FanPost

Ranking Daryl Morey’s Best Fringe Moves

First Off Wow. Daryl Morey taking over the reigns of the Sixers franchise was not what I anticipated when I woke up this morning. Just incredibly exciting news for a franchise who felt stuck with the moves last offseason.

With Morey the Sixers now have arguably the best front office mind in all of basketball and someone who is unafraid to make big swings; Trading for James Harden, Signing Dwight Howard, Trading for Chris Paul etc. However what makes Morey so effective outside of his basketball philosophies and ability to obtain stars is his work on the fringes. I wanted to take time to rank Morey’s top 10 fringe moves during his time in Houston.

10. Drafting Clint Capela

With the 25th pick in the 2014 NBA draft the Houston Rockets selected a little known 20 year old center out of Switzerland named Clint Capela. By year two he was starting games, by year three he was a bona fide starting center in the league and by year four he was widely regarded as one of the top 10 centers in the league. Capela has averaged at least 12 ppg and 8 rpg since the 2017-17 season while never shooting below 62% from the field. While not an ideal player in the modern NBA Capela knows his role and sticks to it. Morey was able to flip Capela as part of a deal to acquire Robert Covington this past season to continue their small ball devotion. Some may argue this should be higher on the list however, Nikola Jockic, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Spencer Dinwidde and Jerami Grant were on all on the board. To nab a contributor like Capela however is rare from the 25th pick as the remainder of the first round included the likes of PJ Hairston, CJ Wilcox, Josh Huestis and Kyle Anderson.

9. Signing Austin Rivers

In December of 2018 Morey snatched up Austin Rivers on a two year vet minimum deal after being waived by the Phoenix Suns immediately following a trade. With an annual salary of 1.65 million of the course of the contract the Rockets got a lot of bang for their buck. Although Rivers is not a great NBA player he proved his role as a scoring option off the bench averaged just north of 8 ppg the last two season and providing Houston with another shot creator.

8. Drafting Montrezl Harrell

With the 32nd pick in the 2015 NBA draft the Rockets selected a big man out of Lousiville named Montrezl Harrell who must pundits designated as a first round pick. Looking back on that selection the Rockets undoubtedly selected the best possible player remaining in the draft. There is no other prospect outside of Richaun Holmes, Josh Richardson and Norman Powell who see consistent minutes in the league. Harrell took a huge leap in year two for the Rockets which allowed them to package him with other players to acquire Chris Paul in the summer of 2017.

7. Signing Danuel House

After flaming out with both the Wizards and the Suns the Rockets took a chance on Danuel House in 2018 signing him to a two-way contract. By the end of 2018-19 he was starting and he remained a starter for the team in 2019-20 after signing a three year 11 million contract. Extraordinary value out of a player on his annual salary as he is a plus three point shooter, solid defender and contributes about 10 ppg for a playoff team.

6. Drafting Chandler Parsons

Morey found another second round gem with the 38th pick in the 2011 draft with Forward Chandler Parsons. From day one he was a major contributor to a playoff team. In his second as well as third and final season with the Rockets Parson posted averages of 16 ppg, 5.4 rpg and 3.75 apg while shooting just under 38% from three point ranger. By most he was considered an ascending player in the league when he hit restricted free agency in the summer of 2014 however the Rockets choose not to match the Mavericks three year $46 million offer sheet. The move proved wise as by year three of the deal Parsons was no longer an NBA major contributor. Injuries riddles his career. Year one with the Mavs he played in just one game of their playoff series which was a round one exit to coincidently the Rockets in five games. Year two for the Mavs he was on a minute restrictions before a knee injury ended his season and basically his career as he never played more than 35 games in a season again.

5. Trading for Lou Williams

Morey struck when Lou Williams value was arguably at its lowest. After Williams was a part of a Lakers teams that went 17-65 in 2015-16 and was near the basement again in the West during the 2016-17 season the Rockets were able to acquire Lou Will for Corey Brewer and a first round pick that ended up being 28th overall and Tony Bradley. In his lone half season with the Rockets Williams was a spark plug averaging 15 ppg off the bench and reproved his value becoming an instrumental part in the Chris Paul trade that summer. The trade was instrumental as Lou Williams held more value in terms of assets to allow the Rockets to obtain a star in Paul.

4. Trading For Trevor Ariza

I may be basis as Trevor Ariza has long been my favorite role player in the NBA but his acquisition in 2014 was a major move for the franchise as he was a key contributor on the Rockets teams that made two separate conference finals. Morey traded for Ariza as part of a three team trade which saw the Rockets only give up Omer Asik and Omir Casspi for a player that would be a starter for four years on top level contenders while also complimenting their star player James Harden.

3. Signing PJ Tucker

The start of the Rockets small ball era and identify started with the signing of PJ Tucker in the summer of 2017. Morey inked Tucker to a four year $32 million contract which he has vastly over performed. Finding and committing to guys like Tucker are the fringe moves that take a team to that next level. The value he provides on the defensive end can not be overstated and he is quite possibly the greatest corner three point shooter of all time. Once again the man knows his role and plays it at a top tier level.

2. Acquiring Kyle Lowry

At the 2009 trade deadline in the beginning of Morey’s career he struck a deal that was pure gold. He acquired a 22 year old distressed asset in Kyle Lowry from the Memphis Grizzles as they had decided to go in favor of another young point guard in Mike Conley for the team’s future. Lowry was mostly a bench player in his time in Memphis and Morey saw that he was undervalued and pounced. In a three team trade the rockets traded their starting 32 year old point guard Rafer Alston and that was it to land Kyle Lowry. By the 2009-10 season Alston’s numbers dropped greatly and by the 2010-11 season he was out of the league. I can not stress enough how amazing of a move this was. This trade is lost in time as Morey and the Rockets eventually moved on from Lowry in the summer of 2012 as they traded him to the Raptors where he would evolve to an all-star player. However the Rockets did receive a first round pick in that trade which was a crucial part of the Harden trade. In his three and half seasons in Houston Lowry cemented himself as a starter in the league.

1. Signing Patrick Beverly

It doesn’t get better than Morey’s decision to sign Patrick Beverly in 2013 in terms of fringe moves. It just doesn’t. Morey signed Beverly to a three year deal with an average salary under $1 million and received a bench guard in year one and an NBA starter in year two and three of the deal. It’s arguably one of the greatest value deals in NBA history. Morey find Beverly out of the EuroCup which playing for Spartak St. Petersburg where he was the MVP. However EuroCup is below EuroLeague to find him and help develop him into the player he has become is prime time fringe move. During the 2013-14 and 2014-15 season Beverly did deal with injuries but when he competed he was great averaging over 10 ppg while shooting 36% from three and providing elite lead guard defense. Morey followed up the initial find with another value deal inking PatBev to a four year $23 million contract which he would once again out preform before being a key piece in the trade to acquire Chris Paul.


This is a big time move for the Sixers as even if he can't shed some of our inflated contracts (Which I'm sure he will) we have a guy who can make elite moves on the fringes.

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