Summer 2012 Free Agents Thread - Part III

[LyricalRico]

^ Meh, I'm still not impressed by Houston. Let's not forget that Houston is having success with their Plan C. First they wanted Gasol (who most would agree is an overpriced veteran), and struck out. Then they gutted their team to make an offer for Howard (a guy who didn't want to play there), and struck out. Had things gone the way they originally planned, they would never have even been in play for Harden, and possibly not Lin or Asik (or at least not both).

I'll give them credit for making quick pivots after their initial plans fell through. But I'm not going to call Morey a genius for essentially being lucky enough to not get his first and second choices.

[Nivek]

Rico: You're actually making the case for why Morey is a smart GM. Morey positioned the Rockets so that they would have options. He targeted a couple guys and it didn't work out, but when that happened he didn't soil himself and make some jackassed trade to have faux certainty. He waited and had the opportunity to get Harden. This was precisely the point that some folks made when the Wizards went out and bought Okafor and Ariza. The Okariza deal limited the team's options at exactly the time they should have been keeping them open.

[closg00]

Good! Lord! Rico put-down your Ernie blinders. Houston has the NBA 's lowest payroll, a solid core-group of starters, max cap flexibility, and too-much talent in the wings.

Donatas
Machado
Terrance Jones
Royce White

Going forward, Houston has all of these^^ guys who they don't have playing time for. I believe they also have 1st-round picks owed to them next-year. How does their future look compared to ours Rico?
Morey 1,000,000 > Grunfeld.

[LyricalRico]

^ I wasn't making any comparisons in my post, and I'm not saying that Houston isn't in a good situation. I'm just saying that I think it's inaccurate to say the current Houston roster is the result of some great longterm vision by Morey.

He made efforts to take the team in a completely different direction with Gasol/Howard. And when that didn't work out, other opportunities presented themselves that he took advantage of. Again - that's good. But I don't think we can ignore that the "flexibility" Morey is being given credit for existed ONLY because his original plans failed and NOT because it was his plan all along. That's all I'm saying.

[Nivek]

^ I wasn't making any comparisons in my post, and I'm not saying that Houston isn't in a good situation. I'm just saying that I think it's inaccurate to say the current Houston roster is the result of some great longterm vision by Morey.

He made efforts to take the team in a completely different direction with Gasol/Howard. And when that didn't work out, other opportunities presented themselves that he took advantage of. Again - that's good. But I don't think we can ignore that the "flexibility" Morey is being given credit for existed ONLY because his original plans failed and NOT because it was his plan all along. That's all I'm saying.

Wow you've spent too much time worshiping at the Altar of Grunfeld.

Morey gave the Rockets the flexibility to acquire a top-shelf talent. He missed on his first target, which meant he still had the flexibility to acquire Someone Else. He missed on his 2nd opportunity, which meant he STILL had the flexibility to acquire Someone Else.

This was smart. Because Someone Else ALWAYS comes along.

Morey's plan was to get a really good player for the Rockets. His first two TARGETS didn't work out, but his plan succeeded.

[LyricalRico]

^ Not sure why you're making this about Ernie. And what would the feeling about Morey be if HOU had this lineup?

Dalembert
Gasol
Parsons
Budinger
Lowry

If Stern hadn't vetoed CP3 to LAL trade, that's what they would look like. No Lin, no Asik, no Harden, and lots of the other young guys would also be missing since they wouldn't have had as many picks. Would people still be calling Morey a genius? If so, then fine. But I'm not so sure they would. Maybe they wouldn't be totally ripping him, but I'd bet we'd hear far less talk about his great "vision".

[Nivek]

I'm not making it about Ernie at all, except to poke fun at you.

We can run ifs and buts all day long, but if circumstances were different, I suspect Morey still would have made smart moves to position the Rockets for long-term success.

And I don't think I've ever called Morey a genius.

[LyricalRico]

I'm not making it about Ernie at all, except to poke fun at you.