ProcessDoctor wrote:M2J wrote:ProcessDoctor wrote:
Morey has done nothing but extend the life of this era after Brand/Brown/Colangelos almost fumbled it.
On life support he's extended the life. Which was created by his Harden fetish. He could've nailed that Simmons trade, could've traded Simmons before the 2021 playoffs if he wasn't so hung up on Harden.
That's also not forget that he allowed Harden to shape the team personnel wise. Like instead of Drummond who was running around as a free agent campaigning to Philly, there's Trez in addition to PJ and House I've got more, but....
All of that's not even the point, I'll defend that Morey is a top GM and has done good things too. I'm talking about this season and this trade should've already been done. Unless they're trying to stay under the cap (Harris), there's no way they can't make a big move at the deadline. Even if they get Paul George (and they won't) to go along with Maxey and Joel Embiid, they will struggle to build a team around them for at least a year. I mean remember, it takes time to even get into luxury tax, you can't just jump back into it and start spending. You either have space or you don't... Or tradable contracts or you don't.
I can't see him going after a contract like Grant honestly (should). I believe he's interested in Murray due to the value,but may have waited too late. Those 2 picks should have been traded. I mean that's not even a conflict as to what kind of player you going to be sending in that kind of a deal. Philly has expiring deals that were traded for to be traded by now.
I agree he catered to Harden. His free-agent signings were largely tied to Harden, which I think we can all agree wasn't the best move.
However, he turned the **** Simmons situation into gold. No one at the time thought we'd be getting a player as good as Harden when that happened. The same thing just happened with Harden...we would've been lucky to get anything, yet Morey landed 2 first-round picks and even more financial flexibility.
Again, I don't want it to seem like I don't think Morey is one of the top on the business....yet maybe a bit overrated and through the Harden experience in Philly, I'm learning his reliance on making Harden happy has something to do with that. Hopefully, he can care about making Joel happy and not sit on his arse being fiscally responsible at the deadline, or make a move that can do both help contend and be fiscally responsible by getting Murray.
But I gotta push back on the Simmons/Harden trades. He's the highest paid GM in the league I think. He has high paid scouts. He's supposed to be able to project talent. Like I said, he should've traded Simmons in 2021 before the deadline. He'd already tried to trade him immediately for Harden, should've just went out and made it happen (when Ben had great value)...but whatever.... That's a bold move. Instead he goes around posturing that he's got the prize during the season after Ben asked to be traded doing anything he can to help Harden get to him. Now don't get me wrong Harden and the package that was sent for him was a win, but I'll always believe that other packages were available that would've ultimately truly saved this era and created a new one essentially. Harden trade was short sighted, and he was ailing off an injury in a down season, and lost his ability to finish at the rim. That was evident, even though he was still a good player... not the 1B that was needed at the time... At his age and future contract needs.
I live in the Bay, with plenty of ties to Sacramento. They were reaching out to Philly, desperately wanting to change the direction of the franchise. There were rumors of Morey wanting Hali, Hield and multiple picks.... Or Hali and Fox... Or Fox Plus.... The Kings were open to trading either, because they and the league knew Hali was good... But both he and Fox are too ball dominant. Meanwhile, Morey knows Ben isn't even healthy with his back or truly has a mental health crisis and is risking it all through the last minute of the deadline to wait for Harden or continue through the summer for him.
Let's say we are naive enough to believe Morey's media partner Marc Stein, that Sacramento wasn't viable partners. There were reports that teams wanted Ben for Markannen and for Sabonis (who was ultimately traded for Hali, even though he wasn't nearly the prize at the time that Ben was as a perennial all star and DPOY candidate at the time. Let's say that's all speculation.... Are we also naive enough to believe that you couldn't get Fox if you included draft compensation as he did for an old and injured Harden?
