Morey doesn't have a plan? NOW I've heard it all... For every move Morey has done what has he shown that he has taken this franchise backwards? He has taken this team up and up and up. Not RECORD-WISE but talent-wise. TELL ME HOW HE IS CONTENT WITH MEDIOCRITY? Tell me, which mediocrity would you rather have, the one we had with Francis, Mobley or today's mediocrity? Which future looks way better? It takes time, which you people seem to not understand. And Morey has done nothing for you guys to think that he is content with being an 8th seed forever. In fact, he has tried to pull off many moves to land a legit star (Chris Bosh, Melo, moving up the draft) and there is no reason to believe he isn't trying. You guys speak as if we are the Clippers, T-Wolves, Grizzlies (perfect example of mediocrity)... with no vision WHATSOEVER. "AWESOME".... douche.
You don't need the number one pick to get a franchise player. Plenty of franchise players are taken with picks 2-5
Are you sure multiple years of pain due to watching a 20 win team is worth the Hope of a franchise player? I believe Most fans will not/could not accept that and would much rather have multiple years of relative mediocrity and hope for that blockbuster trade that puts them on top. IMO it's a waiting game either way, its just much easier for the fans and franchise if we are winning games and making noise in the playoff's while we're at it.
That's the point he's trying but continues to fail, teams aren't giving them away nor or they interested in coming here, which is why we need to try acquiring our own through the draft.
You're acting like Morey's been trying for a LONG TIME. In reality he's only had about a year, maybe two (after we have found out that T-Mac or Yao cannot help us) to try to acquire a new star to lead our franchise. How about giving him a little bit more time?
Last Summer changed everything. It's abundantly clear that superstars want to play in glamorous cities or team up with other superstars, preferably both. Where does that leave us?
portland tanked in the 84 draft, and they got sam bowie portland tanked and got the 1st pick and got oden So for portland, it really worked! and for washington they tanked to get wall, but now what? they are not championship caliber now, and dont think wall can lead them to an NBA finals, they have now the worst record in the weak East conference. and for the clippers and minnesota, have worked being in the lottery all these years.
I would agree with most of you guys if we've been "stuck" in mediocrity for five+ years. I think most Rocket fans have been spoiled by having T-Mac and Yao on this team. Not too long ago we were sniffing the 3rd or 4th seed in the playoffs. THAT'S what this organization has brought us. But sometimes the basketball gods have other plans for us seeing as both of our stars became crippled with injuries. I have no doubt we'll be back there again in the playoffs not just challenging for the 7th or 8th seed but the 3rd, 4th maybe even the 1st, 2nd... because we were flirting with it before with T-Mac and Yao. Fans of other teams would have LOVED to be in our position. To even have T-Mac and Yao, two megastars on one team. It just didn't happen though because of injuries... Rocket fans are spoiled...
I think Morey is a heck of a GM so I'll support whatever direction he believes is the correct path for this franchise. If he thinks that waiting for a star is the better option then so be it but the clock is ticking. I don't think that 3 or 4 forty win seasons in row will cut it and more and more people will start to grumble. I think that is why he is going after high ceiling, young and energetic players that can become something big down the road and the superstar will be the finishing touches.
Losing Artest, who took his to the 2nd round with Yao. Now we will be a borderline 1st round fodder or the late lottery yet again.
if thats the case, u can argue its not worth drafting players cos they'll leave once their rookie contracts are up. lebron left before winning for cleveland, bosh/tracy for toronto, and now melo for denver. if ur worried abt where a bunch of prima donna superstars want to play, why dont you do the smart thing and start supporting these 'glamorous' cities they wanna be in. i dont even want melo now seeing what a b**** loser he wants to be just to be in NYC
Injuries can destroy even the best laid plans, regardless of whether you tanked to get the player or traded for him. As Rockets fans of the Yao-McGrady era, we know this all too well. The jury's out on the Wizards. No one's expecting them to suddenly be a championship caliber team. They have a few seasons to develop Wall and get the right pieces around him. It's now up to them to make the right decisions, but getting a high lottery pick again in 2011 will certainly help. As for the Clippers and the Timberwolves, they've had their opportunities but made questionable moves throughout the years with their draft choices and trades. I think a GM like Morey would be able to do much more with a so many high lottery picks.
I am dead set against tanking when we are fielding a competitive team, which is exactly what we have. Is it a contending team? No, it's not, but all we are missing is another star that's the right fit with the rest of our mix of young talent and smart veterans. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying the hell out of watching this team play. I understand why some want to tank, although a few of those folks try to call it something else. I simply disagree. The Rockets have a good owner who ardently wants another championship, a young GM who's the talk of the league, a coach who will be in the Hall of Fame someday, and leaders on the team that we're damned lucky to have. Besides, I don't like to lose. Happy Holidays!
