Get off the whole cause and effect bullshit. What makes you such an expert of what has caused results either positive or negative than anyone else on this forum? I’m not a pessimist by nature and was derided during the Silas reign for being too optimistic. I am bullish on our young core, all of them, with the possible exception of Reed, but am still holding out hope for him. Pointing out weaknesses with the direction of a team we are all rooting for is not an overly pessimistic view of the team, but it is, with cause, a pessimistic view of the short come outcomes for this team as constructed. Most successful people in life have a balanced view and look at probable outcomes and suggest solutions. Being overly optimistic about a team’s outcome, contrary to recent evidence, is more damaging.
We are about to make a wing who can't shoot our highest paid player. You can't win a championship that way - full stop.
I actually don't view the rebuild as a failure because of the number of seasons. It's only a failure when you give up before you acquire a true #1. There are multiple ways to do this...you can draft this player, trade for them or one of your own guys could grow into one. Unfortunately, I don't think our front office is doing enough to maximize ANY of these avenues (for different reason). My fear is that, privately, ownership is satisfied with where the team is. We'll see what happens moving forward.
All we can do as fans is speculate based on the information available to us. If we aren’t rah rah sis boom bah guys after a disappointing ending to the season and dis-satisfied with the apparent complacency of the FO that looks to be treading water, we are labeled doomerz and pessimists, and, by some, bad fans. This forum is mainly for debate. Nobody should be derided for taking a contrary viewpoint in a debate. Without a contrary opinion there is no debate. I’m optimistic about the future of several of our players: Amen, Sengun, and Jabari, in particular, but pessimistic about our FO and coach’s ability to develop this team into a championship contender. That does not make me a pessimist or a whiner, it just makes me one of hundreds on this forum with an opinion.
It's not about championship-or-bust. It's that the team made no progress this past season and in fact took a step backwards considering we dropped from the 2nd seed to the 5th seed, won the same number of games(and had to scramble late with a 9-1 finish to match that win total), and lost in 6 games in the first round instead of 7. And while one could argue(as you do) that reintegrating Fred and bringing in Marcus Smart will improve the team, I'd counter that those additions are not going to keep us on par with the likes of OKC, San Antonio, or Denver and possibly not Minnesota, Golden State, or the Lakers. The mere fact that you concede that Ime is so deficient at guiding the offense that we need Fred VanVleet in order to execute at that end of the court is a damning indictment of the state of this roster(and coaching staff).
I personally do not like a lot about the trajectory of the team starting from the summer of 2025 til now. But taking the team that finished last year and effectively adding Steven Adams, FVV, Smart, bogdanivich, Thornton should be a net positive. Assuming full health, I think we are easily closer to contender than not.
This is what I’m talking about. You failed to acknowledge that Durant and Smart are better than Green and Dillon. And you seem to think that players in the 21 to 24 range will make no improvements. This team is better than the #2 team of two years ago and has the opportunity to make significant progress through simple maturation and experience. Why ignore those things? If they don’t occur, start looking for another coach. But to say they simply will not happen is intellectually dishonest. It’s far more likely that our group of young players make improvements, especially when playing with actual PGs, than to think that they won’t.
Just read article on Charlotte dealing Ball to Minny. Their FO mindset seems so different from ours. They are a team that hasn’t been to playoffs in 10 years but they are like: “we don’t really care to make playoffs next year unless we can expect a deep run in it soon. And we don’t believe it’s happening as constructed”. These are people who just drafted a dude who was super close to ROY. You’d think they’d be happy, but they are dealing away franchise level player & setting expectations for their franchise They also say things like “we’re in constant communication with owner group” whereas our FO would say “Ime and I don’t have to talk much – we’re always aligned” when addressing decision making. And as far as culture, I wish’s we had Charlotte’s current vibes. AND they seem to have picked a direction, whereas we are choosing 2nd round pick based on our favorite FVV’s body type and hope to run back a very fragile group that can only work for another season at most with a ceiling of 2nd round exit. And hoping for a break through in young core without much of a development culture. No matter what theDude says, it's hard to get excited.
Because then why hasn't the greater NBA media and NBA reddit echoing you regarding FVV over the last years?
Was last season an anomaly or a major indicator? I don't think we have enough info, as we still don't know what our final roster will be for the year or how we will perform this season. However, hitting a roadblock and having a season where step back occurs happens. Despite a disastrous season last year.... we were still 5th and 2 games away from being 3rd in the West. Just to add some context to our "drop".
