Dude your nuts amigo. I share your frustration, but good 7 footers dont exactly grow on trees. And as far as Morey being overrated or crappy, I beg you to please look at the roster before he took over, and right now. Before we were a crappy old team with no assets. Now we are one of the youngest teams with an immense pool of talent, and numerous draft picks in the upcoming drafts. :grin:
damn, I blame oden, he not only took Deke down, but indirectly took Yao down with him, he is the curse!!!!!!!
Brad Miller was Yao's "backup" this year, but Miller got most of the minutes. Yao rode mostly pine and didn't play at all in back to back games. In the 6 games before his injury(11/10), Yao played for 23, 0, 22, 21, and 16 minutes. Yao was only played him 82 minutes through 6 games(14 min/g). It gets ridiculous, if he needs more rest than that.
Let's start with playing Yao too many minutes. We'll never know if that had anything to do with him being injury prone, but it certainly couldn't have helped. How about last season being a waste, because Les and Morey wanted to give the Yao Ming experiment one more chance, even though it was doomed to failure. So what did last season get us? It got us a mid round pick when we should have been tanking for a top three. And now this season, with Morey's latest proclamation that the Rockets have no intention of doing a full rebuild (tanking) and plan to make a run, thereby dooming the organization to a second wasted season with nothing to show for it other than another mid round pick that will struggle to find any serious playing time. How about Morey still apparently believing you can trade for a top 15 player, still in their prime, even though the NBA is trending away from that strategy, because stars wants to play together, and are using free agency to form their own dream teams. Next Summer, some team will draft Perry Jones or Harrison Barnes, and it should be us, but that would require trading our veterans for picks, and stinking it up for four months, which Les and Morey apparently don't want to do, even though we have zero chance of winning a championship this season. Now, we can stink it up and still not get a top three pick. It happens. Or we can land a top three pick and those two players guys could be bust. It happens. But at least that strategy has a proven track record. Teams tank for a chance to get a top three pick, so they have a second chance to land a super star. It doesn't always work, but it has worked, and it worked for us with Dream! That's right, the only two championships we even won was because we tanked! The only think that will salvage this crummy season is a top three pick!
And yet...when Jones, Barnes or Irving struggle in the 1st week of their Rocket career, it's the same crew of assholes that'll yell "OMG we made the wrong pick". Damn this fan base to Seattle in a handbasket with no team.
I'm a big Morey fan. I also like RA, but I'm disappointed that we have gotten so far from being a good defensive team. Maybe we should have kept JVG. Also, while DM has been brilliant at turning low picks/unsigned rookies (Ish) into assets, he has not brought us a consistent all-star. To me, he has not yet proven that he can do so. I will not really be surprised if/when he does, but he hasn't yet. I think several of our players are pretty damn good, and maybe deserve to be all-stars once in a while, but nobody on the team looks like they will be a consistent all-star. As far as any specific trades go, it is impossible for me to know what trades are really do-able. Were I motivated, I would go find some trades in the different trade machines and list them, but we don't really know which of those trades are really available. I had been saying that we needed to upgrade SF, but I'm pretty excited about T-Will (hoping he isn't an incorrigible knucklehead). And of course, I think we need to do some 2-for-1 or 3-for-2 trades, but I am pretty sure DM is pursuing those as best he can. So, I think DM is doing a pretty good job. I think he will work some serious magic before the trade deadline. It's too bad we have so much of our payroll tied up in Yao. I was already thinking we should try and move his contract by the deadline, because of the injuries.
Jordan didn't have rings at the same point in his career as those players. The same can be said about Hakeem and Shaq. Not everybody can be Wade and win in their 3rd year.
8 teams have won NBA titles in the last 30 years. EIGHT. It's damn near impossible to win in this league. Think about that ****.
My point was sympathetic. Getting a ring is very tough and no measure of an individual's greatness in a team game.
