You know the more i see this year, the more and more this reminds me of the tmac and yao era.. Alot of you guys was babies back then, but the pain and agony and all its almost like fans are waiting for howard(yao) to break his bones so he can got on dl list once again, while poor tmac(harden) has to do all the work while the whole team watches, throws up bad shots and loses games...
Morey is a coward just look at his twitter. The only time he's tweeted lately was during our 4 game win streak, posting a bunch of impressive stats and congratulating Harden on winning player of the week. Since then? Complete silence.
Smoove is the 9th man in the Clippers rotation. He's averaging less than 15 minutes a game. The Clippers mostly play small when they rest Deandre/Blake. They split them out with a small (Lance), then they bring in Smith for just a few minutes and play small with Smith at the 5, then they take him out after a few minutes and bring Blake back in. Here in Houston, Smoove would have probably started every game and would be averaging 35-39 minutes a game. The decision by Smoove to go to the Clippers is a baffling mystery. He had no reason to choose the Clippers over the Rockets because of role. He's clearly a better player than either Capela or Terrence or Harrell. I simply don't believe Morey told him that he would be behind Terrence and Capela in the rotation. If he had signed here he would have been behind Dwight and DMo but since DMo is hurt he would have been the second big on this team and Capela, Terrence, Harrell would be battling it out for the 3rd big man role (probably Capela). So, it simply makes no sense. Morey is not that dumb to favor Terrence and Capela over Smoove and Smoove is not dumb enough to think he wouldn't have been, at the very worst, the 3rd big in our rotation, and with DMo out the second big in our rotation and with Dwight missing games, he would have been the primary big in our rotation with DMo still out injured as well. There's more to Smoove signing with the Clippers than we know yet. Something else went on behind the scenes. Because the man would be playing all the minutes he could possibly want to play if he were on this team.
I mean why bother filling out a full 15 man roster when you have guys you know will be out (Dmo/Dwight) constantly? That doesn't seem like the responsibility of the GM.
Honestly, LA lifestyle is trash. Major traffic jams for no reason, houses are overpriced, food is overpriced. Clubs are eh.
Morey's inability to get that 3rd guy (and it's well documented that his master plan is having a big 3) is what's preventing us from getting to the promised land. Being able to get to the WCF last year without that 3rd guy was pretty crazy and admittedly needed some luck. Make no mistake though, failing to get Melo, Bosh, Love, or Aldridge is what's preventing the franchise from taking the next step. Our only hope is trading for one this year or getting Durant next year.
Why should the coach be the one to listen and adjust...? In the sporting world that is basketball, Morey is a stats geek, a numbers cruncher, not a sports enthusiast... yet all the hubris is coming from his end... Morey's the one that needs to do more listening, not the coach... Ideally, there'd be a happy balance between the two, but if forced to pick a 90/10 arrangement, I find a lot more sense in giving more credence to the people that have followed, studied and/or played the sport for most of their lives than an otherwise outsider who found an in through a boom in statistical analysis...
Also, isn't his family and kids still living in Houston because of better schools and all? Only plausible reason for Smith to leave would be thinking the Clippers had a better chance at a ring than the Rockets. And if Smith see that, then that should have been the biggest canary of of something wrong with the core of the Rockets as currently constructed. Most fans just did not want to believe that Smith could see something like that or figure something out that that they themselves did not.
Morey messed up when he didn't draft a big who could shoot the ball. They've talked about acquiring a stretch 4 but they grab Dekker and then Harrel. Neither one of these guys fit that bill. Resting Howard on back to backs is a big time mistake by the entire FO. Not acquiring shooters during the offseason was another mistake. Resigning Beverely, Brewer and Jet is turning out to be another mistake.
Said it in another thread, I have absolutely nothing against Moreyball (lots of 3s and layups) and statistically it would be sound. So what baffles me are the draft choices and FA pick-ups Morey makes, they don't seem to fit the philosophy at all. How can Morey want us to shoot the most 3pters in the league and make us a versatile team but then draft or trade for guys that don't fit the bill at all? And how can he not see that this offense doesn't free our players for easy shots and is incredibly stagnant, nearly the opposite of GSW or Spurs.
