Dude was terrible on defense most of his career...there were games were he showed that he can play defense but that was rare...some of the bad games was due to load, dribbling the ball a lot, but at the end of the day he was not a good defensive player and the worst at following defensive schemes.
I also don't miss it when Harden gets torched by not paying attention on defense then yells at his teamates like it was their mistake. The guy literally took zero responsibility there.....honestly, now that I think about it.....his character flaws would have NEVER allowed him to win anything. GOOD RIDDANCE !!! GO ROCKETS ! DD
ok tell me which teams in the league can realistically win it all and which teams should tank? i am sure no more than 5 teams are contenders in your mind... then why have nba at all? There's simply no competition if 25 teams are losing on purpose, there can be no games because its not really a basketball game if i am letting you score at win and missing my shots on purpose
You’ll be watching him on another team. If he is any good, teams will ask for him to be included in trades and everyone is for sale until we find another superstar.
You are wrong on a lot of points here. A draft pick is just one type of asset and the odds of hitting a real franchise altering talent with that pick are still relatively low even with the best of scouting - add to that the fact that relatively few game changing talents remain with their drafting team and it’s clear that transacting for a star is probably the best odds for a quicker rebuild. The model of tanking for x years to hit on a great player in the draft, then waiting for y years for that player to become elite and praying that player doesn’t want out before then is a much larger investment time and resource wise than just trading or trying to sign for a star FA. I would rather take my chances playing the odds with transaction markets and disgruntled stars and being mediocre and growing organizational efficiencies than taking for years to get a Paul George type star who isn’t good enough to lead a team and who eventually forces his way out after investing 8+ years trying to get a player like him and realizing you got a 2nd banana the whole time. I can assure you Stone is aware of this too and that’s why this roster looks eerily similar to the 2011 roster before we traded for Harden - the “we won’t tank, but we also won’t stop pursuing a star so we retain as much roster flexibility as possible to make big trades or create big cap room if we need” method. ...Curry and Kawhi are the only alpha guy title winners I can remember recently who won one with the team that drafted them. to your point though - I agree that no one should be under the misconception that we are trying to build a true contender around this roster - we are just trying to increase the value of our assets and let some other fool overpay for them.
Not really no. We arent trading for anyone that doesnt want to be here....and currently, no one wants to be here. The odds are better drafting your star through the draft and being set up for awhile like Dallas. It also has a greater likelihood of happening than what you are suggesting. We are not LA, NY or Miami. The problem is that disgruntled stars usually want to go play in places they want to live in and with players they want to play with. We dont have that here either. You could be like Dallas or you could be like the Spurs, GS, and Rockets did and get a foundational piece to build with to get you a chip. The pacers also dont have Paul George because their management wasnt good enough and they didnt want to pay bring in another super star to play with him. That Harden trade is something that is unlikely to happen ever again, banking on that is banking on something that has the lowest odds out of anything we have talked about. Well Kawhi had like 3 HOF around him tbh(one of which was Tim Duncan who was gotten by tanking). That's cool and all, and I will be happy if those assets we get back are more draft picks and not a disgruntled superstar coming to play here with nothing.
Wall does, Boogie does, Wood does, Oladipo does....... I get it now, you want to tank - I can respect that - I don't think we are there yet for me, I want to see what this group can do....and Morey showed you can build a team without tanking - just like the Lakers did last year. So, I am all aboard the H- TOWN - HUSTLERS !!!! This years squad! DD
I was aboard the tanking train when it seemed that our season was spiraling down the drain, but if the team is going to play like this, what's the need to tank? We are a decent team that has a decent chance to make the playoffs. You are not going to convince Dipo/Wall/Wood/EG/Tucker/Cousins to tank and I'm glad they made me a believer. I don't have unrealistic expectations, I understand that meddling in mediocrity (not as in our play, but rather we aren't championship contenders) can be really tough, but the lottery doesn't guarantee you anything. Look at the positives, if John Wall is able to build up enough value, he may be a more tradeable contract this summer. Tucker is likely gone mid-season or at least in the summer. You don't have to re-sign Dipo if you choose to head in a different direction. EG will hopefully be valuable enough by the end of the season to trade away as well since he would just have two guaranteed years left on his deal. I am liking that we are giving Silas a chance with this group and installing a winning culture in these young guys. That's a hell of a lot more valuable than tanking this year away. Christian Wood is looking really damn good and who knows, maybe another player will want to come play with him in the future.
