Why MoneyBall doesn't work & other lessons learned

Yeppers.

DD

 

If a GM brings in a superstar it's either through draft, tearing up their roster, or trading one star for another star, or having a high quality free agent demand to be in a popular FA destination(NY, Miami, LA).

Miami and NY traded or dumped half their players, last season, to get enough capspace for Amare, Lebron, Wade, and Bosh.

Boston had one of the largest trades in NBA history for Garnett. They got rid of 5 players and 2 picks for garnett. Even then, Boston had given away 2 lottery picks, 2004 13th lottery pick and the Timberwolves own lottery pick (top 5) previously traded to Boston.

Rockets have only 1 recent lottery pick on the roster, Patterson, and none that were ever top 5.

The sad fact is that the Rockets have been in the playoffs or barely missed the playoffs every season under Morey, which has left the Rockets with no high lottery picks for acquiring stars in trade.

Another sad fact is that no superstar is going to demand to play in Houston over LA, NY or Miami. Houston would only have a chance, if neither LA, NY or Miami wanted the player. LeBron is not taking his talents to Galveston Beach or the Houston Ship Channel.


So, they can get another superstar without gutting the roster, but they are going to have tank for it Getting an all-star non-superstar( an all-star player a step or 2 below superstar) without gutting the roster is easier. Morey did get an all-star non-superstar, Artest, for only a 28th draft pick.

 

Last I checked we were still one of the teams paying the luxury tax. I'm not sure you could consider that moneyball. Besides, the real hope for this season was a healthy Yao Ming. I think Morey did a fantastic job of finding players that Adelman could tinker around with until he found the optimal rotation. The young players who didn't fit would've been packaged in a very attractive deal for a player or two with experience...maybe Posey, Kirilenko, Rip, Prince, Gerald Wallace, who knows. Now we're stuck with a bunch of young guys who need experience with floor time, but not enough minutes to go around.

But at least we're not stuck with any bad contracts. If we're not busy at the trade deadline, we're going to be very busy draft night.