Wingspan and length is part of it - it is the type of player that their GM has targeted........ he has discussed size, positionless basketball and the ability to pass being very important in modern basketball.... so it isn't a coincidence that the majority of the players that they have traded for or drafted meet these criteria.... and a benefit of doing so is that it doesn't hamstring the team going forward when it comes to the draft, because there are fewer holes that they have to cover or accommodate for. As far as minutes being played......... their rotation guys have the following ages.... 24, 20, 23, 21,28, 21, 22, 20 .........
You can lose a lot and still develop players. I keep harping on it, but it all comes down to an attention to detail that some organizations like the Spurs and Thunder have that the Rockets do not have. As for the Rockets, YES it can still be turned around... it isn't like the Rockets drafted pumpkins, they drafted players that were widely picked in the range they were expected to be picked.... the problem is that they haven't learned good habits or have developed as well as hoped, but that can change.... and yes, getting Wemby or even possibly Henderson can very well push the Rockets over the top -- at some point luck and raw talent win over.
Not only that, I posted that here first Looks like it got updated though, and Alpi's WAR is even better now lol
OKC got more for PG than we did for Harden, including a bona fide star in SGA. They've drafted well in the past few years. They have our draft picks for 2024 and 2026, plus picks from other teams, so in a bidding war for any superstar that might be available like Jaylen Brown or Luka they'd be able to make a great offer. They're definitely in a great position. Being in a better position than us now doesn't mean they'll be better forever. No one thought Sacramento was better positioned for success than Dallas after they drafted Bagley over Doncic. Sacramento won 30 games last season while Dallas made the WCF. This season the positions are completely swapped with Sacramento winning their division and Dallas not even making the play in. This wasn't due to some massive difference in team building philosophies, Sac's win now moves have just panned out a bit better than Dallas'. So many things can shake up the NBA landscape in an instant that it's almost pointless to project the which franchise has a better future.
I think Green is the better trade asset than Giddey, because he has legitimate superstar potential, but Giddey is the more valuable current NBA player because he's useful in so many ways to basically any team. But again, the real sticking point is SGA. Maybe Green becomes an SGA-level player in the near future, but he's not there yet. What SGA has done this season is turn himself into arguably the best player under 25 in the league, or at very least top 3. He's on a pretty good contract too.
Developed a better culture is the first thing I would have done. Hired a more experienced coach to teach the young players. I would have also brought on someone like JVG that has actual experience with basketball to be VP, so that I have a balance of the annalytics and basketball. I wouldn't be undermining my coach, or giving preferential treatment to particular players. I would not keep players that do not want to work hard (Wood) or leave the game at halftime.... I would hire detail oriented smart people, and not be thin skinned and afraid to have smart people around me...... I would push for a player development staff and new facilities like Daryl Morey did...... I would not have held onto players for as long as the GM did. As for the draft, I would have done a few things differently. I would have probably taken Mobley because he is easy to build around and I would have taken Grimes over Christopher... but I don't think the Green pick is or was a bad pick. Taking Smith at #3 was the right decision - having a coach that did not have the slightest idea how to use him was not smart...... having him exposed to all of the BS in practice was the mistake. Smith may well turn out to be the best player currently on the Rockets. He is a two way player with size and should end up a really good shooter. It made sense in that he did not want to pay a role player over $20,000,000 a year going forward. The mistake he made was he should have showcased him and then made a decision at the trade deadline. He doesn't always handle trades well. I agree.
that didn't really swing any titles though, houston wasn't a contender anymore and okc was gonna suck no matter what. That might be a worse trade in some regards but in terms of impacting titles it had none
it sure did. hou went from a contendor to literally being trash with westbrick. and the rockets are literally where they are today because of it Even after harden leaving okc, they still won 60 games being a #1 seed the following year and went to the 2nd round. then they won 59 after that being a #2 seed and went to the wcf. so nah okc definitely didn't suck Rockets on the other hand thanks to the dumbest owner have been pathetic since the westbrick trade and still are
Take away SGA who accounts for like 11 wins per BBall reference and the Thunder are very similar to the Rockets IMO. Which kind of lines up with my feelings that if the Rockets were better coached, we'd have about 5-7 more wins or so.
When you look at the "good culture" teams what do they all have in common? They're mediocre. Problem with "good culture" teams is that the draft these good guy hard worker types like Scottie Barnes and Jalen Williams and Josh Giddey and Tyler Herro who are just good enough to get you into the playoffs but peak there. Toronto...Miami....now OKC...none of these teams have needle movers. SGA and Chet might be the closest if Chet turns out to be what he's supposed to. We don't know because he hasn't played. The Thunder are this year's Raptors who were last year's Heat. Great culture teams that end up blowing it up because they never drafted what they needed to draft: a superstar. The Kings also fall into this category. The NBA is and always has been superstar or bust. The only teams I can remember in the last 30 years to win without one is the Billups Pistons.
Them not getting higher draft pick in the draft lottery and not picking Jalen Green is even bigger factor for their success. Jalen would have been a major defensive liability on top of his lack of playmaking skills and shot chucking habit that Giddey doesn't have.
Spurs are in the same boat as us despite all your culture and attention to detail talk. They had a good guard in Murray that they moved away on…. And Murray isn’t exactly singing the praises of the Spurs. OKC has definitely passed us and that’s mostly because they have a better owner he spends on “the details”. Right…. And by going the culture and attention to detail route we may miss on Wemby/Scoot. We may miss him regardless but the abject tanking gives us the best draft odds/position. Due to us being third worst, we may get the #7 pick. My point is no one can confidently say the path the rockets took is right or wrong at this point.
