Is Daryl Morey the best GM?

[ATLTimekeeper]

morey is #1 at self promotion

He's up there but Ainge. Riley. Colangelo all have him beat.

Colangelo is the best self promoter without having the resume to back it up.

Really? Colangelo built a 60 win team that went to the conference finals. He's drafted multiple all-stars, too. Also hired Ainge who hired Morey, etc. You're basing your opinion on a guy whose career has been twice as long and more susceptible to criticism, but the idea that he doesn't have the same resume as Morey is questionable.

[Mich3006]

They do have assets... they have Eric Gordon (6th man of the year 2017) and Trevor Ariza on great contracts... and future first round picks... maybe it's not the most competitive offer out there but it isn't nothing.

I was thinking about Ariza and Gordon as well but who will be playing with Paul, Harden and George afterwards...? David West (most probably) and?

They should upgrade their PF spot and the bench but I think there´s no need to aquire another "superstar" if you gut your team like that

Getting George doesn't prevent them from upgrading PF. They could still complete a sign and trade for Milsap or Ibaka after trading for George.

And btw I doubt Ariza will be on the block with his connections to CP3... Gordon/Anderson won´t fetch significant value in return.
Let´s hope for "Olympic" Melo.

[JoJoEmbiid]

There will only ever be one GM to be considered the GOAT, and that will be Sam Hinkie. The founder of THE PROCESS.

[willywazza]

I dunno... he ain't no Hinkie.

Hinkie died for our sins.

[TMU]

Morey created Hinkie, but Hinkie is the greatest GM of all-time so I guess that makes Morey, the 2nd greatest of all time.

[The_Hater]

morey is #1 at self promotion

He's up there but Ainge. Riley. Colangelo all have him beat.

Colangelo is the best self promoter without having the resume to back it up.

Really? Colangelo built a 60 win team that went to the conference finals. He's drafted multiple all-stars, too. Also hired Ainge who hired Morey, etc. You're basing your opinion on a guy whose career has been twice as long and more susceptible to criticism, but the idea that he doesn't have the same resume as Morey is questionable.

Feel better now?

[Prokorov]

He was able to acquire 3 superstars in the last few years. Harden, Howard, and now Paul. There's also talks of him trading for Paul George. No other GM has been able to get superstars like Daryl Morey.

Howard didnt exactly work out well and paul chose his destination.

props to him for the harden deal but also factor in he had parson leave for treating him like an asset and not a person. not much from the draft either. dekker is gone now but he didnt look great.

id put him in the top half of GMs for sure but certainly not in the conversation for the best.

RC Buford won 5 rings with the spurs... got allstars/contributors consistently at the end of the draft/second round (parker/manu) and foundd an elite superstar in the teens and not only that he traded to the teens after identifyng kawai as special. Duncan retired and they are still a 60 win team chugging along.

Ainge brought in garneet/allen... went to multiple finals and won a ring. then when that team got old his rebuild was insanely fast... turning the celtics into a 50 win team and 1 seed just a few years after tearing it down and then fleeced the nets and other teams and now have insane assets on top of a very good team. also traded for crowder and thomas who have become outstanding. only knock on him might be his drafting.

Riley won titles with wade and then formed the heat super team that won more titles and then after lebron kicked him to the curb he has done a solid job starting to rebuild that team.

[Froob]

Ainge, Meyers (or West? I dunno who was doing most of the heavy lifting), and Riley are better at least.

[Crackerjack465]

I'm pretty impressed; he's the only GM I can think of that assembled a multiple 50+ win team and contender without ever drafting in the top 10.

[The_Hater]

I'm pretty impressed; he's the only GM I can think of that assembled a multiple 50+ win team and contender without ever drafting in the top 10.

Yup. Plus he had TMac and Ming, lost both prematurely to injury and without being able to trade them for anything of value, yet somehow rebuilt another contender without ever bottoming out. He's ahead of the curve on just about everything.

[Manute Lol]

You know GSW tried desperately to get Dwight right? Basically everyone with space was trying to get him.

Jsmoove wasn't awful in Houston and played for the minimum...

