Reviewing Daryl Morey’s Record as Rockets GM

I love players on this team such as Kyle, Pat and I absolutely adore Martin.

But I also want to look at the big picture. We are indeed one good center away from being a legit team. But how are we going to get that center? We don't have capspace, we don't have any valuable draft picks, and the best young prospect we've got is probably Kyle Lowry, and we are not going to trade him away.

We lack a good SF and a good C, but there is almost no way we can get it.

I have no problem with the team so far on a personal basis, as I very much enjoy watching this exciting squad.

There is almost no way for us to get a good C or a good SF apart from another lateral move, i.e. kyle lowry for nene.

If we didn't get Lowry, Martin, etc, then we'd probably would have had a serious shot and maybe even ended up with John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, etc.

But we've just got a middling team with not much upside right now.

 

It would be great if the Rockets can get one of those two, but they really don't fit with the current group. I think if we got one of those two, and they worked out, it would signal the beginning of a whole new rebuilding step--which goes back to my original point: Morey's "successes", and I give him credit for that, ended up being directionless and, a waste.

 

I think this discussion is incomplete, until you discuss salaries, trade exceptions and other cap implications. Its not called money ball for nothing.

 

I thought Morey didn't believe in drafting for needs? He picked Patterson when we already had Scola, Hayes, Hill, and Jeffries. Not that I object to the Patterson pick.

Gasol was clearly a miss. But EVERYBODY missed.

 

Really? If I gave you a choice between two 25 year old wings and gave you the below stats and salaries, who would you chose?

11 ppg / 2 apg / 5.4 rpg / 11.38 PER
39% FG
30% 3P
34.7 MPG
2011 Salary: $6,322,320.00

vs.

8 ppg / 1 apg / 2.6 rpg / 12.63 PER
44% FG
41% 3P
21.3 MPG
2011 Salary: $1,352,640.00

I take the latter every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

 

Nice summary Crash He hasn't made ALL of the right moves but i'd still trust him to make the fail-safe decision; good or bad~ take that with a grain of salt.

 

You're correct. In a perfect world, we'd have seen the writing was on the wall after Yao's injury and blown the team up at the start of last season. We should have traded what we had for future value and committed to rebuilding in a draft that had several franchise talents available. Unfortunately, Les has made it clear that this will never be an option, so we have to look at other choices.

Given these constraints, Morey's done an incredible job. What GM has done more with less? He hasn't had any premium young talents like Favors to develop or include in trades. He hasn't had any high lottery picks with which to draft such talents. When he became GM, the roster had no desirable players. He doesn't work in a glamorous city that free-agent superstars flock to.

Despite all this, we have a winning record in the West and will probably make the playoffs next year. We have a roster full of players with the potential to develop into studs or valuable trade bait. We have no big, franchise-killer contracts a la Rashard. With what he's had to work with, Morey's done a fantastic job.

 

Scola and Spanoulis are both much better players than Splitter is. Hell, Nando De Colo is about the same level player as Splitter.

Splitter can defend really well but that is it. He has zero offensive game. There was no reason at all for Morey to want Splitter. I think Morey is ridiculously overrated here, but there was no reason to pursue Splitter.

Splitter was the Jeff Foster of the Euroleague. I very nice and useful player to have, but nothing near a player of Scola's level.

 

put em together and you have a complete player

 

Many a poster would agree with you that we are essentially missing a legit 5 to seriously contend. To have a chance to win it all, we also need a defensive-minded sf who can make some 3's.

Back to the center need, Morey has unsuccessfully attempted to bring us a starting center for the past 2 trading deadlines. They just don't come cheap or they don't get traded at all. If something doesn't work, then you have to try something else: the draft. Morey needs to make some trades to move up and try to snatch a big guy.

 

Stats don't tell the whole story, and of course when you take the salary differences, Lee is the better choice.

Still, if I had a contending team, and money was not a big issue, Ariza would have been my choice. You guys just forget how good Ariza was playing for us once Martin came onboard and he was able to play his natural sf position.

 

Euro-Troll in da hizzouse!

Why is it that the only Euro players you dislike are the ones who are actually on NBA teams or likely to be on one soon? Those guys are all crap, but the ones stuck in Europe are the best players in the world?!? WTF?

 

Isn't that what Thabeet is supposed to be? Or do shot-blocking seven footers only count if they're good?

 

This.

 

Actually, I think it would have made a lot of sense. If you'll remember, we almost didn't sign Carl Landry after drafting him. It might have made a lot of sense to pick up a foreign center who wouldn't need to come aboard right away.

I alluded to this earlier, but the more I think about it the more positive I feel about it. This thread has really brought to focus the potential pitfall of drafting the best player available and counting on doing trades to even out the roster. Successful centers are just plain worth a lot more than more talented smaller players. Yeah, we had Deke and Yao back then, but we knew Deke would have to retire eventually and we've been worried about injuries to Yao since he was drafted. We really need to keep the pipeline open specifically on drafted talent at Center. Keep them abroad or down on the RGV or on the IR, but we need to have a few center projects in the works. It's frustrating when they're duds, but successes are worth a lot.

 

The bottom line is results; two straight years out of the playoffs. Hmmm. Frankly, I think Morey is the only thing about the Rockets that is overrated. No doubt he is a smart guy, but is he a smart NBA basketball guy? I don't think the jury will be out much longer.