I voted for Rick Adelman, because when a coach is winning with half the cap room other coaches have, that means he is doing a great job, and his GM isn't. Morey is yet to find a way to help Adelman in more than tweaks. He has to find ways to make those stucked 40 millions somewhat usefull. Not only for Adelman, i expect him also to do it for guys like Brooks, Scola, Landry and even Ariza. This players are doing a lot and being played a little, so that the stars on the team rest and take the glory when they come back. I wouldn't be surprised if some of them take this passiveness as a lack of commitment from Morey to the team winning. Meaning they may sense that Morey is interested in something else and not supporting them as he could.
1. It depends on how much influence Adelman had on the player acquisitions since he's been here. 2. This bunch isn't difficult to coach, you'll get 100% effort from them regardless of their coach. This season effort alone will win them several games, but of course the rest will be won by good planning/offense/coaching. 3. I agree adelman is a good coach, however, wouldn't most coaches be good if they were able to completely change up a roster that fits them, or land in a gig that fits them already? Acquiring or having the "right" players is half the job for a coach. When coaches get fired, it's usually because they didnt have the right players to fit them. You take the lesser of two evils, is it easier to fire the coach, or to find the players? So i'm not sure, i dont think we have enough "inside info" to know for sure.
The players are individually and collectively better than they get credit for. Every player in the active rotation is a legit rotation player on a good team. The bench is arguably as good as any in the league. Chuck and Shane are the only two "offensively challenged" players but both of them are truly elite defenders. There is no doubt in my mind that both guys would get minutes on some of the best teams in the league. The problem is that they (especially Chuck) never got much recognition until this season but he isn't doing anything he has not done since day one in the league. I don't get how Adelman has developed guys or made them better. Did he teach Carl that jump shot two summers ago? Did he show Chuck how to defend the post? What about Brooks? Did he show him how to finish at the rim? No. These guys were great character guys who work hard before Adelman and they will continue to be after Adelman. I would hate to see any of them moved but if they are traded they will go to their new team and do exactly the same thing there as they do here. Adelman has created a good offense based on the team's shooting, athleticism and unselfishness. I applaud him for that but he is an NBA coach. He should be able to do what he is doing right now in his sleep. The players get most of the credit and Morey brought the players here.
Let me tell you some inside information. Most coaches have more and better players at his disposal. Most GM doesn't let 40 millions waiting in the sidelines.
Really? So most coaches have more than: an above average starting PG an above average starting SG an above average starting PF a top 5 defender at SF a top 5 defender at C the best off the bench PF in the game a top 10 rookie off the bench one of the best backup PG off the bench in the league This team is missing size. That's it and Chuck goes a long, long way in making that issue less important than it would be on any other team. You downplay the talent of these players but tell me which one of them doesn't plug into the active rotation on nearly any team in the league?
I am not downplaying the players, i am saying that Morey is being overrated, he is playing it "safe" with both TMac and Yao. And that is making Adelman's work a lot harder, and harder for the players also. This team has not real C or SG as for now. C-Budd is still a rookie and so is Andersen. That's panning out great, but because the coach has made a good use out of them. With Larry Brown they wouldn't even play. Morey as a GM has made great small moves, but none great moves, the moves that put a franchise over the top.
Morey, hands down. He put this team together. Most development of the athletes occured before the professional ranks, also their style of play. Coaching at the professional level is mostly giving instructions and making sure the players follow it. Very little true development coaching is given. However strength & conditioning is greatly improved at the professional level due to the work of specialist coaches, not Coach A.
The problem with your view is that there's not much Morey can do with those two guys. Teams don't want to trade for guys that are directly injured, trading Yao will never ever happen under pretty much any circumstances, and Morey was pretty actively shopping McGrady until he played the surgery card, at which point there wasn't much he could do. Meanwhile, Morey's brought all the young pieces that have been needed for Adelman to work with.
It isn't just Vspan. JVG had a huge tendency to bury rookies on the bench and go with grizzled veterans. If a rookie made a few mistakes a couple of times, that was it for him. Lets just say that David Andersen's nine game start this season would not impress JVG.
This is exactly why Morey did OK and Adelman did great. It is the responsibility of a GM to assembly a team of talents. It is the responsibility of a Coach to make the best use of his players. This is a good team, not an elite team.
You think it was CD's genius idea to recruit washouts like Mark Jackson and Charles Oakley? Morey may be Morey, but he still has to listen to what the Coach wants, and how the coach wants certain players to fit into his offense and defense.
I understand where you're coming from. You're saying that Morey hasn't hit a homerun yet. I'm kinda stuck in the middle right now overall. Morey has a done a great job with small acquisitions. He's been able to draft talent that can lead to assets later down the road. His biggest challenge will be what he does with T-Mac. This is going to decide if he's one of the elite GM's or not. Rick plays a big part on this as well. Just because you draft a player doesn't mean you can get the most out of them. Rick does a great job getting the most out of his players. I'll also give a little credit to Les Alexander. He was the one that shelled out the money for these draft picks. How many owners are willing to do this? Not many...
