The Rockets need someone with a strong basketball background to keep Tilman and his son in check and school them on all the things they think they know but don't about the business. Stone appears to be nothing more than a Tilman plant and yes man. He's the kind of guy that goes far in the world, but shouldn't.
Several "major" states have a lot of their "best basketball players" in the NBA. If you look at the top 10 or so most populous states, you'll probably find a lot of NBA players came from or played there. That being said, I made a joke a while back about the Rockets going after everything Pacific Northwest from their players to coaches. Hell, even Udoka is from that Washington/Oregon area. I think several members of his coaching staff are from there, but that's understandable since he's probably bringing along people he's comfortable with or coached with for a while in the past. Stone is from there. RGV head coach Kevin Burleson is from there. Banchero is from there (*cough*). Dillon Brooks went to college there. It's a PNW takeover!
Nook didn't report many details - I believed him but I also know that people lie to outsiders to support their own agenda, and was unsure if Nook was being lied to.... Yes, in the media, I worked in the Sports department at KSat 12 in San Antonio - I covered HS Sports on weekends and the Spurs during the week, during my graduate year of college. Worked under Greg Simmons and Paul Alexander there. My degree is broadcast journalism with an emphasis on Sports. Once I finished all schooling, I was offered the job of weekend sports anchor at Pro 8 news in Laredo KGNS I think....the offer was far below what I was making already as a bartender putting myself through college so I pivoted to video games. My professors came and had an intervention telling me I should stick to sportcasting as they thought I was very good.....I appreciate that, but I wanted to make more money to pay off student debt....so again, moved on..... Now you know the rest of my story....I have my old resume tape somewhere, it has Roger Staubach on it, among others...covered the Oilers when they were in San Marcos doing training camp - I really liked the gig, can still edit, and shoot etc....but the first FULL TIME offer was 12k a year.....and I couldn't afford to live on that...... I have been involved in TV, Video Games, Movies, had a YouTube show with thousands of viewers and have credits in all - so yeah.....have had a good ride so far. DD
Ime said it again, he is competitive, even as a role player. I think he just needed that extra kick with women. Players could secretly joke about his transgressions.
He said no to harden only to give brooks an insane contract. Thinking udoda is another but a complete moron at this point is lunacy
He was my favorite last year too - just posted about KPJ because I felt he was WRONGLY being targeted, turns out I was wrong. Have no desire, they don't pay enough for me to switch at this point. The one that I will say I hear asking tough questions is Jackson Gatlin, he is doing it - in a nice way but at least he is asking. DD
It’s over now…. I can’t really care about this. KPJ’s time and contract is all around the context of the rockets blatantly tanking. Folks are just wrong thinking it’s easy building culture and tanking…. We aren’t run by Pop.
I think sport journalism needs a change of culture. Right now, access dictates everything. Teams, agents, etc. use the media outlet to do their things, either leaking stuff or shutting them up about dirty laundries. Journalists have to comply or they'll lose access. Breaking news becomes the hottest prize. There is no integrity, and no independent reporting other than amateur babbling on the internet.
Draft Green, Sengun, Bari, Tari, Thompson, and Whitmore? While I don’t attribute that solely to Stone, he did listen to his staff. Whitemore is TBD, but Tari and Sengun were great later FRP. I don’t really understand all the Stone hate when his job was to tank to get the best possible picks. I don’t know how long he has left on the Rockets and he certainly isn’t a top 10 GM, but let’s have some context..
Stone needs to stick to contracts - and let IME run personel decisions....or Patrick.....if he does that he is fine, if he tries to insert himself like he did, he should be canned. DD
I think anyone could have made those picks. I guess the thing about Stone is that we really don’t see or hear much from him. With Morey it always seemed like he was in total control of the team, or at least until Tilman came along. With Stone I really question who is making decisions. Does Tilman feel uncomfortable if Stone steps out in front too much. And the whole thing with Patrick is just weird. I do agree that it’s awkward for a GM when you are tanking. Maybe that’s why he has had such a low profile.
