I can agree with you that leadership is important in a team. And yeah totally it would be awesome to have our veterans who possess great intangibles and have them teach and influence our younger players. Leadership and character is a very good bonus when it comes to any talent. However, it is just "A BONUS". Like icing on the cake. And a "bonus" is all exactly it all that is. Leadership and character can all take a back seat to talent, because talent wins championships. One good example would be Battier. He is probably one of the top citizens in the league in terms of leadership and character, but what has he helped us achieve during his time here? Did he provide that extra vital scoring punch when we really needed it ? Like the 2 Jazz series? Did he make key defensive stops when it came to the crunch? How many of our wins can be attributed to Battier's contributions? When you think about it, its just more hype than substance. People bash guys like Zach Randolph, Monta Ellis, Chris Bosh. They say they are just all stats and no leadership and no character. They say these guys are selfish and does not win. But turn them into a proper team with proper support, they flourish like no one else could. Z-Bo lead his team to an upset over the team that was essentially leading the NBA for whole season. Bosh's team went all the way to the Finals. When they were back in their old teams, people bashed them like they were all-personal-stats-zero-winning-qualities scrubs who is just there to try to score big contracts. Now where are those haters? Oh yea, they can find no ammo. My point is leadership is important, but it shouldn't come at the cost of talent. With Scola and Martin on the team, we'll NEVER get a top pick ourselves. If we want leadership we'll just go get some old veterans who can backup our young guys. And I want to add another point. Scola and Martin aren't exactly leaders. They are probably 2 of the most softly-spoken guys on the team. You want leaders? Try Kobe, or Yao. Those are real leaders.
I realize it's secondary to talent. I still think it's underrated though. Why do we see all these young teams (thunder, grizz, kings, wolves) scrambling to procure vets? Experience and leadership go a long way. Plus, how else we gonna connect with and motivate the likes of TWill and Thabeet? Talent without leadership is a waste. Sometimes you luck out and find a Kobe that has both, but we dont have that luxury. Im with you that we should move some of our vets if we can get back exceptional talent or high picks but at the same time, a team full of rookies is a nightmare for a coach. He needs the guidance that veterans (field lieutenants if you will) provide or else it's like herding cats.
I'd be happy if we went the OKC Model. I think if we can draft high character guys like Kevin Durant and Jeff Green, then the loss of scola's and martin's veteran leadership loss will be less of an impact on the team.
I doubt that happens. Although we seem to be going for high character in the picks we draft ourselves, Morey already stated they have no intentions of tanking. Going the OKC route would call for several years of it. We seem to be trying to reload by scavenging once-promising lottery talent, superior drafting and free agency. And even OKC traded away talent for toughness and leadership in Perkins.
The OKC/Seattle model is kinda weird. They still had Ray Ray and Shard the season they got the 2nd pick for Durant. They blew up the team AFTER they drafted Durant and basically tanked the following season. It's hard for us to implement that model here in Houston unless one of our key players somehow gets hurt and we fall to get a top 3 pick.
I agree with this. Folks are saying they sucked for years, but none of those sucking years led to them winning a title. Only sucking for one year led to something. There was no need to suck this year (even though I would not have minded), but sucking next year might make a difference. All about sucking in the right year. The Thunder sucking led to them drafting their top players. That is only the case for Boston for the year they got the top 5 pick. Again, just because they sucked for many years doesn't mean that sucking led to anything. Just the year they got the top 5 pick. With that being said, every other case besides LA and Detroit (maybe?) happened from teams not sucking and drafting high, as far as teams that won titles.
Morey let it slip recently that Les is putting a severe constraint on him. The team must win a title without initially getting very bad (i.e. falling under .500), something Morey claims has never been done. Morey framed it in a complimentary way (i.e. Les wants to win and not tank), but I wonder if he sees it as the best path to a title. It seemed like a tactful way of letting his detractors know that if he had free reign, the strategy might be different. When I hear people complain about Morey, remember this may be the best possible strategy given the constraints imposed by Alexander.
Man, you're such a loser. I'm hoping you don't do anything competitive in life, lol. Trade KMart for 2nd round pick LOOOOOOOL.
The way to do this is to sit Scola and Martin for any minor injuries for long periods of time to "make sure" they heal properly. Then go with the young guys for a good portion of the year. Get another high draft pick and get Scola and Martin back healthy. Then have all of that going for us. It would take quit a bit of deviousness, IQ, and forsight to pull that off. It wouldnt be cheating if one or both or Lowry end up with minor nagging injuries we could hold them out for extended periods of time for. Thats one way of not tanking but protecting injured players this year for our run next year.
On top of that? You can trade Scola during the middle of the season and perhaps some other vet along with him. Causing a period of some team chemistry development to happen. Say Scola and someone else for a good player? You get that good player and they still do pretty good but lose a few games transitioning. Then you draft high and have that good player and young players who are developing.
I don't think people quite understand what the consequences are of purposefully instilling a losing culture in a place that is completely driven by a competition and a desire to win.
you don't tell players to lose...but you commit to rebuilding by making personnel moves. you get rid of veterans even if that means losing more games than you win next season (in the near-term). you trade to acquire draft picks or younger talent...because the older guys aren't gonna be there anyway. if the goal is to make the playoffs, then you worry about keeping around vets. if the goal is to build a championship team, then you sacrifice the short term for long term. maybe you don't make the playoffs...maybe you're less competitive than we were last season. but hopefully you're building something instead of running in place. suggested reading:
i'm not arguing we aren't (though the title of the thread suggests otherwise). i'm drawing the distinction between that and tanking -- where you have some expectation that players and coaches (frontline guys) aren't doing everything they can to win every single game. i don't ever want my players or coaches doing that (particularly since they don't even know if they'll be around to enjoy the fruits of throwing in the towel and losing anyway). if we're serious about this, we'll trade scola. he could fetch a nice return, and having him on a team with this many young forwards is nonsensical if rebuilding is the plan.
Could he fetch a nice return? I have my doubts. I bet teams would rather get Patrick Patterson. Scola is 31 and has a decent-sized contract. We could get something in return, but I doubt it will be a star player or a high draft pick. Morey will either a) package him with other players/picks for a superstar or b) if we acquire a superstar through other means, we could keep him, as he would be a very solid complementary player for a playoff team.
Its not tanking. You trade Scola and some of our veterans for one very good player to go with younger players playing more minutes. You might end up winning more. You could also lose more because of the inexperience. Then next year after experience of our rookies and second year players mesh with that newly aquired player you got for Scola and perhaps a high draft pick? You could win alot more. IT IS NOT TANKING THOUGH!
Can you honestly blame that on the Owner, He has did his job and he has come to far to turn back and start over. He brought us one of the most prolific scorers in the game and what could of been on of the best Centers in the game, It just didnt pan out.
