I'm glad your choices in the poll are written in a completely unbiased way... I mean you wouldn't get the poll to go your way if the only options were a) tank or b) don't tank...
Say it with me folks... It's not called tanking >>>> It is called developing young talent.. That is all...
I vote for tanking. I want Rockets to be the New York Yankees of NBA. I want them to contend every year. We need at least one legit superstar to build around and you won't find them in a trade unless you are LA Fakers. Tank and pray that we land our next Hakeem in the draft. I can live with one lost season but not being mediocre for the next ten.
What Clutchfans dont realize about this idea of "Tanking" Yeah, you tell a bunch of competitive pro athletes(most of whom are on their rookie contracts), to start dribbling basketballs off of their feet and letting the opposing team lollygag their way to an open layups when they are playing for MONEY!!!!... The performance of these players this year could bring them a chance at solidifying a longterm contract worth MILLIONS of dollars, earning an All-Star appearance, building their own personal brand with endorsements, or just earning them the opportunity to delay a worthless career wasted in an office cubicle that awaits their post NBA days. Plus if you are a player wanting national media attention, you either beat up your girlfriend in a drunken rage to get a 5 minute segment on E:60, or you win games to get on national TV. The players could care less if they are 0 and 65, they are going to play there butts off to win game 66. Oh and Kevin McHale, hahaha....you think there's nothing at stake with his coaching livehood and future career as a professional coach if the Rockets stink it up? Plus,.... yeah MILLIONS of dollars a coach can make in the NBA. Plus there is zero chance he ever gets another chance to coach in the NBA if the Rockets end up going from 43 wins to coming in close to last place. As for the front office, Morey can "look towards the future" by trading veterans like Kevin Martin and Luis Scola, but whose to say they dont end up winning more games with new talent like Patterson getting more playing time? There are many, many personal reasons for the Rockets players and coaches to NOT TANK. Regardless what the front office, owner, and fans want for the rare chance at drafting someone like Hasheem Thabeet with the #2 pick in the draft. So give it up with the Tank talk. Going young is one thing, but tanking just wont happen, so let it go.
I am not for tanking i am for trading the veterans and letting the young players get their shot... keep Lowry and Hayes so that they can keep effort levels high. Whatever happens record wise happens. I wouldn't mind getting the 14th pick if was on the back of Marcus Morris, Hasheem Thabeet, Lowry, Williams, Lee, Bud, Hill and the rest of the gang. What i dont want to see happen is to add an expensive veteran center FA and only become marginally better. If it so happens that the young guys have learning curve and arent good enough to get us close to the playoffs then im also happy with a top 5 pick in next years class and a full year of experience for our youngsters. Plus we might actually be able to pick up some good players/ picks for Martin and Scola. Then the future looks incredibly bright you have a top pick in the draft, a group of young players who have now played with each other for a season , and a lot of capspace to bring in veterans for a more serious run in 2012-2013. So what if the young players fail ..... then we at least know who can and can't cut it early on and no one will be dissilusioned by the prospects of Thabeet or Williams. What is crazy though is to never give players that talented the minutes that they need to develop. In thabeet you have a guy that was drafted number 2 overall just 2 years ago and doesnt have injury problems. He hasnt gotten much playing time and lacks basketball experience. Yet he is 7 foot 2 and an atheletic freak for his height. Many of the Posters here wanted him bad in the the draft. Are you really telling me now that you would rather pay Tyson Chander ... a man who up until this year... was only good when he had chjris paul throwing alley oops to him .. Keep in mind Chandel would come at double the Price and we would be stuck with him. Same with Nene ... This is a player who is smallish for the center position and even though he has been productive... he has maxed out and wont get any better. Are you people so impatient that you will not tolerate one year of young players and their rookie mistakes to see what we have.... People will say but Dan, rebuilding takes many years and even then you are not guaranteed a superstar... Traditionally you would be correct however the rockets are not a typical case We already have on our roster 6 lottery picks from the last 3 years. And a top 10 ( in my mind ) point guard in Lowry. And a solid young SG in Lee. We already have alot of young talent that was just wasting away on the benchj last year due to adelmans need to try and win every game. Even if only 3 out of the 6 picks pan out. Most people think patterson will... all that needs to happen is 2 of Morris, Thabeet, Twill, Hill, and Flynn to pan out and we suddenly have 3 solid to all-star level starters at a much cheaper and younger level than Scola and Martin .. plus we can get more for scola and Martin than we can for any of those players at the moment. We Also have Montiejunas who based off of pure potential was probably a top 5 pick in last years draft. Add to that young core a top 5 pick in 2012, a kicks pick, whatever young players/ picks we get from scola and martin and FA's from the 2012 class ... based off of how our youngsters do I would say that we could be done rebuilding by next year. Also if there is one thing i have complete confidence in Morey to do it is draft well. He basically hasnt screwed up yet. Many people complain about missing on 2nd round picks. But he has actually hit on a few ... Alot of GM's screw up on their first round choice. My only complaint with his drafting is that he sometimes undervaules potential... like in the case of Taylor over Jordan. But if Morey is picking in the top 5 he is going to get high ceiling players anyways. Those not in favor of "Tanking" better have a good ass plan on how to compete and i mean really compete THIS YEAR. And Frankly to get the superstar we need to compete we are gonna have to give up alot of our assets which could really hurt us in the future if we dont win at a high clip this year. Sure its fun going to the playoffs and believing that anything can happen and rooting for a legit contender..... but getting a top pick can be just as exciting for many years in the future... I hope Morey was lying through his teeth when he said we were going to try and rebuild without losing... because the way i just posted is about as close to rebuilding quickly and with minimal pain to the fan base as possible. In Summary " Tanking " or as i like to call it letting the young guys play thus simultaneously giving them needed experience to develop and also getting a top 5 or 10 pick... is the safe way to do things .. and maybe its my personallity but i would rather be safe than sorry especially when it comes to trying to build a championship team. If you give up alot of Assets for one player alot can go wrong and you can shoot yourself in the foot for 5 years. Thats basically my view on things .. now i need to get back to writing this 10 page paper.
