LOL - you don't seem to get it so I'll bold it in 1 sentence. Why would he ban the people that agree with him? Wouldn't it actually make more sense to ban the people that disagree with him? But Clutch doesn't run his board that way - the best sports board on the web IMO. He does reign in those that need to be reigned in but it's never because of a civil disagreement. There is reasoning behind the "develop and draft" crowd. You can disagree with it just as we disagree with the "stay the course" crowd. How would YOU describe your way of handling (banning) people that don't agree with you?
You will not see Clutch complaining about a win. Clutch is not chicken little running around claiming that the sky is falling. Clutch might believe that this is a season that we could throw with an eye toward the future but I promise you he is on the edge of his seat cheering for every basket and every defensive stop no matter what. We are all seeing that Scola and Martin would fit better on a contending team and that playing them heavy minutes is not making a huge difference in the win column. They are not the future, but, you can not sit them and hope to ever get anything for them in trade. This is the situation, we need to play them to trade them but we need to sit them to play our younger guys. What people need to realize is that no matter what we have now, we know we are going to trade multiple players in the hopes of finding a star. The team at the end of the season is not going to look like what we see now. So, should we devalue Scola and Martin by playing a younger guy over them who we might trade WITH them anyway. Nobody is safe. Get used to Scola and Martin with heavy minutes till the trade deadline. Maybe our record is around the .500 range and we can trade them for somebody who can push us to win a playoff series. If we are the same team after the trade deadline then it will make more sense to "develop" the younger guys at the expense of Scola and Martin and do a little tanking.
Making a one-sentence comment with no content which is just about how you hope the Rockets are going to lose (on a Rockets fanboard) is trolling in my opinion, and repeated trolling is a banning offense on most message boards, as it should be. It's not a matter of having a civil disagreement with people posting a rational argument, it's a matter of all the people who come out of the woodwork just to make inflammatory comments along the lines of "I hope we lose" with no other content.
What are you talking about? There has been nothing but fire Morey/McHale, trade Scola/Martin, Les needs to sell the team, etc. in GARM with our bad start. I have seen almost no positivity from all the losing. Just like I have seen almost no positivity from the winning either.
If we were losing, but some of the younger guys (like Williams or Hill or Morris or Patterson) were showing breakout star potential, then that would be ideal. Instead, we are on track to posting another mediocre record, and none of our young guys have really raised their value. The only positives to take away are that Lowry looks like a very solid starting PG and Parsons looks like a great pickup -- but not a star -- in the second round.
Clutch is a better man than I am - I won't debate that. Plus he needs to watch his tongue closer than I do because he's "IN". And by being "IN", he gets special treatment that we ALL enjoy. Me? I'm not "IN". There are 2 different things going on here. I don't think any "tanker" is throwing the remote at the TV on a W. We are still watching. Still rooting. Still looking for bright spots. That's during a game (small picture). But then there is the big picture. Playing to win at all costs has a cost. It's been covered to death. I'm not saying bench Scola and Martin. Just give them fewer minutes. 20 instead of 38 and give those other 18 to someone else like TWill 1 night and Morris the next - that kind of thing. Now if you get to a point of lotto is unavoidable and it's past the trade deadline, then maybe Scola or Martin has a groin pull and you go "all-in".
Why quote something I never said? Over exaggerate much to make your point seem more true? I don't see what I post as trolling - at all. Going for a "rebuild" through the draft an idea. An idea that Clutch agrees with and even Morey has entertained the idea of it being the better way to get this club back into a true contender status but Les shot down. But it's Les' team so DM has to follow those orders. And we fans have a choice of jumping off the wagon or staying on. A true fan is going to stay on whether they W, L or do something they don't agree with but that doesn't mean we have to agree or be quiet.
The ironic thing is that some of the very folks who scream "tank tank tank" are the same posters who call for McHale or Morey's head after every loss.
I'm not worried about McHale, and my problem with Morey isn't that the team sucks, but that they don't suck enough to get a high draft pick. What Morey is attempting to do is virtually impossible unless your team is in LA, NY, or Miami. The Rockets are trying to do what the Astros just wasted four years trying to do, and we know how that turned out. Four wasted years.
Personally I think Morey has done a very good job with the hand that's he's been dealt. Hindsight will show some flaws but overall I'd say A-/B+. McHale I wasn't thrilled with when they first got him but that was mainly because of my prejudice of him coming from the TWolves. He was actually their best coach from the revolving door they had so I've given him a clean slate. C right now though.
The 2012 draft class is looks good in the FIRST HALF of the lottery. The Rockets, even if they "played the young guys more" don't figure to land in the first half of the lottery. I'm thinking the #9 pick at best(/worst). When people say that the 2012 draft is "deep", that doesn't mean that the entire lottery is filled with future All-Stars at picks 1-14. The depth of the 2012 draft is expected to be in the mid-first round (picks 12-20). This means that the KNICKS' pick (expected to be in the 19-22 range) should be better than in other years but that the Rockets' pick won't be much better than in any other year. I can completely understand those wanting to go into full-on rebuild mode right now. But please understand that the pot of gold at the end of the 2012 tank-fest is not nearly as great as you think it will be. Thanks for the rep, but I respectfully disagree with you here. I respect the basic premise of those wanting to improve draft positioning for the upcoming draft. I don't AGREE with it (for various reasons, including some far more subtle than "we should win, not lose"), but I at least can appreciate its merits. What I can't tolerate is the incessant clamoring for things to happen that CANNOT happen under any realistic circumstance. You know, like shooting for a top-3 pick. It's not going to happen unless the Rockets get REALLY lucky in the draft lottery. Even with a bad season, we're not going to have better than a, say, 8-12% chance at a top-3 pick. A balance must be struck between giving the young guys some PT and throwing people out there to fail. There's a lot to be said from having young guys watch and learn from what the veterans do in actual game situations. Still, your point is well-taken. Also, just remember that Geoff Petrie was once viewed as the best GM in the NBA. Now, he's the GM of a team with a toxic environment. That's all about LOSING. It's not the GM. You have no idea whether any of those "top 30 players" can be acquired in trades or not. In 2010, any rational NBA fan would have included Kevin Martin on your list. Did anyone see the Martin acquisition coming? No. Also, the Rockets can still win THIS SEASON and then rebuild in the offseason. For instance, Kevin Martin might actually net the Rockets a higher pick in a draft day deal (after a season in which he helps lead the Rockets to the playoffs) than he can in a trade deadline deal. Due to the psychology of "the allure of a draft pick", teams are far more likely to trade "the #8 pick" than they are to trade "a top-7 protected first round pick". The Rockets could pull a trade similar to what the Warriors did when they traded Jason Richardson on draft night to the Bobcats in exchange for the #8 overall pick. Or, when the Grizzlies traded Shane Battier to Houston for the #8 overall pick plus Stromile Swift's terrible contract. For those considering tanking, consider this: In the example above, the Rockets could make the playoffs this year, give valuable experience to their young players to help their development, and STILL have a higher lottery pick than they'd likely get if they "tanked", another good first rounder from the Knicks, AND their own pick in 2013 and beyond (without the restrictions of the NJ pick obligation hanging over their heads and their ability to trade future picks). The Rockets could enter next season with a chance at a better lottery pick in 2013 (with Martin gone) OR the allure of a higher pick that can actually BE TRADED to other teams in exchange for their star players. I'm just saying that there are ways to get a good lottery pick that don't involve tanking.
Bima, So, you are giving #9 in the draft as our lowest downside. What is our upside as currently constructed?