He turned the 32nd pick in the draft and VSpan's corpse into Scola and Martin. Can you really expect more than that? I know he hasn't made the "big trade", but who else have done so? Only two organizations have "built" championship rosters in recent years. That is, they weren't blessed with a superstar through the draft or being in LA where the locale can attract stars. I think one can say that Morey has not achieved what Ainge and Dumars managed to do getting KG/Allen/Rondo and Wallaces/Prince/Billups for little. But otherwise, I do not see a GM who has done more with less.
So let me get this straight, the main reason you're bashing the management is because he didn't take care of Yao Ming enough? Exposed YOF here Fact is Yao Ming is being paid the maximum amount to be a franchise player. Whoever heard of a franchise player getting less than 30 mins of pT a game? Is Morey supposed to hae a crystal ball that will alert him when Yao's foot is about to break? Most of Yao Ming's injuries were due to accidents on the court, whether he stepped on someone's foot or tripped or whatever. Even in this case where he had a fracture on his ankle, how the **** is Morey supposed to predict Yao will break his foot while he isn't even playing? We had Mutombo as a backup C, and the main reason we didn't have anyone better was because Yao Ming was making 18M a year on his own. At the time we had more pressing needs to fill, such as replacing Wesley, Juwon Howard and Rafer Alston with better players. Was Dm supposed to focus on getting help at the C spot so he could baby Yao while the other roster spots had crap pretending to be NBA players? Same thing with Les Alexander. You call him mediocre but he spent 12 million on draft picks and David Andersen alone and signed off on absorbing Elton Brand's max contract just to get the 2nd pick of the draft. Compare that with Sterling, Sarver and Heisley and see which one is really a mediocre owner.
Is that right? Honestly, I'm not sure. After a little research: The Clippers have only won one in that timeframe...the Wizards...the Raptors...the Warriors...the Grizzlies haven't won even one... the Bobcats haven't won one, but then again, they've only been around for like 7 seasons. So not including the Bobcats (who weren't around 13 years)...the Rockets are one of 6 franchises in the NBA that has won no more than one playoff series in the past 13 years. Holy crap that sucks. That is not exactly good company to be in.
I don't want to take this too far...but these injuries he's suffered should not in any way surprise this franchise. These are the types of injuries we knew this guy would sustain when we drafted him....we knew the history of guys at this size in the NBA. We knew that they started playing seriously limited minutes at 30 and beyond. We knew they all retired in their early-30's. I remember very distinctly discussing that issue right here in this forum in 2002 when we drafted him. And it's why so many people kept getting frustrated at him never being able to have an offseason to rest....because it just exacerbated the pounding his body was taking at that size.
It is so easy to trash your post. It is so easy to trash the OP and this thread. But if I am being honest my first instinct after hearing the reinjury of Yao's foot was disappointment and anger at management. I was tired of following this team and giving my heart to them and then being cheated. Cheated by an athlete who couldn't stay healthy. But the reality is it is no one's fault. If Yao makes a comeback this season and he looked like he would we are a legitimate contender. How can you not try that. The Rockets went after Bosh hard this summer. The Rockets have made some shrewd trades to give us assets. The Rockets resigned Scola and Lowry to keep our decent assets. The Rockets signed Miller and dumped Ariza and then upgraded IMO with Lee and T-Will. Yes both of those guys are better than Ariza and together are cheaper. Shrewd and smart business moves. We still have assets and players and youth on this team. 2 of the 3 weakest areas on this team 4th quarter scoring and SF help will be addressed next week with the return of Brooks and the addition of T-Will. The third is improving the center spot and I am not sure exactly how we do that but I am confident Morey will try. Sure with hindsight there are things I wish they did differently. I think Tyson Chandler was getable by us. At first we were going to steal him from Charlotte but then when Charlotte thought the wiser I still wanted to get him even if that meant throwing in a 1st pick. When I heard we had a shot at Chandler I was excited. He would give us a defensive center to back up Yao. He would help us immensely. I didn't know if he could be as good as he turned out in Dallas but I thought there was a chance and it was worth a 1st round pick to see. So I