If the Rockets can't improve and need to rebuild, how should the team go about it?

[Aruba77]

trade:
morris
Pat
Lee
Bud
Lowry
Dalembert
Scola
Martin

keep:
Parsons
Dontas draft rights
Lull's draft rights

resign:
Dragic
Camby at home-town discount

sign:
Spencer Hawes

[coachbadlee]

One way not mentioned here(and doesn't seem to be very popular here) is trading players for picks. Since this will be a pretty deep draft, lets at least try to add 4 more players around D-Mo.
After hopefully resigning Gogi, Rockets could trade Lowry alone for a low lottery pick. Especially when Portland is rumored to want to trade out of the 1st round all together. NO at 11 could use a point like Lowry. I'm sure Boston could be talked out of one of their 1st. Maybe for an A. Rivers switch or the rights to Llull. Or both for both(picks). Now thats an idea.

[Don FakeFan]

hard, shameless, determined tank.

[thekad]

Tank.

Originally Posted by JunkYardDawg Checkmate.

You're kidding right? People still think Gasol can lead a team to a title? The Lakers have Kobe and Bynum and they're still not even favored to win.

One more time for those who haven't quite gotten it: A Gasol deal isn't a move forward; it's a prettier way of staying still.

[CantBeRight]

TANK FOR SHABAZZ!!

SHABAZZ2013

[jayhow92]

get rid of all who aren't in our future is the first thing we should do.

[solid]

I know what they should't do; keep doing what they have been doing. It is obviously NOT WORKING!!!!!!! My word, get a clue, try something else!

[Raven]

Hard tank, try to land a top pick in 2013 and 2014.

[Phillyrocket]

We've been watching horrible horrible basketball for 3 years now. You want to know how I know it's been horrible because nothing has changed. There has been ZERO improvement. ZERO. There is NOTHING worse than being the best team not to make the playoffs. Nothing worse than watching pointless mediocrity with no clear direction.

That is horrible basketball.

[HI Mana]

Originally Posted by coachbadlee One way not mentioned here(and doesn't seem to be very popular here) is trading players for picks. Since this will be a pretty deep draft, lets at least try to add 4 more players around D-Mo. After hopefully resigning Gogi, Rockets could trade Lowry alone for a low lottery pick. Especially when Portland is rumored to want to trade out of the 1st round all together. NO at 11 could use a point like Lowry. I'm sure Boston could be talked out of one of their 1st. Maybe for an A. Rivers switch or the rights to Llull. Or both for both(picks). Now thats an idea.

4 rookies plus Motiejunas? That's a great way to try and challenge the Bobcats for the worst record of all time.

I doubt anyone is against adding young players, but there are only so many minutes on the court to develop a player; you can get away with one guy missing rotations constantly, but to have 2 you'll be running a layup line. Even if you got a bunch of rookies, you'll just get a repeat of this year, where you have the 09ers warming the bench, and Morris in the D-League. Additionally, it's just not feasible financially, where you'll ideally have a bunch of guys coming up for extensions at the same time.

Going extremely young only stunts the development of prospects; look at Washington or Sacramento. Even Portland, consistenly one of the youngest teams in the league, still couldn't develop more than 2 or 3 players at a time. The Zombie Sonics were absolutely horrible for 2 years being the youngest team in the league, and have basically ended up with an average of 1 good player per draft.

When was the last time that a team managed to develop even 2 non-top 10 picks drafted in the same year?

[J Sizzle]

I'm gunna make it real simple for all of y'all. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY ever trades the number 1 pick. It never happens because the team at the top is guaranteeing themselves the stud of the draft that they want. People need to stop with the "try to trade up to the number 1".

[dobro1229]

Originally Posted by Ricksmith Not only that, but letting Courtney Lee and Dragic walk. Trading Lowry as well, etc.

This is ... how should I say it... Dumb. Either way you look at it, the Rockets will have a young franchise PG going into next season. So you want the Rockets to tank, so they can get the #1 pick to draft.... A franchise point guard???... come on man.

-The Cavs lucked out last year and got the #1 pick last year to take Kyrie Irving. There is no indication that Irving is going to be that much better, if all than Goran Dragic. I think he will be slightly better than Lowry, but even thats pushing it.