Morey has done just fine. Hindsight is 20/20 and the only signing he did in the off-season that I didn't like initially was the Brewer signing. Never liked him that much on our team despite his heroics. We need to get over Josh Smith. He's not here and it sucks because we could really use him, but there is nothing we can do but wait for Motiejunas. The injury to Motiejunas caught everyone by surprise, and the doctors holding Dwight back isn't Morey's fault either. The doctors need to clear Dwight to play at most a limit of 15 minutes on the B2Bs. It's only fair to the team, and I think Dwight is capable of doing that. The Lawson trade was exactly what the Rockets needed at the time, and the idea was that he couldn't be that much worse defensively than Terry or Prigioni. Lawson at this point has basically become Prigioni's replacement. Only difference is that Pablo has been much worse than Ty this season lol. The injuries to Beverley aren't Morey's fault either. It has become clear now that Beverley is an injury prone player, but at the time of the re-signing I felt like it was a very good one because he already has great chemistry with the team and is a respectable shooter. He's a career 36%. There are only two things we can complain about. That is giving Brewer that awful contract he likely won't live up to and choosing to spend the MLE on McDaniels instead of Smith. I'll live with the latter though because McDaniels is a young player that might not be best for this team, but can be traded away for a veteran. Before the season started I was hoping he would replace Brewer after we found someone to trade with, but now it looks like we're stuck with Corey since his trade value is negative. Which means we have to play and pay Corey Brewer's bum ass. Despicable. For however bad Lawson has been, Brewer has been twice as bad. It makes me sick to my stomach that Brewer is stuck here for another 3 seasons. At least with Lawson we can take our L and cut our losses at the end of the season. Similar to the what Mavs did with Rondo. With Brewer we're going to have to deal with his stupid ass until 2018. Hopefully we find some idiot GM to trade him to. 29 years old and still plays like a he's 20 year old rookie. Who tf does he think he is? Westbrook? Jacking up 3s. Smfh. Morey isn't perfect, and it's because of signings like this that keep the team back. And don't get me wrong. I liked the trade when it happened last December. Rockets needed depth, but I was hoping after the McDaniels trade Morey found his replacement for Brewer. iono... Anyways...... But yeah, Morey has done a solid job. Not a great job, but a solid one. A respectable one. He did everything he could to make the players and ex-coach happy. He brought players back aside from Smith to add continuity. It's not his fault that the team pet died and now everyone is still grieving. I believe in Bickerstaff and I believe in Morey and Les. I trust they know what they're doing at this and they both are counting down until December 15th.
So, you are saying that we couldn't have a Joshua Smith type player on the roster right now? We have no backup center when Dwight sits, or is injured.
Resting Dwight was a huge sign of over confidence that frankly the Rockets had not earned. They aren't the Spurs and stability was not guaranteed. Not having him last night could be the very reason they lost. Simply not having the height to box out a 7'3" dude. TJones for all the flack he gets, can only do so much. Just imagine where we would be had we traded him like everyone wanted this Summer. It says a lot that this team relies on him so much. Trust me. I wish the Rockets really didn't need him that much, and could trade him but if actually making the playoffs is still a priority, he's necessary to keep around. I'm not too worried about Jet or Bev's contracts. Jet actually is great value and might be the only guy here trying to hold the locker room down. Bev unfortunately looks like the prototype guard to play alongside Harden so you have to keep him now. No more shelling out 1st rounders for other expensive guards who need the ball if Harden is around. But the Brewer signing... Ugh. If we keep playing this poorly then we need to start prepping this roster for the long haul and the first round of moves needs to be getting out from Brewers deal and trying to recoup a first to make up for the one they lost in the Lawson deal. Long story short, Morey once again has lots of work to do. I expect a flurry of moves to happen when the Dec 15th trade season opens up unless (hopefully) this team pulls it together.
wtf is this crap? like 10th time I see someone complaining that DMo is an injury prone. like wtf? it's his first serious injury in 4 years.
