warriors and Wizards didn't see the value in Harden. Imagine Curry + Harden or Wall + Harden. OKC only took our offer when Golden State and Washington declined to trade for Harden.

 

Other than Howard? Really?

Morey had a broken team in his hands after Yao and TMac went down. You could be the most charismatic person in the world, you still can't lure big-name free agents to a team that cannot contend. Most teams at this point accept their fate, have a fire sale and wait for a few years of embarrassment for lady luck to bring them their new potential superstar. Then they wait a few more years for said player to reach his expected potential, which, most of the time, doesn't happen. LeBrons, Durants, Melos etc don't grow on trees.

Morey instead got us a star (Harden) through shrewd maneuvering alone, which included moves that earned him pretty much universal contempt (Lowry, Dragic, even Scola). That's 100% on him. That way he put himself in a position to actually be able to negotiate with other stars without coming across as either desperate (remember Bosh?) or ridiculous (remember Cuban's courting of Dwight?).

Ever since he put himself in that position, there's been exactly ONE free agent available that far outshines all others. That's Howard. We got him. That's all.


So yeah, if you exclude the most skillfully executed free-agent signing in recent memory and the only one we ever really had a shot at, Morey sucks. Happy now?



In other news, if you exclude his NBA career, Jordan really isn't that great an athlete. **** logic.

 

Danny wanted to go to LA.

He never had his eyes set to Houston.

 

3 Things-

-Could be that the perception is the Heat beyond the big 3 really dont have much so there is opportunity to play a bigger role in Miami. In Houston you still have to compete for minutes against the likes of Parsons, Asik, Lin, Jones, etc.

-Lebron James + 2 all-stars = instant contention while Harden & Howard = well not instant contention... more reliance & bigger responsibility for role players. Higher demand from coaches & front office.

-Would you rather take a half-retirement in Miami or Houston, TX? Lots of players retire in Houston but Miami is a true vacation spot. And vacation is what alot of ring chasers in Miami have done.

Battier's effort when it counts & Ray Allen's big shot in the Finals aside.... how many of those ring chasers really seem like they are in it to scratch and claw their way to 82 wins???... lets face it, they are coasting until the playoffs. The Rockets have always needed and expected a little more from their role players because their stars aren't perfect players that can carry the entire team through the regular season.

 

I don't know if you're hating or trolling, but those "other teams" have some of the very best players in the league (CP3, KD) and the better lineups to get them to the promised land this season.

We're just not quite there yet. Yes, we got Harden and Howard, but Asik (stud that he is) serves more as $8.33 million duplication since Morey couldn't/wouldn't trade him, Lin is $8.33 million wasted, our bench runs hot and cold...

I think next season and free agents is a better barometer for Daryl Morey overall.

 

Typical CH trolling. Ignore him, he has to resuscitate his own dead threads to get attention.

 

Hey Carl, are you trying to troll? lol im not sure. Im not saying Morey is the best recruiter or anything. But we got Howard and missed out on Granger, Big Baby etc.. and these are the examples you sited. Since Howard is by far the best player on that list how could you use that to justify starting this thread. So he got the biggest fish but missed out on smaller ones so is he really a good recruiter? I just don't get you sometimes.

 

Carl said free agents. So he is not questioning any of the other deals Morey made. Plus this is a bit more interesting than the "I've seen enough" threads.

 

What free agents have the spurs chased and got? Over paying for someone in a bidding war is a sign of bad management. under paying someone who is under valued is the sign of good management.

 

I wouldn't say the Spurs 'chased' Marco Bellineli. There weren't all that many out to get him. Same with Boris Diaw. Spurs pick up under valued players.

 

At this point, just ignore CH. Trolls will troll...

 

We're not those teams. Those guys go to clear contenders, which we are not. yet.

 

Troy Daniels

 

ITT: People who take Carl too seriously. Loosen up a little.