Jerome Solomon completely owned Morey about calling players assets.

Players usually don't like being traded unless they don't like their current team.

 

Okay, sorry I mentioned it. Didn't think it would cause a debate. Thought it was fairly obvious Solomon was being inflammatory with his constant "last place team" references. It is a very unusual and uncommon way to assess an NBA team's success due to it's relative insignificance when compared to conference standings.

So, for him to focus on the much less important ranking seemed disingenuous to me. And with him being one of the major sport writers to cover my beloved hometown teams in my hometown newspaper, I don't like that it appears (to me) that he is writing with an agenda. Others didn't see anything unusual about it. Nothing more to see here. Back to your regularly scheduled Morey bashing/defending.

 

Fair point.

 

What is even more simple yet some people can't seem to comprehend is the concept of professionalism. It is Morey's professional duty to manage the team and maneuver for its betterment. Not run a daycare center. Anyone who knows what a GM's job description is, and I am assuming most players do, shouldn't be surprised then when Morey does exactly that and says things accordingly.

On the other hand it is the players' professional duty to just freakin' play. Now despite some discomfort about the situation, pretty much the entire starting lineup this year has had career years. That tells me they do comprehend it. Which is good news.

You on the other hand still don't. That's no news, since no one with half a brain gives a flying **** what you think.

 

It's a business in which your success depends somewhat on if players want to sign with your team. So yes, the words they use matter.

 

I concur.

 

Is it just me, or are the people complaining about how the Rockets treat their players as assets the ones most vocal in demanding moves / roster changes to be made?

 

Sure, but you're dealing with people and personalities and you have to manage them as well. You have to factor that in to your leadership and management style. Publicly and openly referring to players as assets, which means they're expendable, are things players don't want to hear on a relatively regular basis. It should be an implicit issue.

Don't get your panties in a knot. If you didn't "give a flying ****" what I think, then don't respond, unless you have less than half a brain. But don't take my word for any of this stuff, I got it on good authority from a guy who plays regularly and told me that the players in the locker room are tired of this approach by Morey.

In this midst of your emotional rant you must've missed this:

I was essentially told in January by a rotation player that they all feel like expendable assets more than typical NBA players, because they hear about it more than usual.

There's nothing positive that can come from constantly referring to players as assets publicly. It can even hurt the perception others have of the Rockets. Everybody knows players are assets. It doesn't need to be said so much.

 

And employees don't like being laid off. Boo hoo. They need to grow a pair.

 

Wait, which part of "assets" equates to expendability? An asset is something that is expected to produce a positive return. That could be through trade, or oncourt production FOR the Rockets.

For example Lowry is a tremendous asset due to his production compared to his cost. While that makes him highly coveted by other teams, by no means is he expendable since he is valued just as much by us.

The opposite would be a liability. For example, you, for Clutchfans.

If you simply needed a vocabulary lesson why didn't you just ask?

That is excellent to hear. Hopefully Morey can keep the pressure up on them next year so they don't get too comfortable with themselves and produce even better career years.

 

Its all about getting one over on Morey. It doesnt matter if you previously said you'da done something different than Morey every time he made a move. You either get the "I told you so" personal victory when his moves don't work. Or you get the personal victory when you can point out his misbehavior.

As much as Morey is respected in some circles, he's also developed his share of detractors who resent his style. Didnt think Morey would be "polarizing" like that, he probably didnt think so either, but thats whats going on.

A bit of New school vs Traditional not just between front office and the team, but with fans and journalists too.

And Morey responding back trashing journalists in Twitter didnt help his own cause either. What goes around comes around

 

So I see you're still responding despite saying that no one with half a brain gives a flying **** what I think, lol.

It doesn't a take a genius or even you to figure out that when the gm talks about assets and then talks about how they're always looking to upgrade, it means the assets are expendable. The fact that you're unable to put that together is almost as funny as Morey lying by saying he never referred to players as assets.

Have you ever criticized Morey for anything?

 

That blog post was a complete waste of time. What was really the point of writing an entire "opinion piece" on the fact that Morey's used the word "asset" before?

I know topics like this get debated to death by clutchfans posters, but Solomon's not just a fan on a bbs board. He's supposed to be a journalist for an established newspaper.

Disappointing.

 

It IS a measure of a team's standing. If you finish last in your division it is not possible to be better than the 7th seed in your conference and as I mentioned, no Western Conference last place division team has ever made the playoffs. It's not arbitrary at all. Nobody gives a rat's ass who "we're better than", all that matters is seeding in the playoffs. If you don't make the playoffs then you're better off being the worst team in the league. There's no bragging on being the best lottery team in the league. How lame that Rockets fans are resorting to that kind of BS.

 

Players want complete control over their careers and don't like being reminded they don't have it.

And how many times has a NBA player said "it's a business"?

This is a non issue started by a whiny player and picked up on by a local writer for a fading newspaper.

In other words, only here and at the chronic is this even an issue.

 

I don't understand why some people are putting any stock in the quotes about players not like being considered an asset. It's one thing if we were a lottery team like the Clippers and they have their "core" players... so you would expect those guys to not be traded. Or if we were a contender so we aren't really looking to make moves involving rotation players.

We're a middle of the pack team trying to make a deal to make ourselves better, whether it's filling in gaps in the rotation or packaging a few players together for a star. If Memphis could package Mayo and some rotation players and picks for a better player (lets say Kevin Martin... not that I'm suggesting we would do that trade)... they do it in a second and don't worry about whether or not other players on the team feel like they might be next.

So yeah... I think Solomon has an agenda. If he were thinking about this smart... he would probably come to the same conclusion. These quotes were just a player that felt a little pissed that he might be traded.

 

Who's bragging? If last in division is relevant because it indicates what our seeding is, why not just point to our conference ranking? That's what matters, right?

 

lol wow...eff'n pwned, man.