It's a good point and a good compilation. However, I still maintain that it is tough as a Rocket fan to see all these picks come through, watch them develop, only to see them catch on somewhere else. Most of those picks did not last beyond their rookie contract, and if they did it was just for a year or so. Just seems like they always eventually get traded for one reason or another. So while I am very happy with the Dekker and Capela picks, I'm going to refrain from getting attached to the idea of them lasting long term because history says it is unlikely.
I think the ones that have been traded were, for the most part, done out of necessity to either get cap space for a better player or to get pieces for Harden now. I think the only two players I wished Morey could have kept were Patterson and Morris. Those two would have given this team a lot of depth. Of course who knows what current player (Gordon? Anderson? Ariza?) we would not have if Morey had given Patterson and/or Morris extensions.
Yeah, each individual trade on its own was defensible and I'm not advocating for any one player. I just think in an ideal world your draft picks grow into a long term cog in the team, whether that be as a starter or productive sub. The closest thing we have is Beverley, who wasn't drafted by Rockets but for all intents and purposes he might as well have been.
Morey is a good basketball mind. Sure not all of the draft picks pan out, but as was stated earlier, Morey hasn't been drafting in the lottery for the cream of the crop talent. Usually by the time the Rockets pick 13-20 other GM's with their elite scouts have already scoured over the top players. It's the diamond in the roughs that the Rockets do a good job of taking. The type of talent that generally doesn't pan out, and the Rockets have a pretty good track record of doing better than average.
It would have been interesting to see who Morey would have drafted in the 2016 draft with the "Detroit/DMO" pick and their own "lottery pick" if the Rockets didn't make the playoffs. That would have been 2 more blue chip players added to this team. Right, @Clutch?
On Royce White. No problems with that pick. We had 3 first round picks, none of them were particularly high, none were surefire, Morey chose the player with the most talent and upside knowing he fell due to baggage. Sometimes you gamble and hope it pays off big. With Capela, we took a shot and hit. With DeAndre Jordan, we played it safe and missed out. That's part of the game. On Kawhi. Plenty of teams passed up on him. The Spurs miss on players too. They passed over Parsons and Jimmy Butler, opted for a 2nd string PG that doesn't even play in the USA right now.
No Bad needed. It's a discussion forum. My point is basically that we cannot maintain 50 win seasons AND draft well enough to win a championship. There is simply not enough talent to draft in the late rounds to get us over the hump. It's the owner's directive so Morley does his best given his predicament.
This kind of thinking is silly, but very common which I don't know why. Kawhi was drafted 15th, which means besides Morey 13 other GMs passed him up. And drafting a star caliber player like Kawhi in this range requires a lot of luck. You really can't fault Morey for that. The key to me is exactly whom was drafted, NOT whom was drafted afterwards. As long as the player drafted is a good one, that's all you can ask for in the mid to late first round range. Using hindsight to show Morey passed up whom and whom is silly and pointless.
The very reason they are lower level thinkers in the first place, is because even when shown sufficient evidence of the contrary, they still maintain their positions. Of course, if they were logical, rather than emotional, they also wouldn't of had that position in the first place. How does that saying go? Don't fight an idiot, they'll drag you down and beat you with experience.
How many GMs passed on Kawhi between our pick and SAS's? That's the point. Great players slipping happens all the time. But as the top picks are removed from the draft board, passing on Kawhi because worse and worse for every subsequent GM. Morey was the last GM to pass on him. Thus, Morey made absolutely, the very worst pick in that draft. I think Morey is good to very good at scouting talent, or putting together a team to scout talent. I think he's good to very good drafter. But he screwed up on passing on Kawhi at a position in the draft where likely NO ONE in the league passes on Kawhi. Another way to rate Morey is he hasn't even drafted one player that he kept, much less one who grew to demand being locked-up to rookie-scale extension. So, he'd have to rate himself no better than "Good" as well.
....then later in the evening Jimmy Butler was selected 30th by the Bulls who was passed over by the San Antonio Spurs who selected Cory Joseph 29th...
@ Huh? I really don't get this reasoning. Just because Morey was the last GM to pass on Kawhi, he must have made the worst pick in the draft? What? So you are saying for example Jimmer Fredette whom Bucks drafted at 10th but now playing in the CB-freaking-A isn't a worse draft pick? Really? He would have kept Portions had Bosh not bulked at the last minute. But regardless, he didn't keep any of them because they are not stars. It doesn't mean they are not good role players. And finding good role players in the range we have been picking is a success in my book.