Tanking was never truly a viable option. This season. And just the idea of purposefully losing just feels wrong to me.
Where's Boston's title? Or Toronto's success past the one fluke year Kawhi Leonard was there with 7 years consecutive +/- monster Kyle Lowry and All star Kyle Lowry vs a Warriors team missing both Klay and Durant. Doesn't happen. Boston is going to be capped out with Tatum, Brown and Kemba and the only way that's enough is if Tatum takes leaps, which is what they're praying for. You don't pray for something in the planning phase. You build a plan where the things under your control are enough to lead to a title, except luck. Otherwise we're back at spending just enough to lose to the best team. The best team is usually amazing, two superstars or 3-4 All star types with depth and good on both sides of the ball. We're not close to that, especially with Wall and Gordon eating up close to $60m of the cap. It's time to tank. The whole bs about team culture going bad with tanking is a myth. That culture doesn't matter because most of those players won't be around, the ones who have good self discipline will stick around, and to win you will have stars and a coach that just know how to establish team culture. I know it's pleasing to watch this cooperative energy grow, but the ceiling is too low unless luck kicks in, and if you are planning to need luck then it's essentially a losing plan. Luck is the bonus. We are in prime position to rebuild with picks. Have a ton of them, and now need to get a couple more via Tuck and Dipo so that when it's time to acquire a disgruntled star, we can package them with Wall or Gordon. OBVIOUSLY we won't hit on every pick, but Stone (like Hinkie and Morey) will know the statistical probability and will collect enough attempts to ensure we get one. Frankly I can see Oladipo and Woods being being better 2nd and 3rd stars after a year of development, but Dipo wants Miami (or Milwaukee I bet) because he wants to win now, so he ain't waiting around.
Bye tucker. Covington would make defense look fun on this team. Hitting 3’s would get stupid easy knowing you can make stops on the defensive end... this is what was badass about the spurs. The can win on both sides of the court... especially with transition offense... John wall’s specialty.
Wheres the title for okc, and phi? Two prime example of tankers. I'm not opposed to tanking in the right scenario. But I want to build up the trade value of our worst contracts first, by competing. Anybody with eyes can see that Wall is looking healthy and spry, he just needs one good playoff run for another team to want him for assets, instead of mortgaging our future to try and dump him now to tank. Now is NOT the prime position to tank, we don't even have control over our pick and there is a high chance that selling low on our vets would be for nothing this year if we lose the pick. Next year is the prime time to tank with full control over our own pick.
I am NOT a fan of tanking, and I think anyone that is has a loser mentality. "You play to win the game" Tanking for the sake of hoping and praying you get lucky on a kid is not going to draw FA's, is not going to make the fans happy, and is not going to happen. With transactions, you have some sort of example of what the player can do in the NBA. Picks are better off traded for vets you have tape on then anyone coming out of college not named Lebron. If the only teams that should keep their best players are the ones with "real championship" aspirations what would you call Denver? and Utah? Before last year no one would have said they are real contenders, yet they didn't trade their best players, and are they contenders now? YES Dallas got lucky with Luca, but they still aren't contenders. Toronto drafted Siakam but are they really contenders? Milwaukee got lucky with Giannis, and the Warriors got lucky with Steph, besides that what "contender" drafted their players? I say win now and keep winning everyday, and keep BELIEVING anything is possible, you never really know what "contenders" might suffer season ending injuries that make you regret you didn't go for it all. I love this team and I don't see a team of quitters, and I think Rosas knows what he's doing. KEEP WINNING!!!!
