Top 4 pick or Bust!

So apparently, if you don't win a title then it's pointless.

Thanks for invalidating Harden's entire career here.

 

Tucker is not going to have more value at the deadline imo. He's not being showcased well here. Oladipo......well I guess you have to showcase his talent, but its not like we are out here blowing teams out. A little minutes here for Demarucus, a little more for Mason Jones(who actually needs minutes) a little more for poor lineups. Its easy. Dallas did exactly this to get Luka.

Wall can lose all on his own. Gordon can too. You guys act like its hard to tank....it is not. We are literally one game out of bottom 3. Its not that hard.

 

if the rockets are not a bottom 4 team, the probability they get a top 4 pick is not zero. Fact: Since the draft odds changed more teams outside the bottom 6 drafted in the top 4 than vise versa. 5 to 3.

Why would you laugh at anyone if the rockets trade tucker etc for assets in a couple months. Most if not all here WANT the rockets to make beneficial trades for the team. And that will most likely take time and effort. As you've stated "in a couple months". By then the Rockets might have already won too many games to be a bottom 3 team. Which is the point you seem to be missing. The team as constructed is very unlikely to be that bad.

 

It all depends on what we do with Tucker and Dipo..... and btw Eric Gordon is having his best season since 2017 in the limited time has has played.

I'll admit I'm surprised by how well the defense has played as it seemed pretty realistic that we would be in the running for a top 4 pick two weeks ago.

 

I think you're missing the part about you saying Miami had a 0% chance at winning a title...

And since they didn't win...despite reaching the Finals...they had a 0% chance...

 

I never doubted the elite defensive potential for this team.

I only doubted that Silas would have the wherewithal to deviate from his preferred hybrid defense in favor of our old and much more effective switch everything defense.

Thankfully our small ball 2nd unit gave him no choice.

 

Tucker would already be gone if a team was willing to give the rockets what they want for him. The rockets are counting on the trade deadline being the impetus for a deal. That's the time teams generally know if they are buyers or sellers and as well as the last chance to improve a team.

Your opinion seems to be the team players are bottom 3 terrible. If that's the case shouldn't you just sit back and relax?

 

Agreed. The question is when those deals will be made and what should the rockets expect to get/give in those deals.

Its possible a trade for tucker or dipo is made in the next week or two, but I'm guess6 it'll be closer to mid March.

 

It could just come down to dumb luck as teams are still bunched up.... we are just 4 games back from the worst record.

 

Yea, I know. But we might not get it since Tucker's showcasing in Silas's system has not been very favorable to his value?

My position is you can make them so if you tweak it. If these guy's play hard every night and Silas does a good coaching job, than yea we can probably get in at the 8th....seed or a play in. But that's not what I want.

 

Agreed. While I think this team is a decent team, it remains to be seen how real their defense and record is. Furthermore injuries and covid can change everything.

 

That's fair

 

So what would you have silas do? Coach poorly on purpose? Tell the players to not play hard? Not compete? You are aware this is his first coaching opportunity. And for a black coach that isn't exactly easy.

 

I think everybody who sees winning this season as counterproductive has the same view. Trade our players who are at their peak for player's who have yet to reach theirs. Essentially trade guys like Dipo, House, and Tucker for first or second year players who are worse today but have better futures. Then you tell Silas to win as many games as he can by playing and developing those guys. Presto!

And while I am not sure that his race has anything to do with it, I think inherent in that request to develop players is that you take your lumps and look for progress from players rather than wins and losses.

 

Yes essentially what @sydmill has said. Listen if management and the coaching staff are not on the same boat about tanking, than he absolutely should not do it. My assumption here is that management also wants to tank.

 

Again, noone or close to noone on this board is against trading ANY of the rockets players IF the trade is beneficial for the team.

Finding those deals will take time and effort and will most likely happen, as it typically does during the trade deadline. Unless you are advocating the team simply dump players and make bad deals, noone is disagreeing with you.

Imo the rockets are too good to have a chance at being a bottom 3 team. Every game they win before the trade deadline will make this even more true.

The only recourse therefore is to dump good players IMMEDIATELY for less than you would like OR have the coach or players purposely perform poorly. Both are problematic course of action without guaranteed results.

As for you not understanding what race has to do with getting an nba coaching job. There is a ton of literature, history, podcast and opinions out there which details the inequities of african american coaches and the nba. In short, race has a lot to do with it.

 

If management gets on board.....Silas should have nothing to worry about. He just has to play it smart. Tinker with the lineups, more mid range and post ups ....etc.