FanPost

The Acquisition of James Harden: Morey at His Best in Using "Assets" as Stepping Stones

When the report first came out on the Harden to Rockets trade, I took a look at what we gave up and, without hesitation, smiled and thought "well that vindicates Morey doesn’t it." Morey has been berated here on TDS for at least the last year and a half because of the way he has handled players as assets, failed to land the Rockets a franchise player, and taken too long to begin the rebuilding process of our beloved Rockets. Well, hopefully all that drivel will come to an end with this year’s acquisitions; especially the home run he hit in the Harden trade.

Let’s take a closer look at those assets that Morey used as stepping stones to bring Beardsanity to Clutch City.

1) Kevin Martin – was acquired in the three team trade that sent Tracy McGrady to the Knicks.*

2) Jeremy Lamb – was selected by the Rockets with the No. 12 pick in the 2012 NBA draft. The Rockets moved up in the 2012 NBA draft from No. 14 to No. 12 by swapping picks and trading Samuel Dalembert to the Milwaukee Bucks.**

3) The Raptors’ 2013 1st round lottery pick – this pick was acquired for Kyle Lowry.***

4) The Mavericks’ 2013 1st round top 20 protected pick – this pick was included in the Jordan Hill for Derek Fisher trade.****

* The Rockets also received Jordan Hill, Hilton Armstrong, Jared Jeffries and the Knicks 2012 first round draft pick (Royce White) in this trade. The Rockets also lost Carl Landry and Joey Dorsey in this trade.

** The Rockets also received Jon Brockman, Jon Leuer and Shaun Livingston in this trade.

*** The Rockets also received Gary Forbes in this trade. Lowry was acquired in the three team trade that sent Rafer Alston to the Magic (Rockets also received Brian Cook in the Lowry trade).

**** Jordan Hill was acquired in the three team trade that sent Tracy McGrady to the Knicks. The Rockets bought out Derek Fisher which allowed him to sign with the Thunder.

Did you see what just happened there? Every player and asset that was used to acquire the Bearded One came from a past Morey trade; and that is what has to happen if the GM of your team doesn’t have the luxury of picking in the top 5 of the NBA draft. Say what you want about Morey but there is no denying that he has tirelessly worked the phones with the hopes of slowly increasing the value of his tradable "assets."

I have much more to say in regards to the direction that Morey seems to be taking the Rockets but I will simply close with this. I think that it would only be appropriate for all the Morey naysayers of the past year and a half to use this FanPost as a forum to properly apologize to Mr. Moreyball for all the harsh criticism that you dished out! And yes I am talking to you! You know who you are but just in case there is a case of amnesia floating around I will help you guys out.

we don’t have the players to pull off a trade for a difference-maker by ourselves
It’s this bull***t strategy of finding some charity trade for our spare parts and a couple pre-chewed pieces of bubble gum that’s handicapping the Rockets
DM might have had a huge part in this [trades/FA that never materialized]. He treats players as Assets.
I mean Morey might be good at evaluating talent and ending up as the winner in small trades, but Im not sure he knows how to make other GM’s and Agents work with him to land a big deal. Especially the Agents with big stars.
IMO, his ass should be gone after last summer’s fiasco.
Morey likes to lowball....They don’t give players (or coaches for that matter) extensions unless you’re 7’6 and Chinese and gonig to make the franchise billions
the Rockets don’t have what it takes to pull off a trade on their own for a difference maker.
When are they going to pick a direction? I’m enjoying the ride they’re on now, but its going to be a looong slow grind to get a title this way.

No cursing in title. No pirated material, such as links to online game streams. Do not cut/paste entire sections of content from other websites. Thanks.