There is no point in rebuilding to rebuild with a new franchise PG when you already have two future all-stars available to you next season.

Originally Posted by Ricksmith This is where we are at now. If they completely gut the team, they have a chance at franchise changing players in the draft.

Im going to have to say you are wrong here as well. There is no such thing as gutting this team. You can gut the team through TRADE in a 3 for 1 type of deal, but making the moves that you are wanting to make would be robbing Peter to pay Paul.

They can make a total of THREE moves to do the exact same thing that the Kings, Bobcats, Warriors and co. have done. Even those teams have a few veteran players sprinkled in their mix as well.

Trading Scola would be about the only move that IMO would equate to a few more losses. The other moves would not really make much of a difference for the pro-tankers at heart. Thats like the Kings fans saying the Maloofs are not tanking because they have Francisco Garcia on their roster.

The players that will be replacing those THREE "older" players on the roster are the same types of players that you would be drafting the next year. Again, you want to get rid of everyone on the roster, fine, but your going to be aquiring the same quality of talent in return. If you got extemely lucky in two years of drafting you would get Goran Dragic, Donatas Motiejunas, Patrick Patterson, and Chandler Parsons.

That being said, I believe this team should be gutted, but I believe it should be through trade. A 3 for 1 Pau Gasol type that sets up the next trade and the next trade. Change IS NEEDED, but those of you asking the team to kick the ball out of bounds are kidding yourselves. Its not going to happen. Lets give Morey another year to get some trades done.

[CXbby]

Step 1: HARD TANK

Step 2: If you think fans are disinterested in a .500 team, just watch as fan interest plummet to lows never witnessed before after years of suckitude

Step 3: Enjoy cheering for the championship contending Las Vegas Rockets in 2018 as Clutchfans tankers squirm in agony

Come to think of it, that's how the Thunder got to today too. For those of us out of towners it's cool either way.

[CXbby]

Serious answer, try to trade the whole boat for an existing franchise player, or one in the draft. As it turns out, this is not something easy to pull off. As it turns out, this is exactly what we have attempted(and almost succeeded in) the past 3 years. So I guess that means "stay the course", not to be confused with sitting on their asses twiddling their thumbs.

[Ricksmith]

Originally Posted by dobro1229 This is ... how should I say it... Dumb. Either way you look at it, the Rockets will have a young franchise PG going into next season. So you want the Rockets to tank, so they can get the #1 pick to draft.... A franchise point guard???... come on man.

Lol, where did I say I wanted to draft a PG? I've posted in all the other tanking related threads saying that if the rockets strike out this summer in acquiring a star player, blow this team up. Let the free agents walk, trade the vets for picks or whatever you can get, and field a team of draftees and d-leaguers.

[roflmcwaffles]

I've been on the hard tank bandwagon and I'm still on it. The way the NBA works as it is currently set up, you MUST tank to be successful.

UNLESS you are: LA, New York, or Miami. Stars only want to play with their friends, and only in certain markets.

Also an important side note, Rockets aren't beating the Heat anytime soon, and are unlikely to even beat the Thunder. It is a good time to tank with 2 really good teams, tank hard, get a good draft pick, use cap space to steal Harden away from the Thunder, and all of a sudden you are a contender again.

Then start adding a few vets here and there, and a little luck (like what Mavs got last year), and you have a chance to beat the Heat. Maybe in the meantime James/Wade and/or Westbrook/Durant will split for whatever reason, and only help the Rockets out more.

[dobro1229]

Originally Posted by Ricksmith Lol, where did I say I wanted to draft a PG? I've posted in all the other tanking related threads saying that if the rockets strike out this summer in acquiring a star player, blow this team up. Let the free agents walk, trade the vets for picks or whatever you can get, and field a team of draftees and d-leaguers.

The #1 pick this year just so happens to be a big man. Last year you had Kyrie Irving going #1. If the Rockets are going to build through the draft, they are going to need to aquire franchise building blocks. One of those building blocks would be a franchise PG. They already have two of those that are All-Star calliber and still getting better.

Why would you let go of both of them if you were looking to rebuild? Unless you just wanted to suck forever with no purpose or direction whatsoever.

