Daryl delivers in his contract year... Lol Also, didn't he say that it was not Rockets policy to extend contracts and let them determine market value? I guess that goes out the window for starplayers and GMs too.
Halftime Award EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR 1. Daryl Morey, Rockets THE MOST SURPRISING TEAM OF THE YEAR 1. Houston Rockets http://www.nba.com/hoop/the_201213_nba_halftime_award_2013_02_13.html
I've been on board with Morey all along. I think it's hard to argue against him being a top 5 GM in the NBA and a case could even be made he is the best. I know critics will point out his mistakes (and I myself still get sick when I think about the Terrence Williams deal) but perfection simply isn't happening. He wins a lot more than he loses - and that works for me.
I'm a reformed pro-tanker Two points of view died off heavily in this forum: 1. Tanking 2. Morey not being a good GM. I can't take anyone seriously who still holds those points of view.
If the star player is worth max, or more than max, do you think Morey needs to let that player test the market on how much he is worth? lol.
At the time, it was the smart move to pick Oden. Hindsight is always 20/20 but what are you going to do. You can't regret taking the most talented big man number 1 in the draft.
Yeah sure, but can you imagine what would have happened if we had gotten our original target of Dwight Howard instead of James Harden? A semi-injured Howard whining about being on a losing team and wanting to sign with L.A. this summer. Then what would you have thought of Morey? Just saying that Morey, like every other GM in this league, depends on more then a bit of luck to be seen as great.
Harden did not fall into our laps. Sure, everyone was surprised that he became available. But we were the team most prepared and best equipped to get him. There's more than one way for a GM to acquire a max-talent player.
Of course that goes out the window for star players, that's because their market value is already the MAX. In that case letting them test the market would just be an exercise in futility. Same goes for DM himself, if Alexander let him test the market I'm pretty sure other owners would get him. And as far as "delivering" in his contract year, DM has been doing this "collecting assets" strategy since Yao Ming retired and Tmac was shipped out. If you looked at his trade, a key piece was a guy he traded for Rafer Alston in 2009. So no, he's been doing the same strategy for a long time now, you probably just haven't been paying attention.
Obviously luck plays a factor, but luck always plays a factor, not just for GMs but for owners and players too. But there's a saying "God can't help you win the lottery if you don't buy a ticket", right? In this case buying a ticket is equivalent of collecting assets and not doing knee jerk trades like getting Amare Stoudemire (who half the board blasted Morey for passing on). Although you're dependent on luck, Morey was able to tip the scales on our favor by coming up with a better strategy than being bad and hoping you get a superstar in the draft.
I am just saying Harden might have ended up going to wizards or some other scenario and everyone would still be complaining. Had Morey not landed Harden and tanked instead - I still think he'd be a good GM doing the right things. My only issue with Morey is that it took him so long to blow the team up, once he did it I was pretty happy. I give Morey more credit for signing Lin & Asik - two moves I thought were very questionable at the time but seem to have worked out very well.
This. Being a good GM is more about putting your team IN POSITION to make moves to improve the team. Sweet Lou's right that most successful GMs have also had one or more strokes of luck that made their teams successful. The saying goes: "It's better to be lucky than good." That is true. But it doesn't change the fact that Morey had been (up until the Harden trade) a very GOOD GM. Now, it appears that he's ALSO lucky. I hope Sam Presti has room for Morey in the "Lucky AND Good Club." To put in perspective how much work Morey has put into improving this club over the past several years (and I typically HATE to think in these terms), he basically turned the following assets into James Harden over the course of his tenure with the Rockets: Rafer Alston --- Kyle Lowry --- TOR lottery pick Trevor Ariza --- Courtney Lee --- CHA 2nd rounder 14th pick in 2012, Samuel Dalembert and a 2nd rounder --- Jeremy Lamb Tracy McGrady's corpse and Carl Landry --- Kevin Martin and Jordan Hill --- DAL first rounder Morey made all of those moves. Without them, the Rockets are not IN POSITION to make the Harden move. He also had the guts to seemingly pay through the nose for a guy who wasn't 100% guaranteed to be the superstar that Harden apparently is now. Give the man his credit. And PAY HIM!
BTW, misleading title. Morey isn't being extended, his contract is. They are not making Morey any taller or ant parts of his body any longer.
Unfortunately, with all due respect, IMO his extension only means more years of mediocrity. I give the man that credit. Just SPAY HIM!
Without David Stern stopping Morey from putting together the "foundation" (read: abject mess) that would have been Pau Gasol, Nene Hilario, and Kyle Lowry, the Rockets are not IN POSITION to make the Harden move. So, before you waste all your smooches on Morey's tush, save some for the Commish's too. But, as you said, it's better to be lucky than good.
Wow, I didn't remember creating enough of a fuss over it on the board for it to be memorable, but I certainly didn't think it was a good signing at the time and am happy to be wrong about it. So... good memory. Even though it has nothing to do with my post in this thread.
Those are two different situations. You can't just assume the same thing will happen even on different circumstances, come on now. If you think that the best center in the league wasn't worth taking a gamble on then what is? Nothing is a sure thing in life. You can acquire a healthy player and he could easily tear an acl in his first game. Point is, if you traded for Howard, odds are, he will most likely re-sign with your team since he will not get a better deal elsewhere. Even the Lakers aren't 100% sure Dwight will stay with em. But that didn't stop them from taking the risk. In James Harden's case, the luck came from OKC eventually trading him. Some experts and even myself knew that there was a slight possibility that they were given their cap situation. Daryl Morey created his own luck by doing his due diligence to put the team in a situation where we had the best package to offer for the trade. If Morey wasn't our GM, we could be in a much worse situation bu trading for overpayed players such as Joe Johnson and Rudy Gay and view them as franchise changing talents. Why do you think 94% of our fans here believe and trust Morey?
Took him so long? Name one star player who became a free agent he didn't try to pursue? It's been well documented around the NBA that Morey is one of the most active GM's in the league. He's also been active because he always had the best trade packages in his arsenal. No bad contracts, a collection of future picks, and wide array of talented players. He was always planning a step ahead and kept the franchise capable of trading/acquiring stars once they become available.
