Daryl Morey is much better than some are giving him credit for

I think the majority of posters understand what a good job Daryl Morey has done. But there are many who consider to bash Daryl Morey and claim he doesn't know what he is doing. I can completely understand bashing a specific move but when evaluating his entire body of work I not only find it difficult not to be amazed at how good and effective he has been, but I find it hard to understand how he did not win executive of the year in at least one of the previous two seasons if not both.

I certainly don't agree with all of his moves, in particular not resigning Goran Dragic and more recently not resigning Chandler Parsons. But how in the world can anyone ignore what he has done in the time he has been with the organization.

1. 06/07 season to 08/09 season: Build around Yao & TMac!

Daryl Morey was brought to Houston (in 2006 as assistant GM) with the primary directive to surround Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady with high quality role players that could help them advance in the play-offs and contend for a championship. In the previous season the Rockets had players like Keith Bogans and Ryan Bowen getting over 40 starts between them.

From the summer of 2006 to the summer of 2008 Daryl Morey was able to add:

Shane Battier
Luis Scola
Carl Landry
Aaron Brooks
Kyle Lowry
Ron Artest

In 3 summers Daryl Morey turned what was the laughing stock of the league for role players into a group of role players that was outstanding and one that I think a healthy Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady would have won a championship with. It's not Daryl's fault that Houston's two superstars were made of cheap glass.

I would challenge anyone to come up with a GM that could have done a better job of upgrading the talent with only one draft pick higher than 25 and no cap room. And oh by the way, the 3 major trades of this time period were for Scola, Lowry and Artest and the Rockets essentially sent 0 assets in the form of talent out for those 3 players.

That group, because of health reasons, only won 1 play-off series in during Daryl's first 3 seasons as either GM or assistant GM.

2. 09/10 season to 10/11 season: The Holding Pattern and No Tanking Allowed!

Both Yao & Tmac were still dominating Houston's pay-roll (preventing Houston from being players in the free agent market) but neither player was actually getting any time on the floor due to their injuries. Tracy McGrady appeared in just 6 games in the 09/10 season and Yao Ming appeared in only 5 games in the 10/11 season.

Daryl Morey has gone on record multiple times stating that the best way to deal with that situation would have been to tank and try to get a new superstar via the draft. However, Les Alexander issued Daryl Morey the instructions that the team was not allowed to tank and would make an honest effort to get into the play-offs each season.

To Daryl's credit, with 0 all-stars on the the team, no salary cap room to chase any free agents and only mid round draft picks; the Rockets never had a losing season and were in contention for the play-offs right up until the last week of the season in both years.

3. 11/12 season to present: How to rebuild a team in 1 summer.

Both Yao Ming & Tracy McGrady were finally off of the books in the summer of 2011 but Daryl Morey had very little time to try and make any sort of move because of the NBA lock out. However, when the NBA lock out was over in December of that year Daryl was involved with a 3 way trade that would bring Pau Gasol to Houston. It was also reported that Nene was onboard with signing with Houston to team with Pau Gasol.

Houston's starting 5 would have very likely looked like:
Pau Gasol
Nene
Chandler Parsons
Goran Dragic
Kyle Lowry

The Rockets would have had players like Courtney Lee, Chase Budinger and Marcus Camby coming off of the bench. I think that would have been a play-off team and made some noise in the play-offs. Unfortunately we all know about "Basketball Reasons" and what an ass David Stern was.

As a result of "Basketball Reasons" the Rockets rebuilding plans were put on hold for a season. The team went into the season with basically the same team, minus Chuck Hayes, that finished the previous season. Once again the Rockets were in contention for the play-offs until the last week of the season but missed.

In the summer of 2012 Daryl traded, amnestied or waived every player except Kevin Martin, Chandler Parsons, Patrick Patterson, Marcus Morris and Greg Smith. After a failed attempt to trade for Dwight Howard in the summer (and a previous attempt at the trade deadline) Daryl Morey was able to trade Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb and picks to OKC for James Harden. Earlier in the summer he signed Omar Asik and Jeremy Lin.

In a matter of a few months he transformed the Rockets from an aging veteran team that was not quite good enough for the play-offs and had no all-star players; to the youngest play-off team in the league with the top shooting guard in the league. It still shocks me at how flippant the media and many people that post on this board is about that fact. Daryl took a team with zero high draft picks and zero all star players and in 4 months turned them into the youngest play-off team in the league with a 23 year old superstar shooting guard.

In the summer of 2012 and for the second summer in a row Daryl Morey acquired the single best player in the league at his position when signed Dwight Howard. And absolutely no team in the NBA steals a free agent away from the Lakers when the role out the red carpet for him right?

So whats next?

Daryl Still has zero play-off series wins with his current team. In truth what Daryl Morey wants is championships and I don't think he is willing to sacrifice what he thinks is the best chance at a championship for a play-off series victory.

I think Daryl has an internal logic tree he progresses through any time he considers signing a high priced free agent that can help the team win.
1. Is he good enough to push the team over the top and win a championship? If the answer is Yes then sign him. If the answer is no answer the next question.
2. Is his contract going to prevent the Rockets from chasing a player that will make them a championship team? If yes then do not sign him. If no then sign him.

Although I thought the Rockets should have signed Chandler Parsons and played him with Ariza, Daryl has stated multiple times that he did not think the Rockets were a championship team with Chandler Parsons and no ability to add another Superstar. Daryl Morey will continue to give the Rockets their best chance to win with out sacrificing cap flexibility unless he finds that player he believes is the final piece. I don't see how anyone can argue with that logic.

Now the early returns on the Ariza/Pappa SF rotation look to be better than the Chandler Parsons / whoever SF rotation. Jason Terry is looking like a legit scoring option off of the bench. The Rockets defense doesn't just look better but it looks superior to last seasons defense. It's a long season for sure and all of that can change but I'll wait until I have evidence that the Rockets have somehow regressed before I start running around like chicken little screaming the sky is falling.

 

That has been debated so many times that I refuse to rehash the debate. Either you think it was DM's or you think it was CD's. Typically people that don't want to credit DM for a good move say CD made the trade. Typically those who want to say it was bad move to trade away Rudy Gay say it was DM's move.

 

I didn't remember the exact specifics of the trade with the exception that Scola and Martin were involved. Courtney Lee would have still been a terrific 2 guard with that group.

 

Yeah, that was a complete and total screw up on my part.

 

This current Duo of Dwight & Harden have been together 1 year. Don't you think they deserve more time than that? I completely agree that on court success is the ultimate indicator but 54 wins is success even if not as much as we want. I just happen to think criticism without context crazy.

 

As I've said, it's been debated on this board ad nausseam. Not gonna do it again.