2024 Rockets First Round Pick To OKC (Top 4 Protected)

At least for now there is nobody on the updated Injury list.

• I do not know what it means and if they can roll out Tari right now.
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• Or is there a conditioning thing to get him up to speed.
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• I have fewer concerns about Fred or Whitmore.

 

I think next year is important enough where the last thing you want to do is denigrate the culture anymore than it has already been the past few years. The team should be playing hard every game and correcting mistakes.

Now should FVV and Brooks take a few games off here and there… fine. But I think in general the best assets they could acquire next Summer would be an improved Sengun, Jabari, Tari, Cam, Amen, etc.

Let the chips fall where they may with the draft.

(but Stone and our scouting team better be doing extra homework on the draft from top to bottom to make sure we are ready to draft at any position).

 

Rockets will be tanking until the end of time…

A top 4 pick in what is the worst draft of the past several years will be the one where the Rockets draft a star? Rockets stay getting clowned on lotto night anyways

with the 5th pick, the OKC Thunder select…

just play the game instead of always purposely trying to lose

 

I don't see much point in flipping the switch back over to tank mode. There's not a Wemby type of talent to dream on. It's not even clear who's going to be the #1 pick at this point, there are at least three and as many as five or six players in that conversation, and none of them seem like future superstars. I like some of the talent in this class, but there's nobody who really gets me excited the way Wemby, Scoot, and Amen did.

On top of that, if you are looking to add two top 10 picks to the roster--how do you find them playing time without committing to yet another season of being bad? You don't want to fall into Detroit's pattern of constantly being in talent acquisition mode and never being in "let's get serious about these guys taking the next step" mode. Even good rookies are rarely ready to be high-level contributors on playoff teams.

I think we should just do our best to win and let the chips fall where they may.

 

Stone and Ime won't purposely tank but guess what? With our talent, we are tanking anyways.

Our medical staff should be in question because these mystery injuries lasting weeks to cure is sus.

 

Hell no. OKC is already building a team that might dominate in the future. You can’t hand them an even better draft pick. The odds of hitting top 4 are too long anyways. The team needs to try to finish the season strong.

 

It's too late for the Rockets to out tank the Pistons, Spurs, Wizards, Hornets, and Blazers. Even if we lose something like 80% of the remaining games we would still end up with a better record then them.

 

When they come out and go 0-6/1-5 and sitting at 24-36/25-35, people will come to your side.

They aren’t making the play-in.
They can’t win on the road.
Don’t have a franchise guy yet.

“Houston has no room for another top pick.” … Of course they do.
OKC has Houston’s pick AND Utah’s pick and 50 future firsts. No one says they have too many picks, not enough room.

 

Tanking at this point of the season is pretty much pointless.

Currently at #10 the most you "improve" your odds by is maybe one, maybe two spots .... and you own one of those two teams directly below your current spot..
Atlanta has a half game lead on you for the 9 spot, you own #8 by way of the Nets who are 3 games better(worse).

The next team on the list has a 5 game head start on you .... and you aren't catching them with 28 games left to play.

There's just not a whole lot of "maximizing" to be done.

Lets just act like winning matters .... #&$k it.

 

Imagine if Presti calls Stone, to offers this 2024 pick (only this pick) back to the Rockets for JGreen. just to F-with Stone.

On one hand, there's folks on this board down on Green enough to say 'go and do it even if a weak draft class'. On the other hand, the possibility of Presti could flip Jalen for better stuff than Stone could, would risk so much embarrassment, that Stone won't do it.

Presti says to Stone, 'you don't want to control your own destiny'?

 

The Tank Program ended with last season. We're out of the tank window. This team is currently in Development Phase. Roster adjustments will follow once management is confident they have handles on the trajectories and ceilings of the young players the Tank Program set them up to procure.

The Destination is reached in a series of deliberate steps.

 

It is also interesting what Udoka does because they are most likely stuck at 11-12th place with merely a mini chance at 10th.....

Udoka might plan for next season with roster adjustments and trying to better the Offense.

 

Just need a little rigging err lotto luck like when…
Charlotte went from 8 to 3
Memphis went 8 to 2
New Orleans went 7 to 1
Lakers went 11 to 4
A few teams who went 7 to 4

 

The forces against the tank are internal, and will have to be overriden for it to happen.

1. Udoka cares about his coaching record and can also argue it's for the sake of building a no quit culture.

2nd and more important override, would have to come from Tillman, who wants this team to be try for play-in (playoffs phase 2). If the team doesn't make the play-in, which is a likely outcome, the greenlight would still have to come from Tillman directly on when the team to stop trying. Even by appearance.​

... The likeliest of outcomes is that team will fail to make play-in, but team also won't egregiously tank because even if play in fails, they will strive to go for the best possible W-L record to compare to last year, as a secondary measure of success. Something (...anything) to report back to the fan base.


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Play-in is a participation trophy. Still trying after is the imaginary ribbon below that.

At a certain point, it could be practical for a late tank, but unless the messaging changes, I see them going for the best possible W-L record even if they know they will be firmly behind 10th.

The org is predictable whether or not we agree or disagree with their decisions and moves.

 

I don't disagree with the math, that's for sure.


I just don't think you are going to make up any ground on the teams below you - except for the possibility of Atlanta and Brooklyn who, if you come out of the ASB and go 2-8 ..... you have probably dropped below both in the standings and there's no where else to go.

The next team is Memphis who has 6 more in the L column today.

If the Rockets go 0-28 after the ASB and finish with 24 wins - Memphis has to go 4-22 to tie.

Odds are against falling lower than #8.

And falling to #8 is entirely possible without a tank job, might even be probable.

 

In a perfect world yes, but the FO is far from being perfect.....I think it would be just mediocrity treadmill.....