Lawson played for the minimum... not much rish

Jsmoove was an embarrassment, especially the second time around. Lawson cost real assets to acquire... there's more than one meaning to the term "expensive" in this context. Not mentioning the horrible extensions Morey handed out to McHale and Brewer (and Anderson, for that matter) was just me being nice. Not mentioning that he peddled away both Nic Batum and Chandler Parsons for peanuts shortly after they'd been drafted was also me understating the point, but if you want to throw down for Morey, there's a lot of his record which is not pretty, at all.

No one knows what would have happened with Dwight on another team, but what actually happened in Houston was that he was surrounded by poor shooters and given a terrible coach who couldn't get him to play efficiently and instead indulged his worst instincts and allowed him to go on demanding touches and acting like a pre-teen. That inexplicably toxic locker room which caused the Dwight Rockets to implode? Morey put that group of puds together.

Like I said, he's a great 2k gm.

Actually you're 1. not accurate 2. don't recognize his great accomplishments.

- Houston has not had a losing season in 11 years.
- Houston has only had 1 top 10 draft pick in 11 years... #8 in 2006.
- Morey inherited broken down stars and a terrible cap situation
- Morey never tanked
- Morey turned minimal assets into James Harden
- Morey won over Dwight Howard in FA while every other team with cap space failed (including GSW)
- Morey traded peanuts for CP3
- Morey drafted Parsons in the second round and let him go 1 year early? How is that shortly after being drafted? He spent 3 seasons in Houston? Clearly you don't know what you're talking about. Turned out to be a pretty good idea to let him walk... selecting guys in the second round and them becoming Max players is pretty rare and pretty impressive.
- Morey drafted Patrick Patterson, Capela, Chase Budinger Marcus Morris, Chandler Parsons, Aaron Brooks, Sam Dekker and Montrez Harrell... all with terrible picks... not a bad record at all from where he was picking.


Is he perfect? No but he has done a lot more with A LOT less than anybody else.

How has the Brewer contract hurt us? How was it "horrible"?
How did the McHale extenstion hurt us? Who better exactly was better and available? how was the extension "horrible"?
Lawson was a gamble but it was pretty minimal assets... none of the guys traded are even in the league anymore..
You're really digging deep to try and find Morey missteps which of course he has like any gm...
How was Jsmoove an embarrassment? He was FREE and contributed nicely... you have no clue.


I'm sure you'll take the stupid view that "what has he won though" - Well, as you may know, only one team wins every year and recently in the NBA it's almost always the team with 1. Lebron 2. Duncan 3. Kobe 4. Dirk or recently Curry/Green/Thompson/Iguadola or Curry/Durant.... very few GM's ever have a shot at those players it doesn't make you a bad GM if you don't get Lebron or a handful of other stars that can realistically make a team contend.

He has done an amazing job to acquire the stars he has via trade/free agency with the assets he has had (almost none).

Who in recent memory has acquired more stars via trade/free agency starting with nothing? Yea, I'll wait.

Lol... that's a lot of text in defense of the so-called "best GM".

Morey's Rockets have never tanked, which is admirable, but he has also never built a true contender, unless you're delusional enough to call the team that took a gentleman's sweep in the conference finals a "contender". They have simply been on a more colorful treadmill than most. He's in the same boat as Ujiri...interesting and daring, but missing something, as well.

[13th Man]

Morey is definitely good at acquiring talent, however it seems like he doesn't care at all about best fit. He treats this team like his stock portfolio.

[atlantabbq99]

Bob Myers, Buford, Popovich, are the best GMs in the NBA.

Drafting is 90% of being a GM, and Morey is the worst draft GM in the NBA.

Morey is also the worst at building a team, he thinks just getting 2 or 3 all stars will build a champion and he doesn't think about team chemistry , and player personality

[Heat3]

morey is #1 at self promotion

He's up there but Ainge. Riley. Colangelo all have him beat.

Colangelo is the best self promoter without having the resume to back it up.

Ainge is up there.

I disagree on Riley. You can call me a homer but the fact is he doesn't talk to reporters but two or three times a year. Before the season starts and after it ends. Then again if we have a draft pick which is very rare in his tenure with the Heat cause he trades them all away.

No doubt OTHER people talk him up but that is not "self promotion".

