The Kings should stop taking Daryl Morey's calls

Interesting little read. Didn't see it posted.
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http://preview.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/the-kings-should-stop-taking-daryl-moreys-calls/ar-BB5OrC2








Last week, the terms of a trade between the Sacramento Kings and Houston Rockets were released: the Rockets are sending Alonzo Gee, Scotty Hopson, and a trade exception to the Kings, in exchange for Jason Terry and two second-round picks.

No, it’s not a blockbuster. It’s an uninspiring trade in that it looks to be motivated a lot more by adjusting each team’s overall financial situation, instead of one that looks to actually improve the abilities of the basketball teams on the floor. But this is a bizarre trade in that it appears to be a wildly inefficient way for the Kings to cut salary.

The story of this trade starts back in December of 2011, when the league was lurching back to life after the prolonged lockout. Just before the regular season started, the Sacramento Kings signed restricted free agent Marcus Thornton to a four-year, $33 million contract. That’s a lot of money to spend on a non-superstar who is always looking to command the ball, and rarely looking to pass it. Thornton’s PER slid in each of his four seasons (or parts of seasons) spent with Sacramento, and—to the surprise of no one—Thornton’s contract developed into something of an albatross.

Looking to dump the salary that they themselves signed up for, the Kings traded away Thornton at last February’s trade deadline, sending Thornton and the prorated remains of his $8 million salary to the Brooklyn Nets. In exchange, the Kings received Terry, earning $5.6 million on the year, who would never appear in a game for Sacramento (who knows if Terry ever even lived in Sacramento) due to a leg injury. The Nets were simply looking for somebody who could play as they entered the playoffs, cost be damned, while the Kings were looking to save a few bucks.

Even when healthy, the 36-year-old Terry hasn’t been a positive asset to an NBA team for a few years now, especially at his price, which is quite a ways up from the veterans’ minimum. Also, the Kings—despite being located in such a small market, and despite having such a mediocre team last year—are inching perilously close to the luxury tax line thanks to big salaries for Rudy Gay ($19.3 million), DeMarcus Cousins ($14.7 million), Carl Landry ($6.5 million), Derrick Williams ($6.3 million), and others.

So think of this week’s trade with the Rockets like this: the Kings were able to clear Terry’s guaranteed contract off their books in exchange for Gee, whose 2014–15 is worth $3 million but is fully unguaranteed. Hopson, who appeared in two games last year with the Cavaliers, has already been waived by Sacramento. Houston’s price for taking on the dubious asset of Terry was the two second-round picks.

The end price of signing Thornton for Sacramento, then, after a few years of inefficient pay, was two second-round picks. Since Houston’s last two second-round picks have been NBDL scoring phenom Isaiah Canaan and that one guy Chandler Parsons, the Kings have just given the Rockets some meaningful assets indeed.

What I find craziest about this trade is: This is the fifth deal that Rockets GM Daryl Morey has made with the Kings during his eight years in this current role. In the previous 40 years that both teams had been in the league, the two franchises only made three trades with each other. The thing about it is, none of these trades have worked out particularly well for the Kings, and this week’s deal has just about no upside for Sacramento.

Here are the previous trades that Morey has done with the Kings. (Okay, one of those trades—Jermaine Taylor for a protected second-round pick—isn’t really worth analyzing.) Even though Sacramento has changed ownership, front offices, and coaches during this span, the results appear to be the same when they wheel and deal with Morey:

1. August 2008: Kings trade Metta World Peace, Patrick Ewing Jr., and Sean Singletary to the Rockets in exchange for Donté Green, Bobby Jackson, and a first-round pick that would become Omri Casspi.

It was probably warmly sentimental for Sacramento fans to welcome back Bobby Jackson—trusty back-up point guard during the days of the Kings’ peak contention—for the 2008–09 season, Jackson’s last before his retirement, in which the Kings finished 17–65. Donté Greene never played for a team other than the Kings, and spent last year playing in China at age 26. Casspi would eventually become a Rocket (although he is now, once again, a King).

The Rockets, meanwhile, filled a big hole on their playoff-caliber roster with World Peace (who was still Ron Artest at the time), a massive and physical defender who cut opponent scoring by over four points per 100 possessions when he was on the floor for Houston. Artest went toe-to-toe with Kobe Bryant in a thrilling seven-game conference semifinals series that Houston lost to Los Angeles, the eventual champions.

2. February 2010: Massive three-team trade that also involved the New York Knicks. Rockets give up Tracy McGrady, Joey Dorsey, Carl Landry, and receive Kevin Martin, Hilton Armstrong, Jordan Hill, Jared Jeffries, and a first-round pick that would become Royce White. Kings give up Kevin Martin, Hilton Armstrong, Sergio Rodriguez, and receive Joey Dorsey, Carl Landry, and Larry Hughes.

With the relationship between McGrady and the Rockets soured past the possibility of repair, the fact that Houston received any positive assets for McGrady’s massive contract was a straight-up coup. Owed a massive $23.2 million during this season, McGrady appeared in 24 games for the Knicks, averaging 26.1 minutes and 9.4 points per game—meaning he was a role player who was still getting paid like one of the league’s best players. While Kevin Martin’s value has certainly depressed in recent years, he still averaged north of 20 points a game during his tenure with the Rockets, and Jordan Hill swung from lottery bust to valuable rebounding power forward while in Houston. Given that all Houston had to offer was less than half a year of an over-the-hill McGrady, this is an outrageously valuable package to receive in return.

Meanwhile, the Kings gave up a leading scorer in Martin for a package of dubious return. Larry Hughes would be waived days later, before ever appearing in a Kings uniform, and he was still owed the prorated remains of his $13.6 million salary on the year. Joey Dorsey would appear in eight whole games for the Kings and is now, once more, back on Houston’s roster. While Carl Landry was still a valuable player at this point in time, he would be traded away by the Kings at the next year’s trade deadline to the New Orleans then-Hornets in exchange for ... Marcus Thornton! Ah, the circle of life. In the summer of 2013, the Kings brought Landry back to Sacramento with a four-year, $26 million deal, and Landry responded in 2013–14 with an injury-plagued season in which he appeared in 18 games and scored 4.2 points per game.

3. February 2013: Kings trade Francisco Garcia, Tyler Honeycutt, and Thomas Robinson to the Rockets in exchange for Cole Aldrich, Toney Douglas, Patrick Patterson, and cash.

Oh yeah, remember the time when the Kings gave up on their No. 5 overall pick before his rookie year was done?! This trade officially launched Aldrich and Douglas into their current young journeyman status, and neither would last for more than a couple months with the Kings. Patterson stuck around until December of 2013, when he was sent to Toronto as part of the Rudy Gay deal. Patterson has since been re-signed by the seriously contending Raptors, resurrecting his shooting percentages and scoring average the moment he left Sacramento. Given how valuable first-round picks have become, the Kings probably would have netted a much better return if they simply traded away their pick before selecting Robinson and subjecting him to their asylum-like team, which dramatically depressed his trade value.

It could be argued that the Rockets didn’t do a great job in leveraging their advantage from this trade, as they sent Robinson to Portland last summer for what appeared to be rights to never-going-to-arrive European players. However, now that Houston has signed the Greek Kostas Papanikolaou to their roster, Morey may have received some intriguing value there as well.

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The lesson: Kings, do not pick up the phone when “Daryl Morey” shows up on the Caller ID. Whatever he’s saying, it probably sounds like a great idea for you guys. It’s not.