Houston Rockets: Daryl Morey shouldn’t be fired over his public comments

Houston Rockets’ general manager recently got himself into hot water over some public comments that he made. He shouldn’t be fired for it. Why?

Houston Rockets fans — the start of the season is right around the corner and at least we’re getting a glimpse of what the team will look like when things get going.  There’s a lot to be excited about with the addition of Russell Westbrook to the already-potent backcourt along with James Harden so it will be interesting to see how these two work together.

I’d expect no problems between the two as I’m sure they’ll work out on who will bring the ball on any given possession.  The decision on that will be largely situational and it will depend on the play call that would be set up by Mike D’Antoni.

Nonetheless, expect an awesome season out of these guys and I certainly can’t wait until things get started.

But while we’re waiting for that happen, our own general manager Daryl Morey has recently been in the news for public comments that have mired him into some hot water by his boss, owner Tilman Fertitta.

Morey recently tweeted support for a large movement of protesters in Hong Kong against the Chinese Communist Party, the governing body that has had a stranglehold on the country for eons.

The tweet — which didn’t include any of his words, just the logo for the movement — has since been deleted but the link to the original archived tweet is up above.

Shortly thereafter, the Chinese Basketball Association — also controlled by the CCP — announced that they suspended their partnership with the Houston Rockets, which could cause the team to lose millions of dollars in revenue.

This caused a tizzy of swift response by not only the NBA but from Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta who seemed furious that Morey tweeted that out.

The NBA expressed regret over the comments that Morey made but they fully support individuals being enabled to share their own opinions.

Morey did provide clarification to his first tweet yesterday and here’s what he had to say:

And also added this:

This was something that Morey had to do to ensure that the business of the Houston Rockets continues as normally as possible.  There’s no telling that if the relationship between the Rox and the CBA will be restored of if it’s reparable but this could hit their bottom line quite hard without that business coming in.

Despite that notion, Morey has the right to express his opinion on such a delicate subject.

Because it’s a part of our everyday lives, we tend to take our residence in a republic for granted, knowing that others across the world don’t have access to the same inalienable rights as we do.

These protests are amid the absolutely horrible events that occurred in Tiananmen Square in Beijing some 30 years ago, where there were estimates of thousands of Chinese citizens that pwere that were killed at the hands of the government — who had instituted martial law — just because they were speaking out for what they believe in.

The NBA knows that China ranks near the bottom of countries in the world that care most about

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human rights but from a business standpoint, it’s a complicated matter but it’s as if the millions of dollars flowing in wash away the unforgivable sins that have been committed.

With all that being said, Morey’s job with the Houston Rockets should not be in jeopardy as this is his opinion, one that many as well as myself, happen to agree with.

The Chron’s Jonathan Feigen reported — along with Jerome Solomon — that Morey was never on the chopping block for his tweet.

I’m sure Fertitta gave him a stern talking-to — which produced his apology tweet — but it seemed to me that it was more of a clarification of the context of the tweet, not apologizing for what he believes in, to which he shouldn’t have to.

This is good to hear considering that this mastermind of an executive has brought us some of the most exciting basketball to watch through his 12 years of tenure with the franchise.

Although I know that there’s damage in terms of relations between these two entities, I suspect that they will be rectified sooner than later.  The CBA needs the NBA just as much as the NBA needs them.

We’ll have to see how this ongoing saga shakes out; but, at the very least, this story will heighten awareness of what’s going on on the other side of the world to which is extremely important.

This topic transcends sports — it’s all about human rights.

Go Houston Rockets.