I'm with the "anti-tank" people. If you look at the last 4-5 drafts and who the franchise players were: Derrick Rose- probably the best example of when rebuilding through the draft goes right. Although it took Chicago 10 years of mediocrity where they thought they had a few franchise players (Deng, Gordon) to get there. And it's worth noting that Rose is in his 4th season and they have yet to make it out of the first round. Durant- another good example, however Durant seems to be one of those "once in an era" type of players that change the course of a franchise. You don't see types like him in every draft. And even with that being said... they are in the 3rd year and hasn't made it out of the first round. Griffen- he's looking like a ROY candidate, and they have some talent on that team, but they are going nowhere. And that team has been going nowhere for a long time. Wall- same thing as Griffen. Talented but it's going to take a few seasons before that team gets anywhere. One thing that people are forgetting is that they take players like Scola, Martin, Brooks and Lowry for granted. If we end up tanking the season trying to get a top 5 pick. Do you think Brooks would want to resign with Houston if there is another team offering him just as much money? Same with vets like Brad Miller.
Tanking is bad,but being in the middle is just as bad. The organization needs to committ to get extremely better or play the younger guys for development. Getting the #1 pickb isnt always the solution, but look at some guys who were top 10. I mean Kandi and Bibby went 1-2,but Dirk and Pierce went 8 and 9. Amare went 9th,tracy went 9th. The team needs to either gamble in high upside talent and hope it pays off or trade for a guy who isnt playing with the same ceiling and hope he turns into jermaine o'neal or or tracy mcgrady.Solid will not do it at all. They have solid in spades,they needs untapped potential. Other than that,I have no problem trying to win games.
True, but realistically, Houston is a wise choice of a team to narrow his decision to..we wouldn't have to blow up the team to get him, and would still compete even post trade. Also, even if we don't get Melo (I admit,unlikely), we could still get some good pieces if we were the 3rd or 4th team involved in a trade with NY, NJ, DAL, or whoever else will or might be involved.
Tanking = Losing on purpose Rebuilding = Playing young guys, collecting assets, looking to improve through trade/draft etc 1. You don't pay players millions of dollars for them to lose on purpose. 2. You don't play in the NBA to lose on purpose. 3. You don't pay your hard earned money to watch a team lose on purpose. You have two chances of dramatically improving a team, through a trade or through the draft, tanking will give you chance to get a higher pick but at what cost? Even if you do tank a season, what gurantees that you will get a 'Franchise Player' and once you do get that player it will take another 5 years to build pieces around them. Rebuilding through trades, draft and developing players in a winning culture is there best chance!
Its very obvious top 10 draft picks are usually more talented "franchise" players, and lead teams to better records, and deeper playoff runs. How do you get top 10 draft picks? By sucky records, TANKING. (or, "play the young guys" for "develoment" = we'll suck but live off "potential" to sustain interest) Tanking is bad for morale and a terrible method thats bad to watch. People can't get around the fact that bad effort is rewarded, but thats just how the system works. Its the built in way to get that upper crust talent. That is why Jeff Van Gundy says open up the lottery to ALL TEAMS not just the losers, so every team plays hard and teams don't tank to set themselves u p.
Trailblazers has always been known as a poor drafters BEFORE they got the #1 pick. In a 20 year analysis, they were rated 25th. Having the 1st pick, just makes their failures more apparent. Pritchard and Allen changed that a rep a little, until the Oden pick. http://www.82games.com/bestdraftingteams.htm Clippers and Timberwolves have always had a bad reputation. Kahn just makes it more of a joke, when he tries to have 4 PGs. Clippers are rated 30th and the Timberwolves are rated 27th in drafts. Just because a team is bad for one or 2 seasons(Spurs/Heat), it doesn't mean they throw away their whole scouting dept and training staff. Having a top 10 pick means the talented hardworking people can target a potential star instead of above average player in the 15th-30th pick. It allows the excellent scounts and talent evaluators at these teams to pick players that make perennial bad drafters and the public go "Huh? Why did they pick him, when so-and-so was available? Why did they trade down to get less hyped star at #5 instead of going with so-and-so at #3". If only the draft was so easy that you could just pick the guy that was the consensus #1, then the good drafting teams could pay an arm chair GM $8.25/hour and save millions on their entire scouting dept and a GM.
