You are correct. Morey in his 4 years here have not been able to magically acquire the #1 pick in the "best year to have a #1 pick over the past 18 years" on a 10% lottery chance. Morey truly is a failure. How can he not draft Tim Duncan? What is he, an idiot?
Well. The bet is a simple concept really, it's a bet against others who believe Kawhi will have a better rookie season than Morris. Granted, it is subjective since it is highly dependent on playing time, but it's a reasonable bet nonetheless. Now the question is, if you think it is stupid, then why are you here trying to instigate a flame war? The thread is, after all, centered around this bet. It's like a person buying tickets to a Justin Bieber concert just to go in and tell him he sucks. It doesn't achieve anything.
Yes, it does. You buying the tickets on your credit card, furthering your debt while supporting the economy, and thus showing that you are a true American!!
I was looking for a thread to talk about one thing and I found this one, fits perfectly. Well, the fact is that Kawhi looks pretty good so far. Ask any Spurs fans, I know some of them (by brohter, for instance) so I'm doing some research about his game this season, and currently he's looking like a very solid 15th pick. The fact is that on that June night the Rockets chose Morris over Leonard, so the comparisons during their whole careers is going to be unavoidable. Obviously you don't judge a pick based on the first months, not even the first year, not even the first 2 years. But Leonard now is really putting pressure over Rockets management and their choice. Leonard looks like a SF who can offer you some of the things that we're watching from Parsons (overall defensive presence, rebounding), while offensively shows poise, off the ball movement, offensive rebounding and also some scoring ability near the basket and a promising jumper. He's an athletic guy who can run the fastbreak and finish, and can also put the ball on the floor. For sure he has not Morris scoring talent, but I ask myself if Morris will be able to translate that ability to the NBA level, because other than that, Leonard's game looks more appropiated for a winning non-scoring role. Popovich said recently that he sees some similarities between Leonard and Bruce Bowen defensively (competitiveness, use of the hands, feet speed...I guess), but Leonard looks also like a better offensive prospect than Bruce. Other than that, I'm realizing about what kind of steal we got with Chandler Parsons at the 2nd round, because he actually has a lot of those Leonard abilities... being a 2nd round pick. Precisely with him looking more and more like a good SF prospect for our future, I doubt even more about Morris. This is something that could have happened equally having selected Leonard, the point is that having Parsons right now ahead of him it could affect the future valuation of both players considering their different situations. The point is, are you a little bit scared about this topic right now? Should the Rockets have done the easy move by getting Leonard?
No. We need two way players and Leonard's shot doesn't look too good. He has a slight hitch in it. He is more of a specialist.
Pop has been raving about Leonard -- comparing his defense to Bruce Bowen. This bet isn't looking too good for the OP. Even if Budinger is traded or out of the rotation, Morris will probably be stuck behind Parsons. Kind of hard to get ROTY votes when you're playing behind another rookie.
I went in on the bet against Cxbby, which so far is looking my way, but is way too early to say. Having said that, the Rockets were totally in the right to go for Morris over Leonard. The Rockets did NOT have that star scoring wing player. That player that can create their own shot in crunch time. Yes, Lowry is okay at this and getting a bit better, but he is no where near the best in the NBA and has really taken his game to the next level again this year which could not have been predicted. The Rockets saw Morris as potentially a SF who could become that type of player. It was by no means a risk-free bet, but Morey felt there was some reason for optimism (and not just hope) for it to pan out. The Spurs on the other hand needed that SF that could be the glue guy, defender, do-everything type of player. They already have stars, even if they are nearing their last run. To try to go for that title now they had to place the best glue guys/role players around them. In the 2012 draft, Morey did what he had NOT done in the past. He went for a couple potential home runs in Morris and DMO by pulling the ball, instead of just hitting it the other way for a single. Sure it may not pan out, but it is what this team needs to do right now.
This is an interesting situation. So far Leonard is looking like he would have been the better pick, but it is sort of a moot point, because Parsons is playing better than either Leonard or Morris. So, what good would it have been to have drafted Leonard, if he would be sitting behind Parsons just like Morris is? The difference with Morris in comparison to Leonard though is that Morris's offensive and overall upside for the team is higher (Leonard is never going to be a go-to scorer, Morris at least might be). So, if Morey would not have stolen Parsons, Leonard would have been a costly miss. But, since Parsons is playing better than Leonard, having Morris's upside instead of Leonard is the preference, in my opinion.
Good post and good points. I don't think neither team made the decisions based on current needs; particularly at the Rockets part, we know that this roster could be suddenly completely changed, and maybe then Morris talents fit better with the starting lineup. Still I specially liked this part of your post: I completely agree and I feel definitely better after reading this. So thanks, that's what I was looking for...
He hasn't had a fair shot to judge him at the 3 yet, but they were betting on ROY voting. The Rockets will have to make some moves for him to even get time significant this year IMO.
Cxbby has gone out on a limb a couple of times, but I don't have a problem. Myself personally, I never,ever saw morris as a 3. To me, the best pick morey has made in yea is donuts. He has a special skill/body in relative to his position. Patterson,morris,chase,and parsons are all role player types. Nothing wrong with that, but donuts can be special.
Nice post, I think you nailed it. Going after the guy with higher upside was the right move given the state of the franchise right now. As a side note, I’m really happy we drafted Parsons because he seems to be exactly in that mold of a good glue guy, do-everything type player like Kawhi. If Morris doesn’t pan out at the three, at least we got a pretty solid starter in Parsons. And we got him in the second round, without even having to trade a good rotation player for him like the Spurs did.
Lol, another episode of self-ownage by CXbby. This is what happens when you base your "analysis" on a couple of youtube videos and blind faith in management. There should be no doubt left about this guy's lack of basketball knowledge and his inability to properly analyze players. Please continue to start more threads with an arrogant tone while making grandiose claims. If you keep doing it, you might even be accidentally right one day. I would be lying if I said that you looking ridiculous didn't make for great comedy.
