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NBA: Has Daryl Morey Surpassed Pat Riley As NBA’s Best GM?

ByMauricio Putz|
May 25, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets t-shirts on chairs before the game against the Golden State Warriors in game four of the Western Conference Finals of the NBA Playoffs. at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Thomas B. Shea-USA TODAY Sports
May 25, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets t-shirts on chairs before the game against the Golden State Warriors in game four of the Western Conference Finals of the NBA Playoffs. at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Thomas B. Shea-USA TODAY Sports

Once again, after relentlessly bashing the Houston Rockets‘ offseason moves — or total lack thereof — Daryl Morey has proved me wrong.

Up until Monday, it seemed as if the Rockets’ focus revolved exclusively around bringing back, in essence, the same roster that reached the Western Conference Finals during the 2014-15 season. A move that probably would be good enough to get them into the playoffs.

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However, after extended talks dating back to last season’s trade deadline, the savviest general manager in the NBA finally pulled the trigger on Ty Lawson — an off-court liability of sorts that immediately turns the Houston Rockets’ backcourt into one of the best in the Western Conference, and probably the NBA.*

But is that enough to reach Pat Riley status?

In and of itself, it isn’t, but the latter is just one of the moves with which Daryl Morey has improved the Houston Rockets ever since he took over.

  • He hired Kevin McHale as a coach back in 2011.
  • He is responsible for both of Trevor Ariza‘s stints with the team.
  • He once traded a fading Aaron Brooks for Goran Dragic and a draft pick that turned into Nikola Mirotic, even if the latter never played for the Rockets.
  • He purposely didn’t match Chandler Parsons‘ Dallas Mavericks‘ offer during his restricted free agency. Nowadays, Parsons is not living up to expectations.
  • He signed Dwight Howard as a free agent. Morey was probably the deciding factor which made Howard choose the Rockets over anybody else.
  • He traded Troy Daniels, the rights for Sergei Lishouk (who?), the Rockets’ 2015 second-round pick, 2016 second-round pick, and cash for Corey Brewer.
  • He traded Isaiah Canaan and the Rockets’ 2015 second-round draft pick to the Philadelphia 76ers for K. J. McDaniels.
  • Most recently, he sent Kostas Papanikolaou and a bag of sh** in the form of Nick Johnson, Pablo Prigioni‘s corpse, cash, and the Rockets’ 2016 first-round pick to the Denver Nuggets for a 2017 second-round pick and borderline All-Star point-guard — and maybe the fastest player in the league — Ty Lawson.
  • And last but definitely not least, he outwitted Sam Presti — one of the league’s most well-respected general managers — when he sent Jeremy Lamb, Kevin Martin, and the Rockets’ 2013 first-round pick (Steven Adams) to the then Western Conference champion Oklahoma City Thunder for James Harden — arguably one of the top-five offensive players in the league.

As you can see — in “too good to be true” fashion** — he’s acquired the Rockets’ most important assets by giving up basically nothing for them.

Of course, Pat Riley’s legend, as a whole, is probably well beyond Daryl Morey’s reach — he won one title as a player for the Los Angeles Lakers; five titles as the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat; and two more titles as the general manager of the Miami Heat — whereas Daryl Morey never played nor coached in the league, and his Houston Rockets are yet to reach the NBA Finals.

However, Riley has never fooled nor tricked other general managers around the NBA into doing exactly what he wants them to.

Morey has. Way more than once.

And even though most of Morey’s moves involve role-players, almost exclusively, he is smart enough to know that, in today’s NBA, well-built teams outlive Big-3’s and are what gives birth to dynasties.

Just ask the San Antonio Spurs.

* FYI: Ty Lawson is also pretty close to future free agent Kevin Durant (!!). 

** This applies to any team who’s had Daryl Morey on the other side of the phone.

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