I'm not so sure about that. If he isn't going to be here anyway then why doesn't he sack up and tell Stone "I am not going to let you control the rotations and my coaching method to make me look like ****."? So it is one of 3 things. 1. Wall is lying about the control Stone has over the coaching/rotation decisions. 2. Silas and Stone have an agreement to tank this year and then Silas will be here next year to implement his true coaching style. 3. There is no agreement for Silas to be here next year. He doesn't have a pair and won't tell Stone. I am not going to let you force me to tank. If we suck, we suck, but I am going to coach as I see fit.
4. Or he is just happy to be a first timer..... Wow I am a coach. You can't guarantee him anyone from the draft. If Silas wants Henderson and he doesn't get him.... there is no real gain for Silas out of all those options other than the one you say Silas is in hidden control. It's easier to believe it's a bad dysfunctional team setup because otherwise you would drive yourself crazy with conspiracies.
I think this is true, it is a kick in the nuts for the fans to know that we are tanking on purpose, but I think deep down most of us could see that. DD
No. They traded Westbrook for CP3, and he led them to the playoffs in the bubble. Took us to game 7. Did you forget? Their first tank year followed after CP got traded. The same season Harden got traded.
No I didn't forget that. I do remember the intent of the trade and the immense surprise of OKC contending. You'd be surprised how many wins added this team would have if you included a few years younger CP3 to this team. The franchise after trading Westbrook was in rebuild mindset. It's been a running joke for the past half decade of OKC collecting first round picks. Our coaching staff is so weak and passive that an active player like CP3 on this team would immediately be the default coach of the team. Silas would be just standing in a corner in terms huddles watching Cp3 do his thing.
It's not a kick in the nuts that were tanking, something that was known many years ago, it's that through a combination of bad luck, bad bets and bad execution we are still bouncing around the bottom. John Wall - who is not playing currently in LA due to injury again and who they are already looking to trade for a back up big man, despite foregoing Hartenstein just to get him - is really the least of the Rockets problems right now.
Wall averaged 20.6 points and 6.9 assists in 32.2 minutes per game in 40 games for the Rockets. For much of the 2021 season, KPJ struggled to meet the minimum benchmark for competent PG play, but he did show improvement. Wall was asked to sit, not because of poor play, rather Stone wanted to develop the KPJ - Green backcourt. Asking him not to play so that you can force feed minutes to a guy that’s developing into that position is a method of tanking. It would’ve been better to slowly bring KPJ along by having him come off the bench for Wall. This is what they have been doing to guys like KJ Martin and TyTy Washington. It must be a morale breaker to see KPJ gifted a starting spot while certain guys on the roster have to claw and scrape for meaningful minutes. I still hope KPJ continues to develop, but Stone didn’t handle the Wall situation correctly.
I just don’t see how you can be in a rebuild mindset, and then proceed to make the playoffs with a player (CP3) not part of your future. They didn’t even keep their draft pick that year — Immanuel Quickly at 25. And Billy Donovan was still the HC that year. The first year of their tank, with them at the bottom of the standings, with a top draft pick to show for it, was the 2021 season. Drafted Giddey, we drafted Green.
I'm sure that's the kind of low BBIQ argument John Wall would make, that him scoring 20.6 points on 18.2 shots per game is amazing. However, in reality, an embarrassing 50.3 TS shows that he should never have been allowed to take ANY shots, let alone over 18 per game. Now, Kevin Porter Jr was not very good in those 26 games he played....but being "not good" is AMAZING compared to how pathetic John Wall was. Every season Kevin Porter Jr has played would rank as either the most efficient, or second most efficient of John Wall's career. Wall is the absolute definition of godawful chucker....he always has been. It was always between him and Westbrook in the contest for absolute worst chucker of all time. Benching Wall for KPJ likely won the team a few extra games while helping the development of everyone on the roster.
When did their best player get drafted? That's when their tank started. Do you remember CP3 the previous season as a Rocket before he got traded? The Thunder thought they got a good high iq role model vet presence to shape their young talent. They didn't think he'd rejuvenate his career and be a lead player in a playoff level teams.
This all kinda makes sense now. Stone wanted to tank multiple years from the beginning. That’s why he picked Silas as the head coach. No other experienced coach will stomach the outrageous tanking for 3 consecutive years. It’ll ruin their reputation. Only a rookie coach who’s also a “nice guy” will not say no to his orders. It also explains all those messed up rotations: KPJ as the head honcho, Nix playing significant minutes, Sengun on short leash, nobody being held accountable, etc etc. Will it pay off? Maybe, maybe not. I just hope all the damage done to our young players during the tanking process is easily fixable. Otherwise we’re fked. Even Wemby won’t be able to save us.
I can see the media actively stating that they don't want golden boy to the Rockets because of our coaching and management structure. They already are kinda doing it. "not the Rockets please!". I've heard those comments by NBA analysts and it isn't because of the roster make up. It's because of the coaching and training staff.
I don't think that was necessarily the plan, but it turned into multiple seasons when the Rockets missed on their top picks. If either top pick had been really good, that would have led down a different path. When your 2 top picks are 2 of the worst players on the team, what choice do you really have? Notice how they manage to stick out at the very bottom of a chart of the entire league
I wonder what KPJ & Greens development would look like if they tried to play competitive ball with Wall starting Biggest fail of this rebuild was not supplying our backcourt with quality vets to learn from
Mike Conley Jr. That is who this team needs so bad right now. He'd be the defacto coach on the team because Silas is an ultimate pushover.
John Wall is not a quality vet, you don't want players learning ANYTHING from him any more than you'd want them learning from Westbrook
EVERYONE knows we are tanking just like everyone knew the Astros were tanking a decade ago. We are just hoping for similar results. We went through some **** managers with the Astros back then.
Lol it's not a joke, OKC is a village compared to Houston. Smaller teams have other ways to survive, other than winning a ship and letting Harden go. If you think OKC is a mess, then it's definitely a calculated mess heading in a good direction. They do very well with picking, developing players. They do averagely well trading those players in general, setting them free. I am not sure they are a running joke, everyone make mistakes and the Knicks were just on an island of its own. OKC is the food bank of the NBA, their stars and players go everywhere.
