Man I love that attitude!!! I wished all teams in the NBA would never tank and play their hearts out. Too bad the lottery picks aren't set up that way for teams to play their best.
Time to just bump any and all pre draft threads from last year and save ourselves the work. Rockets style.
Dream might be the best Center ever. That is once in a lifetime. We also got Yao (#1), Francis (#2) and TMac (#9) For all of that we got one second round playoff appearance.
INSANITY=Doing the same thing over and over an expecting different results. Something has to change...
I love how so many people think if you just tank for one year you will hit the jackpot and get a superstar and be on your way. It doesn't work that way. The team with the #1 worst record has a 75% chance of NOT winning the lottery. God help you if you decide to become a tanking team and you don't win the lottery and you aren't hitting on megastars in the draft. Look back through draft histories and try to realize how hard it is to get superstars that way. Yes, some teams do it and it works. Most teams don't. You also run the risk of further stripping away your team's credibility. This city won't support a loser. What happens if you end up being terrible for 4 years, the building is empty, free agents won't sign here and you finally get a really good player in the draft? What have you accomplished? Think about how many teams have been bad and are still waiting for that franchise changing draft pick DESPITE being in the lottery regularly.
That's because of the people they have in charge. I'd have to believe that Morey, given the space to work with high draft picks, would be able to beat what the sucktastic repeat loser franchises have been able to accomplish. Of course it will take luck...and there are no guarantees...but it's an easier way to rebuild, without question. What gets lost here is that this is a business...there needs to be a long term view (see McLane, Drayton). Yeah, it's neat to say, "we're all in every season!!!" You can hold pep rallys and trick yourself into believing you're going to get different results. But you can't be all in every season. At some point, you have to take your medicine. This is particularly so in the NBA (unless you're the Los Angeles Lakers). It's just reality. I don't particularly love it...but I'm ready for them to get on with getting on. They're losing the city big time....and good luck getting season ticket renewals on the back of this last season (absent some major FA acquisition or trade).
I know tanking doesn't guarantee a star, but high draft picks also have high trade value. Look at the Deron Williams trade, look at the Melo trade, etc. Even if a top 5 pick doesn't get a star player, it's a good trade chip for a proven player.
Absolutely. For a franchise hell bent on collecting "assets" a high draft pick in this particular draft would probably be the most valuable asset in the entire franchise, save the championship trophies, themselves.
Does it really though? I think a lot of high draft picks just aren't franchise changers. It's not like every draft is yielding a handful of Durants and Dwights. Even guys like Stephen Curry, Joakim Noah, Al Horford, OJ Mayo, Michael Beasley, Gallinari, Evan Turner, Derrick Favors... If you stripped the Rockets of all their talent so they could get into the high picks of the lottery and you ended up with guys like that...are you suddenly in a significantly better place? You guys make it seem like you would tank, get a great player and then Morey would instantly refill the team with good role players. It wouldn't work that way.
Exactly... Ray Allen trade is another example. And during that whole time, you are allocating the 240 player minutes per game to younger players you are trying to develop. There is no need to rebuild/tank now... first they should explore Dwight and Deron and other "jump forward" type moves. But failing that, the Rockets would be absolute fools to put on another Dalembert-esque band-aid and give it another go.
Our lack of ability to trade for a star has nothing to do with our lack of assets. Do you think if we were one of the worst teams in the NBA and had a high lottery pick to trade Dwight or DWill or some other superstar would suddenly say "yes, Houston is on my list of teams to be traded to!"
maybe it would...maybe it wouldn't (i updated my post, above, by the way).... but is the alternative really better? Morey himself says losing is the easier way to rebuild. We've seen posted here a couple of studies that suggest the same.
Dwight doesn't get to choose where he's traded to...he gets to choose where he signs his next deal. Apparently the Rockets were quite content with that. And hell yes, I think a high draft pick in this draft coupled with other #assets would be as good as the Magic could hope for in that sort of trade.
Well let me be clear. I agree with Clutch's point that there is no sense in signing guys like Dalembert going forward. If you can't get a big trade done, I'm all for taking a total "build through the draft" approach and let the chips fall where they may. I just don't support the "trade away all valuable pieces and become a horrible team" approach. The problem is you have a good GM. I know people want to knock him right now, but he makes good personnel decisions. He's trapped in an era where superstars are super picky and he didn't get to inherit a team that was horrible. It's going to be nearly impossible under Morey to get into the high lottery (without a lucky ping pong ball) because he doesn't make enough mistakes. If you really want to take what you have to hope for is that Les fires Morey and hires a boob as a GM and then trades away all the talented, hardworking players on the team and lets the boob GM blow any draft where we aren't picking say, 1-5.
Wow even Clutch believes...Im impressed...Go Rockets in the end...I want to see another title in our town...and good God ...we know we need it after having years of futility with the Texans and Astros...I spent a couple of years in the east coast and went to some games at Boston, NY....seeing their teams being competitive year in and year out isnt what they want...its title or bust...go big or go home...that's their mentality...The Rockets mgmt should show the NBA nation its willing to go Big..and make Houston an attractive place for stars again...I believe it can be done...but we need to stop having the fans of Houston continuously bash this city...
Yes, but generally with these superstars they control where they are going to end up being traded. As for Dwight specifically, the Rockets probably could have pulled off the trade for him before he opted back in. But yes, obviously high draft picks are better assets than lower draft picks, potential lottery picks, etc.
Let's just hope and pray NJ doesn't get their pick back. If so, they can S&T Lopez with that pick for Dwight which would be better than what we could offer, thus completely ruining the major plan.
