I agree with the premise. Not sure I like it. I would rather have the Kevin Martin, Chuck Hayes, Scola teams that punched above their weight almost every night and got bounced in the first round if they made the playoffs at all. Just missing with a 9 seed. I have a couple of thoughts about this whole thing, which tie to the "youth," and parenting headstrong kids. We micromanaged my son the first 14 years of his life and have spent the last 7 years trying to undo that damage. Now he gets to make mistakes and he's learning how to learn. He begs for our input, because that's what he was accustomed to, but now we just stand back and watch him figure it out. The refrain from me is often "what would you do if I weren't involved?" My daughter is another issue. Ten years younger we give her lots room to figure stuff out. Sometimes she does and sometimes she doesn't. But when she has tried a few dozen times at doing it her own way she'll look at her mom or I and ask for help. We help and at that moment she's ready to learn from us. Until that moment she'll resist. She wants to do it. She wants to figure it out if she can. At 10 she has a confidence and emotional intelligence that laps most adults I know. I hope and pray there is a little of that going on right now. That instead of trying to use a carrot and stick to teach the young'ns (which with KPJ I can almost guarantee won't work) they are letting the young'ns struggle, get pissed at losing, and start looking for answers from the grown-ups. Constructivism in undoing AAU bad habits and learning to win. That's my hope. Probably delusional because thats a high level of intentionality, but keeps me interested. Lastly, the Astros sucked until they didn't. The young Jose Altuve led teams had the talent to get a head in games, but lost so many games in last 3 innings because they had no bullpen. They had hitters and decent starting pitching but no decent relievers. Then Luhnow and co. signed some relievers and we are start our ascension. At least that's how I remember it. I hope that Stone and co have something like this planned. Let the young kids learn how to lose then bring in 2 or 3 top tier vets to teach the kids how to win. When they'll listen. I know TLDR, but if you did thanks.
I don't think it's even that they aren't teaching the fundamentals. We just have one of the youngest teams in basketball. I have seen improvement from guys on some things. Though they seem to be regressing now that the optimism they began the season with has faded. I saw a lot more defensive effort from a number of guys earlier on, in particular. But, personally, I believe we'll begin trying to right the ship next season and I can wait for that. Especially if it means we got Wemby or Scoot.
we got #2 pick, a #3 pick, this European 1st rd pick thats making an impression, a couple more frps - heck we got frps that dont even make it into the rotation... maybe if we focused on those guys - instead of 'the redemption of kpj' we might find we have a DUDE or two... lol
I agree, but maybe they hope to get a bunch of guys to increase the chances of one of them being a dude and tanking while they are 19-22 is not going to harm them long term. DD
You can’t say “trust the process” and constantly preach patience and then bring in a 34 year old Harden to try to bring you back to prominence. That is the definition of taking a shortcut. A shortcut to a destination we’ve already been to, and it wasn’t good enough.
The Rockets can gut their team for assets and rebuild...... and still have a competent coaching staff and have a culture of accountability. The Thunder don't have a hard time keeping their players held accountable and developing them while also getting top draft picks and losing games. The issues the Rockets have right now have NOTHING to do with rebuilding and everything to do with having a poor culture, poor coaching situation and a front office that doesn't hold players accountable. This Rockets team is a lot like the post Jordan Bulls, where they just rolled a ball out on the floor and believed in 3-4 years these teenagers would magically win - and they didn't.
Stone's plan is simple: suck. The end goal is fine but I'd hope that the GM of a professional sports franchise can come up with more than just a simple plan. He basically just set the team up to fail and is just waiting for the lottery every year. There are little things you can do to make sure the team doesn't get toxic while we suck.
I've been saying the same thing since the beginning of LAST season: Tanking isn't for the weak of stomach. It's messy and it's hard. It sucks to have to go through it. But it's the fastest way for a mediocre team with no cap space and no real assets to get competitive again. Here's a visual for those in the back:
The Rockets made one of the worst trades in NBA history for Russell Westbrook. That is why they are tanking differently than other teams like the Thunder.
That video is a perfect analogy of what is happening. I do think Silas sucks as a head coach though, so I hope they jettison him after this season.
LOL - maybe maybe...on the smarter than you spectrum for sure. JK The Truth is that I see things a lot differently than most people. And we all view things through life's experiences and what we learned during those experiences. As someone that is older than pretty much everyone here, I am 58, and has a truckload more experience in business, sportscasting and being in high level executive meetings. I like to be able to share that experience. I have been both a sports reporter for a local TV station - an executive at a publisher, owner of several companies, and worked in large companies like MS where we had to explain a narrative and stick to it. My experience shapes my beliefs and thoughts as does everyone else's.....and I like sharing for those who care to listen. In the end, believe whatever you like - we are all just fans - I am not a contrarian, I am just someone whose experience gives me a different perspective. For instance, been on the Sengun Hub for quite some time - which is popular. Been on the KPJ is doing great train - which is unpopular Been on the Silas sucks ride - popular Been on the "Let's look to trade Green" - unpopular I don't mind others holding different viewpoints, I just know they are wrong. (LOL I Kid - I kid). Bottom line is I like talking Rockets...... DD
For the 5th time I type this, of course the FO is behind approving everything. From Tillman father, to son, Stone... My only point of view is that it was OBVIOUSLY 2024 the season you would try to win. You get almost 60m of cap space in Wall + EG cleared. All before that is: run a laboratory for the kids, see who are really worth a shot. In the meantime, if you have 14% chance to get the best prospect in history since Lebron in 2003... You keep losing and stick with the plan of 2024. That's what I assume the org is doing. Silas was the wannabe coach who accepted being the puppet in the process. He was locked on a 4 year contract which the value was never disclosed. Probably a good contract worth 5-8Mil where he is securing his family future at the expense of eating some crow. Would do it in a heartbeat.
Stone doesn't really have a plan. He executes what the Fertitta family wants. There are good bosses, and then there are those who will tell you to "Shut up and listen".
This is exactly right. Stone didn’t sell any plan to Mr. “shut up and listen”. Tilman gives the orders and everyone under him follows the orders. That’s why I really don’t get upset with Stone or Silas. I’m guessing Stone and Silas have been told that after this season they can really go to work and try to win games. In reality, both will probably be fired.
So what they gonna magically look to lock down on accountability out of no where next season?The bad habits setting in are damaging to a young team (hence vets talk). Smh ORG is full of rookies. They would still lose holding players accountable. That's the issue. A huge one at that.
it doesnt matter how many 'assets' we acquire - if we aint developing them... i hate making this reference - but its like when we first had JLin or Covington... we had em on the cheap - didnt develop them... they leave and u get Linsanity and Covington becomes a sought after player... Now thats gonna happen with undrafted players... low investment, roster spots are a premium, etc... but now i feel like we'e doing that with frps... We dont know what we have - bc we aint developing nobody! We're spending years trying to make kpj into a pg - he aint.... instead of helping everyone else develop by getting a more typical pg in there... Let TyTy get in there... hell bring back Pablo Prigioni - at least he could feed the paint... (jk)! lol you can collect lottery tickets... but if u never take the time to check your numbers - its guaranteed you're never gonna win... and yeh, i do think lack of accountability and poor work ethic are going to have negative long term affects...
If Stone’s plan doesn’t prioritize player development it’s not a good plan. Tanking? Fine. But you cannot ignore the development of the draft prospects you are tanking for.