Daryl Morey on the other hand is "league source" that talks to all the NBA reporters about the great things the Rockets (i.e. HE) will do.

[The_Hater]

morey is #1 at self promotion

He's up there but Ainge. Riley. Colangelo all have him beat.

Colangelo is the best self promoter without having the resume to back it up.

Ainge is up there.

I disagree on Riley. You can call me a homer but the fact is he doesn't talk to reporters but two or three times a year. Before the season starts and after it ends. Then again if we have a draft pick which is very rare in his tenure with the Heat cause he trades them all away.

No doubt OTHER people talk him up but that is not "self promotion".

Daryl Morey on the other hand is "league source" that talks to all the NBA reporters about the great things the Rockets (i.e. HE) will do.

I think you're looking at Riley through rose coloured glasses a bit.

He fired SVG once to come down from the office and take over as head coach of a contender. He found it necessary to attack Bron and his decision to leave the Heat through the press in 2014. He then got in a war of words through the press with Wade in 2016.

He's always in the press with something to say, that doesn't take away from the part where he's one of the best GM's in the history of the league

[MaxRider]

I'm pretty impressed; he's the only GM I can think of that assembled a multiple 50+ win team and contender without ever drafting in the top 10.

Yup. Plus he had TMac and Ming, lost both prematurely to injury and without being able to trade them for anything of value, yet somehow rebuilt another contender without ever bottoming out. He's ahead of the curve on just about everything.

T-Mac was part of the deal to get Kevin Martin. Then Martin was part of a deal to get Harden.

[Heat3]

He's up there but Ainge. Riley. Colangelo all have him beat.

Colangelo is the best self promoter without having the resume to back it up.

Ainge is up there.

I disagree on Riley. You can call me a homer but the fact is he doesn't talk to reporters but two or three times a year. Before the season starts and after it ends. Then again if we have a draft pick which is very rare in his tenure with the Heat cause he trades them all away.

No doubt OTHER people talk him up but that is not "self promotion".

Daryl Morey on the other hand is "league source" that talks to all the NBA reporters about the great things the Rockets (i.e. HE) will do.

I think you're looking at Riley through rose coloured glasses a bit.

He fired SVG once to come down from the office and take over as head coach of a contender. He found it necessary to attack Shaq and his decision to leave the Heat through the press in 2014. He then got in a war of words through the press with Wade in 2016.

He's always in the press with something to say, that doesn't take away from the part where he's one of the best GM's in the history of the league

3 instances in 25 years with the Heat? None of which really count as "self promotion"... and the one about SVG situation is very complicated. He wanted to quit for family reasons and Riley didn't want him to go. That's why he started that season off as coach. SVG wanted out before then. Independent from that Shaq wanted SVG gone and Riley in his place which just made matters worse.

If it was all about returning to a contender he would have done so a year earlier when we first got Shaq.
He also would have turned the team over earlier instead of going through horrible years in 2002-3 and 2008 where he basically coached d-leaguers to the lottery. Instead he handed over a team to SVG and to SPO with young lotto picks.

Saying he's always in the press is just flat out wrong. I wish he were. As a heat fan most of the "rumors" we hear about what the Heat are doing come from reports of what other teams are doing with the Heat.

Like I said in my other post. Other people talk about Riley a lot and I think you are confusing some of those stories as Riley promoting himself when he's usually not the source.

[MaxRider]

Is Morey the best? No. Is he one of the best? Probably no either. He is above average.
Pros:
He is very smart. He will work around the CBA rules like no tomorrow. Just watch how he did the CP3 trade. Using the cash NBA allow to buy players to go over the cap, so he can trade less players to Clippers to make the deal work. Also to stay over the cap, so he still have MLE to use on 7/1. I wonder how many GM in the NBA actually thought about that.
He always keep salary cap flexible so he can always go after superstar.

Cons:
Every player is an asset. No one is untradeable.

[Boarder Patrol]

Most active/diligent, not the best. Id love him on my team though.

Sent from my SM-G920V using RealGM mobile app

[red96]

I dunno... he ain't no Hinkie.

Hinkie died for our sins.

Well Morey created Hinkie. You could say that he's Morey's son, and was sent down to Philly with his blessing.