Here’s the good news. The average NBA head coach tenure is roughly 3 years with a median tenure of just 2.5 seasons. Turnover is high, with nearly 18% of coaches lasting a single season or less, and barely 10% remaining with a team for more than 5 years. So the nature of the NBA says that if this team does not show real improvement over the next year or two, Ime is gone. We aren’t stuck with him for a decade. The team has improved under him, but there is no reason to believe that they won’t make a change if it becomes necessary.
Agree that KD was by far the Rockets best player and only played one game. All of them? No - and I don't know if incompetence if the term I would use - more so that there were higher risk of injury for a lot of the players that the Rockets signed or traded for. Conditioning? No - KD seemed to be well conditioned. Age and use related? Very possible - KD was 37 years old, has a long history of injuries and the Rockets ran him into the ground during the regular season. So it isn't at all surprising that he ended up injured. FVV was 32 years old last year with heavy minutes and milage on his body. That makes him more prone to injury or breaking down. He also was coming off a season where he missed 25% of the season. Stephen Adams has averaged 32 games a season the last 4 seasons. I like him when he is healthy, but he is injured more often than not - and when he can play, he cannot play heavy minutes. Counting on his is a fool's errand. The whole league knew DFS was injured - the Rockets still signed him. No - not all other team's injuries are dumb luck. Older players - players with a history of injuries - with conditioning issues or heavy loads year after year all have a higher chance of being injured. The Lakers know that Luka has conditioning and effort issues on defense, he also gets a lot of ejections. I am not crying for them. The difference is that the Lakers were without better players than the Rockets and they still found a way to win the series - while the Rockets did not. LeBron James has missed games off and on since his 35th birthday. Overall he has been healthy in his career - but yes, he is a higher injury risk than some other players. The Rockets don't get to strategically target old players with heavy milage and/or injury histories repeatedly in free agency and then whine about it "not being their year". The Rockets got those players with less competition for their services because they are old and more prone to injury. It wasn't some stroke of bad luck - it was a consequence of choices the Rockets made.
If we make no other moves (ideally trading KD), truly this will be the first year I don't pay much attention. TLDR who gives a ****, but the 1st time in ~25 years I won't be counting down the days to the start of preseason.
Durant and Smart are certainly better players than Green and Dillon. The injury risk is higher though - especially with KD. Players between 18-25 years old certainly make improvements - but after a few seasons, if there hasn't really been a "leap", it becomes less likely - especially for players that get playing time. What year is this for Sengun? Smith? Sheppard? As the years tick by the improvement historically becomes less pronounced. Define "significant". The hope is that Amen or Sheppard make a huge leap this season - and it is possible one of them does, but it cannot be counted on. This team is better than last year's team - but there are a number of teams in the West that compete with the Rockets that are better as well. Looking for another coach? The GM needs to go if the Rockets don't show real improvement. The issue would be an institutional one and not just coaching. The Rockets need to win 55 or more games next season and get past the first round and at least play a tight series in round two. If they do that - the GM and HC are likely going to get another year or two to progress.
I think those are realistic goals for this team and are completely attainable as long as there are no significant injuries or setbacks. Maybe it’s just a different viewpoint, but a 55 win team should be considered a contender. If they aren’t attaining those goals, I really think that’s one the coach should answer for first. I’m not enamored with Stone, but I think he’s done enough to earn a little longer leash. I was as disgusted with our last two playoff performances as anyone, but I think there are clear mistakes made that the team can learn from and rectify without completely upending the team.
The only way this team is a contender is if the myriad of old players they are counting on somehow manage to stay healthy. If that were to happen then sure, maybe they could contend if other teams aren't as lucky, but realistically that's just not likely to happen. I think most people can see that, and that's why the current state of the franchise is kind of depressing.
That could be no value. My understanding is KD is a free agent after the season with no compensation for the Rockets.
The historical recrimination discourse is so boring. Our situation is what it is. We are somewhere around the ~13-17th best team, in terms of our actual playoff level. That is not my opinion speaking btw, it's what the objective market says. Our most prominent player is turning 38 and is a team hopper. We do not have a franchise-level young player. The standard prescription in this situation in the NBA is to reset (not tank). An alternative prescription is to push chips in for right now. Either path can be coherent. But going into a season with zero championship equity and zero franchise player equity is dead end stuff.
