Well said. There were several points during Porter's journey with the Rockets that Stone could used as justification for cutting him loose, and not many would have criticized him for doing so. The reputation of the Rockets around the league would be better today if he had, in my opinion, and our reputation means something. Perhaps Stone's ego got in his way. That the deeper he dug in on keeping Porter, the harder it was to let him go and admit a mistake. If so, it was foolish of him and led to this embarrassment. One that could, and should, have been avoided.
Oh hogwash - Stone did what Morey did he enabled...... He certainly made a mistake but KPJ's talent was elite level and if he got it together he would be huge.....Stone took a low risk gamble. He crapped out, didn't do anything to the team or franchise in the long run, I want my GM taking shots. Good job Raf. DD
Disagree Stone needs to be taking risks and he took one with a volatile player who won't pan out, just like you take the big risk on Whitmore even if you think he has bad knees. The gamble will cost Tilman some dead cap this year if no trade happens, which isn't all that damaging to the franchise. The alternative would have been extra money to spend in free agency, but frankly we had trouble finding people to take our money in the first place, and we will still be able to use it next year because Stone hedged the risk appropriately from a contract structure standpoint. I feel for the girl, but the harsh reality is this has really not cost the Rockets anything. Furthermore, sure its all well and good to hope you can put together a competing team with a bunch of boy scouts, but often the cost of talent comes with baggage (Harden a partyer, Kobe a rapist, Jordan punched Kerr, Green assaulted a teammate, Arenas and the gun situation, Rodman was a nut, etc etc etc. ).
I don't disagree that Stone shares some blame on this but in my mind, the max is about 5%. At the end of the day, KPJ is a grown man. Stone isn't his father, Stone is just some GM who as you put it, felt like he had found some diamond in the rough and thought he could look like a genius by rehabbing a troubled player. But Stone has nothing to do with KPJ putting his hands on that woman. That's ALL on KPJ and the people that failed to raise him correctly. If you want to say Stone is guilty of having built a poor culture, I 100% agree with that, and does that qualify him for being fired? Definitely. But it's not like the rest of the Rockets are all abusing women, this is KPJs problem. I don't don't think giving KPJ too much freedom and treating him with kids gloves led him to abusing that woman. Basically, if you take KPJ out of the NBA I am sure he still does the same thing, I don't think the Rockets are to blame at all for the domestic violence unless information comes out that they tried to cover it up or encouraged it somehow. Almost every big star player runs the franchise they are on, the vast majority of them don't abuse women. That is about KPJs troubled upbringing, him failing to find the right support system (and you'll rarely find that in the FO of a sports club any ways) and him failing to find help for the issues he has. I just don't think it's on Stone or the Rockets to rehab this guys personal life. They can give advice, they can throw out suggestions, but they pay the man millions. It's on him to surround himself with the right people and to make the right decisions in life. I don't expect nor want Stone to be a father figure to any of these players.
I don’t care about rehabbing KPJ - there is no rehabbing him. The problem is Stone let it negatively impact the Rockets and let it contribute to a toxic culture around the organization. Porter is responsible for Porter - Stone is responsible for the Rockets and enabling Porter and excusing his behavior was an example of his poor leadership and judgment.
Do you ever get tired of being consistently wrong? It’s amazing to me - you will be consistently wrong on the same issue multiple times - that is rather impressive.
Not wrong in any way shape or form he took a low risk gamble and it didn't work, Big ****ING deal. We are literally tanking and taking shots....I am sorry that as a biz owner I am not afraid of taking risks.....some work, some don't but you don't STOP taking them because some fans don't want you too. KPJ was always a risk and it didn't work, no harm was done, it was a good shot, it didn't work, no different than Morey trying Terrance Williams - what I am tired of is some people who don't have a ****ING clue on risk reward because they aren't risking their own capital whine too damned much.....oh sure if it works they celebrate but when it doesn't they call for someone's head even though they personally don't have the ****ING BALLS to take the risk necessary to win it all themselves. Raf Stone took a risk, it didn't work but it was a low risk, high reward shot - that is what GREAT LEADERS do. I am sure there will be more whining on social media where leaders don't read, don't follow and don't ****ing care what cabbage class has to say. DD
You are literally always wrong. On everything. And you show zero humility, even when proven wrong again and again and again. You just keep blabbering.