Spurs tanked 1 season = duncan. OKC tanked a few years = Durant, Westbrook, Hardin, Ibaka. Heat tanked a few years = Wade, Butler (got Shaq in a trade). Now they attracted Lebron, Bosh. I can continue with almost every team. The only teams making trades for Stars are NY and LA.
If that's how you choose to remember it. Truth is the Spurs lost their cornerstone due to injury and won the lottery, didn't tank. The Thunder/Super Sonics were just bad, no tanking needed. Heat had two bad seasons and used the draft wisely to rebuild. The idea that tanking leads to future championships is misguided. Rebuilding and tanking are not the same thing, and out of the three examples given only one was not in the middle of rebuilding. San Antonio could shut down robinson for the season beacause they knew that the season was lost and worst case scenario they would have him back the next year plus a young piece to build around him. Just so happened it ended up being Tim Duncan. The Rockets don't have that luxury. In any case, since the lottery was instituted, only 3 players drafted in the top 5 have lead the team who drafted them to a championship (4 if you want to count Jason Kidd). I'm not opposed to the Rockets rebuilding, but rebuilding doesn't mean to purposely lose in order to better their draft position. Rebuilding is trading veterans for young players with potential or for future draft picks, but still playing the players that give you the best chance to win.
right... 2010-11 OK City W55 L27 2009-10 OK City W50 L32 2008-09 OK City W23 L59 2007-08 Seattle W20 L62 2006-07 Seattle W31 L51 yup that losing sure lasted forever..
Difference is they were bad and rebuilt their team around Durant, not tank 3 seasons to get high draft picks, which is what some are clamoring for.
no one here has said tank for 3 years. People just want a real shot at a Superstar. The odds favor drafting one before we trade for one or sign one in free agency
All I'm saying is tanking will not fix anything. The team needs to rebuild, plain and simple. Tanking might get you a superstar, but without a commitment to rebuilding you can end up like the Cavs, doinf whatever to try to appease your franchise player... and then failing. To me, tanking is purposely handicapping the team for the sole purpose to better the draft odds. If Scola is on the team and he is producing, he should play. If Martin is producing, he should play. And so on and so forth. The team is currenlty built to compete now with the addition of an in his prime superstar. If Morey and the front office can't trade for one, then one year of suckage will not make them contenders and they must commit to the future, not by tanking but by rebuilding.
You mention the Cavs but they arguably have a brighter future than the Rockets. Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson is a solid foundation to build around.
The problem is talent wise the last two seasons we should have been one of the wost teams in the leagues, but our players had too much heart and our coach was too good... Jerks. Putting us at a draft pick where we get players at the same level we have, putting us in a turrible cycle.
Mickey I do like your point of view but when you say rebuilding how do we go about doing that? If the Rockets are unable to attract tier 1 talent then the only course of action to aquire one is to "tank" to get a better chance at aquiring one in the draft. Now of course we can hope, pray,dream that our tier 3-4 players can develop into that mega star but the chances of that are really slim. Martin who is at best is a tier 2 star has already reached his potential and Scola (tier 3) is already 31. I don't see the Rockets becoming a "Champtionship" contendar anytime soon.. Granted they can be a good team but a Championship one? If you can explain how we can rebuild into a "Championship" team then please due tell, because I would rather go that route than tanking.
They should then shop Martin and Scola. I think where we differ in opinion is in our defintion of "tank." The problem with the team is they spent too many resources trying to keeping a crumbling foundation upright. Scola was brought in to comliment Yao & Tracy, Martin was suppose to comliment Yao, it's now time to realize the franchise needs a new direction. That doesn't mean amnesty cutting these guys, or dumping them just to dump them, or benching them in favor of less talented player just because of the date on their birth certificate. Again, I'm in favor of rebuiling, but that, in my view, doesn't mean to set up the team for failure for a better draft position. People think that tanking for 1 year will solve all our problem, but in reality the team needs to rebuild and suffer the growing pains of a young team.
Again, difference is they were just bad, no tanking involved. This season, even with Irving and Thompson(who they reached for), they'll still be bad and they'll get another high pick. But again, no tanking necessary. They probably have two more seasons of lottery picks before they have an actual playoff contender, and they will not challenge for a championship until they finish rebuilding (if they ever do, as most teams never do). So basically, one bad year has not solved the Cavs woes, and neither will one season of tanking for the Rockets. The term is rebuilding, not tankning, and they are two different things (regardless what some might think).
Yea I might keep Martin because he's still young (28) but Scola (31) doesn't fit the model anymore and there are other young players waiting in the wings at his position to get some burn. Plus I think we can get something nice for him. Lowry / Goran / Flynn Martin / Lee Budinger / TWill / Morris Patterson / Hill Thabeet Plus someone we'd get for Scola. That should let us know what we have. Our oldest player would be Martin at 28. Next would be Lee at 26. Add a couple of 2012 picks...
Well Tristan Thompson is bust already. They made pretty dumb decision while Jan Vesely, Valanciunas, Biyombo was still on the board.
