Daryl Morey does not have a fan in Jerome Solomon
by grungedave on May 7, 2010 1:52 PM CDT
in Random Commentary
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PrintA couple weeks ago, resident boy genius Daryl Morey used his Twitter feed to rip on a column by Jerome Solomon about how Rockets fans are accepting of mediocrity and that Morey hasn't done anything special to deserve a free pass from us all...
now, granted, Twitter still remains a ridiculously stupid idea and I resent anything that tries to limit me to 140 characters or less. It also promotes bad grammar and spelling. We just can't have that. (Though it does tend to be useful when following poker players chip counts at the WSOP, but that's off-topic.)
It seems, however, that Solomon continues to be holding a grudge about this Interwebs fight. Or maybe he simply has an undiagnosed head injury. For today, Solomon posted a lengthy feature piece in the Comicle about the four GMs of the major Houston sports franchises. It was essentially a long-winded way of Solomon saying how Morey is good........ but somehow not as good as Oliver Luck. Who knew that backing up Warren Moon earned so much media respect?
Making matters worse... Solomon gives the best GM in the NBA a very average "B" grade. The same as Texans' GM Rick Smith and not quite as good as the B+ Mr. Luck got. Now, I am a huge soccer fan... but no one gives a shit about the Dynamo. The MLS is nearly impossible to watch once you get used to watching UEFA games on FSN. It's kinda like the Comets v. the Rockets. Back when the Comets existed. They may have won championships, but much like the 1999 NBA season - as far as anyone is concerned, it never really happened.
Morey's blurb is credited with getting Luis Scola for the human turnover machine... and then that's it. No mention of hitting the lottery with a regular basis in the draft on Aaron Brooks, Carl Landry, Chase Budinger, etc. etc. No mention of taking a team that was wayyyy over the cap and had no PG or PF and a sulking T-Mac and turning it into a competitive team without missing much of a beat. It's as if Morey is being blamed for Yao's injuries and McGrady's doctor-shopping. To which I say: f--k that! Instead, Morey gets downgraded because he gave a contract to Steve Francis. Which, in actuality was a smart gamble that simply didn't pay off. Nothing was really lost with the Francis deal. It's not like we signed Francis instead of some future Hall of Famer or someone who would have made much of a difference.
So - you can have your Oliver Lucks, Mr. Solomon. In Daryl Morey I trust. Nevertheless, this all makes me sad, because I fear Richard Justice may be leading Jerome over to the Dark Side.
The moral of this rant? Daryl Morey probably didn't get any Bs at MIT and he sure as hell isn't going to accept one from a guy who doesn't understand how underratedly awesome the Rockets' 2010 season was.
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Look guys
nobody should be paying attention to anything Soloman says because he is truly a moron. Rumor has it that he gets high before he writes his columns (just kidding lol). But seriously if u are a true rockets fan dont worry about what this gut says because he just runs his mouth.
GO ROCKETS, GO TEXANS, GO ASTROS (EVEN THOUGH THEY SUCK)!!!
actually
Up until about 3 weeks ago I really liked most everything that Solomon wrote. But now he rarely says anything positive about Morey – a guy who has literally given Houston fans ZERO negative things to discuss in his 3 years – and I don’t understand the motivation. So…
I do not think Solomon is a moron. I think he’s just got a personal issue with Morey. Sadly.
To make matters worse...
Lance & John agreed with all of his grades on 1560 this morning.
There’s no doubt Solomon, for whatever reason, has a beef with Morey. Giving the guy a grade of ‘B’ when I think very few would argue with the fact he’s a top 5 GM in the entire NBA is just silly. I fully realize that the phrase ‘journalistic integrity’ flew out the door long ago for a lot of the staff at the Chronicle, but this one should have been a fish in the barrel moment for JS, only it wasn’t.
He better watch the f*** out, I for one would not want to be on the business end of Morey’s war path.
I stopped respecting Solomon two years ago when I heard his radio show
First of all he makes really dumb sarcastic jokes, and then laughs at them. Remember kids, rule number one for douche bag identification: Guy who laughs at own jokes.
Second his primary stat when determining a players worth was points per game. Seriously. He’s stupid and he talks a lot, but then again those are apparently required qualities to get a radio show in any field.
