I was all in for tanking. Last night could be an anomaly or it could mean we have no chance at a top 4 pick. Let’s look at the competition. Minnesota, Detroit, and Washington are shoe-ins to be worst. If we can re-do the trade including another team to off-load Oladipo, who do we have to “beat”? Chicago Oklahoma City Toronto New Orleans Sacramento Is there any way we can get that bad?
You don’t need to be ranked in bottom 4 to get a top 4 pick. Just need some lucky bounce of the lotto ball. Of course, the closer you are to bottom 4, your chance of getting the lucky bounce is also higher.
Well, there's still the lottery, right? And it's even expanded to 4 teams. So, still a chance we could get a top 4 pick even if we're outside of the top four. By the same token, there's barely a 50% chance we'll get a top 4 pick even if we are 1 of the 4 worst teams at the end of the year. I think the Rockets best way forward is to just play hard to try to win and bring up some of their current players value up to the point where maybe we could get something in return for them. If we trade Oladipo and Tucker (and less likely, Gordon), then maybe we could be bad enough to be in the top four area. But the current team is just not bad enough. Couple that with the ping pong balls, and I'm just going to have fun watching the team and not worry about it. I may start paying more attention to "tanking" if we flip more players.
And I don't think anyone is going to straight ask Silas to tank after all of this, not someone with coaching pedigree. A lot of people have gone into National media to vouch for him, he is going to give his all and a few of the journeyman will buy in. I think it's a very long shot and we would have to be struck by injury
There is absolutely no chance this team is a bottom 4 team. There is a higher chance that they have home court in the playoffs. This team is going to be an 8-12 seed most likely. If everything clicks quickly 6-8 seed. This is the most All Star Level players this team has had. There just isn't a superstar in the bunch. This team could mirror the Atlanta teams with Bud with a lower ceiling and lower floor.
We have a coach that wants to win. We have players that want to win. Without more trades to make this team worse, it’s unlikely we will be bottom four in the league.
Detroit and Minnesota are horrible. I expect Washington to start playing better. Toronto will be better than us. Sacramento and New Orleans should be as well, but I don't feel great betting on that. So of those you listed, I see the bottom teams as Houston Minnesota Detroit Chicago OKC So I think we have a chance.
Yesterday i thought about this and I'm now against tanking. Not only does it suck to root for them to lose just because the odds of something increase, but it also sets the tone for a losing culture which, atleast to me, seems like the main problem these teams that have been tanking all those years have. Detroit, NYK and so on have all been tanking for years and their dudes, despite being top picks, have all turned into losers. There is a chance to develop some nice players out of this team, just don't get them to mail it in.
Depends, when you lose a superstar it hurts. Is john wall, Wood, plus Victor enought to be a mystery team. You have good players coming from the east forming a team in the west. So its a mystery team. Rockets are rebuilding some, and its a new coach. Id be surprise if they make the playoffs ... 32-40, gets 12 pick in draft. They do play hard, and thats great and fun to watch... imo
Definitely not. This Team is very Miami-Esque on paper. A healthy Wall Vic and Wood is a low-mid seed playoff core.
We're in that dreaded spot in basketball where we're not good enough for a playoff spot but not bad enough to get a top 3 pick. It's terrible in the moment because the franchise seems to be stuck in the mud, but looking back at the KMart Scola days I will say those teams were fun to watch. If we're going to be mediocre we might as well watch guys who play hard.
It really doesn't matter with the restructuring of the lotto which is good. All of our traded picks are top 4 protected
This team may be like OKC last year. We have more to gain by pushing as hard as possible, raising the stocks of guys like Gordon, Wall, and even Wood to potentially be dealt for tremendous future draft capital. It's a soft landing like what OKC did with maximizing the values of Chris Paul, Schroeder, Gallo, Steven Adams, and eventually you can get some good stuff for some of them while making the next few drafts look like you own 1/5th of all the picks.
Time to dust off the "Mediocrity Treadmill." An oft-used Clutchfans' talking point that has been in storage the past 9 years.
With this current team? No way in hell. It’s not a very good team, but it’s not top 4 bad at all either. they would need to get rid of several guys I’m all for tanking next season
I am ok with tanking this season, but our team is too good to be bottom 4 in the league. I think we can potentially be a 6-8 seed team. Let's just pull a Thunder. Make the playoffs then offload players for picks and tank next season
We need to strip off parts until we are. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, good about being in the 9/10 seed.
This! Would be nice if we can eventually flip Walls monster deal without having to give up assets to do so. Same with Gordon. Hopefully Oladipo will be attractive to a contender and if not he’s an expiring deal. I’m sure we can get something good for Tucker too. Time to showcase these guys!!!
