Les is Morey
March 14th, 2008by John
I’ve been thinking for a few weeks now how gutsy it was when Les Alexander hired Daryl Morey back in April 2006 and everyone questioned the wisdom of that decision. This article compelled me to finally write about it.
Many thought the “Moneyball” approach of using statistics to make personell decisions may work for baseball, but not as much for basketball. Critics said that Morey was too stats oriented, and that he didn’t have enough experience to take over an NBA General Manager role. I really liked the move at the time when I said:
“Personally, I think it’s a great, gutsy move by owner Les Alexander to bring in different perspectives the Rockets (nor many teams) have never had before.”
I knew after meeting Morey shortly after he was hired to be the Assistant GM under Carroll Dawson for one year, that he had more than just a stats background going for him. He seemed to have good judgment and the humility to learn as much as possible under CD about the finer nuances of being a good GM.
With the Rockets’ success through trading for Shane Battier (remember how unpopular that trade was?), drafting Carl Landry, Aaron Brooks, and getting Luis Scola from the Spurs (although I understand that deal had been in the works while Dawson was around), you’ve got to give credit not only to Morey and one of his first hires, VP of Basketball Operations Sam Hinkie, but also to the man at the top: Alexander.
Alexander had made alot of money on Wall Street where crunching data is essential to making smart decisions. Give credit to him for having the balls to make a very non-traditional hire in Morey, who is so young (35) and came out of nowhere to take over job.
The other thing I like about Morey is not only his intelligence, but also his accessibility to the media. He does a weekly interview with a local Houston radio station, which has been a nice touch to show he’s more than just a stats guy who is only comfortable in front of a computer screen.