"The French Army: Better defender than David Lee" - JE Skeets, in response to David Lee getting a vote for Defensive Player of the Year.
I would check the print version if I were still in Houston.
Living in New Hampshire, on the other hand, makes the Chronicle a tough find.
by DribbleHooper on May 9, 2010 3:21 AM CDT up reply actions
It was weird reading the article. The whole time i kept expecting him to make a point.
and then he never did. it was just a bunch of boring useless words put down to get a paycheck
solomon believes
he has such profound views on any issue at hand.
Gotta disagree on Francis
First,Francis wasn’t a Morey signing,it was Les who pushed that signing.
Second,it definitely hurt the team as Francis sucked up a roster spot that could have been used to give the team needed depth in the wings.
At the start of the 07/08 season the Rockets had 6 bigs,4-count em 4!-PGs and McGrady,Battier,Bonzi,Kirk Snyder and the incomparable Luther Head as the wings.
After Bonzi and James were traded for Bobby Jackson,and Snyder for Green(to get under Lux Tax),the Rockets then had to waive Green to find a roster spot for a Yao injury replacement.
When the Series against Utah started the Rocket reserve wings were Luther 1 FOR THE FREAKIN SERIES Head and Mike fresh off the boat from China Harris. Perhaps having an open roster spot the Rockets could have had a wing who could have actually contributed. S***,even Green couldn’t have been any worse than Luther,and if the Rockets got something off the bench maybe that series might have gone differently.
So yeah,I think the Francis signing was a major eff-up.
Francis did not suck up a roster spot
He could have been cut at any time.
www.TheDreamShake.com Co-Founder and Writer
Money talked
Francis signed a 2 year guaranteed contract. If the Rockets waived/cut him that yr they still would have had to pay him for the next season and his salary would have applied to the next yrs’ cap as well.
So he wasted roster spot and salary cap room for 2 seasons,until Morey was able to dump him on Memphis at the deadline of his second season.
Signing Francis from my perspective was the equivalent of paying 10 cents for a lotto ticket where you have a 5% chance of winning, but you gain a million dollars if you win.
It probably wasn’t going to work out, given Francis was even more washed up than we realized. But we really lost nothing in the process (if you really think a backup to a backup SG was going to make the difference in that series against Utah, lol, and who cares about 2 million in cap room or whatever tiny deal it was) and if Francis had a rejuvenation, which if it was going to take place anywhere, would be in the city which has given him so much love, we gain a former All-Star for cheap. A low-risk, high reward deal which didn’t workout, but nothing much to spill milk over.
Minnesotan Rockets fan
Francis signed a 2 year guaranteed contract. If the Rockets waived/cut him that yr they still would have had to pay him for the next season and his salary would have applied to the next yrs’ cap as well.
For the billionth time, I seriously doubt the Rockets are using the sunk cost fallacy to justify not cutting useless players.
Its clear that Solomon has a grudge with Morey
I don’t like his attitude. Watch him when the Rockets become successful (hopefully next season), he is going to jump on the band wagon and try to justify his weird opinions when its obvious that he isn’t being subjective.
This is what is great about this blog.
We won’t rest until no one is wrong on the internet.
"Each in turn... volunteered his suggestions, his invaluable suggestions."
by Xiane on May 8, 2010 6:17 AM CDT reply actions 1 recs
Morey is doing a good but
lets not fool ourselves and think this team is championship material…it isn’t. I wanna see what Morey does this offseason to make it a championship team!
Championships are built not made
And we’re not even considering the luck factor. San Antonio is probably not winning titles without that number 1 pick (Tim Duncan). Lakers aren’t winning titles if Shaq is happy in Orlando.
Judging a GM on titles won is the dumbest thing because there’s so many variables involved. If Cleveland wins this year, would you want Ferry as our GM instead of Morey? You think Ferry would even be relevant if his team hadn’t won the Lebron sweepstakes?
Taking one or two facts and passing judgement based on that is just dumb. Its also how Solomon rolls. Criticizing Morey is fine. Saying No titles = Not good at job is just ridiculous.
