Houston Rockets: The Interest In Daryl Morey’s Next Move
With James Harden’s questionable leadership and Dwight Howard approaching free agency, the most intriguing subplot in the 2016 free agency period might be Daryl Morey’s next move for the Houston Rockets.
All the allure of the 2016 free agency period is about how much money teams will have and how many teams could be legitimate “players” in free agency. All of the big names (New York, Brooklyn, both Los Angeles franchises and Miami) will be able to throw their hats into the ring for big name players, led by Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant.
However, I’m more interested in the people who will get the chances to actually build up some of their teams. After Wednesday’s loss to Golden State ended their season, the one team that’s caught my eye are the Houston Rockets, led by general manager Daryl Morey.
Let’s start from the beginning.
Someone is going to look back and call the 2014-15 Houston Rockets a fluke, and they might be right. The Rockets earned the 2-seed in the Western Conference that year, thanks to San Antonio losing to New Orleans on the last night of the regular season.
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Then, on the verge of an implosion down 3-1 and down double digits to Los Angeles in Game 6, the Rockets went nuts offensively, winning Games 5, 6 and 7 to advance to the Western Conference Finals, where they lost to Golden State, 4-1.
Houston’s success last season resulted in several pundits picking them as title candidates this season and with good reason. James Harden was coming off of a season that placed him second in MVP voting, Dwight Howard was still an effective big man and Houston had several two-way players around the two of them to cover Harden on the defensive end and maintain spacing for Howard around the rim. Plus, Kevin McHale was a good coach.
And then the regular season started.
McHale was let go 11 games into the year, Harden had to play himself into shape and received questions about his leadership, Howard’s play declined on both ends of the floor and the players surrounding them (Trevor Ariza, Patrick Beverley, Terrence Jones, Clint Capela) either experienced injury or struggled in the 2015-16 campaign. The result was barely sneaking into the playoffs and falling to Golden State in the first round.
As it happened, all I thought about was how Daryl Morey was going to get a chance to remodel the roster.
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Well, I lied. The first thought was the idea of Morey being available in free agency as ESPN.com’s Marc Stein reported that Morey will be “evaluated” at the end of the season. Whatever that means. Morey kept the Rockets afloat as he went looking for a star player in the post-Tracy McGrady/Yao Ming era and should be retained for next season. He acquired one of the best players in the league and is about to complete four straight seasons with a playoff appearance.
Now, if Morey does return next season, he faces the daunting task of rebuilding the Rockets around Harden. Yesterday, it was reported by Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com that Harden will have a say in the head coaching search, while Howard won’t. Howard doesn’t seem to be returning to Houston and his lack of input in the coaching search suggests that Houston doesn’t see him in their long-term plans either.
But it’s not just Howard and adding another star player next to Harden that Morey has to worry about. Houston’s ancillary players seemed to deteriorate over the course of the season as well. Ariza’s numbers on the surface (12.7 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game, 37 percent three-point shooting) seem fine, but he declined on the defensive end, struggled against Golden State in round one, and I’m not 100 percent sure he isn’t more of a sixth man than a starter at this point.
Patrick Beverley is still a fine player, and still an excellent complement to Harden in the backcourt, but doesn’t do enough on the offensive end.
Howard, Jones, Donatas Motiejunas and (somehow) Jason Terry are all free agents who played a ton this past season that Morey has to replace this upcoming season. Some of those losses could be mitigated by some of the team’s younger players. Capela seems like someone who will move into the starting center role next season, thanks to his athleticism and defense.
K.J. McDaniels is an active player who showed a bit of a three-point touch with Rio Grande Valley, the Rockets’ D-League affiliate. A back injury held rookie Sam Dekker to just 10 total games between Houston’s two affiliates, but he’s a big forward who can space the floor. Montrezl Harrell has interesting size (six-foot-eight with a seven-foot-four wingspan), but he can’t shoot, creating issues with getting him on the floor.
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As far as free agency goes, I’m curious to see where the Rockets fit in the pecking order for some star players. The Rockets would love to add someone like Al Horford — a two-way big man, capable of playing opposite of Capela — or Nicolas Batum — a wing who can provide more shooting alongside Harden while adding a secondary ball handler in the mix — but can Harden lure either?
And that’s where all the intrigue lies for Morey and the Rockets. Harden is a top-10 player in the league, Beverley fits him perfectly in the backcourt and Capela will get the first crack at replacing Howard. But after that, the Rockets arguably need to address everywhere else. In an offseason where everyone has money, it’s going to be a tricky endeavor filling all of the needs on the roster.
It’ll be up to Morey, who kept the Rockets afloat while they looked for a star when he took the job in 2007.
For all of the jokes that have come at his expense we tend to forget that Morey is still an excellent GM. Flipping Aaron Brooks for Goran Dragic and a first-round pick, acquiring a lottery pick and Kevin Martin for three months of Tracy McGrady, getting Kyle Lowry for Rafer Alston, acquiring Shane Battier for Hasheem Thabeet, trading cash for the draft rights to Chandler Parsons, and Jeremy Lamb for James Harden. Morey is a good general manager with a really good track record.
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For a team that could use upgrades at power forward, small forward and on the bench, it will be interesting to see what Morey has up his sleeve — both for his head coaching position and on the roster, where his new goal is building a team around James Harden.