Is that the savory smell of a growing Los Angeles Clippers-Houston Rockets rivalry emitting through the air?
In an interview with Ben Golliver of SI’s The Crossover that ran on Monday, Rockets general manager Daryl Morey questioned whether the NBA should ditch the practice of handing out awards altogether.
“I don’t know if this is a good process,” said Morey. “The ones that are decided by players, executives, or media, they all have their strengths and weaknesses. I honestly don’t think there’s a good process. You could argue for eliminating the awards altogether.
“I don’t really see a good way to do it that doesn’t have major issues,” he went on. “I like clean answers. If there’s not gonna be set criteria and there’s gonna be issues with how it’s structured, for me it might be better to not have it.”
Morey’s piping hot take caught the attention of Clippers big man Blake Griffin, who jokingly tweeted in response that perhaps the NBA should just eliminate championships as well while they’re at it.
honestly, we should do away with championships too. seems dumb to me. participation trophies for everybody. don't @ me https://t.co/Hdnow9GoQO
— Blake Griffin (@blakegriffin32) July 31, 2017
There’s little doubt that Morey’s point of view was shaped by his star player James Harden’s second-place finish to Russell Westbrook in MVP voting, something he has griped about before. But perhaps the more interesting subplot here is that after the 2015 Western Conference Semifinals and Chris Paul’s defection to Houston, we now have more evidence that the rivalry quotient between the Clippers and the Rockets is slowly increasing.
