The Myth of Daryl Morey: Co-Starring Bill Simmons and a Naive Public

[Tha Gawd Amen]

@cook just needs to hit @Walt with that infinite green rep sign and auto poster of the year each year

Great read

 

[Brozay]

it got the expected reaction on clutchfans (lowkey someone from here took a shot at Walt (@who_better_than_me just be a man about it)

it was just posted as an off topic in the Bulls realgm forum , its making some rounds now

keep posting the quality @Walt, and it will keep growing. look how many people you reached in 2 pieces in a weeks time

 

[DonFrancisco]

https://medium.com/the-cauldron/the-man-who-sold-the-world-3df16d8b754a

The Man Who Sold The World

Daryl Morey’s greatest fleecing as a GM? Selling the media and public on Daryl Morey.

Last weekend, the Dallas Mavericks outmaneuvered the Houston Rockets’ supposed wunderkind GM, structuring their offer to coveted restricted free agent small forward Chandler Parsons such that Morey was forced to blink. Morey, in the process of explaining Houston’s decision not to match, somewhat derisively deemed the contract “untradeable,” even as it conjured memories of the recent deals for Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik that Morey tailored in Houston’s favor.

Compounding the loss of their young, dynamic, marketable player (his nickname, “Chandsome,” tells a story in itself), the Rockets couldhave kept Parsons at the bargain price of $960,000 for the 2014-15 season, but they declined a team option so as to avoid letting the 25-year-old hit the market next summer as an unrestricted free agent.

In short, the Rockets lost Parsons because they strategized specifically not to lose him — a confounding turn of events. Morey either underestimated the demand for Parsons or overestimated the Rockets’ chances to sign marquee free agents Carmelo Anthony or Chris Bosh. Either way, this was a horrific misstep that, at least for now, cripples a team that was harboring immediate title aspirations.

In essence, Morey has replaced Parsons with Trevor Ariza, an inconsistent journeyman coming off a career year who also happens to be a Rocket retread who lasted all of one season (during which he shot just south of 40 percent) during his first tour of duty in Houston before being shipped out. It’s not the first time Morey has re-signed a player he previously dumped for more money the second time around.

All of this leaves the Rockets in an all-too-familiar spot: heading into yet another season positioned to be an also-ran.

Will the heretofore fawning media finally begin to scrutinize Morey’s bonafides as a GM who can build a legitimate title contender? Seven seasons, countless fluff pieces, and annual Sloan Sports Analytics Conferences later, will someone with public sway finally confront the Daryl Morey conundrum: the most-celebrated, highest-profile general manager in recent history hasn’t actually won anything.

Read the entire piece here:

https://medium.com/the-cauldron/the-man-who-sold-the-world-3df16d8b754a

Wow this is incredible writing @Walt

I don't like to dyckride but this is great stuff. I AGREE WITH YOU 100%. I am glad you can verbalize (yeah bad turn of phrase) how I feel!

 

[Cory MBA]

Not surprised....there is talent on this board.

Props @Walt ....great job and we anticipate your next project.

 

[DonFrancisco]

My biggest knock on Morey is his lack of understand of basic team psychology. You cannot be a good playoff team without having glue guys and guys that have team tenure. There was no excuse not to match Dragic's contract, I thought it was Les Alexander that didn't want Dragic but it seem to part to MO/correlation Morey has. For some reason he just doesn't feel that team chemistry will win championships. If you look at any team that is deep in the playoffs, they have at least one all-star or superstar that anchors a team. Even the previous team that beat the Rockets, Portland, they had Aldridge as an anchor and a reinforcer of Trailblazer team culture and philosophy. With the Houston Rockets, you do not get a sense of team culture or what truly is 2014 Rockets basketball. What you get are a bunch of young players and veterans that are not in sync with each other and haven't built their own organization culture and mores. Chandler was just an indicative of Morey's reluctance to use basic team psychology and sense to building a winner. I truly felt like Morey was okay with losing Chandler, as he was okay with losing Patrick Patterson, Lowry, Goran Dragic, Rudy Gay, and Nicole Batum. The Dragics loss was the worse, we would have kept Dragic and had a much better chance of advancing to the 2nd round. Dragic would have been the longest tenured Rocket and was vastly talented, he would have been a great clue guy.

Morey is pretty good with draft picks, I will give him that but he just trades them away right away. The Rockets will never been a winning organization, if they keep trading and re-trading.

 

[SAJ!!]

@Walt

It's about time someone went in on Morey for the scam job he pulled on Rockets fans for years.

 

[DonFrancisco]

As a long time Rockets fan I've went through all the phases with this guy. I was happy when he got the job. I talked myself into a lot of his early moves. I was happy he brought us Harden. But slowly a lot of the moves have begun to look really suspect in hind sight. And this off season was clearly a massive misfire or at the very least a terrible miscalculation. Finally, I've come over to the line of thinking that you have been singing for a couple years now. Morey is much closer to fraudulent than competent. I especially enjoyed the making moves to just make moves part.

I passed this along to a buddy of mine that works at 97.5 in Houston...but he's such a Morey believer I don't know what he'll do with it. But hopefully he'll do the right thing and bring it to the masses back in the city.

I was done with Morey the minute I realized he re-signed McFail. I'm not in Morey's inner circle but he didn't even try to go after other coaches like Stan Van Gundy? Why get a failed coach in McHale? He hasn't proven anything in his time at the T'Wolves and the Rockets.

More has lost us Batum, Rudy Gay, Patrick Patterson, Lowry, and Dragic.

He has draft Royce White, Marcus Morris, Joe Dorsey, and a host of failed first rounders.

 

[pete clemenza]

Great read @Walt


-how long does it take you to create your draft/outline for your articles?

 

[CJ]

Great piece.

I see it's at the top of the page of the NBA General board on RealGM too, nicely done.

 

[Brozay]

honestly, with the rounds this has already made, there is a better chance than not that this will be passed to both Simmons & Morey at some point this week

 

[SubZeroDegrees]

Great article. Love you pointed out Morey reckless wheeling and dealing. You never heard how this Rockets team could've been with Dragic or Lowry.

 

[mitter]

Excellent article Walt. It's about time Morey got exposed.


I didn't know your real name was T.D. Williams though

 

[Rev]

If you've seen the movie, "the master", daryl morey is practically lancaster dodd. he's fooled a ton of people into believing in his ways in preparation for something bigger that's never gonna happen on his watch. and, like dodd, he's lost in his own moves to the point where they're conflicting with the beliefs & the stories he told in the past...because it's all bullshyt.

bill simmons must be joaquin phoenix in the film then.

 

[muzikfrk75]

If you've seen the movie, "the master", daryl morey is practically lancaster dodd. he's fooled a ton of people into believing in his ways in preparation for something bigger that's never gonna happen on his watch. and, like dodd, he's lost in his own moves to the point where they're conflicting with the beliefs & the stories he told in the past...because it's all bullshyt.

bill simmons must be joaquin phoenix in the film then.

Can someone do a gif of Bill Simmons pacing back and forth in that house? Lol

 

[Da_Eggman]

If you've seen the movie, "the master", daryl morey is practically lancaster dodd. he's fooled a ton of people into believing in his ways in preparation for something bigger that's never gonna happen on his watch. and, like dodd, he's lost in his own moves to the point where they're conflicting with the beliefs & the stories he told in the past...because it's all bullshyt.

bill simmons must be joaquin phoenix in the film then.

That movie is based on L Ron Hubbard

So in essence Morey is the L Ron Hubbard of the nba and Simmons is his Tom Cruise