Just want to remind everyone that they are about four times as likely to end up at number eighteen as they are to get numbah one unless Siver puts his finger on the scale. If they get 18, its disapointing, but life goes on. This rebuild was always going to be much more extensive than one pick.
Well the good news is we got 3 picks in this draft. 18-25 range you can get some good players at that spot so even if we miss out it's not the end of the world just tank again next year and then we'll get 3 more picks ours, Detroit and the Nets/Miami. Stone did an A+ job collecting assets we got multiple FRPs the next couple of years https://basketball.realgm.com/nba/draft/future_drafts/detailed
The NBA Draft has been a crap shoot for more than a decade, and all too often the eventual stars are players picked outside of the top 3. Rebuilding through the draft is as much luck as anything.
I hate this feeling because of that damn trade. I never want to see the franchise in this situation again... but it's possible in 2024 and 2026. It's not the end of the world if it ends up #5 --> #18, but it's significant with those draft picks owed in the future. Adding a big building block here gets the Rockets on the path to improvement over the next 2-3 years. #18 delays things a year, at least.