The Rockets’ greatest strength is they always have a vision

Daryl Morey, the general manager of the Houston Rockets, receives much more praise and criticism than most NBA executives. That’s because he draws a lot more attention than most of his colleagues.

From his active Twitter account to his role organizing the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference to his innate ability to draw high-profile media coverage, Morey is front of mind quite often. That results in heaps of laurels when things go right (such as in 2015 and, well, right now) and a chorus of hisses when things go upside down (as in 2016).

Things are going well for Morey and the Rockets right now. They dispatched likely NBA MVP Russell Westbrook and the Thunder in five games and get to rest while the San Antonio Spurs try to close out the pesky Memphis Grizzlies.

The Rockets wouldn’t be favorites against the Spurs: San Antonio would have home-court advantage and went 3-1 against Houston during the regular season. But Houston would have a real shot at winning the series and advancing to the Western Conference Finals for another potential bite at the Golden State Warriors. (If Memphis knocks off San Antonio, which remains a possibility, Houston would enter that series as favorites with home court.)

Two trips to the conference finals within three years would be a mark of huge success for the Rockets and one not achieved since their back-to-back championships behind Hakeem Olajuwon in the mid-1990s. These Rockets have already eclipsed the Rockets Morey inherited when he took over as GM in 2007. That team starred Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady, yet only won a single playoff series. How Morey guided Houston from the end of that era to this mad science experiment without ever having a losing season is really impressive.

How did Morey do it? He’s always had a vision, and he’s usually executed it.

That seems so basic, but you’d be surprised at how many NBA franchises lack a vision for how they want to play, a thesis on how that style will help them compete, and a plan on how to execute that vision.

After Yao and T-Mac departed, Morey’s vision was to acquire two legitimate NBA stars. His study of the league found that you don’t win big without stars. He’d also determined — likely with input from the franchise owner and the team’s business leadership — that tanking wouldn’t work in Houston. (You wonder how hard his understudy Sam Hinkie pushed for such a strategy.)

From the 2009 offseason through the summer of 2012, Morey’s Rockets were in no man’s land. They were too good to get good draft picks and too bad to make the playoffs. Houston was on the so-called treadmill of mediocrity.

But Morey prioritized amassing assets — picks, young players, tradable contracts, undervalued veterans like Kevin Martin and Luis Scola — for an eventual trade for a star while remaining competitive enough to put butts in seats. It worked. In October 2012, facing luxury tax problems, Oklahoma City agreed to trade James Harden to Houston for a package of picks and players.

That deal was Morey’s vision come to life.

A year later, with a star in hand and the Rockets back in the playoffs, Morey convinced his second star — Dwight Howard — to join as a free agent. That worked less well. Howard and Harden didn’t mesh, and Howard wasn’t a great fit for how Morey and coach Kevin McHale wanted a Harden-led team to play. The combo and some discount role players did manage to get the Rockets to the conference finals two years ago, but it all blew up in 2015-16. Howard left. Houston basically said, “Good riddance.”

So Morey adjusted his vision: He’d hire offensive mastermind Mike D’Antoni as coach. D’Antoni would convert Harden to a full-time point guard. Morey would surround Harden with shooting. The Rockets would break their own records for three-pointer volume. The team’s defense would rely on Patrick Beverley, Clint Capela, and the discount veteran Nene. (Also, hopes and prayers.)

If the vision worked, Houston would have an elite offense and a passable defense, and that combination would boost the Rockets back into the elite of the West. It worked.

The Rockets had one of the most efficient offenses in NBA history. Harden set records for point creation and would have been a slam-dunk MVP if not for Russell Westbrook going ballistic for six straight months. Eric Gordon and Ryan Anderson handled their roles beautifully. Capela, Beverley, and Nene did their jobs. D’Antoni cleared his name.

Things could have gone sideways with an injury or a down season for a key player, but knowing what he wanted to do going into July 1 was a huge boon for Morey. Instead of waiting out the whims of another star, he targeted shooting and built his roster.

It wasn’t without hiccups — remember the Donatas Motiejunas saga? — but it worked. That vision informed Morey’s work at the deadline, too, as he flipped a pick for Lou Williams, who served a real purpose within Houston’s system as a reliable backup creator.

The result is a 55-win team that has as good a shot as anyone to disrupt the Warriors’ quest for a title. (This is to say no one has a good shot, but that the Rockets are among the teams that have some measurable, if poor, shot of doing so.)

Even better, the Rockets are built in a self-perpetuating way. For as long as the 27-year-old Harden can play like this, Houston can put shooting and defenders around him, tweak the roster and system, and win big. The vision doesn’t really rely on the whims of anyone other than Harden. So long as he’s invested, the Rockets can stay the course.

Morey’s personality rubs some the wrong way, and there’s a good bit of schadenfreude when things go poorly for him and the irreverent Harden. But the man has been successful.

Plenty of other GMs could learn a lesson from how he’s rebuilt the Rockets around a new vision, how he’s refused to allow Houston to get stale, how he’s been unafraid to push the boundaries of NBA tactics. For whatever faults we can assign to Morey, we can’t take away his victories. And isn’t that what matters most in this business?