He found that using 13.91 for the exponents provided an acceptable model for predicting won-lost percentages: Morey's "Modified Pythagorean Theorem" was first published in STATS Basketball Scoreboard, 1993–94.

He commissioned and produced the basketball themed musical Small Ball,[8] which opened in April 2018 at the Catastrophic Theater in Houston, Texas.

[10] In 2002 Morey left EY-Parthenon to become senior vice president of operations for the Boston Celtics, with responsibility for setting ticket prices and developing analytical methods and technology to enhance basketball decisions related to the draft, trades, free agency, and advance scouting of opponents for the coaching staff.

[11] Then-Houston Rockets owner Leslie Alexander named Morey the team's assistant general manager on April 3, 2006.

During Morey's tenure, the Rockets did not have a losing record and advanced to the playoffs 9 times, including to the Western Conference Finals in 2015 and 2018.

Lewis uses Morey as a real-world example of one who has exemplified ideas introduced by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, two Israeli psychologists whose work pioneered the field of behavioral economics.

A more intuitive, subjective, fast, and efficient process, System 1 represents the brain's capacity to make split-second choices, often using personal experience to guide decision-making.

Shifting the Rockets' scouting strategy to look at hard data over simple observations, Morey implemented a more System-2-based approach to the team's hiring practices.

[26] The statements were criticized by US politicians and third-party observers for the perceived exercise of economic statecraft by the PRC and insufficiency of the NBA's defense of Morey's tweet.

[31][32][33] Critics also contrasted the league's disparate response to Morey's tweet with its history of political activism[34] and compared the incident to an October 2 South Park episode "Band in China" which parodies the self-censorship of the American entertainment industry to meet PRC censorship demands.

[36][37] NBA commissioner Adam Silver later defended the league's response to the tweet, supporting Morey's right to freedom of expression while also accepting the right of reply from the government of and businesses from mainland China.

[3][4] A Fox Business article said that the NBA would look to Africa and India for growth if the league were to sever ties with mainland China as a result of the tweet.