[Confirmed] Rafael Stone involved in practices, coaches meetings, halftime discussions

Imagine if Green or Sengun were raised in the Celtics organization


I want to cry.

 

How? That seems contradictory to me at least the "tank" and "strong culture" part. I assume you mean "tank" as in intentionally being bad because that's how I am using it.

I've never heard of this current Thunder squad and culture mentioned in the same breath. Just last season there was some friction because of SGA being too good and shutting him down. Just a quick google search:

NBA Insider Criticizes Oklahoma City Thunder For Tanking Strategies: "What The Thunder Did With Al Horford And With Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Is Far More Egregious And Far More 'Tanky' Than Anything Sam Hinkie's 76ers Ever Did."

Are they relying entirely on Lucas? At the NBA level, it's the assistant coaches that do most of the actual development and coaching so it's not surprising to me. Coaches like Pop are outliers.

I just view Sila's position as damned if you do and damned if you don't and I don't except him to be head coach indefinitely.

Tilman isn't a culture setter so a lot of y'all would do well to find another team to root for if you are that worried about top down culture.

Also EG doesn't want to be part of a rebuilding team when he can still be a contributor on a playoff team. EG isn't the sort of vet you bring in to establish culture.

Austin Rivers and Matt Barnes both went on podcasts talking about how vets are crucial for culture and development. I believe the "culture of being a winning professional athlete" comes mostly from the players/peers.

Which is what they set out to do..... A Hinkie style tank job and yet folks are actually surprised?

Just seems foolish to try and judge this current iteration when the plan is to be awful. This is all a moot point if we are respectable and in the playoff race in a couple of seasons. I get it though.... people want their cake and eat it too.

 

They'd be playing for the Celtics a lot.

The Portland Celtics.

 

I'm talking about 5 years ago when Tatum and Brown just just joined the Celtics.

 

By tanking I mean losing a lot of games and competing for a high draft pick.

A team can lose a lot of games in the short term and still be well coached, well managed and set firm boundaries and have a focus.

The Thunder have that. They have a well rounded coaching staff and competent front office and prioritize particular types of play and players.

There is a focus that is lacking with the Rockets.

Watch the Thunder play, and they are far more organized and know how to do things that the Rockets players do not.

That has very little to do with the Thunder deciding to sit Alexander last year or Al Horford. It has to do with the environment through-out the organization and roster construction.

Is it entirely on Lucas and Hollins? A lot of it is, yes and the fact that the organization points to them tells me all that I need to know.

Eric Gordon told everyone why he doesn't want to be on the Rockets. Nothing has changed, nothing has improved and that is consistent with an organization with a lack or culture, a lack of focus and a lack of good coaching.

There are other veterans on other organizations that do fine.

Habits and expectations are set early and the first 3 years of a players development at the NBA level is crucial.

It has nothing to do with wanting their cake and eating it too. The Rockets are going to lose a lot of games regardless of who is coaching them and running the organization. The issue is that the players are not being coached as well as they should, they are not being held accountable and the organization lacks a clear vision or uniting philosophy and that is going to hinder the development of the young players if it isn't addressed.

We have seen this happen before with the Sixers teams and the Bulls and Wolves teams.

 

But why?

Silas's record is so bad right now, that I honestly don't think he will get another head coaching chance in the NBA anytime soon.

I get he had to wait for 16 years. But as soon as he realized this was the situation, he should have bugged out so that he could get a decent assistant job and maybe get another chance later on.

 

and the dysfunction continues... smdh...

go from a narcissist and his enabler... to the inept and a control freak...

 

LOL.

Nobody cares about mentality when you got that skill set at 7 feet. Do you want to comment on everybody else's mindset in this draft since they are not in Euro league?

Talk about passive-aggressive you just worried that somebody else might take some shine away from Sengun.

 

What Celtics Organization?

The Celtics Organization that sucked balls for years before they drafted Brown and Tatum?

The Celtics organization that underachieved for years before last year under a new coach?

Their success is not about being raised in an organization, it's about players maturing while also having the right coach.

 

Uh ya. So Green and Jabari being raised in a system under Brad Stevens and Danny Ainge?


Who would you rather have as a GM/coach pair?

Stone/Silas or Ainge/Stevens?

 

We're literally 2 years removed from being a playoff team. Can we at least get 3 solid years worth of top draft picks/assets before we start the sky is falling threads? As far as I'm concerned, the last 3 years have been great. Why be a fringe playoff team? Or even worse, why be a "good" tanking team? If we're going to suck, we might as well really suck. I think the focus should be getting the young guys we want, individual player development, then instituting culture/chemistry. But relax...we're simply not there yet.

 

No problem with tanking while we have our picks. It's that next year OKC owns the pick outright, they really can't afford to be a garbage sub 30 win team next year.

 

What system did Brad Stevens and Danny Ferry have? A system that could not control their 2 best players and maximize all the talent they had? The system that another coach had to break the bad habits they had accumulated?

This is not about Stone/Silas vs Ainge/Stevenson, it's about players having to mature themselves and accept guidance.

 

This.

It just goes to show you how entitled we are, I have no idea why anybody thinks the "culture" is why we are losing.

 

Of course it's possible..... but we have Tilman. I'm not sure why you can't set your expectations lower?

I'm certainly not arguing that I like what's happening, but you and others just can't accept that we decided to do a Hinkie style tank job.

Because the Thunder have their franchise guy in SGA who is a great scorer and playmaker...... They started off their tank by trading for a guy who became a franchise player...... that and an owner who will invest in resources (like paying the Spur's elite shooting coach to switch teams). Totally different situations than the Rockets.

You can deny it all you want but no one was writing about the Thunder culture the previous seasons, it was the opposite as there were rumblings about SGA being unhappy.

If you want to argue that the Thunder are a better run organization, then I got no arguments there and agree.

I'm not arguing that the Rocket's organization is in a good place, I'm just telling you what the Rockets are doing..... A Hinkie style tank job.

Vets need to be on board with what the organization is doing. EG is just a red herring at this point.

But the Rockets want to lose the most games...... Savvy?

We are talking about two seasons of our 2021 draft class being part of a Hinkie style tank job. Lets at least wait and see what happens in the offseason before we go claiming our rookies are a lost cause...... fair?

Which is why I said we are going through a Hinkie style tank job...... And 2 out 3 of those teams ended up drafting franchise players.

I'm just not ready to entirely write the Rockets off.