Question: why did the rockets let lowry and dragic go, but signed jeremy lin?

Cuz Morey had bigger plans

 

Lowry was traded for the pick that got us Harden.

Dragic was offered a deal that would have limited our flexibility in getting Harden and Howard.

How do you post here and not know this?

 

It still stings that we let Dragic go. I honestly don't see us getting him back either.

 

Lowry and mchale also butted heads, that may have been a factor.

Dragic would not have limited our flexibility. In fact, lin has limited us much more than dragics contract.

Morey is not a saint. He was just doing what the boss wanted. The boss man wanted lin. After making morey feel guilty about losing lin, morey did his best to get him back and please the boss.

 

Ugh now I regret taking what seriously in the top 10 defenders thread. This thread is such troll bait.

 

because Jeremy rin

 

This.

I think Les wanted Lin's money when we had 0 other draw (No Yao, no Tmac, no Harden yet).

I also think the Rockets must have on some level thought Lin had more potential than Dragic and was a bit cheaper.

 

Question answered!!!

 

Goran was offered a player option.

But I agree we undervalued him too

 

Dragic wanted a player option for his last year. Which would have limited Morey's flexibility if dragic didn't perform up to his contract expectations. He chose PHX over Houston due to the player option. We ended up signing Lin instead.


In hindsight, we should've given him the contract anyways.

 

Dragic's deal was supposed to be hung up on the player's option 4th year. It was supposed to be in line with the "no player option unless you are a cornerstone" policy.

Whether it had to do with wanting Lin we will never know for sure. (Maybe when Morey's documentary is out. ) In any case, it was clearly because Dragic's value was underestimated.

Anyway, I've been saying this for a while. What started it all was cutting Lin the first time we got him. We could have signed him long term at dirt cheap price before Linsanity happened. And we could still have Dragic. But we chose to keep the inferior Jonny Flynn instead because he had a guaranteed contract. I think Morey openly admitted regretting not keeping Lin.

 

Flexibility for 2015 Summer of Love.

 

Wasn't Dragic contingent on a player option?

We don't do player options, as a matter of principle, being only ever disadvantageous to the team. Either the player picks up the option, because he's worth less than the option on the open market, or he declines the option, because he is worth more on the open market. Player options are a losing proposition.

 

Morey was on a mission to land a star. A mission that he had failed on multiple times through both free agency and trade (basketball reasons). Simply put, he didn't see Lowry or Dragic as stars.

At that point in time, cap flexibility and collection of assets were both top priority. I also think Morey might have gotten cocky about finding PGs. It all started with the solid play of Rafer and drafting AB.

1. Morey drafts Aaron Brooks in his first draft (2007)

1. He traded Rafer and landed Lowry. http://www.chron.com/sports/rockets/article/Rockets-trade-Alston-acquire-Grizzlies-Lowry-1610891.php

2. He traded Brooks for Dragic and a 1st. http://archive.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/2011/02/24/20110224phoenix-suns-goran-dragic-aaron-brooks-houston-rockets-nba-trade.html

Freaking wizardry to trade Rafer and Brooks for Lowry, Dragic and a 1st.

Looking further into why he traded Lowry:

Traded Lowry to Toronto for their future first. Here's an article stating we were acquiring picks to get a package deal to Orlando for Howard. http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/8156830/houston-rockets-trade-marcus-camby-new-york-nicks-kyle-lowry-toronto-raptors

Lowry was definitely trending towards stardom in his time with the Rockets, but was just knocking on the door. We were stuck in mediocrity and I don't blame Morey since that pick turned into the deal that landed us Harden.

Why he let Dragic go:

Dragic wanted a guaranteed starting job and we still had Lowry. We were also getting ready for a "full on rebuild" and wanted to dump Scola, Lowry and Martin for assets to trade for a star.

Hindsight is 20-20. Dragic really didn't want to leave and had a good relationship with McHale. We took a shot with Lin. Morey knew his marketing value alone was worth the poison pill contract. A lot of the luxury tax money we will be paying for years to come will be from Lin sales.

 

Yeah, the Dragic thing was probably a Les directive. There were reports that Les really wanted Lin and even called Morey after Lin's game winner in Toronto to tell him that they (meaning Morey, really) made a mistake in letting Lin go. I would not be surprised if Les told Morey that attaining Lin was a point of emphasis heading to that offseason, or possibly Morey felt he had to do it to retain his job since his contract was ending in the next year or so.

At the time, letting Dragic and trading Lowry, and signing Lin was a good move or at least praised by a good amount of people. Fresh off of Linsanity, a lot of people thought Lin could be a "star" player which could not be said about Lowry or Dragic at the time. Lo and behold, it turned out Lowry and Dragic were the true stars while Lin is, at best, a mediocre starting point guard.

 

Morey def should have given him the option but meh I like Bev

 

Tank mode but then Harden happened.

 

I'll take having max cap flexibility and the ability to sign D12 over being handcuffed too Dragic's contract. That too is perfectly justifiable.