I think its perfectly valid to say "gambling on a 50/50 seems like a dumb risk"... But I'm not sure how that 50% is on Stone (a guy) at this point. Other than him making Silas keep players out or somehow finding another diamond in the rough that helps them win games (and lower their 50% chance)... at this point, it's all on ping pong balls (c'mon ghost of David Stern, do us a solid please!!!).
OK. Lets be super nice now. Lets forget whatever happened, and even assume lady luck will be on our side and we will get a top 4 pick. then what? LOL??? [The Athletic] Is there anything I can give this lower than an F?
Man, idk about this. The list of things that have to go right or merely just falling in place for us to turn the superyacht around... just too long right now. Too long and gives this front office, largely the culprit of their own bad dealings to begin with, too much credit to make that many good decisions in a row. You wanna crown Wood, Porter, and the chance of a top round pick as the new big 3 a day after Stone's merciless paddling at the hands of Pat Riley? That's on you. Telling people who are rightfully upset about what's happening, not even giving it a day to breathe? Reality check time. Stop sugar coating it because it absolutely reeks to high heaven of desperation.
I'm not sure what you mean "then what?" People giving this trade a grade of an F, or any grade at all, are putting in zero contextual analysis. They are just saying "What do I think Dipo should net" and "what did he net?" then slapping a grade on. There was not better offer out there for him. So you can say it's an F that they got Dipo in the first place... but even that lacks the context of what was available in that trade, or in the alternative trade. I've struggled to find any alternative, even in made up message board land, that would have been a better outcome for the Rockets. That being the case, it's a gamble (getting a top 4 pick this year), and one that honestly I expect to fail (Houston sports luck hasn't exactly been good lately), but hope won't. Long story short... the F grade should be on the trade of CP3 for Russ. That was the key point that has led to all of this. As far as anything Stone's done, to me its either solid stuff, or just working with the best of what's available. All these analysts proclaiming "they should have kept LeVert and Allen!!!" .... i mean, WTF??? The same LeVert and Allen, who the Nets had, along with Kevin Durant AND Kyrie Irving, and still thought, nah, we should trade these guys to get even better... AND still haven't won a ring yet. The only thing i don't like about the trades are the fact that Allen might have netted you more. Given LeVert's cancer diagnosis, there are few teams outside of the Pacers that would have likely been ok with him.
Okay. Unless the Rockets start winning games, the most likely outcome (52%) is that the Rockets keep their pick and it is a top 4 pick. They may attempt to build a "winner" this summer, but right this minute they are not really in all that bad a spot. Sure there is, I doubt they would put it is possible. The dysfunction had largely been ownership. Yeah, a team that in 6 months has added possible key long term pieces in Wood and Porter and Tate and Martin is pretty good position for rebuilding.
I look at it if it's the distaste from CFers, it's spectrum, mostly fair. This being a forum, people are able to better articulate their reasoning. After the trade deadline with Dipo, there's lot of clowning on "Harden's net return" from the outside. The sports media, the twitter-verse and NBA fan base (non Rockets), some of those hate is overboard.
A GM's job is to evaluate the value of the player and also make the best deal for the team. Why people will give him a F on the deal yesterday? Its not just about whether he can find the best offer out there. Its more about : how the F that he will put the Rockets in that situation from the get go and how he evaluated Oladipo. In simple word, this clearly is an indicator that he sucks at player evaluation and then how can you trust such guy on picking the right player in the draft than throwing a dart?
Any rebuild requires things to go right and the Rockets are no different. The odds are not really that far fetched though. I am not crowing Wood and Porter as anything but likely long term pieces for a rebuild. I am judging the Rockets rebuild compared to others. Desperation? Hardly, I have been extremely critical of the Rockets ownership, the front office and the coaching staff. I am not saying it will even all work. What I am saying is that at the end of the day, the Rockets in the last 6 months have added two likely long term pieces and are maximizing their lottery chances. To be clear, it could all explode in the Rockets' faces and I wouldn't be shocked.... all I am saying is that at this minute, it isn't as bad as it feels and that is objectively the case. I understand being pissed off....
As of the Miami swap, it’s really more valuable than people think. I posted earlier the historical cost of moving up the draft. You can draw your own conclusion how much that swap is worth from an empirical point of view.
I’m still glowing from Back 2 Back Clutch City Champs #4eva-Forever,forever,ever,forever,ever? Uh Huh
It should be obvious Tilman wanted a large expiring contract, which is Dipo, in order to save money. This isn't about player evaluation. It maybe a different looking trade deadline if we had better health luck. If we were fighting for a play-in spot with Dipo contributing in a meaningful way there probably would have been more of a bidding war. Lavert is Lou Williams 2.0. And Allen was a missed opportunity. In hindsight, Dipo was a mistake no doubt.
All good points. I think for me the real frustration is that we botched the Harden trade and that Vic was part of that. It’s also clear to me that we have an owner that has done so much more harm than good since taking over. While I’m sure I’ll just have to learn to live with the owner, we really needed to get the Harden trade right. And I just don’t think anyone can objectively say that 3 unprotected picks from Brooklyn 3-5 yrs from now is worth James Harden. Could we hit on these picks? Maybe. Will they be lotto pick? Maybe. But maybe we don’t hit on good players and maybe they are late picks. that’s really what the Harden trade boiled down to. We didn’t get any real guarantees of a franchise player in that trade. There’s a good chance we come away with very little and thats really tough. So to not be able to get anything from Vic really set me off. I definitely think they played that poorly. and I worry that if we don’t make strong progress towards solidifying a good foundation and bright future, that players like Wood will leave in 2 yrs. I think players have to be really doubting the franchise after this year. On top of that, vets like John Wall haven’t been good for team chemistry. When your best prospect keeps grumbling about selfishness and team chemistry and not getting the ball enough, that’s bad. I recognize that wood and KPJ were good moves. But the Harden trade needed to be a homerun and it was IMO not good.
You can’t blow these opportunities. Golden State and San Antonio and other teams understand this. Sometimes you just have to suck. Get it over with and move forward. Next year would also be a good year to suck. We can do this!!!!
Damn right. We didn't even get a chubby Marc Gasol back for Harden. Picks for 2049 are nice but what if a comet hits us 2 years from now. I'll be good if we go back to the 90s ketchup and mustard unis tho.
