What will Ime and Stone's exit interviews tell us??

A lowball offer from the Warriors would be better than a max deal here if we're talking about his career overall.

 

Stones comment about bring a contender for as long as possible says we're still looking to line up future great draft picks and manage the cap to avoid the luxury tax unto we have either won a championship or are on the cusp of it

I absolutely love it

Don't burn draft capital

Keep looking for stars with a much stagger in years as possible between max contract players.

Jalen has to go.

They know it.

We know it.

Just have to move him out without throwing away draft picks or taking on bad salary.

 

Too much politics as expected.

 

Rockets will match anything that's low. Making the rookie contracts restricted was bad for the players. It's what essentially blew up the Phoenix Suns. Bari will have to demand a trade the year after.

Stone has a much rosier view of this roster than he should. Cam, Jabari and Amen are probably not happy. Cam and Jabari specifically. This can and will go south quickly if he stays as arrogant as he's being right now.

 

Right, I was just saying if all things are equal, he'd be better off playing on a lowball contract elsewhere than a max here.

Since Ime isn't going anywhere and Stone isn't likely to move away from Ime's guys in Dillon Brooks, FVV, and Holiday that means the young guys will continue to waste their careers until they manage to get away from here. Since they are stuck for now, the only thing they can do is make things toxic in the hopes they get released or traded elsewhere so that they can finally start their careers for real.

As long as Brooks and FVV are getting 40 minutes, and Holiday is getting the rest, the Rockets have no real future.....and as long as they are on the roster, Ime will insist on them getting all of the minutes.

Now imagine if we add another top draft pick getting glued to the bench in this upcoming draft.

Things SHOULD get really toxic in the locker room.

 

He is always talking himself into satisfaction and me into sleep mode.

 

Agreed. I probably have a little higher view of Ime in that he isn't stupid. At least I don't think he is. Stone is a different story. This too is my concern going into next season. I am expecting 20+ mpg for Reed. I am expecting Amen as the primary initiator until Reed fully develops. I think they really don't know how to manage Jabari Smith Jr and that his current view of the Rockets is probably on very shaky ground. I'd be shocked if they came to an agreement with him this offseason. Tari they probably will. Jabari I could see going into RFA and 10+ teams going after him with more money than the Rockets likely want to spend.

I'm sure Jabari loves seeing Jalen get chance after chance after chance while he gets benched for getting injured. I'm sure Cam is loving the same. Reed is a soldier so no need to worry about him.

 

Tilman is a more entertaining talker than Stone.....at least he is funny.

 

Nah blood if Stone trades Amen or Sengun I will never forgive him. Trading those two would be mortgaging our future.

The warriors had to win this series. They mortgaged everything and are paying Jimmy 120+ million for 2 years after this year. Paying a 37 year old Jimmy Butler 60 million per year is the definition of selling your teams future. The warriors won't be better next year due to cap inflexibility and other teams including us are going to be even better. So I don't even feel that bad because realistically the Warriors were way more desperate and we are just exploring our players right now.

 

We had those shooters on the bench, IME didn't play them.

DD

 

Jackson's question aside...

The press conference really doesn't tell us much at all, and I guess that take would probably be seen as a measure of success for Stone. Obviously he wants to present the case that:

-He loves these players
-He's optimistic about how much better they will be next season
-Ime has the org support

What we'll be looking for really are the messages that are sent to first- Kelly Iko, second - Tim McMahan, and 3rd.... probably actually Clutch who tends to hear much of what those guys typically get from their sources. The national media guys above them at ESPN, Shams, etc.... I don't know if they'll say or get much because of how Stone has worked with his local sources first.

If the Rockets really are looking to be aggressive on something that they want there to be a market out there for results on, I think we'll know that.

But you won't get that from a press conference where Stone cannot control that message as much given how body language, etc. can be parsed more when you do venture into goals such as last season when the statement they sent out was "We are going to star hunting." Had Stone said "We are going star hunting" in his press conference, the verbiage and the way he's asked about certain stars, etc. wouldn't be as controlled, and would have tipped his hand more.

I SUSPECT we'll know a hell of alot more when the FVV contract situation pans out here in the next what??.. 3 days I think. I suspect that's the first shoe to drop, and then next I would suspect is the draft lottery results, and what you hear come out of the organization about what they REALLY want to do.

Right now though... I think Stone is going to present the "continuity" case until HE KNOWS what chips he has to play first.

 

Funny you say this because I thought the opposite. I was surprised how bad Stone looked stuttering over his words and avoiding the question without answering it or saying anything of substance. I would've thought he would have something better to say about it in defense of Jalen.

 

My thoughts exactly. No way Stone will play his hand right now. He's not foolish like Nico. We all know there needs to be a consolidation trade coming along (whether this off season or next one) with Green being a must include. Most likely he's waiting to prime the FVV contract so it's more team friendly along with the draft pick to make his next move. (Very much likely waiting for Book/Giannis to request trade). No way he wants to waste this prime opportunity.

 

I don’t think he wants to waste the opportunity he thinks might be there but I do think he obviously has personal incentive to setup the longest possible competitive run. It’s job security and a way to have a longer track record as a GM and give Tillman a longer span of years in the black.

However I think you’d be foolish to not think they will be aggressive as hell to consolidate. Even if you are just looking at things through the prism of what’s best for Stones career, the last thing you want on your resume are both:

-Multiple top 5 picks red shirting and being stuck on bench/eventually having guys pout and ask out.
-Having too many contracts up in the air with high dollar lottery pick salary ranges where you have to let guys walk in free agency (see Jalen Brunson)
-Being in a situation where you have a ton of okay players but not star year after year

Even if you are looking at things through the prism of what’s good for Stone… being aggressive to consolidate, having continuity, extending your window as long you can, and improving the teams offense with an offensive engine star are all goals here for him.

 

Nothing at all, we all know how paranoid Stone saying something about any player nor prospect after loosing out Paolo for showing his card before the draft

 

Stone was just 4th place in executive of the year. The absolute last thing he wants to do for his job security is aggressively seek a trade for an older star.

As long as the best days of this team are believably in the future, Stone has all the job security in the world. Nobody important is mad that Reed Sheppard sat on the bench his rookie year; and we have no money issues going forward because Sengun and Jalen didn't get maxes and FVV's option isn't getting picked up.

GM's of playoff teams that have assets and aren't deep in the second apron - they do not get fired.

However, as soon Stone pulls the trigger on any mega trade, he will be judged on that trade alone and will be fired or extended within 2 years based on whether it succeeds in getting us to the Finals or not. Zero chance Stone wants to coin flip for his career.