NBC’s PBT leaves Rockets’ Daryl Morey off top GM’s list

Although Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey is certainly a deserving candidate for the Executive of the Year award, not everyone in the national media agrees.

It’s no secret that the Houston Rockets boast arguably the best general manager in the league in Daryl Morey. Morey has made moves year-after-year to display a willingness to take the necessary risks to put the Rockets in contender status. This has meant taking a flyer on a future Hall of Famer in Carmelo Anthony and even trading away The Point God himself, Chris Paul.

Morey has certainly worked his heroics this season, as he was able to land one of the better 3-and-D wings in the league in Robert Covington, while also being able to scoop up DeMarre Carroll and Jeff Green off the buyout market, in spite of Green being passed on by every team in the league. Morey was able to do all this while keeping the Rockets below the luxury tax threshold, which is a tall order.

In spite of Morey’s brilliance this season, he didn’t crack the top three in NBC’s ProBasketballTalk’s Executive of the Year award. PBT had three “experts” compile a list of their top three Executive of the Year candidates, and none of them listed Morey in their top three, as the GM’s listed were LA Clippers GM Lawrence Frank, Oklahoma City Thunder GM Sam Presti, Miami Heat GM Pat Riley, Boston Celtics GM Danny Ainge, and Milwaukee Bucks GM Jon Horst.

It’s not to say that those candidates aren’t deserving of mention, as they all certainly are, but it seems odd that Morey wouldn’t have even been listed by one person. Morey’s had quite an eventful year, as he was arguably involved in the biggest sports story of the year, but was able to re-direct himself to position the Rockets to contend for a title this season.

It’s hard to not view this as yet another slight against the Rockets by the national media, as Morey was certainly deserving of mention. Hopefully the award doesn’t go the same way, but if any of these analysts are voters, we may be in for a similar result.