All depends on who you get in the draft I guess. We only know half of the story right now. Jalen's projecting as our superstar scorer, but the pieces around him will define how we look as an entire team. We still need another star potential player (even if we might have a couple on the roster who could emerge) and whether we get that through draft or trade is yet to be decided.
Get a good coach. Get a Top 10 talent and then get another at least in the Top 20 and then 2-3 more in the Top 50 and add clutch role players. Build a culture and a team identity. Learn. Win. Don't let the owner or owner's family screw things up.
Every multiple championship team has had the following 1) A Batman 2) A Robin 3) A Alfred 4) A junkyard dog 5) A solid coach 6) A culture/system that has folks bought into 7) Players who play within their roles
The NBA is pushing out the Big Centers of 250 pounds or greater and the pure point guards of 6'3" and under. It's going Combo Guards (Point-SG's) and agile long wingspans PF's that can play Small-Ball Center. Switch everything defensively are go Zone. Rockets are set with Porter/Green/Josh C but I don't mind adding Ivey (in case Porter bolts). We just need the 6'7" to 6'9" types.... preferably ones that can shoot (busy the zone). Jokic/KAT/Embiid win awards but exit early in the playoffs.
There are multiple blueprints. Right now the Rockets are going through a complete rebuild with a focus on the draft. While the Nets are a wildcard, the Rockets will start giving their FRP to OKC after next season so there is a constraint for how long we can go for high draft picks. We are in talent acquisition/turnover mode. I wouldn't be upset if we kept the "tank" going in 2023 with a roster consolidation or upset if we sign/sign&trade Ayton if the Suns underperform. However, I think it will be difficult to be a bottom 4 team again.
If the Rockets ended up with the 8-9th pick next year would you give up the Nets picks for 2-4th pick?
I think the question of "What NOT to do in order to get back into contending status?" is easier to answer: 1. Don't surrender your organization to the head coach by way of also making him the GM. Right now there's no head coach having that dual role but that should be near the top of things not to do. 2. Don't surrender your organization to your franchise player to influence your roster build / personnel decisions. Rarely does this work. For every successful LeBron-the-GM story there are multiple examples of failures. Get their input, sure, but bending at their will is a completely different story. 3. Don't let the owner influence (or make the final call) on signings, drafts, trades, etc. This mostly ends in failure. Very basic/general but the most successful franchises right now don't do any of those 3 things.
1. Until core built out only expend significant draft capital in TRADE for: a.. Luka b.. Giannis c. Tatum d. Cade e. Barnes f. Mobley g. Holmgren e. Jabari f. to increase odds of being able to draft a future great draft pick like Wembanyana if any of those become available. . 2. Make trades for future assets and to consolidate roster spots to sign other youngsters and give playing time to future core players. Make trades that clear cap and/or create trade exceptions for greater trade flexibility. 3. Only sign young free agents to very low salary deals that last 4 seasons with non-guaranteed salaries> 4. Coach up the offense. Don't really work on defense (for losing purposes) until you want to move out of the bottom of the lottery. 5. Be patient and wait.
Draft Chet and Trade John Wall for Donovan Mitchell. Be in the Second Round in 2 yrs Championship in 4 Rocket River
Build around> Green & Banchero (1-2 punch wings - like Celts' Tatum/Brown) Surround with defensive PG, stretch 4, rim protecting Big + (Bench) KPJ, Thicc backcourt pair in Jaygup & Nix, Sengun/Garuba/KMJ/Gordon
Why would Utah... Nevermind. Rockets have been doing well acquiring talent. Just have to stay the course, I'm excited to see the changes and implementations of the system Silas mentioned would be coming next year.
I think the only constant is you have to be adaptable and opportunistic to take advantage of every draft / trade / transaction, there are teams that are locked into believing you can only win with a certain formula and when they give up value you be there to take it and be flexible, cap space, contract lengths, tanking everything. I think Morey exemplified it
Tank to find the superstar. Then build around him. Draft a bunch good players that can b traded for a disgruntled star Hoard as much drafts picks as u can by taking up bad contracts, to trade it to draft up he lottery or to acquire a player from a team having a fire sale. Sign a star via free agent and build around him. More then one way to build a team and even if u follow a blue print to one there's always variants of it.
Run Rick Adelman’s offense. Draft the best passing big that plays defense available with our pick. With the Nets pick trade up or take K. Brown out of Baylor. Run the offense through Sengun and our 2022 FRP. Green will look better than he did at the end of the season. Start Christopher at point to cover the best guard. Porter is the 6th man or traded. Sengun is better than he showed last year. We saw him receiving double and at times triple teamed because of his talents. We need to make the other team pay for playing him so tightly. He was MVP for a reason and with coaching and the right offense our future is bright. Adelman’s offense is not used because players like Sengun and Webber aren’t very common. Brown fit this style of play because he is one of the best defenders, cutters and finisher in the class plus his shot looks mechanically solid. He understands how to use spacing. His size and skills make a fit with Green and Sengun. If Silas is back he needs to adopt an offense that plays to our player’s strengths.
