David West to Daryl Morey: Take That, Nerd

Here’s where the Houston Rockets are at. They’ve been knocked out the playoffs by the Golden State Warriors in four of the last five years. The last two have been especially painful because the crown was right there for the taking. Stephen Curry’s 33-point second half flurry and huge contributions from some Warrior role players led to a stunning Game 6 road victory.

The Rockets must now figure out what the hell they’re going to do to get through this buzzsaw. And do it through the pain. Former Golden State forward David West had some non-constructive advice. Muzzle Houston general manager Daryl Morey, whose forward-thinking analytic approach has brought the team to near-title level.

This is both a very good 1980s zinger and an indicator West didn’t pay a ton of attention while he was winning championships. Curry and Klay Thompson tended to shoot a lot of three-pointers.

Last night, for instance, Houston shot 39 triples and Golden State heaved 38. Not much of a difference there.

The organization embraced and still embraces advanced metrics. Though, to be fair, they also did the very un-nerdy thing of signing four of the top 15 or so players in the league, which even a meathead realizes is sound strategy.

Nerds and jocks alike have been trying to find the Warriors kryptonite. It seems that LeBron James and goading Draymond Green into a suspension is the only thing that works. So it’s easy to take shots at Morey and Houston for repeatedly failing to climb the mountain.

But I guess I’d ask West: what’s your plan then?