If Morey doesn't attempt to improve this roster and the Rockets fall short with another undersized, unathletic and non 3 pt shooting roster for a 3 pt- centric scheme, It's time for a change. The Rockets should blow it up. Long Athletic & versatile wing players are dominant in the League and Morey seems allergic to these kinds of players. We should have at least 2 pure shooters on the roster (that fit the philosophy of 50- 3pt fg attempts per game ) and Morey seems allergic to these guys too. We have to get bigger, more versatile and better shooting and yet all we have is tweets of two people playing chess. Blowing it up includes the Stars ( Harden & CP3 ), the Coach and the GM. Hopefully a Paul George type deal is out there for James and you can find a taker for Chris. At some point getting frustrated and Blaming one guy isn't the answer. Complaints to the league office isn't the answer. Not extending the coach or changing the coach isn't the answer. It's got to fall on the main guys on the floor and the visionary off the floor. This is a small, old, and unathletic team that depends on one guy to be dynamic. If that's Darryl Morey's vision then it's time for a change. He's had enough time.
Why all this blow it up talk when rockets are a top contending team? Blow it up for what? To get a star when we have harden? 'Blow it up' is not a plan. State your plan. Why cant this board handle a good contending team? You would think this was atlanta hawks or Charlotte bbs. Cmon people
You have Harden & what? The roster is getting older and we are too damn small. We've punted on the draft, We've punted on free agency and we'll have the same weaknesses as last year + another season. I say give it another year and blow it up if it doesn't work. Standing pat looks like the plan. But if that doesn't work let's clean house before Harden gets too far in his 30's and loses value. Get a new vision.
your title was appealing. i agree that it doesn't feel like we have much of a plan. and it's frustrating watching so many teams in the west improve, while we have only retained a few role-players. But you lost me when you started talking about blowing up the team. if you think Harden is one of the 3 best players in the league, then there is no blowing up the team and getting rid of james harden. it's just not a smart idea. players like that only come around so often and when you have a chance to build a franchise around them, that's what you do. There are plenty of years left with Harden in his prime; we've got to figure out the right players to surround him with. For the most part Morey has done that, but he also ran into a buzzsaw of an epic Warriors team these past years and he didn't do enough last offseason. I'm all for taking risks and making some bold moves, but none of those bold moves will include trading James Harden.
I can respect your opinion. But I have some questions. Does Morey have a lifetime job? I think he's a good GM but is it possible that another vision might yield better results? When do you say when on his tenure here? Also, how long do you wait to trade Harden if you haven't won big and the team is getting old around him? Do you wait until he suffers a major injury ( diminishing his value) from playing a ton of minutes while carrying an old and undersized squad to a 50 win season? Maybe there's a blockbuster deal ( see OKCs haul for Paul George) that could yield you the materials to rebuild under a new vision. I say give it another year but if they don't win it with the league wide open, you have to assess where the team is going.
I think Morey's fate will be linked to Harden's fate IMO. I am not saying if Harden leaves, Morey will immediately resign or leave but it would be sooner than later. I have no idea what Tilman has been thinking though.
Fine, I’ll play. Long athletic 3 and D / versatile wings are the most coveted players on the market right now. Literally every team is looking for those same players and that’s why when those FA come up, they get at or close to the max. Take Otto Porter - paid like a star, plays like a roll player. I wouldn’t say Morey is trying to avoid those guys but you gotta over pay for those players in trades or in FA if you want them and to Morey’s credit he has found better value in undersized guys who perform similarly(PJ Tucker, Rivers), reclamation projects(Eric Gordon), and less heralded young players who develop into better players(Capela, House). There are two truths for Morey - legit stars(not necessarily max contract guys) are statistically proven ways to win and the very best value on the market. That’s why he is always going to chase big name stars. - everything else is about getting value over the expected production for the rest of your roster slots. That’s why he gets these funky players who produce results despite being undersized, injury prone, skinny kid from Switzerland, etc. ...getting that value means you aren’t bidding against every other team for the same player the first day of free agency. It means you aren’t gutting your roster for marginal upgrades at one position. Those are situations where you overpay. So value is dependent on a specific opportunity to acquire some kind of distressed asset and Morey just hasn’t had one of those pop up recently. I agree that I wish we had a real SF on our roster and I fully think that was Morey’s plan in letting Ariza walk but the opportunity didn’t present itself like Morey was hoping and here we are. It’s frustrating but I don’t think we are necessarily are worse team for it - while Ariza would have helped us at the start of last season, in the end we weren’t one long 3 and d defender away from beating the Warriors.
Carl, one minute: "Tilman is broke! Tilman is broke!" Carl, the next minute: "Tilman is making money hand over fist!"
STOP right there. I don't know of another GM in the NBA that works harder to improve the roster than Morey. Morey is ALWAYS attempting to improve the roster. No one should ever question Morey's desire to improve the roster. Now is not the time to consider blowing up the team. If the Rockets underperform this next season, then I could see the Rockets making major changes. In the meantime, Morey will continue to try to improve the roster as best he can.
I stated that we give it another year before resetting the whole thing. But does Morey get a lifetime pass? Or should we try some other GM's vision at some point? I like Morey but working hard is not a shield in results driven business. If we're talking winning seasons fine, but if the goal is NBA titles then everyone and everything has to be in play as far as making changes are concerned.
I think “The Plan” was most honestly revealed from Morey’s “arms race” comment a few years ago and looking at the goings on around the league, he isn’t wrong. Lebron recruiting stars to the Lakers. Kawhi recruiting George to the Clippers. Or going back further, the Warriors signing Durant to a star-laden squad that just eclipsed 70 wins. The contenders in this league are born of star clusters. I give Morey a lot of credit for attempting to compete in this arms race from the foundation of a historically relative dormant sports market as Houston (as painful as it is for this long Houstonian sports fan to admit). But I think he’s found it more challenging than it is for a Los Angeles or more recently NY market to succeed at the game while also finding his franchise’s generational talent to be less of a magnet for ring-chasing stars than Kawhi, Steph, and even a possibly past-his-prime Lebron. But suddenly he sees another generational star available, one that also has seemed to “just come up short” in the arms race, sees potential, and possibly, for that unaccomplished generational star to bite and join forces with Harden when others more accomplished declined. It certainly doesn’t hurt that there’s already a relationship there. I think he also sees the opportunity to replace a possibly declining Paul’s contract with a large contract of a younger player.
You just made my point. The wing players are too small (height/wingspan) to help defensive rebound, consistently close out on shooters and win 50/50 balls. ALL GM'S are competing for long versatile athletic wing players and NO GM wants to overpay. So why does Morey get a pass for not landing ONE or letting one walk? The summer we got Eric Gordon, we massively overpaid for Ryan Anderson. So even Morey overpays for what he deems important. He just doesn't value size, length and versatility on the wing. The best way to get these types is to draft them (so you don't overpay) and he consistently discards draft picks as if they are worthless. In the past he's missed on a few impact wings in the draft (See 2011 Morris over Kawhi: Morris & Motiejunas over Jimmy Butler). The fact that "we are not necessarily a worse team" is a testament to how great Harden has been in the regular season and why he wears down in the playoffs. I've said give it a year and if they flame out, it's time to move on while some of these guys have value & get a new vision at GM.
