Correct me if I am wrong, but over the last 30 years the only superstars that have been on the Rockets were either drafted or acquired due to already having a superstar on the team. Why do people think we will suddenly be able to trade for one without already having a superstar?
...maybe, but I'm taking that view from a panel discussion a few years back at the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference that I saw online that had several of the most successful sports GMs. I would think they likely did a little more exhaustive research into it that both you and I combined.
....I like your better question and I would answer that to say that as long as Morey continues to make the Rockets profitable, Les isn't going to let go of him. Yes, he wants a title but that guy wants money more than anything. Yao Ming's stay in Houston is just as much about Les' foreign investments as Yao's accomplishments(or lack thereof) as a player....and I think that's why Les holds on to Morey even if "the strategy" isn't paying off. Hell, I would argue that is why Adelaman is no longer our coach - Les didn't want to pay him like an elite coach if we weren't going to be an elite team. ....by the way, you touched on something funny that I was thinking the other day. It would totally be Murphy's Law if we ended up with a top 3 pick in THIS year's super weak draft. I keep thinking in the back of my head of course we will - because that's what would happen to a team with bad luck like us(see Yao and Tracy). Hoping I'm wrong here.
I hope Morey is not thinking like Jo Pat. We have less chance of trading for a superstar than landing one in 2012 draft after tank job That draft could possibly be one of the best ever; top 10 looks very strong. Being a loser sucks, but with season looking shorter next year it may not be so painful.
Morey has clearly referred to "tanking" as the "easy way out". Obviously if someone thinks it is the "easy way out", they think it works. Quite well in fact. As we know, he used that as an example of the direction we are NOT going in. Whether he was truthful in that assertion is another question.
BTW, if we do end up bypassing the "easy way out", there better be a damn good reason for it besides masochism. As we know, Morey is a very smart guy. And very smart guys usually understand that the "easy way" is most often, if not uh always, better than the "difficult way".
....my bet is on money as the reason. The city of Houston would not support a team openly tanking. In general Texans expect winning in sports with few exceptions. Again though, I'm dubious Morey would think of tanking is an easy solution. I would be interested in seeing the full text to get a context of that quote. ...and some light reading as well: http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insider/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&id=2747955
The only way to rebuild is through the draft. Stop looking for the easy way out -- we're not landing a superstar through a trade with one of our assets. I'm tired of still trying to make this core work, they're just not good enough. It's time to bring in something that we can really build around.
There's a reason none of you are GMs. That reason is that there's only been only franchise in the last 25 years to draft someone in the top 4 (worst team in the league guaranteed a top 4 pick) who's led them to a ring. Lol.
I don't understand this thread. This team is not even close to contending. They don't have the size or the talent to compete, I'm sorry but it's true. And to address the "tanking" issue, if you've looked in the past 30 years of the nba, you would know that almost all superstar greats were drafted as a top pick and these said players stayed on the team they were drafted for a couple years if not for their whole careers. Jordan, Pippen, Magic, Bird, Hakeem, Malone, Stockton, Kobe, Duncan, Wade, Chris Paul, hell even Yao (if you consider him a superstar) were drafted by their original teams and stayed with their teams. Lebron and Carmelo stayed with their original teams for several years before deciding to bolt. It's been proven time and time and again that superstars are drafted and not traded for. Seriously, would you give up these kinds of players for "assets"? Hell ****ing no.
Yeah, but that's kind of a selective and therefor meaningless stat. For one, the NBA has the least parity of pretty much any league. Lakers, Celtics, Bulls, Rockets, Bulls, Spurs, Lakers, Spurs, Celtics... you get the point. Right, throw in the Pistons (who did change it up, but then, not exactly an after-thought of a franchise there, as they had 2 in the late 80's already). So you have Miami. So other than Miami, in the last 27 years, you've had I think 6 franchises win the championship. Plus Miami's 1 timer = 7. That doesn't mean all is futile, give up hope, watch another sport - though I will concede that it is highly frustrating (even as one of those franchises), one of my biggest gripes with the NBA, and football has become increasingly more interesting to me over the years - but it does mean a stat like the above, kind of useless. Of course it hasn't happened, because, well, those teams got good MANY MANY years ago on the back of great draft picks, and sustained that high level through shrewd management. Oh, and then there's Miami again, which of course did use a high lotto pick to lead them to a championship. So Detroit, the second time, may actually be more of the outlier here, in that they really traded for most of their key players on the Larry Brown championship team without starting from a base of greatness. I guess Taysaun was a lotto pick (was he, can't remember?), but they rose up from crappy eastern conference team to win the championship without a high lotto pick. Every other squad started at some point with high lotto picks and turned that into dynasty. AND, even if you consider Boston, who also got as low as the lows before rising up again, they did it with a great lotto pick (Pierce - not a top 4 pick, but again, kind of arbitrary place to cut it off), and then trading lotto pick for Garnett, who was a top 5 pick. AND, in light of the lack of parity noted above, it also makes sense to consider teams that at least got close. And the list of lotto picks and high lotto picks that led the team that drafted them deep into the playoffs is long indeed. Currently you have Durant, Rose, Howard, Nowitzki, Carmelo, Paul, Williams, KG, Lebron, etc, etc. In many cases, those franchises really really were horrible before the arrival of said player. Goal 1-10 is win a championship, but you got to at least get close to get there. And despite the thread title, the Rockets aren't close. There are 30 teams in the league. More than half make the playoffs. More than 25% make the 2nd round. The Rockets now routinely miss the playoffs and pretty much never make the second round. Empirically, we are closer to the bottom than the top. Oh, and finally, often while the top 4 pick doesn't win a championship with the team that drafted it, it is a top lotto pick that is ultimately traded to one of the aforementioned dynasties that goes on to help them win those championships. Gasol, Odom, Billups, Shaq, Garnett. Point being, top picks win championships. I think pretty much every championship team in that time frame has had a top 5 pick.
