February 19th, 2009: Houston Rockets’ second year GM Daryl Morey, traded starting point guard Rafer Alston to the Orlando Magic for Brian Cook. The Orlando Magic were a top contender in the Eastern Conference and after Jameer Nelson went down with a serious injury, they traded for Alston to fill in. Despite being a journeyman for most of his career, Alston filled in perfectly, helping Orlando reach the NBA finals.
For Houston’s part, Brian Cook only played only 24 games over two seasons for the Rocket. However, the deal wasn’t about Cook. It was about freeing up the starting point guard position for dynamic second year player Aaron Brook. Brooks started all of the remaining games that season. The Rockets made is all the way to game 7 of the Western Conference Semi-Finals, losing to the eventual champions, Los Angeles Lakers. Brooks was a big part of Houston’s deep playoff run, averaging 16.8 points and 3.4 assists in 34 minutes per game.
In the season following Alston’s departure, Brooks started all 82 games, averaging 19.6 points and 5.5 assist. Little did anyone know that Brooks would only start 5 more games in his Rockets career. An ankle injury would not only cost Brooks his position as the team’s starting point guard, but it would start an NBA player’s version of a death-spiral, in which he would be out of the NBA the following season, playing for the Guangdong Southern Tigers of the China Basketball Association (CBA)
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The trade of Alston set off a series of a series of unlikely events. In only 4 seasons, the Houston Rockets acquired or promoted, developed, and subsequently ditched 3 of 4 talented young point guards. The 4th point guard being Jeremy Lin and his future with the Houston Rockets is about as solid as late March ice. Any fan who closely follows the NBA, realizes that 24 year old point guards who are capable of averaging 20 points per game are extremely rare. Compound this with the fact that in Morey’s initial draft as GM of the Rockets, he chose Brooks with the #26 pick in the first round. Drafting Brooks that late in any draft, is a HUGE steal.
High player turnover is not unexpected on non-contending teams in the NBA. However, flipping so many young starter-caliber point guards in such a short amount of time is unexpected. Compound this with that fact that most NBA GMs become attached & protective of players that they personally drafted, especially late round gems like Brooks.
The one thing that is crystal clear, Daryl Morey is not like most other NBA GM. The date February 19th, 2009, ushered in a new era for the Rockets front office, in which Daryl Morey repeatedly struck NBA point guard gold before unceremoniously discarding his previous point guards for a new one.
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Aaron Brooks lost his starting PG position to Lowry after he sprained his ankle during the 5th game of the regular season. Brooks only missed around 12 games total. Normally, injured players do not lose their jobs because of injury. Perhaps Brooks was a locker-room cancer, uncoachable, or a flash-in-the-pan. There have been plenty of young players who started off like a rockets, but quickly crash landed. However, Brooks’ game didn’t fall off. In those 5 games, Brooks averaged, 16.4 points and 5.4 assists per game. This is including the 5th game where he only player 17 minutes before existing with the injured ankle. It’s more likely that Morey and the team’s coaches consider Lowry a better player than Brooks. To Morey's credit, Lowry developed into a premier player and a return of Goran Dragic and a first round pick for Brooks was excellent.
In Phoenix, Brooks struggled with his backup role to Steve Nash. The following strike-lengthened offseason, like other NBA players who believed that the season would be lost, he signed a contract with Guangdong Southern Tigers. He has since returned to the NBA, but his career has never been the same. He was recently cut by the Sacramento Kings and is currently the 3d string point guard for…. you guess it, the Houston Rockets.
Had the Rockets not trade Brooks away or had Brooks been drafted by a more patient team, it’s very possible that he would have continued to develop into something of a solid to very good NBA player. We will never know what he could have become. The egos of many young athletes and people in general are fragile. There are not many 24 year olds who could have handled Brooks situation any better.
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Oddly, Brooks' replacement was also acquired by the Rockets on February 19, 2009, in a deal with the Memphis Grizzlies. In addition to trading Alston to the Magic, Morey traded a first round pick to the Grizzlies for third year point guard Kyle Lowry.
Initially Lowry was a solid replacement for Brooks. After Brooks was traded to the Suns, Lowry threw down some Carpe Deium, putting the starting position in a stranglehold. During the previous offseason, the Rockets matched an offer sheet tendered to Lowry by the Cleveland Cavaliers. It was a sizeable salary for a backup point guard, but cheap for a starter. Lowry played inspired basketball for the remainder of the season and soon was considered one of the NBA’s premier point guards and best bargains in the league. So much in fact that it was rumored during the summer of 2012, that he was the key piece to the Lakers in which the Rockets would acquire Pau Gasol.
Once again, little did anyone know that Lowry’s ride from backup to premier NBA point guard would total only 16 months. In mid-March 2012, Lowry has an abdominal diagnostic laparoscopic procedure to fix a bacterial infection. Lowry only missed about a month worth of games. However, in his absence, Goran Dragic had cemented himself as the new starting point guard of the Houston Rockets.
How's that for Karma?
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Goran ‘The Dragon’ Dragic’s explosion was not unexpected. Suns fans and diehard NBAers have long known this was coming. In his first 3 seasons, Dragic was locked into a backup role to Steve Nash. Periodically each season, Dragic would receive extended minutes due to Nash missing a game because of an injury or rest. In most instances, Dragic would display his solid NBA ready game. Unfortunately, playing behind a Hall Of Famer like Nash kept him from realizing his potential. The trade that sent him to the Rockets and Lowry’s unfortunate illness provided Dragic a stage to display his considerable skills. He did not disappoint. In those 28 games Dragic started for the Rockets, Dragic averaged 18.0 points and 8.4 assists. His explosion was perfectly timed. Dragic’s rookie deal expired at the end of the season.
Although rumors of clashes between Lowry and Rockets’ coach Kevin McHale soon surfaced, Darly Morey was once again in the enviable position of having two talented young point guards to choose from. Lowry was signed very cheaply for two more seasons. Dragic was a free agent, but the Rockets had the inside track and could offer him more money. The Rockets of course chose neither, letting Dragic sign with Phoenix for a reasonable $34 million over 4 years and trading Lowry to Toronto for a lottery guaranteed pick.
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December of 2011, The Rockets cut seldom never used and end of the bench point guard Jeremy Lin. A year and a half later, the Rockets signed the restricted free-agent away from the New York Knicks with a poison pill contract. The back-filled contract was worth $25 million over 3 years, the third year counter almost $15 million against the matching team’s cap. With Lin, Morey had found his 4th super young and talented point guard in four years. Most GMs would be happy with one.
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Morey is an outlier among GMs. He is unafraid of making unpopular trades, benching veteran players, or fielding a lottery bound roster. He is also Jedi-like in not forming attachments to any of his team’s players. He seems to understand that to realistically contend for a championship, his team’s roster must contain two or three of the NBA’s top 10-15 players, aka super stars. He has already acquired his first top 15 player in James Harden. Judging by his actions, none of Aaron Brooks, Kyle Lowry, Goran Dragic, nor Jeremy Lin fit into the top 15 player description. To round things out, neither do Omer Asik, Gregg Smith, nor Chandler Parson, although Parson is working his way up the ladder.
As the NBA wraps up this June, Daryl Morey will continue his search for a second and possibly third superstar to team up with James Harden. Every other player on the Rockets should not get too comfortable. In Morey’s eyes they are assets, a means to a super star end.
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