was disappointed when lost out on Chandler and I felt Morey didn't do enough. But maybe that was never a real option. We don't know what was going on behind the scenes. Or maybe Morey didn't like Chandler as much as I did or Maybe Charlotte took him off the table because they wanted to just dump his salary on Dallas. we could never have offered that. I don't know. I also wanted Sanders with our pick. Again I was looking for a shotblocking big. ANd I thought he had much more upside than anyone else we could have drafted. But the Rockets got the man they wanted. They got the man they actually wanted to try and move up to get. I see why they want him. I believe at some point he will be a solid contributor. He will be a 2-way player at pf for many years to come. All this talk of Monroe and Aldrich and Udoh being better just doesn't register with me. I think he was probably the best player after 6. At least he was comparable in talent. The problem with judging players is we tend to look at their offensive skillsets. But Morey does look at both sides and so do I. Patrick will contribute at some point better then Scola when you take into account his offensive and defensive effort, IMO. Sure Paul george is more glamourous but he looks like a 1-way player to me. I don't think Henry is better than 2 second year guys we got in T-Will and Lee. I could go on with the others but suffice it to say drafting Patterson was a good thing IMO. With 1 exception. I thought Sanders was the one player who could help us more. The problem with Sanders is he was a project. He still is. He has a couple of great games. But the reality is he looks lost out there at times. Most of what he does well he does on instinct. he looks a bit intimidated. Even when he stuffed Carmelo back to back and gave him a facial he almost looked like he was sorry for doing it. So there is no question he is not as refined. But that said he has a skillset that we so desperately need. He is a defensive specialist he will bulk up and learn and may become a beast in the middle. SO I wish Morey wouldn't have passed on him. But I understand why. He thought Patrick was the best overall player available. And if you consider the fact how important 2-way players are to him (see T-Will and Lee) then it makes sense why he went with Patrick. But with Yao being a big question mark I wish he would have took a shot on Sanders. Still Hill is coming around beautifully and Maybe Sanders wouldn't contribute with Hill doing what he is. With hindsight it is easy for me to trash Morey and one of the faults I percieve about him is that he is a bargain hunter. He is always looking to get below market value for an asset. He always wants to be the winner in the deal. Which at first seems good but perhaps if he was willing to slightly overpay for Chandler we would have him now. Still that is not a terrible thing and it is just my perception and since I do not know all of the behind the scene detail I could be totally wrong in my perception. Plus it is hard to fault the man when you consider the great deals he has already completed. Just look at the Ariza deal. It was a dumping of Ariza's salary IMO for Lee. Whickh left us weaker at the SF spot. But it also had the added bonus of giving BUD an opportunity to prove himself and eventually making room for T-Will who I am convinced will be an upgrade over Ariza. At the time I thought that had to be his intention when he made the deal. To make room for Budinger to grow and grab ahold of Iggy or Anthony or someone else to be an upgrade over Ariza. That 's exactly what happened. T-Will is not Anthony or Iggy but IMO he will be a big an upgrade over Ariza in time. And Lee and T-Will have great contracts compared to Ariza. That is almost genuis iff he had that forethought and managed to make it happen. And he did it all with other peoples assets. Almost like a wizard. The fact is it's impossible to be perfect on everything and given the circumstances Morey has managed to give us some pretty decent assets. We are an improving team. And as I said Brooks and T-Will will eventually make us better. T-Will will take longer but once he gets Adelman's offense and defense he will improve our SF spot. Brooks almost immediately will give us a 4th quarter scoring threat. And Morey isn't finished. We still have a couple of months for trading deadline. The one thing I would say going forward is assume Yao will never return. If he does, limit him to a role player and no more of this stupid no back to backs and 24 minutes. If he can't play he can't play. And if a Tyson Chandler type deal comes around don't let it pass you bye even if it seems like we might have to give up a little more than he is worth.
How many have won multiple titles in the last 18 years? Yes, I can also make up random stat that makes whatever argument I'm making sound awesome.
