An open letter to Daryl Morey.

[kam_soluusar]

Dear Jabba, (I mean Yoda, I always mix those two up!!!!!)

As a Loyal Rockets fan, (wanna see my credentials?) I implore you to answer one simple question.

What the F**K are you doing?

Sincerely.

Kam_Soluusar

P.S.

Bring back Chuckwagon!! And stop making all these trades. My liver is killing me. *Punches* Shutup stupid liver!!!

[biggyfuzz]

I don't understand what Morey is trying to do either.

Even if Howard comes, he literally has the same team he had in Orlando.

what will make him stay after the season is over and doubt CP3 will want to play in Houston IMO.

[MaxRider]

I don't understand what Morey is trying to do either.

Even if Howard comes, he literally has the same team he had in Orlando.

what will make him stay after the season is over and doubt CP3 will want to play in Houston IMO.

without Stan Van Gundy and Otis Smith

[kam_soluusar]

I can appreciate that you have to play the FA game like you are playing poker, and keep your cards close to your chest, ace up your sleeve, all those cliches. However, I really can't figure what he's doing. Has Les Alexander relented, and said "Tank!!" We have no quality Point Guard, more PF's than you can poke a stick at. We still have Marvin Martin, waiting for the earth shattering Kaboom out of H-Town. Scola is being amnestied???? We are making moves for a player that has less chance of staying here than Yao Ming does of returning to the league.

WTF Morey???

[Toranaga]

We are making moves for a player that has less chance of staying here than Yao Ming does of returning to the league.

WTF Morey???

Disagree and surprised so many Rocket fans are against going for him. Rockets have so much leverage if they can get Dwight.

First of all, where is Dwight going to go if Houston refuses to trade him? (Which they will do if they get him) Leave 30 million on the table to go to Dallas? Atlanta? Those are the only realistic spots with cap space. Not happening imo.

He can't go any of the big markets because they're all capped out and over the cap teams can't do sign and trades starting next summer. He screwed himself by opting in and he nor do the nets have any leverage to force his way there unless he's signing for the 3 mil mle, again not happening.

Houston is the 4th-5th biggest market with unlimited Chinese exposure and financial opportunities. Plus they can probably surround him with a pretty good team with a max slot opening next summer. It's his best option.

He's a top 5 player and with Houston currently a late lotto team (worst spot to be), you have to go after him. Worst case scenario is he walks as a free agent and you're actually allowed to rebuild correctly. I can't see him walking though with all those factors I explained.

[jwise44]

Kam we are like minded (I miss Landry too bro). And I pray to god we don't trade for Dwight I know he will bolt!!!

I want to let parsons motie lamb Royce and jones run for us plus all our future picks????

F--k Dwight Morey be smart and rebuild!'nnnnn

I'm still drunk..drove to Kemah for a girl....Kemah has the best joes crab shack ever...those two stories are completely unrelated

[jwise44]

Can someone on twitter make it known we don't want d12!!! I'm considering making one just to send rebuild and keep picks Morey!!!!!

[spolgar]

_NYK_ is making a lot of sense if you look as salaries as incentive. Morey's frigging mean given that he has pushed offer sheets to Asik (Chicago) and Lin (New York). LA is already over the cap. He's basically going, if I can't have Dwight Howard, then neither can you guys. I think Morey sees Asik as a suitable stop gap, but Lin's is pure salary cap chess. He's angling that Dolan can't see past the Chinese Yen dangled on his door step.

As _NYK_ said, Atlanta and Dallas are the other two spots with Atlanta getting rid of Joe Johnson and Marvin Williams and then got Lou Williams back, and Dallas gutting their entire back court.
Since even most all star players cannot get an endorsement deal that challenges their salary, the extra 30 million is an excellent incentive.

The problem is that when a player of quality moves from top 15 in the league to top 5, the sources of income broaden immediately, and the extra 30 million from playing in Houston might be trumped by contracts from someone like Adidas. See Derek Rose. I will wager money that Dwight's people are telling him that he would get _large_ endorsement deals in a large enough media market so long as he plays out of the region of other Adidas stars. Getting in on the coasts, maybe in the south, is a good way to go about it.

However, just by going to a large media market is not enough. Making good numbers is not enough. In order for a team to have the surrounding city pay attention to the star player, they must first fawn over the team. The only way to do that, is to win, and win magnificently.

So Dwight is pretty much angling to be as far away from Rose as possible (that's what Adidas wants) and being the focal point of his team. Then that team has to win. He can kick the 30 million dollars away so long as THE SHOE COMPANY makes it up. And if his team wins, THE SHOE COMPANY's visibility will soar and the SHOE COMPANY's checks will make up the 30 million in spades. Besides, if he gets the same arrangement as he got in Orlando, i.e. the focal point of the franchise, his agency should be able to network and partner him up with many luminaries in the city for future business dealings. It's a start to a really good hustle.

