[Stone] Houston has the Smallest Front Office in Sports

Stone has really been on point negotiating. A+

Roster building is looking good.

The drafting and scouting is a much deeper debate.

 

Houston and three other teams in its division have no state income tax. This means that a minimum of 47 games per year will feature no state income tax. That adds up quick, especially for players who aren't making bank on endorsements and sponsorships.

 

Maybe they made the smart decision to not have 20 room temperature IQ chicks masquerading as a marketing department. I'm in marketing, and marketing for high-visibility brands is the easiest possible gig to do well with. The most talented people in the room should be the graphics designer and video animation designer. A copywriter or even just an editor, along with a content director to plan out materials for upcoming events....and that's about all you need for a well-known entity like the Rockets.

 

Right now, there's a healthy supply in "Most Places" to keep up with demand current demand.

Then again, that demand is being driven down by high mortgage rates and stricter mortgage policy, requiring larger down payments with higher monthly notes, no matter the market. Most people just don't have the money for either.


For those who do have the liquidity, this is a great time to buy, you can get a lot of house for a relatively small amount of $$ .... I just bought a home that was initially listed at $590k for $335k after the seller replaced the roof, AC, installed PEX plumbing, remodeled the bathrooms & kitchen, updated the electrical and replaced all the windows, but bit the bullet on a 6.2% rate ..... until the rates fall and I refi. I'll be happy when the rates drop back in the 3's.

 

We can safely say that the graphics designer is not that talented. Have you seen the logos and branding? lmao

 

and the Tik Tok guy . . .

 

We may actually be proving his point though, maybe they are saving money in the marketing department! lmao

 

My point was that there's nowhere near enough housing in high-demand places like NYC, San Francisco, Boston, etc. That's why little shoebox condos in those places sell for more than you just paid for your house. Congrats on the new home btw!

 

Well first of all, Morey never had a rebuild. If I recall, he never even got to draft anyone higher than 13. Les Alexander was big on retooling, not rebuilding, and we were on the path of perpetual mediocrity until they lucked into Presti botching the Harden situation. Credit to Morey for being prepared to pounce on such a thing, but Presti could have just as easily opted to prioritize Harden over Ibaka and Perkins and they wouldn't have turned things around at all. But even then, the Harden teams weren't as stacked as this team. You could potentially argue that the talent at the top in the Harden and Paul years was better than the talent we currently have (I wouldn't), but you can't even begin to argue that those teams were deeper. There were years the post prime Howard was supposed to be our best player and he was being outplayed by an extremely young Capela. Most of those years either Eric Gordon or Trevor Ariza were acting as our third option, if not second. And man, Dorian Finney Smith is as good as Ariza in those later years, and he might not even play 20 minutes a game on this team. Clint Capela was the starting center on that team, and he's going to be third in our center rotation on this team. I realize he was better then, but he's still in his early 30's. It's not like he's washed up.

Additionally, they went from being a middle of the league team to gaining steam after they added Harden. This was a complete rebuild, and after three absolutely abysmal seasons as one of the worst teams in the league, we were as good as the Rockets in the year Harden joined them. After 4 years, we had the second best record in a completely loaded West and played a competitive series against Steph, Draymond and Jimmy as one of the youngest teams in the league with no go to scoring option.

This team might have three all-stars this season. Durant, Sengun, Amen. And the door hasn't shut on Bari, Tari and Reed becoming all-stars one day either. And the Rockets still hold two first round picks from the Suns and another first round pick from the Nets. And while he has built what is clearly a top 3 team in the league, he still has 2 second rounders in 2026. The Suns pick, the right to swap picks with the Brooklyn Nets, as well as two second rounders in 2027. Our own first and second round pick in 2028. And the right to the TWO most favorable picks out of Phoenix, Dallas and Houston in 2029. They have all their first rounders after that too.

So while our team is absolutely stacked, our coffers are filled to the brim with trade assets too.

No, this team hasn't done anything yet. But I believe they will at least make the Western Conference FInals this year. Anything less I would quantify as a failure. And then we'll see where they go from there.

 

Maybe someone will be better or about the same, but Harden in his prime is better than anyone's current level of play. I would not want current Harden on this team. Swap prime Harden for current Durant or FVV, and the current Rockets are the favorites to win the title.

 

If we're being real about it then swap prime Harden for either FVV or Jalen last year and we probably would've won the title. He never had the team to do it but having one of the greatest offensive maestros in league history on our dawg squad last year would've been unstoppable he would've covered the team's biggest weakness and more and the team would've covered his.

 

Dc is one of the most walkable big cities in the world. I did t even get my license til my mid 20’s and that was only because I was moving out of DC.


Outside of New York and maybe Chicago, I’m not sure there a major cities that relies less on automobile transportation to commute to work. Our bike lanes would irritate the hell out of you

 

The Rockets have a scouting department filled with ex NBA and international players (Adu, Bullard, Pickney etc).

Exec Vice President of Basketball ops on paper is Eli Witus and Senior VP ops is Keith Jones. Other exec ops staff include John Lucas. And technically Stone is the President and GM.

Stone has said he doesn’t like traditional roles and sees everyone as a scout and has input in his personnel decisions. This is likely why he wants the staff to be small. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with this. Other teams like Sixers have a larger staff including multiple operations and general manager assistants or player development staff. But bigger doesn’t always mean better or more efficient.

“Nobody has a (defined) job,” Stone said. “They’re scouts. Their job is all the same. They evaluate players through whatever lens they want. That’s why we try to hire from different backgrounds. It’s not you are the college guy or you are the whatever.”

“If I think a guy might have an interesting perspective on a player, I might ask him to specifically look at him but everybody is allowed to comment on every player, and we talk. We mostly insist on honesty. The extent that we assign players is to get full participation from everybody.”

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/te...Rockets-front-office-How-Houston-16274302.php

https://basketball.realgm.com/nba/teams/Houston-Rockets/10/staff-members/Current/player

 

I don't play it, but is there anyway to test this in NBA2K? I was going to respond and say, as much as I love Harden, being the "system" he would not work well with Ime. But thinking about it, I wish there was a way to see prime Harden with Alpi in the middle, Amen on the wing, and Jabari in the corner. Not to mention the other pieces. Maybe I need to take up NBA2K. Stuck in an Elden Ring obsession though so we'll see.

 

Analytics department is separate from scouting. Also Stone’s approach is actually collaborative.

 

Rockets scouting team seems more robust than some of the teams I’ve seen. Warriors have a small office as well it seems.

 

Rockets have a solid scouting team and analytics department.

https://www.nbastuffer.com/analytics101/nba-teams-that-have-analytics-department/

https://basketball.realgm.com/nba/teams/Houston-Rockets/10/staff-members/Current/player

 

Never said anything about this rebuild being the best ever. I actually think Morey did a hell of a job with the restrictions he had. It's two different types of team building.

Also, it's way too early to compare this rebuild with any past one by stating how far in the playoffs they got, simply because our title window just opened. Remember, we have a core of guys in their early 20s. They are far from finished products, and their prime is still years away. We don't know what will happen.

 

I'm more concerned about the infrastructure when inevitably the front office talent gets poached.

Interesting to hear the Houston talk.... it's certainly not West Coast or NYC wealthy but there are a lot of wealth in Houston both old and new.