"The French Army: Better defender than David Lee" - JE Skeets, in response to David Lee getting a vote for Defensive Player of the Year.
I don't agree with Solomon and i think Morey is doing well so far,
but this team is not a championship contender…at least not yet….i will judge Morey more on what he does or does not do this summer.
by inquisitiveman on May 8, 2010 1:48 PM CDT up reply actions
I get it.
I guess I came off as a little harsh.
I think the one thing we’ve learned from Morey is that he doesn’t really seem to give himself any deadlines. That is to say, he may hold off on a certain move this summer if he thinks he can get reasonably get more value at the trade deadline or maybe even after letting the new CBA hash out.
"The French Army: Better defender than David Lee" - JE Skeets, in response to David Lee getting a vote for Defensive Player of the Year.
I disagree
The season previous to this one (you know, where we took the Lakers to game 7), we were championship contenders. What one year can do to one’s memory. I don’t think you can realistically blame Morey for Yao Ming’s foot injury destroying this season’s championship hopes.
During this “lost” season, Morey more than earned his money improving the team and showed just how shrewd his management has been over the course of the last few years. Our team that was not expected to be even close to contending was a only a few games back without any star power for most of the year.
by Chris Rosenberger on May 8, 2010 6:02 PM CDT up reply actions
I agree with you.
We lost Carl Landry, but got Jordan Hill. We traded Tracy McGrady’s (currently, presently, Tmac lovers) rotting carcass for Kevin Martin and two potentially high draft picks, and the worst we had to take on was an overpaid 6’11" defensive specialist. That’s pretty amazing.
Martin can fill the scoring guard role, if Yao is healthy then this is a team that is arguably more loaded than the one that took LA to 7 games without TMac and mostly without Yao.
I believe we’ll be drafting a big man to help Yao, or fill in for him, as the case may be.
"Each in turn... volunteered his suggestions, his invaluable suggestions."
As a non-Rockets fan
I’m confused by this Solomon statement:
Morey, who just completed his third season with the Rockets, came in on the heels of a 52-win playoff team.Okay……
Games are still won by players and coaches, but Morey is at the forefront in providing the best information to help them perform better.
How about the fact that Adelman was hired by Morey? Doesn’t that mean anything?
And Morey is learning on the job? Since when? Didn’t he bring Luis Scola around? And bring Carl Landry in? And give input on the Battier trade to Carroll Dawson?
Stupidity confuses me. Sorry.
EvilCowtownInc: Screwin Suckaz over since 1985......
No mistakes in the tango, Donna. Not like life. Simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get all tangled up, you just tango on.....
I could have mentioned getting Lowery in the trade last season, drafting Brooks
I also think trading for Artest deserves mention. Morey has tried, but only can do what he can with what he’s got. Trading away Yao Ming would not be popular in Houston I would suspect. (Or with Les Alexander.)
EvilCowtownInc: Screwin Suckaz over since 1985......
No mistakes in the tango, Donna. Not like life. Simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get all tangled up, you just tango on.....
Looking for logic in that silly hatchet job is a losing proposition.
"Each in turn... volunteered his suggestions, his invaluable suggestions."
Alternate Plan
Solomon can criticize but he has no alternate plan. He can’t articulate a strategy given the situation with Yao and Tracy that would have made the Rockets any better then they are now. That’s the problem with all of these armchair general managers. They simply have no clue how to build and manage a team. They have no clue of the constraints that can hinder a GM’s ability to make a move.
There’s a reason why Les Alexander didn’t try to hire Jerome Solomon to be the GM of the Rockets.
Yes.
You can be the worst guy in the world, and as long as you tell the press they are great and wonderful, they’ll pretty much give you a free pass. If you tell them they’re idiots? Barry Bonds springs to mind.
Yep. That’s their power. Barry Bonds is the big villain, even though tons of others did exactly the same thing. The others had a press conference, faked a few tears and went merrily on their way.
Unfortunately for Jerome, he’s beating his little drum alone. Morey is generally pretty nice to the press, and most NBA observers who are paying attention think he’s great. So instead of leading a torchlight parade, a la Barry Bonds, Solomon is just going to end up looking like a wanker.
"Each in turn... volunteered his suggestions, his invaluable suggestions."
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