No. 14 — again
Houston's NBA Draft Lottery nightmare continues: Daryl Morey is the unluckiestman in America
Anthony Davis
It's all about how the ping pong balls bounced for the Houston Rockets.
You don't want to take Daryl Morey to Las Vegas. It turns out that the guy who loves number analysis is so unlucky he could be a casino cooler if this NBA general manager thing doesn't work out.
For the third straight year, Morey and the Houston Rockets went into the NBA Draft Lottery hoping to get lucky and move up from the 14th and final lottery pick in the NBA Draft. And for the third straight year, the Rockets stayed stuck right at 14.
Parsons looked good in a suit on ESPN, but he did not improve Morey's luck.
Which means that Morey cannot hope to dramatically improve a Rockets team that's missed the playoffs for three straight years through the Draft.
Of course, Morey's "bad luck" goes beyond the draft lottery, where Houston's statistical chances of actually moving up in any of the years were beyond remote. It extends to Morey's trade for Pau Gasol (which involved the New Orleans Hornets, the team that won the No. 1 overall pick in Wednesday night's lottery) getting killed by NBA commissioner David Stern. It includes building a roster that's just average enough for the Rockets to never be bad enough to get truly good again.
The Rockets only had a 0.5 percent chance at the No. 1 pick in this annual lottery involving the NBA's non-playoff teams. Kentucky forward Anthony Davis — who is good enough to have the Hornets thinking playoffs — was never bringing his impressive wingspan to Houston.
Instead, he'll be on a New Orleans team that's technically still owned by the NBA — one that now clearly benefited from being forbidden from trading Chris Paul to the LA Lakers in that nixed Gasol deal.
Morey moving into the top three was a Hail Mary that Doug Flutie wouldn't even bet on. (If a team doesn't move into the Top 3 it's locked into its original spot based on its win-loss record — which in Houston's case meant 14th. Again.)
Faced with similar odds in 2010 and 2011, Houston also ended up drafting 14th — no one's man land in NBA talent. The last two 14th picks Morey had resulted in Patrick Patterson and Marcus Morris, players who are much closer to falling out of the league then becoming superstars.
Chandler Parsons — the 2011 second-round draft pick who played much better than any of the Rockets' recent first round selections — represented Houston at the draft in New York. Parsons looked good in a suit on ESPN, but he didn't improve Morey's luck either.
The Rockets general manager knows that he must find his star elsewhere. It's back to the table for Morey now, who doesn't have to be reminded that the Rockets desperately need a star to become relevant in a Houston sports market increasingly dominated by the Texans.
