The Rockets don't often have a chance at landing a top 4 pick. There's no better time than this year. This roster isn't good enough to even make the playoffs. No reason to win and lose the top 4 pick. Losing enough games to guarantee the top 4 pick should be the priority. It's the best possible outcome for the Rockets this season.
I'm not saying they tanked to get Klay. I'm saying they tanked in 2012 because their pick was top 7 protected. https://www.businessinsider.com/golden-state-warriors-nba-tanking-2013-5
Theres no guarantee to get the top 4 pick, thats issue. Rox only have 48-52% of getting top 4 pick if they are among the bottom 4 worst team. If they tank abd lose the coin flip they just screwed themselves to give OKC a top pick. Memphis did it before, they could have had Lebron James but lost the 50-50 and only got the 2nd pick. As a result they gave their pick to Detroit. https://www.opencourt-basketball.co...st-drafted-lebron-james-what-could-have-been/ You wanna be the next coulda woulda shoulda footnote to Green or whoever the superstar of 2021 draft class is? Be my guest but I aint joining you lol.
The issue with this article is it's missing a lot of context. Curry wasn't just randomly shut down, he had ankle surgery later because he had sprained his ankle once again. It wasn't just some BS injury like the Pels tried to pull with Davis https://www.nba.com/warriors/news/curry_undergoes_surgery_042512.html Bogut also wasn't sitting out because of a mysterious injury. https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...ors-admits-microfracture-surgery-indefinitely He then tried to come back the next year and still had health issues because Bogut was oft-injured, he only played 32 games the next year, so it wasn't some BS injury that they were milking, he really had leg issues, had surgery, and wasn't even really able to return back to any good form...well lets be real, at that point all he was able to do was set illegal screens...but that injury he had made him a shell of himself. He was a double-double big until that point. But the point being is they didn't sit these guys to tank, they had surgeries and real injuries, Bogut's injury went on into his next year while Curry's surgery was the one that finally fixed the issue he had with his paper ankles. The article makes it sound as if they just casually decided to sit them. As for Lee, he played like 95% of that year, had a solid year even, they did sit him the last few games btu they sucked way before that. Looking at BBall ref, they had a bad month of march and Lee played that entire month, which is the last full month of the regular season. They went into that month 14-19, so still very much the playoff hunt...they ended the month 20-30, so they went 6-11 that month and in a short season that put them out of it. They played Lee for half of April and threw in the towel. I guess the question is if you consider throwing the last few games tanking. I don't. They went into that season trying to compete for the playoffs, Curry goes out...comes back...turns ankle again...they still then tried to compete for a month and a half even without Curry and Ellis/Bogut. And trading for Ellis was a move they had to do. Bogut at the time was a top center, They had Klay Thompson coming off the bench for Monta (Do it all) Ellis so the trade finally gave Klay to grow and become a starter and it gave them their starting Center for their first run. I just can't see it as a tank. You can argue the last 8 games were, but they competed for like 90% of that season...and also if we had the lottery rules we have now they simply wouldn't, there isn't much of jump to incentivize throwing games at the end of the season because that kind of late game tanking is what pretty much every team used to do. They weighed having a lottery pick or being swept by the 1 seed.
Also, this team is bad, sure, but top 3 bad? Nah. I think we saw how bad Detroit is and we beat them without two starters. If this team gets Wall/Wood back they are going to be firmly mediocre. People need to get ready to give OKC that pick... Hopefully Miami continues to lose and if they do...we get their pick. Which would today be the #10 pick...I'm more rooting on Miami to continue losing because that's a sure pick for us.
Cade Cunningham is very, very talented. They play top-20 teams (Baylor/UT/Kansas/TT/WV) quite often, watch him. They got to draft Curry because Minny had the 5 and 6th picks and drafted 2 point guards, neither of which was Steph Curry (Johnny Flynn & Ricky Rubio).
Correct. But Im baking on the Rockets being able to draft competently. Especially with a a top 4 pick. Edit: People are also scared of losing a pick to OKC for a reason I dont understand.
I've never advocated tanking in my life....ever. But, this year ....under the circumstances... We are rebuilding...in a Covid year...post James w/ picks ahead...OKC holds in place. The right coach with Silas...also Lucas being a good assistant for this. Finally a true rebuild. Let's get it right. If we are top 4, Adam Silver will scratch our back. This IS the way the NBA operates. One doesn't have to look back far to understand this. I'll just say it. .. Last night was a game we could have lost. It was RIGHT there for us. Sounds weird, but....it is what it is.
This is the dumbest thing ever. There is an entire season left to play. Oh...if things ended today. Hey, if the pandemic ended today, then we could all go out to eat. Great...thanks!
I know. I'm perfectly calm, dude. Wasn't going off on you or anything. lol. We're 15 games in so seems pointless.