I love Adelman as a coach and I love Morey as a GM I want them to be with the organization for a long time. With that said I think Morey is more valuable to the organization. I think most Coaches in the league (not you Mike Brown) can coach they are obviously smart people. The only thing missing are players that will believe in their vision of a winning ball club. Most GMs are blinded by the "talent" of players and not the other stuff, the stuff that wins games. Morey has the uncanny ability to look for players that not only work hard but also play well and aren't egotistical basket cases. In the long run I think Morey will make bigger impact on the Rockets than Adelman. Adelman's success is predicated by the players that play for him.. and Morey is the one who gets him those players for him to succeed.
I don't know if some of us are considering that Adelman has a longer track record than Morey and has taken his teams to the playoffs a LARGE percentage of the time. The fact that Morey is a good GM shouldn't discount what Adelman has done with this team. The fact is, hard workers or not, these guys are all very raw and young in their careers and are at the very least being brought along by Adelman. Also, Adelman's fairness with the players and liberal substitution patterns have encouraged the rivalry and growth among teammates that our team has needed. Adelman has made mediocre teams good long before this. I think he gets just as much credit as Morey. Earlier someone said: "take a random coach and pair him with Morey. What do you get?" Maybe you get a lot worse. JVG might have never given Landry the time to develop or may have Strawberry playing point behind Brooks. Now "take a random GM and pair him with Adelman", well, we've seen that before, and it was successful more than once!
Nobody thinks they should be elite. It's a good team that should be a horrible team but it isn't because Morey has collected a special group of players. Adelman didn't make any of these players the players they are today. These guys were already special and Morey recognized that and brought them to Houston. And to the guys who keep b****ing about JVG not playing young players, who was the best rookie he ever had in Houston? Luther Head? Yeah, he sure went on to become a real NBA talent once he got out from under JVG.
Sums it up nicely! We as fans are extremely fortunate that Less A got smart and acquired a good GM who actually tries to bring in players to fit coach!
I like Morey. There's not many GM's I would replace him with or I think have done a better job than him. If you consider that in this league standing pat is really losing ground than it is safe to say that most GM's have made their teams worst. And certainly that is not the case with the Rockets. That being, Morey has not had as much influence as he is given credit for on this board. Let's start off with his first draft. Carl Landry and Aaron Brooks. The media reported that Adelman spotted Brooks in Portland and requested we draft the pg. Still Morey's and Les' decision but based on Adelman's request. The Media reported that CD said Landry was the find of our scout and was not on many others radar. Still Morey and Les's decision but not their efforts. The media reported that after Morey had his picks it was Adelman who went to Les and said this Budinger kid is still on the board and requested Les spend more money on him. CD said Scola was on the Rockets radar for a long time but San ANtonio did not have any desire to deal with us. That is until we had the only piece that would allow them to dump salary at the same time, Vspan. What Morey deserves direct credit for is the drafting of Dorsey, Taylor, Lull. The signing of Ariza, Anderson, Wafer, James White. Trading Alston for Lowry. Okay give hime Scola but just know all the scouting on Scola had long been completed. After reporting that you would think Morey hasn't done much but sometimes the best you do are the things you don't do. Not resigning Wafer and Artest helped big. They both are headcases and although Artest is still a beast he is on the decline and subject to explode on any given moment not to mention he was a no show in the playoffs against L.A.. When we needed him most he was a non factor, unacceptable. You can argue Ariza is a step down but he isn't the crazy guy that Ron Ron is and IMO is a much better fit on this teams first squad. Artest and Wafer were both wrong for this team. Besides both would have eaten up Budinger's minutes. And in the end Budinger may become a better player than both of them. Dorsey may be a bust but Morey understands that size counts and it's worth risking on. With Dorsey he was hoping to find value with underrated commodity and that is defense. Dorsey doesn't look like he is going to pan out. Perhaps he is just not smart enough to ever be a good defensive player but he looked like a he might be so I understand the choice. Andersen is coming around and could be good role player off the bench for years to come. As for Adelman, he is a proven winner. His offense is finally working because he finally has a group of players who listen to him. Tmac never ran the offense and with Yao in the middle it was a different offense that had to be run. Yao and Tmac together and forget about anyone else getting touches. Someone would argue that it is the coaches job to make the players do what they are coached to do. But in the end primaddona players do what they want mostly and watch the coaches get fired under them. Adelman is doing a great job with the talent he has and they are easier coach. SO he deserves highmarks but certainly the players help his coaching. Perhaps there should be a category for the players as well. They certainly deserve it. In the end the Rockets are playing more like a team than ever before. They only need a little size to really compete for a championship and no one should be singled out IMO. It is a team effort on the court. It is a team effort with the coaches. It is a team effort with management and the owner. So I select all of the above. I don't know how you can separate them and still get the same results.
Agree. But Adelman did great job without Morey, and will probably be so without Morey in the future. Morey? I am not so sure how he will do with other Coaches. What we know now is the current team is not going to be elite even we all believe the coach has done all he could to have the players playing their best. In another words, the GM did not do a job good enough to bring into players for the team to be elite.
Jebus, more than half you people are taking the cheap way out? Aaanyhoo, I go with Morey. I like Adelman, too, but Morey is a freakin genius.
