Extremely Disappointed

The Rockets punted the season as soon as Fred got hurt. They just didn’t announce that to fans.

 

I agree. But people keep telling me and even rockets media is saying the trade wasn’t a win now move.

 

If the buyout market is the focus then salary dump Tate, Green, or Holiday. The buyout market is looking really juicy but we don't have enough room under the apron to get more than 1 prorated minimum. Too late now.

 

How can the coach scheme for lack of shooting talent?

That’s on the front office.

 

This pretty much solidified a first round exit for us. Spurs and Boston showed the path to beat us. The buyout market is not going to save us. Maybe Fred can come back this year but who knows what type a player he will be plus no steven adams. If we somehow make it out the first round I would consider it a success. Wasting a year of KD Ime and Stone should absolutely be on the hot seat if we can get ran in the playoffs.

 

Obviously, the strategy for 2025/26 failed as they hard capped themselves without any wiggle room - then had 3 pieces of their rotation in Adams, FVV, and DFS not work out.

They can still rework the 2026/27 cap in the offseason while upgrading the roster further - Jabari's new deal becomes tradable as the poison pill aspect of his extension goes away. The 26/27 luxury tax & hard cap situation isn't set in stone yet and won't be until the trade deadline for next season. They are not hard capped at this point and could trade anyone on the roster in the offseason. I would hope to see major changes in the offseason. I want DFS and Jabari gone and someone like Trey Murphy brought in. New Orleans' front office seems like a bunch of knuckleheads, so I would try to go that route.

 

Assuming everything you say is correct, it can't necessarily have been fixed at the trade deadline.

As frustrated as many of us are, we DO have the 5th best record in the NBA [a win tonight gives us the 4th best], and the best record against teams over .500

I hate to say it, but the proof will be in the playoffs, where we get to avoid playing thr bad teams.
I'll view the season as a failure if we don't make the WCF.
Unfortunately it kind of feels like we might crash out in the first round if teams just sag off Alpy and Amen....

 

Well, this sucks. I peaked 30 years ago. I may not live long enough to see our young guys hit their peak.

The Rockets and I are on different timelines.

 

have faith young fella

 

Some act as if we are bottom

 

IM DISSAPPOINTED TOO BUT CAM THOMAS JUST GOT WAIVED

 

Easy, the coach can change the offensive setup and plays. Tell Sengun to move the ball faster. Play Amen at the SF more again. More off-ball movement makes it harder to defend.

 

This team is so cooked. Stone has punted this season by doing absolutely nothing.

Next season we have to pray 38yo KD is healthy and FVV doesn't come back completely washed like DFS.

On top of Amen will be asking for a max extension and Eason still wants to get paid 20M/year.

 

The point is:

a) Yes agreed the 2025/26 cap strategy was a failure.

b) Keeping DFS through the deadline and into the 2026 offseason hurts the offseason a lot. Because we chose to keep DFS, we will be deep into the tax to start the offseason on July 1 before re-signing Tari. Any predatory Tari offer sheet from Chicago or Brooklyn or the Lakers would put us in the second apron, and the only avenue to get out would be paying picks to get off DFS, Adams, Capela, or FVV after matching Tari, while under the gun. That's an awful starting point, and a very challenging position from which to make any other moves to improve the roster.

Or, if we make any trade where we aggregate players or take back more money - other teams can make an offer sheet to Tari afterwards that purposely puts us over an apron and we literally would have 48 hours to dump a rotation player or we couldn't match at all.

 

Tari will be an overpaid role player
Bari is inconsistent and will never be better than a 15ppg player until he gets a post game
Amen has the highest ceiling, but will never become the superstar until he develops a 3pt shot
Sengun is at his peak, need to trade him while his value at his highest
Reed will be a great role player, let's lower the expectations -> will not be our starting point guard
Since we have KD, we need to maximize this window -> no exceptions!!!
Sengun/Jabari for Giannis
Tari can take Jabari spot and anyways is shooting the 3 ball better than him!

 

I dont believe that's entirely correct - I think they can't sign players who's previous contract is over the MLE. Guys like CP3, Lonzo Ball, Cam Thomas, and Mike Conley would all be eligible under those terms although I would argue none of those guys are necessarily game changers for us....but then again, generally if you are relying on the buyout market, it's for depth and not to raise your ceiling.

 

Don’t get me wrong, Ime isn’t blameless but the problems are deeper than him.

Sengun plays at a slower pace. You can tell him to speed up but that’s just who he is.

Ime has to put Amen on ball because the front office failed to get a back up PG then Fred blew his knee out. The only other option is play Holiday more.

They should be moving more off ball to be sure. But let’s be honest, there’s nothing stopping the players on the court from moving around but themselves.

 

I’m a loser for investing time in this team…and all of you other rockets fans are too. U bought into last yr’s success but the truth is our young core isn’t as good as we thought. Ime isn’t as good as we thought. And Stone has never proven that he can actually construct a team that fits. His best undervalued talent acquisition was a troubled KPJ. And his drafting has been very overrated. No trust in this org. They misevaluated our readiness to contend and are about to go back to back drafts without a pick. Huge misalignment between reality and Stone’s ego.

 

The best thing today is that Tari was not traded, I guess

 

You didn't peak 30 years ago, Mike Newlin peaked 50 years ago.



DD