Thats what it sounds like people really want on here, or they dont know what they want so its easy to say what they are not doing is what they should be doing. Even some of the most respected posters on this site honestly believe that if the Rockets just wouldn't have signed Dalembert this offseason then they would have been so much worse that they would have had a shot at getting in the top of the lottery... Give me a break.

Your logic is that in theory there is a way the Rockets can unload every single one of their players for basically nothing in return(totally throw out the salary cap and how trades in the NBA actually work in reality), and even let go of the good young players they have already so they can get back in the lottery and draft .... good young rookies????...

I can understand trading Scola and Martin if there is a deal out there. Yes, that makes sense. I get it. Go young, and see what these guys can do with heavy minutes. Sink or swim, right?

However, if your getting rid of good young players like Lowry and Dragic to get a higher draft pick at best your going to get someone of equal value to building the franchise back up in the draft.

I know what your getting at, and everyone else is getting at. They all want Anthony Davis or who they think Anthony Davis is going to be in the NBA( which is not guaranteed), and think that just if the Rockets kick the ball out of bounds for one season.... just that one season, they would be guaranteed Anthony Davis.

Truth is most years, if your are lucky enough to into the top 5 in the draft you are fortunate enough to draft a player that has the value of a Goran Dragic, or an All-Star PG. So gutting the good players on this team to get possibly equally valuable players like them back makes no sense to me.

That is unless you have a crystal ball, can see in the future and strike gold in the lottery. If I knew for sure that was even a remote possibility then I would say, yes, Ill dress up as Clutch during the games and run out on the court to go all Tanya Harding on some Rockets ankles to openly try to loose games.

That just isnt reality and the pro-tankers are just loosing touch with reality here. Its not going to happen. The Rockets cannot and will not compete with the god-aweful teams trying to be as bad as they can. Im as frustrated as you and everyone else that claims to be fans of this team, but its time to wake up and come back to reality.

Realilty is they are going to look at gutting the team through trade. 3 for 1 type of deals. That is what is most likely to happen. Get Anthony Davis out of your heads.

[meh]

When I say in the poll option about unwatchable basketball, I mean it literally. Not figuratively. You may feel mad when the Rockets keep getting the 14th pick, but you're not going to feel anything when the Rockets tank. Because the games stop mattering since draft position is the only thing that matters.

I mean, are you really going to even care for games where you know the Rockets have no chance of winning?

Originally Posted by Bball_Gill As far as horrible basketball, I don't know what could leave one with a worse taste in his mouth than going losing six in a row to drive ourselves right out of the playoffs.

Originally Posted by Phillyrocket We've been watching horrible horrible basketball for 3 years now. You want to know how I know it's been horrible because nothing has changed. There has been ZERO improvement. ZERO. There is NOTHING worse than being the best team not to make the playoffs. Nothing worse than watching pointless mediocrity with no clear direction. That is horrible basketball.

[meh]

Originally Posted by dobro1229 I know Ive gone on a tangent on almost every one of these threads but before we go off on the "tanking" direction lets just remember what you mean by tanking Tanking = literally having a front office/ owner/ & most importantly... A coach who is on board with theoretically "kicking the ball out of bounds" This is rarer than you might think. Coaches usually do not want their name tied to a loosing record, and will still try and win games even if the from office strip away quality players for the purpose of going young or whatever. The players are all fighting to get that next contract, make alot of money, and prove something to the world. In the Rockets case, there is no way they EVER theoretically "Kick the Ball out of Bounds." They will not loose games on purpose. This does not happen unless you get a coach and set of older players who simply do not care about their careers at that point enough to try and put the ball in the hole and play half A#$ defense.

No one thinks of tanking thie way you do today. In the NBA, tanking means stripping a team of talent in order to get a higher draft pick. No coaching or players involved. Simply management.

[Ricksmith]

I get what you're saying, I honestly do. What I meant by trading everyone is, trade for bad contracts like Blatche or Okafor so you can get high draft picks. I would love to keep Dragic or Lowry but neither of them will tank when they're about to hit their prime. I understand that draft picks don't always pan out, but they carry a high trade value. I've posted all of this before, but it's all a moot point because Les would never go for it.