i wouldn't tank unless we were certain that we were getting a player like drummond, barnes, or lamb in the draft.
I don't disagree on bud, but dalembert is a starting center right now when there aren't alot og good big men and patterson can easily be a starting forward, but scola is stopping him. Those two guys are not career backups. That is like people saying lowry was a career back up when brooks was starting.
No one is going to really be available before the deadline. I say we keep pushing hard to make the playoffs and if we don't, look for something at the trade deadline. Playing poorly isn't going to necessarily help us. If we play very bad, we have a shot at a high pick, yes this is nice, but it isn't guarenteed and it won't attract any good FAs. If we play well maybe we have a shot at signing Dwight. The worse we play the more our players trade value depreciates. Give it till the deadline. Btw, when is the deadline this season? Is there even an all-star game?
Trade veterans for picks. Play the young guys. Get a lotto pick. A Ferris wheel of mediocrity , is utterly pointless.
As you've said in every other thread. Look... -They have a grand total of three "veterans" on the roster today. Thats it. -They just tried to trade 2 out of 3 of those veterans a couple weeks ago. The other one's contract might be one of the best draft day trade assets on the current roster. -All indications are they would love to get a good lotto pick for Scola or Martin. There isnt a lotto pick that is for sale that is better than the one they are already going to get right now. -The "Young Guys" ARE playing when they earn it (see Chandler Parsons).
Couldn't agree more. Being the 4th largest city in America, all we should strive for are Championships in all three sports. Never settle for mediocrity!
I agree that the easiest way to get better is to get a top draft pick one way or another. It is easiest because that player generally has minimum say on where he is going (but not always, see Steve Francis refusing to go to Canada) and if you didn't trade for the draft pick then you gave up nothing to aquire it. However when people ask for tanking they need to be realistic and understand that it is VERY rare that tanking/rebuilding is a one draft and done process. The Spurs are really the only team that comes to mind since the lottery started that was down for one year due to injuries to both Sean Elliot and David Robinson, and then got lucky and beat out Boston for the number one pick of Tim Duncan and bounced back instantly. Also the team that has the worst record rarely actually gets the top pick and while most drafts have at least one all star level player, true franchise players are not guaranteed in any draft. It is also misleading to say that every team was terrible before they got their franchise players. The Lakers were 53-29 the year before trading Vlade for Kobe and signing Shaq so not EVERY modern team tanked to get their franchise players. The Pistons also did not tank to get a franchise player. Joe Dumars was hired as the team's president of basketball operations in 2000 and Grant Hill left the team for the Orlando Magic. Dumars did a sign and trade with Orlando that brought the Pistons Ben Wallace and Chucky Atkins for Hill. The Pistons were 32–50 in 2000–01. Dumars hired Rick Carlisle as the new coach, and they rebounded to their first 50-win season since 1997, and their first playoff series victory since 1991. The next season they signed Chauncey Billups, traded for Rip Hamilton from the Washington Wizards, and drafted Tayshaun Prince as their reward for "tanking". The Pistons posted consecutive 50-win seasons and advanced to the 2003 Eastern Conference Finals, for the first time since 1991, getting swept in four games by the New Jersey Nets. Carlisle was fired and replaced by Larry Brown. The Pistons' then made a mid season trade for Rasheed Wallace and went on to win the championship and then lose in the finals the next season to San Antonio. The vast majority of their best players were aquired thru trade and none of them were ever superstars or would be considered franchise players on their own. Their biggest mistake in recent history of course was passing on Carmello, Bosh and Wade for Darko in the 2003 draft when they were still contenders in which case they would have again been a case of getting a franchise player without tanking. Also keep in mind the Celtics had Pierce for NINE years from 1998 thru 2007 prior to trading for Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett and almost all nine of them were bad to mediocre and that was with playing in a very weak at the time eastern conference. The Celtics did have a four year playoff run from 2001-2004, but the last two of those runs ended in the first round. Still the point being that it was a LONG time removed from the tanking that got them Paul Pierce and the trade for Garnett and Ray Allen. Tanking may end up being the best way for the Rockets to get a new franchise player, but fans have to keep in mind that there are a lot more franchises who tank and end up stuck in the process for years and years like the Wizards, Cavs, Bobcats, Raptors, Clippers, Blazers, ect than that turn it around in a year like San Antonio. It seems the San Antonio scenario is the expectation of many of the pro-tanking fans and they need to realize that is the exception rather than the rule. It's also very risky for any front office to pursue the pro-tanking strategy as it may be the best thing for the franchise in the long term, but if your team is terrible, good luck keeping your job long enough to see those long term results pay off for you.
AMEN brother! It's shocking how many people on this board have tricked themselves into thinking our roster as is can legitimately compete for a title. By no means is getting into the lottery going to net you a star for certain but I'll take top 5 lotto busts over another 42-42 (or 33-33) season.
I'm for trading Scola. He's my favorite Rocket, but by the time we've found the pieces to compete, he'll be too old. Unless Durant goes down, no way we can contend with OKC. He's been a winner at every other level, I'd like to see him win an NBA championship.
[Houston Press] NBA Purgatory http://www.houstonpress.com/2012-01-12/news/houston-rockets-nba-lockout/
All you have to do is look at the rising team in the NBA and see what is at their core: OKC - Kevin Durant - draft Bulls - Derrick Rose - draft Clippers - BG - draft Then you look at the top contenders and ask yourself what they are built around: Heat - Wade - draft Mavs - Dirk - draft Spurs - Duncan - draft Celtics - Pierce - draft Magic - Howard - draft L.A. - Kobe - draft Then you look at the rest of the potential playoff teams with no hope to win. They may have good players, even great. But the commonality is that they were built around star draft picks. And no one takes them seriously as contenders. Go figure. So to me there is no debate. If you don't get into the draft until you get lucky - you are just going to be stuck in no-man land forever.
