I am not the most die hard basketball fan, but I am excited about this move.
And the butthurt from the national media and Lakers' associates has been amazing. One ESPN writer actually brought up the old bullshit about the Rockets' back-to-back championships being tarnished by MJ's absence (nevermind that everyone was itching to coronate Ewing at the time, and MJ was in the playoffs for the second one).
I love it, and I hope the Lakers claw their way into the first round and get their teeth kicked in by Harden and Howard.
As an aside, luck played a big role (the Pau deal getting negated, etc.) but Daryl Morey is a badass. At this point last year, Houston's MVP was Kevin Martin. Think about that.
I wish them the best.
The Mavs really need to give some consideration to trading Dirk and rebuilding this thing. So while they are down, it would be nice to see the Rockets make a run at the thing.
Again, the way so many people are so insulted by him leaving the Lakers to come here is funny. I don't get why people feel the need to insult the town or the franchise. From a basketball perspective, Houston was by far and away the best situation. Golden State also would've given him a really nice team as well, but they get into things too late.
As for Daryl Morey, the guy is a great GM. The only reason the Rockets were down for so long was because they couldn't bring in any big FA's, but it wasn't due to a lack of effort on his part. Most of the big names already had their minds made up as to where they were going, so it wasn't like he was striking out. He tried to get Pau as you mentioned, but the NBA nixed that. But his persistence and patience paid off and he got his big name to go with another star.
I hope they make a deep run so all of the so-called experts are forced to eat crow.