After 13 years as general manager of the Houston Rockets, Daryl Morey is stepping down. Houston is planning on promoting executive vice president of basketball operations, Rafael Stone, to replace Morey, Adrian Wojnarowski reports.
The news comes not long after the Rockets fired head coach Mike D’Antoni, likely marking the end of an era for Houston.
Morey’s time with Houston was wild, experimental, and everything in between. His use of analytics to build the Rockets drew endless amounts of criticism. He embraced the 3-point shot like no one before, and most recently took small-ball to an entirely new level this past season, building a roster that featured no rotation player above 6’8”.
More often than not, these experiments fell short. The Rockets failed to make the NBA Finals in Morey’s tenure and endured multiple severe playoff losses over the past decade.
Nonetheless, there was plenty of good to come out of Morey’s job as GM. The Rockets currently hold the NBA’s longest active playoff streak, which dates back to 2013. Under Morey, Rockets star James Harden had some of the most impressive scoring campaigns in NBA history. Since arriving in Houston in 2012, Harden has topped 25 points per game every season, including a high of 36.1 points in 2018-19.
So while Morey never captured his sought-after championship, he has more than enough to be proud of. His innovation as an NBA executive has already revolutionized the game and will continue to do so in the future.
