Morey is sharing some draft story in weibo.Seems to update in few days. Draft Story #1 The year we drafted Capela a superstar free agent had let it be known he liked a certain player in the draft. We debated taking the player just to help lure the superstar. Luckily we did not do it and stuck with our top choice Capela as the player the superstar liked has not turned out to be a top player like Clint. https://weibo.com/2889037810/HzsjflMQh
Update 6/19 Draft Story 2 At one point 18 of the 60 players in the 2009 Draft have been on the Rockets. Can you guess who they are？ https://weibo.com/2889037810/HzBqGdHym
Update 6/20 Draft Story 3 We were close to a deal to trade up for a chance to draft James Harden or Ricky Rubio in the draft. Because we were giving up Shane Battier, our coach at the time was so against the trade that he stormed out of the room. The team eventually pulled out of the deal but that was the first time we almost got James Harden. https://weibo.com/2889037810/HzOZvxIIr
I went to school with James and was still not sold he'd be a star in the NBA. He's worked his butt off to get where he is today. Rubio was like a freaking Beatle coming into the NBA.
There was one draft day a couple of years ago when Morey summoned Adelman and told him he was going to trade a chunk of his roster for a dazzling European point guard named Ricky Rubio. “He could help us win a championship someday,” Morey told him, “but we might win 20 games next season.” Adelman was stunned. “Are you trying to get me fired?” he asked. That trade fell through, but there were similar stories.
Good that Adelman stepped in to block that Rubio trade. That is why we haven't found a coach better than him since he left. These other lemmings are just Morey yes man. Morey says I want only 3's, no mid range so the coaches implement just that
Capela is good. But "top player"? Maybe top 50. Morey was very high on Rubio. I am very sure that he would have drafted Rubio over Harden. I think Morey learned from that and decided he would rather trade draft picks for proven players.
IIRC, Morey said they had Capela as a (late) lottery pick on their board. I also remember some of the advanced metrics guys (like Kevin Pelton?) had Capela as a top-10 guy going into the draft.
Possibly. But even then, I think they meant a "top player" out of THAT draft . . . which Capela was. (Not THE top player. A top player.)
Depends on what it means to be "a top player." There are quite a few very good players from that draft. Jokic Embiid Randle Parker LaVine Wiggins Bogdanovic Nurkic Gordon Hood I'd say Capela is arguably in the top 10, but definitely not top 5.