My guess is that while Houston has incredible leverage with Orlando vis a vis other teams, Dirk's presence in Dallas is as solid a recruiting chip as any for attracting Dwight to play in a years time. Unlike Leslie Alexander, Cuban can further sweeten the pot by helping Dwight out with business dealings beyond the south. Cuban's net worth is five times greater than Alexander's and still remains pretty hungry on the business end. Since our team is also currently the weakest out of the three possible destinations, there is reasonable risk that we might get spurned again in a years time.

But even if we do get spurned, we'll get better eventually. Without Dwight Howard, Houston will work the lottery for a few years. The team will be watchable in a year, perhaps competitive in two. With any luck, we'll do the Oklahoma thing. With Dwight Howard, Chris Paul will roll off his Clipper contract in a year, as will other players who are Max-worthy. Howard now becomes our biggest recruiting chip too. So one way or the other, we the fans, eventually get what we want.

[moofs]

You know.. I've been frustrated because we traded away or cut every good player we had, got very little in return, and I couldn't see the reasoning behind any of it.

Thanks _NYK_ and spolgar for bringing some possibilities that actually make sense to light.
The logic behind strategic market positioning moves like these tend to go a bit beyond my realm of experience at times.

Now let's just hope we don't lose out to Dallas. Talk about egg.

[inquisitive]

Dwight would get deals from Chinese firms in China if he also played for the Rockets...Yao has his own PR/business firm that can provide that too...off the court is not the worry...i do think the rockets need to play around .600 ball to convince him in staying, but the 30mil extra year is hard to pass up.

[madmaxmedia]

Besides CP3, what are the other big FA's next summer?

I get all the financial incentives Dwight may have to re-sign here, but I think it's all really dependent on the Rockets being successful in luring another big FA to play with him. If you do that, then it's all good.

Otherwise you may end up in a similar situation as Orlando has been. Dwight says he doesn't want to stay and publicly asks for a trade/sign-and-trade, which sours the city on him, blah blah blah...

[kam_soluusar]

I guess I just want a big name player that wants to be here. In a way, we were spoiled by having Olajuwon. It just seems that Morey has gone "All in" when it comes to D12. And if someone else has a better hand.......

At least we will suck so bad, we will HAVE to get a top 5 pick next draft.

With D12 here, Martin might not play so bad. It's easier to stomach his bad Defense, when you know Howard is lurking in/near the paint waiting to swat the ball on help defense.

Now Dragic and Lowry are gone, we definately need Lin. The upside being, if NYK match, it will screw them financially. A situation I have grown accustomed to, and like even.

I know some of these PF's have to be cut. I think that Parsons, White, Lamb, Douglas are locks to be in Houston come the start of the Reg. season. Other than that, I can't see where our roster is heading.

[The59Sound]

Besides CP3, what are the other big FA's next summer?

I get all the financial incentives Dwight may have to re-sign here, but I think it's all really dependent on the Rockets being successful in luring another big FA to play with him. If you do that, then it's all good.

Otherwise you may end up in a similar situation as Orlando has been. Dwight says he doesn't want to stay and publicly asks for a trade/sign-and-trade, which sours the city on him, blah blah blah...

Harden if he doesn't get extended. Would probably take a max deal to keep OKC from matching though (and even then, they might still fork the money out).

I'm a Jazz fan, so we've been meant to hate one another historically, but I actually find myself rooting for you guys these days, and a lot of that is because Morey is a badass poker player. Dude's blinding-down half the league with these moves.

[YoungMoney23]

If we get Dwight and he leaves its gonna take another 2 or 3 years before we can start rebuilding since our first round draft picks will all belong to the magic... So I Dwight can suffer in Orlando for another year as punishment for being a crying little baby and flooding the news with "Oh my team sucks so trade me crap"

[Guy986]

Daryl morey, protector of the weak and banisher of evil, screwing big market team one at a time. He has a vendetta against the knicks. Got to be.

[Sasaki]

If we get Dwight and he leaves its gonna take another 2 or 3 years before we can start rebuilding since our first round draft picks will all belong to the magic... So I Dwight can suffer in Orlando for another year as punishment for being a crying little baby and flooding the news with "Oh my team sucks so trade me crap"

Our first round draft picks won't belong to the Magic. Thanks to the T-Will trade, we can't trade them.

Seriously, guys, how stupid do you think Morey is? Do you think he's going to trade all of our prospects and take on all the Magic's dumb contracts for Howard? Do you honestly think that he doesn't know the risk and yet will still throw everything at it?

Quit buying stupid ESPN reports which just want Howard to the elite market teams. If we trade for Howard and actually do give up the farm, then you can complain. Until then, you're bawing for the sake of bawing and I think Morey's earned a huge benefit of the doubt at this point.

[king billing]

Morey and David Khan (timberwolves) are neck and neck for the worst GM in the NBA.

[texasholdem]

Morey and David Khan (timberwolves) are neck and neck for the worst GM in the NBA.

Donnie Walsh is back in the league so he still owns that title.