The irony of you here whining when you know exactly what a CEO does and how to take risks.....just STFU - you are embarrassing yourself - Det the Threat..... If you don't take risks your company will fail too....and you know that, you just look for little things to whine about....because you can't let go of your hatred for me. You as the CEO take risks every day - and those are calculated risks....that is the only way you succeed, you know that. I think you of all people.....who are head of a company know better. I am cheering for your company to do well as you capitalize on the risks you are a taking. DD
I recall distinctly that you made it your job to jump on anyone that called out KPJ's questionable attitude and behavior. If I remember correctly, your go-to-lines were "Who cares/it doesn't affect you/not your business". So perhaps a better interpretation of the situation is: You as a business owner chose to take on a dangerous risk without implementing safeguards. Your staff warned you that the risk is beginning to affect the business, yet you yelled at your staff and told them to go home. Risk blew up, now your new angle is you didn't see this coming, you can't believe it happened, no one can fault you for taking risks etc. Perhaps a more experienced CEO wouldn't be downplaying those warning signs and instead took them to heart to re-evaluate the risk.
There is literally ZERO damage done by taking that risk it was 100% upside only. It failed.....you move on. That is what CEO's are paid to do.....TAKE those calculated swings and see...... I made it my job to counter anyone who hated him because of his past....that was MY MISTAKE ! DD
Said this two years ago. We're the Houston Rockets, not the Houston Rehabs. Basketball is supposed to be the org's specialty; not rehabilitation. If the org gives people 2nd chances that's fine, but it's not the org's job to turn anyone's life around. And frankly it's kind of egotistical to think they could. Does anyone in the front office and previous coaching staff have any hidden psychology degrees. Think of your own profession. You might get along with your co-workers or bosses, but it's actually weird to say one of them is your 'father figure' and can turn your life around. Could happen, but rare. Most people just go to work, get paid, and maybe get some professional satisfaction. The idea that Stone, Silas and Lucas portrayed in trying to save an employee has always been too soap opera-ish. But past few years, it's often the language used by local media and some of the conversations here. If KPJ was turning his life around; ideally should be from his family or a therapist. To put that on his co-workers, is unrealistic and likely not what was happening. Which explanation is worse, that the idea Stone failed to save kpj, (which is weird to even say, because KPJ is his own person). Or the likely scenario, that Stone simply dismissed the warning signs that were obvious to us. Stone didn't think stability and character mattered. Lawyers right? (Nook / Bima - not you guys ) Opportunity cost of KPJ was investment in playing time / starter minutes. And now, the cost is damage to team's reputation. Judge of character is kind of important for a GM. How dependable is this player? Should my org spends this number of millions and % cap space on this person? Stone has a big fail here. How is Stone's own moral compass, if he didn't think those signs mattered. Or was it hubris that he thought he could save kpj. He failed either path. What's the point of background checks, if the GM ends up ignoring it. Stone is not to blame of what happend to Kysre, he is to blame for bring KPJ to this team and the eventual collateral damage to the team.
People don’t seem to get that we are not a good organization. The league doesn’t think we are a good organization. Players don’t want to play for bad organizations. This no harm done narrative is so misguided. In the nba your organizational reputation matters. Certainly if you are winning people find ways to excuse poor character. The problem is that the two most often don’t go together. We have been losing and we’ve been building around poor character. How is this setting us up for success?
That is objectively not true. Development time was given to KPJ (and Wood) over anyone else. He had clear developmental priorities over every other player. There are reports that rookies were disincentivized from working out with the Rockets because of KPJ (Evan Mobley apparently being one of them because of his father not wanting KPJ near Mobley). The are potentially long term implications on whether players wanted to stay or go to Houston in the first place. Every media member actively made it a point to skip over KPJ as part of the Rocket's young core, so it's likely a very open secret that KPJ is a problem character. There is undoubtedly long term impact on trades and free agency if a problem character was getting the keys to the team. The Rockets are now in the spot light because of this incident, and there are concerns on how this can affect the rest of the team. To say taking on KPJ incurs zero risk is naive at best, and obtuse at worse. And if you are a CEO analyzing this and your conclusion is that this had no risks and downside...well frankly speaking that actually explains why you are the only person surprised by these events.
If you literally do the opposite of what DD spouts out you will have the correct answer to everything on this board.
If you literally do the opposite of what DD spouts out you will have the correct answer to everything on this board. Stone’s record is atrocious since taking over as GM. His very first move was hiring Silas, then got rid of the best players in the Harden trade, brought up D Nix, Kept KPJ, got rid of KMJ and several prospects for zippo. The guy is not a GM, he’s a grubby lawyer and needs to be shown the exit.
I personally think it's all around hilarious that Stone did all that for a extremely mediocre player like KPJ. Like I get it if the talent was an actual all star/all NBA level, it's a risk to take, but for KPJ... just doesn't really make sense
