In recent voting from staff members at The Ringer, Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey was ranked No. 2 among all NBA executives.
Morey has led basketball operations for the Rockets since his promotion to the GM role following the 2006-07 season. In 2018, he was voted by his peers as the NBA’s Executive of the Year after those Rockets finished with the league’s top record (65-17) and the best in franchise history.
During his time in charge, the Rockets have not had a losing record and have advanced to the playoffs 10 times, headlined by a pair of trips to the Western Conference Finals in 2015 and 2018. Prior to those years, Houston had not advanced that far in the NBA playoffs since 1997.
Here’s how The Ringer characterized Morey’s tenure:
In similar fashion to [Boston’s Danny] Ainge, Morey is the kind of executive whose reputation — or at least his publicized reputation — precedes him. What the internet has made Morey out to be has become muddled with what Morey actually is as an executive.
Even so, Morey’s résumé deserves recognition. He has yet to win a title, but in the past few years, he has been one of the few front-office execs willing to go all out to build a team that could challenge the Warriors.
His ability to entertain by executing complicated, multi-team trades never fails, and his willingness to build a radical team that takes more and more 3s by the year is unique. This feels reductive to say, but like the Suns teams of the 2000s, Morey probably won’t get his full validation until he wins a ring.
The No. 1 executive on The Ringer‘s list was Masai Ujiri, whose Toronto Raptors won last year’s NBA championship.
Who are the best executives in the NBA?@PaoloUggetti:
https://t.co/gQB6f5QTbV— The Ringer (@ringer) June 19, 2020
As for Morey, Houston has made the playoffs eight straight times since his blockbuster trade for superstar guard James Harden in October 2012. Since then, Morey has surrounded Harden with eventual Hall of Famers such as Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, and now Russell Westbrook.
With only eight regular-season games left once the idled 2019-20 NBA season resumes in July, Morey’s Rockets (40-24) have already clinched another playoff spot. When the playoffs kick off in August, they’ll have another opportunity at a long-awaited championship breakthrough.
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