Rockets look like they are going tank mode for a top 4 2021 pick

Not on board

 

The de-urbanization of our drafts is worrisome.

 

Yeah so I don't see a point in tanking the risk is pretty high and there are some BAD teams. I'd rather play well and get our players trade values up. We can tank next year.

 

I'm not suggesting we draft them. I'm suggesting they'll be available whether we win or lose this year.

 

So we basically want Miami, Brooklyn and OKC to keep losing?

 

Oladipo is a good player and on a contract year and Wall and Cousins are basically playing for their NBA lives. Wood is a player out to prove a lot too.

Not that we are playoff locks but I think we'll be a lot more competitive. Not bottom of the league bad...but I wouldn't mind having the worst record.

 

Exactly, the situation would look way better if OKC only had the right to swap their pick with ours. In that case, I think we don't even need to tank, just play and see what seed we can get. We'll probably end up with a pick that ranks around 10, not bad.

It's the fact that OKC has the right to swap the Miami pick with ours that leaves us no choice but tank. It's either try to win as many games as we can, and have a 80-90% chance to lose the pick; or tank hard and have a 50% chance to keep the pick. I like the increased chance of keeping the pick than winning 10 more games in a season where the team has no chance to make the playoffs.

 

There is 0 reason not to tank NOW.
1. The Rockets, try as hard as they might, arent even competitive with a top Western conference team.
2. Given the situation with Covid there has never been a better time to be really bad than now.
3. The 2021 draft is loaded. 2022 is also looking good so there is decent chance the Rockets could walk away with 3-4 foundational players
4. If the Rockets do not tank they are gifting OKC (a team within the Rockets division) another lottery pick in this loaded draft

 

Exactly. There's too much talent left on this team to tank and too many unmovable veterans with guys like Wall and Gordon. They should keep trying to win with this roster and see what they have with Oladipo. If you're till not meshing by the trade deadline, you try to move Oladipo and whatever other veterans you can for picks and assets. But given how low the likelihood of that top 4 pick is with a healthy Wall, Wood and Dipo, I'd rather see them win as much as possible and try to develop chemistry.

 

Lose every game this season!!!

 

Trade Everybody! I want to be so bad we make the 2011-2012 Bobcats look good

 

Disagree for all the reasons I just mentioned. If Wall and Oladipo are healthy, I'm not even sure how you tank on a team with two all-star caliber veterans on it. On top of Wood and the rest of the supporting cast. To fully tank, you'd have to actively try to lose games. Either that or you'd have to move every player of value possible right now and basically hope Wall is happy to sit on the bench for most of the season. Plus, you could do all of that, still not get a top 4 pick and end up getting screwed anyway.

 

Keep Wood though

 

Oladipo is probably a bit better than Levert right at the moment and could be a lot better after giving this a little time.

If we were right at the moment straight up trying to tank that's not the move we'd make.

I think the plan is to give this a little time and see how it goes and make moves from there accordingly. Maybe we'll fully tear it down at the trade deadline to give ourselves the best lottery odds. But even if we shamelessly tanked our way to the worst record, we'd still only have a 50/50 shot to keep our pick. The other part of not keeping our pick is that if it lands 7th or something we're helping OKC build a dynasty.

 

There a lot of reasons not to tank (and a complex debate about its real effectiveness). But main one is that sucking is not cool, not entertaining. And this is an entertainment to me.

 

Yes. Actively try to lose. The alternative is worse. At least doing it now during Covid should take some of the sting out of it.

 

We will trade him to Miami for a draft pick, wants to go to Miami!!

 

Nobody like seeing the sausage made. Sorry you wont be entertained in the short term but in the long terms a couple of eyesore seasons are worth an extended window of contention.