Rockets GM Daryl Morey held a press conference yesterday to talk about the Rockets two trade deadline moves and what they signify for the coming years for the squad. The Rockets remain buried in the lottery, and after sending players away that hypothetically strengthen two of their competitors in the race, Memphis and Phoenix, they aren’t likely to close that gap any time soon.
These moves position us better in the future. The big move that helps us now and in the future did not materialize but we feel like this positions us better in the future to make that move.
It’s obvious that neither Hasheem Thabeet or Goran Dragic are going to change the makeup of this team much right now. There’s a chance Thabeet might, but that’s based on a lot of projection. The Rockets couldn’t get their big deal done, so instead they took baby steps.
Hasheem Thabeet is someone who has the potential to develop into a very significant interior defender, a very significant center over time. Right now he’s not there. Right now, if he was there, we would not have been able to get him. Unfortunately, you cannot acquire 7-3 centers after they become good easily, if at all. So you need to take a chance on a guy who you think has a chance to contribute over time.
Morey speaks from experience here: even guys like Omer Asik and Samuel Dalembert were being protected at the deadline. Things have hit a lull with big men in recent drafts, and taking a chance on one who could still make it does make some sense.
…we felt like Kyle Lowry was our guy to start for the future and Aaron Brooks, as I’ve always said, we think he’s a starter-quality player as well, and very soon both Kyle and Aaron were going to make an amount of money that wouldn’t allow us to have both of them on the roster going forward. So we made a move for Dragic, who we like his potential very much and he’s already contributing and he’ll contribute right away for the Rockets.
No surprise there, Dragic should come in and play minutes immediately for the Rockets. He’ll likely fill the exact same role that Aaron Brooks was in.
So to add a young, recent No. 2 pick, 7-3… guys like Hasheem who have struggled early, if they’ve struggled multiple times in multiple stops, I think the probability of them turning it around is low. Guys who have had difficulty in their first stop, there are many examples of ones who have turned it around. We feel like he’s a good bet and we were very concerned about losing Shane.
That’s some decent reasoning. The Grizzlies could never give Thabeet any playing time to develop at the NBA level. Assuming Thabeet doesn’t wind up in the doghouse of Rick Adelman immediately, like Terrence Williams did, it’ll be interesting to watch Thabeet’s progress over the rest of the year.
Do be sure to check out the whole column. Morey is one of the very few sports media figures in the city that backs up what he says with facts, and even though he couldn’t get a superstar here this season, it’s clear that it wasn’t for a lack of effort.