Say 20 games in we have 10+ wins. What should the plan be? Try & trade our depth for talent? Or trade our vets to try fall back to the pack? I really think having Eric on our team is a mistake he's going to win is 5-10 extra game this year. Presuming we don't just sit him.
we are clearly better than the spurs, utah, magic, okc and maybe the pistons so at worst we are a bottom 6th? i dont know the percentage. when we drafted yao ming, i remember we were not the worst so i hope it happens again. we had a better chance of getting the number 1 pick last year than this 2023 draft
We got Yao because we have an market that other cities in the draft didn’t. I am sure the “bloody R” was part of the negotiating. Having the Asian market helped promote the “World’s League”. Remember the promotion that popped up as he was drafted.
Say we're 0-20 (which ain't happening)... we try to win every game after that. We have 7 first round picks on the team, you try to win.
A hot start. Where it seems obvious we won't get Victor or Scoot. Maybe we try upgrade the players who are underperforming. Like say KPJ isn't the guy to run the point. Maybe we can package KPJ & some pieces for SGA. Or Sengun isn't providing the defence we want the. Sengun for Poetl. What I mean is trading 20 year Olds for 25 year Olds. (Definitely not any older than that). Same with our backup spots. Sengun Fernando/Garuba SmithJr MartinJr Eason Tate Green Gordon PorterJr Washington/Christopher/Nix I'm hoping for a rotation that looks like this to start.
I love how the Rockets have looked through two preseason games, but let's not get ahead of ourselves based on a two-game sample size. This team is still incredibly young. That being said, one thing I like about the early Rockets schedule is that it's hard. Damn hard. 10 of their first 13 games are on the road, and 18 of their first 24 games are against good teams who should be in the playoffs this year. If they're above .500 through 20, that won't be because of a fluke. They'll have to be playing some good basketball. And I'm not sure trading Gordon and the few vets on this team will make a huge difference in tanking at that point.
Good question, but look at our schedule to start the season. 10 of 13 in the road, which I think is the highest road-tilted schedule to start a season in NBA history (or tied for it), according to the recent broadcast. There’s a good chance we start the season very poorly. So another question might be — should we go to tank mode early on, or ride it out and keep trying to win games? I’d say the latter.
If we are winning games with the youngins. U can trade the vet folks like mathews and Gordon's for more assets. If we continue to win without our vets we will use the assets to trade for a marquee player or sign a free agent during off season. U dont really trade your rookies or second years.
I'm a little more optimistic than most. But there is no way in this realm that the Rockets can finish with 10+ wins in their first 20. Have you seen the schedule? It's systemic oppression from the computers against the city! I'll be happy with 8 wins.
At this point in the rebuild you maximize playing time for all of the young players. That's job 1. If we win, we win. What we should not be doing is winning on the back of Eric Gordon and Derrick Favors or any veterans.
I'll say this again. Players don't tank. Organizations/GMs tank. So, there won't be a difference in our approach in the short term no matter what happens. Jalen Green and Jabari Smith Jr are going to play as hard as they can every game no matter what the wins/losses are. Even from a GM perspective, I think we'll still look to move Eric Gordon if the right deal comes up and keep him if it doesn't.
Only Spurs, OKC and Utah are clearly worse than us. Pistons and Magic should be the same if not better than us depending on how much their prospects improve. So we will end up 4-5th worse record in the league again, which is still similar odds of getting first pick
Looking at the schedule, if we start off hot, we are shocking the league. I think we can compete for playin if all things go right, but the start to our season is brutal.
