3 reasons Rockets’ Daryl Morey deserves Executive of the Year

3. Recovery from China fiasco

Prior to the official start of the 2019-20 season, Houston Rockets general manager found himself in the middle of a political firestorm, which he surely couldn’t have expected. It’s obvious that Morey didn’t realize his tweets would have such an impact and it’s also important to know that Morey never actually said a word.

The tweet forced Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta to publicly speak out and make it known that Morey wasn’t speaking on behalf of the Rockets. The response by the basketball analysts was quite egregious, as nearly everyone thought Morey should have lost his job.

Morey ended up being the face of a social issue he couldn’t crawl out of, which is likely why we never heard him voice his thoughts or rationale regarding this incident. This has certainly been the best course of action for Morey, as the most logical move was to keep quiet and move forward. But how could one move past such a firestorm?

Morey has done just that, as he’s made all the necessary moves to lift the Rockets to contender status. Morey has also caused many of his biggest critics to publicly admit they’ve become fans and supporters of the Houston Rockets small-ball system he helped create.

We don’t need to recap exactly what happened during this China fiasco and it’s certainly not fair to gloss over the issue he referenced that’s affected the lives of many. But Morey deserves to be praised for how he was able to move forward and focus on the task at hand for the Houston Rockets. We’ve never seen a general manager find themselves in the hot water Morey was in but he should be commended by his response to this situation, which has been to simply press along.

Next: No. 2