You do know that journalism in general has been the victim of massive job cuts for over a decade right? Maybe some of these Rockets Twitter personalities should do the digging? Jackson sat on the laptop story didn’t he? Why? Probably so he can still have his press pass. Do I blame him? No, he’s not a journalist. He isn’t held to the same standard.
Lol the flights of fancy CF comes up with to hate on Stone. Omg if he didn't get KPJ we would have gotten Austin Reeves! Nobody knew Porter Jr would choke and almost kill his GF when Stone got him a couple years ago. They saw a reclamation project and we got the personnel to maybe help him out. It didn't work out obviously but it's not like we would have gotten some amazing player if we didn't keep KPJ. It was a gamble that didn't pan out, like majority of picks NBA teams make. Even Presti doesn't bat a 100 and everyone saying he the goat drafter. No one even mentions how Stone gave KPJ an unguaranteed contract exactly for situations like these smh. If Stone was a religious KPJ fanboy who would cover up his crimes why did he get him a 4 yr unguaranteed contract? Obviously he saw some risk there and mitigated it.
All of these were a part of why our tank was a successful. We wouldn't of got your boy toy Sengun had Silas won. U don't even realize your criticism makes no sense
People still don't understand Rockets were tanking the last 3 yrs. When someone posts about how Stone let Silas continue coaching even when we were losing games you know that poster doesn't have a clue. Probably thinks Rox get top picks outta thin air.
It was just one example. Point is, there's an opportunity cost in giving a player heavy minutes on a rebuilding team when he is a high risk due to bad character/intangibles. People didn't know he'd beat up his girlfriend, but they absolutely knew he was a headcase.
If he didn't have bad character or intangibles the Rox wouldn't have been able to get him, Cavs paid 4 2nd round picks for him. Rox weren't the only ones who thought he was working out his issues and improving, NBA got him to speak to draftees at the NBA Sports Combine. So to turn around and act like he was this bad apple everyone saw coming a mile away is just disengenuous.
They know. But I don't think they're smart enough to realize Silas losing, John Wall contract, KPJ pg experiment, was all meant to keep us bad enough to get good draft picks & have huge cap space this offseason. Stone was playing chess
It's hard to tell without knowing the facts. Of course the NBA and Silver wont want to do anything, but we've seen before where Silver lays the gauntlet down hard when he wants to make a point. See Philly and tampering on the Harden situation last year. If it comes out that the Rockets did not suspend him when there were "contract detrimental to the team" instances that violated NBA rules... yeah I could see a huge fine from the NBA. Even if Silver does nothing, and there's no evidence to support that the Rockets hid any wrongdoing, the Rockets still are reputationally going to take a deep deep hit here if they aren't already low enough. They already have a poor reputation from the Harden years, and then the inmates running the asylum KPJ/Wood/Silas years. Fine or not from the NBA/Silver, change is needed at the top if you want to truly change the reputation of the Rockets. The talking heads are going to seize on the fact that law enforcement knew about these instances before this instance, and it sure looks as though the Rockets would have known too, and did nothing but harbored a monster. It's sports in America though as I said before. If you win, fans and the media all the sudden forget about this kind of stuff fast. As a diehard fan though, I just wish Tillman and Stone represented the team that I've loved all my life with a bit more dignity, and class. I'll surely root for our players, and will have the time of my life if the Rockets turn a corner and compete in the playoffs again.... However I don't think I'll ever have an ounce of respect for Tillman Fertitta and Rafael Stone ever again. Not just because of this, but it's the cherry on the top for me. They both are scumbags as far as I'm concerned.
I miss the Houston Post. NFL didn't want CTE out there, yet NFL reporters still reported it and basically forced the NFL to respond to it once there was enough evidence and public attention. NFL probably didn't want the Ray Rice story as publicized as it was or even the Deshaun Watson stories. But they were still reported and forced NFL teams and the league to respond. MLB front office didn't want steroids or any sign stealing scandals reported in mainstream, yet MLB reporters still reported on both stories and forced the MLB to respond to both when the former had enough public attention and the latter when MLB realized the PR mess it was was stirring up. Many of those were in the past 10-20 years after newspapers had already started tightening belts and shrinking staffs. So saying 'the NBA doesn't want these types of stories' or 'the media is stretched too thin' are just excuses and cop outs.
Those are pretty different circumstances. There's a precedent for tampering fines. And publicizing that teams and players are having discussions about contract negotiations when they shouldn't be is pretty different from publicizing that teams are enabling domestic abuse by its players. I just don't see the latter happening unless someone comes out and makes those accusations public with evidence that legitimately supports it. Someone would have to force the NBA's hand, like the Athletic did with the Astros sign stealing scandal. Yes and no on the first point. The Rockets SHOULD take a hit here, but to your following points, I'm not sure their reputation could be much lower. Fans already think they're the laughing stock of the NBA with huge locker room issues that are incompetently run by the owner and front office. This certainly feeds those flames further, but I'm not sure the Rockets are taking a huge hit when their reputation is already garbage right now. If it were up to me, I also would have moved on from Stone by now. But I also would have moved on from Tilman, and neither of those things are happening. And to your second paragraph here, winning changes everything. If all of a sudden the team starts winning games, that will trump everything and Stone's job will be seen as a success regardless of all the drama the last three years. That's the unfortunate thing about sports in our society today. If you win games, you can practically get away with murder in the eyes of the national media... as long as you don't bang on trash cans.
Tanking without maximizing player development and building a culture doesn’t require any skill. So you can’t just say anything that contributes to a bad record is a good or neutral move. Also the rockets were certainly a bottom 4 team. Getting vets play 20 minutes a game wouldn’t change that. oh I also forgot about nix. Guess I erased him from memory.
Anyone could've accomplished what Stone did. He picked the obvious guys that were left to him at the top of the draft. He signed players to contracts that no other team was willing to give. The things he's gotten credit for all fell into his lap, even Udoka was someone other teams didn't want to sign. All we have to judge him on is how he's handled players and built team culture, and we can all agree he's failed there. I see no reason to keep him on, the tanking is over, time to get a real GM.
How did we get in POSITION to get those picks? We successfully tanked & took bad contracts letting them come off the books. That's good GM work. Give him his credit
