Rockets Sign GM Daryl Morey to Two-Year Extension

The biggest free agent on the market this year just got inked. Kind of. Though he wasn't going anywhere, Daryl Morey's been working without a contract since the end of last season. And today, the Houston Chronicle reports, the Rockets have finalized a deal that will keep him with the team through 2013.

So given the new timeline for Morey and his prior success, what are the odds Morey nabs an Executive of the Year award by the time his next contract is up?

Everyone has written off the Rockets this season, just as soon as Yao Ming was reported to miss the majority, if not all, of the season. "Oh, well. That's too bad. Better luck next time." But a closer examination of Morey's brief tenure with the Rockets proves that many of the teams that he's put on the floor have vastly outperformed expectations. So what leads us to believe that yet again, the consensus that sides against Morey's chances are right again?

Two years ago, when Yao went down, everyone wrote off the Rockets. This was before they rattled off one of the longest winning streaks in league history. Last year, there were rampant concerns about Ron Artest being a force that tore them apart. Instead, he helped them get past the first round for the first time in years. (Sorry, T-Mac.)

This year, losing Yao and Artest is supposed to be the death knell. But the real core of this team is made of players who no one else believed in except Morey, and who have thrived in Houston. Aaron Brooks? Spent time in the D-League his rookie year, and was supposed to be too small to play in the league. Luis Scola? The Spurs gave him away for next to nothing, one of the rare mistakes for the Buford-Popovich regime in San Antonio. Chuck Hayes was a never-was whose defense was a pivotal component of the Rockets' playoff run last season.

And after Yao went down in the Rockets' second round series versus the Spurs, people assumed the Lakers would make quick work of them. Instead, the Rockets ran up 30-plus point leads in pushing LA to seven games, without their best player.

This extension may be perceived as a short-term reward for their recent success, but the real question is this: What does Morey do with a blank canvas? Since he arrived, he's been handcuffed by the traditional model of the franchise, with two huge megastars absorbing most of the cap space. Now certainly, those players have helped, being two of the top players in the league (debatable in McGrady's case). But 2011-2013 will provide Morey and opportunity to start from scratch, using his advanced metrics approach to build a team completely in his and Aldeman (or whoever is coaching at that point) image.

Opinions on GMs shift rapidly in the NBA (Danny Ainge was a boob before winning Executive of the Year, Joe Dumars was considered brilliant for years), but at this point, Morey certainly seems to be the future.