Houston Rockets: A Round Of Applause For Daryl Morey
A lot of NBA fans focus on the most obvious things in the league, like the players, the coaches and the on-court product they produce. Not a lot of fans will look at the front office, unless things are going terribly wrong. Since Daryl Morey has taken over, this has yet to be the case.
There are a lot of inadequate general managers in the league. A lot of GM’s spend too much money on very replaceable players. Even more of them have made the mistake of hiring coaches, only to not work hand in hand with them, instead opting to acquire the players they want to instead of the players the coaches need to properly run their offensive system. Once again, with Daryl Morey, that hasn’t been the case.
The Houston Rockets have employed the services of Daryl Morey since 2007. When he was hired, the Rockets underwent a pretty big change in the front office and on the court. They fired coach Jeff Van Gundy and replaced him with Rick Adelman, who proceeded to coach the Rockets to a 55-win season and a playoff berth. Ultimately, his first season ended in failure, as the Rockets were bounced out in the first round.
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The Rockets have undergone some changes since Morey has taken over. For one, Yao Ming is no longer playing after sustaining a career ending injury. And two, Tracy McGrady also suffered a variety of injuries, limiting his effectiveness and ultimately ensuring the end of his Rockets run shortly after. Most teams would have succumbed to so many devastating injuries to star players. A lot of teams would have been trying to use the lottery to rebuild, fielding terrible teams to ensure a top-5 draft pick. Not Daryl Morey.
Here are the Rockets regular season records since Daryl Morey took over:
| Season | Lg | Team | W | L | W/L% | Finish | SRS | Pace | Rel_Pace | ORtg | DRtg | Playoffs | Coaches | Top WS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013-14 | NBA | Houston Rockets* | 54 | 28 | .659 | 2 | 5.06 | 96.3 | 2.4 | 111.0 | 106.3 | Lost W. Conf. 1st Rnd. | K. McHale (54-28) | J. Harden (12.8) |
| 2012-13 | NBA | Houston Rockets* | 45 | 37 | .549 | 3 | 3.69 | 96.1 | 4.1 | 109.7 | 106.1 | Lost W. Conf. 1st Rnd. | K. McHale (45-37) | J. Harden (12.8) |
| 2011-12 | NBA | Houston Rockets | 34 | 32 | .515 | 4 | 0.57 | 91.7 | 0.4 | 105.5 | 105.2 | K. McHale (34-32) | G. Dragic (5.1) | |
| 2010-11 | NBA | Houston Rockets | 43 | 39 | .524 | 5 | 2.37 | 94.2 | 2.1 | 111.3 | 109.0 | R. Adelman (43-39) | K. Martin (9.5) | |
| 2009-10 | NBA | Houston Rockets | 42 | 40 | .512 | 3 | -0.01 | 94.0 | 1.3 | 107.6 | 108.0 | R. Adelman (42-40) | L. Scola (6.3) | |
| 2008-09 | NBA | Houston Rockets* | 53 | 29 | .646 | 2 | 3.73 | 90.2 | -1.5 | 108.4 | 104.0 | Lost W. Conf. Semis | R. Adelman (53-29) | Y. Ming (10.6) |
| 2007-08 | NBA | Houston Rockets* | 55 | 27 | .671 | 3 | 4.84 | 90.4 | -2.0 | 106.8 | 101.6 | Lost W. Conf. 1st Rnd. | R. Adelman (55-27) | Y. Ming (8.3) |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/21/2014.
You’ll notice the 55 and 53 win seasons to start his tenure, anchored by Yao Ming. You’ll also notice that the Rockets have yet to have a losing season under Daryl Morey. Instead of straight up tanking, Morey opted to patch the team together with younger players from the middle of the first round, and with some solid, but not spectacular, free agents. It worked in keeping the Rockets competitive while a real fix was made to the team. That fix started with the James Harden trade.
The trade that brought Harden over was very much aided by the fact that the Rockets had no binding contracts and the fact that Daryl Morey stockpiled a lot of first round draft choices prior to that trade. Having all of the assets to get a player like Harden is not easy, especially in the NBA. Morey managed to pull that off, and to get one big piece of the championship puzzle that summer. He managed to strike gold again, using Harden and coach Kevin McHale to recruit superstar center Dwight Howard and really turn this team into contenders.
Obviously, some flack should be thrown toward Morey’s way for the way this offseason went. He took a massive gamble and lost some very talented players as a result. He replaced only one of them with an established NBA player in Trevor Ariza, and the rest will be replaced by young, very unproven players. The Rockets took a step back this offseason, for which Daryl Morey should definitely be held accountable. But let’s also not forget how good he has been to the team in his seven-year tenure and he deserves the benefit of the doubt this time.
Should it happen again next year, we may not be so kind. In the meantime, let’s give Daryl Morey some much deserved credit.