Even Luis Scola started as a bench player. And don't get too bogged down with specific names. I'm just saying that I don't think the best position to take is just to stop all front office operations until we land a superstar through the draft. They could just as easily get their chance and get an Oden who stays hurt, or a Thabeet who is incompetent, or a Kwame Brown who is uncoachable, or a Darko or an Olowokandi... etc. There are more of those stories out there than there are Kevin Durants.
He did but it's always better to just give players the minutes. You know what you have sooner and if the guy is going to be good then it's likely he'll float. Also I don't think anyone expects the team to just stop doing anything. But rebuilding means to value potential over production. A team that isn't rebuilding would value Jefferson over any of our guys because of production. But his potential is maxed, he's not going to get any better and he's not exactly going to make your team a contender. At this point I think it's better to let these young guys play. Get rid of Martin, and see what they can do.
I'm all for rebuilding too. I want to keep all of the rookies. I guess I just think of tanking as trying to lose. I disagree with that. And I don't think adding good players (like Jefferson or Smith) whose contracts end in a year is as detrimental as adding someone who hurts future flexibility (like a Brook Lopez for example). More than anything, I want the team to regain access to all of their future first round picks.
I'm all for playing the rookies, and if that gets us a good lotto pick great! But exactly how is this seasons team better than last season's team? Nvm, we drafted a Lesser Dwight Howard....nvm sorry, ok I see it. We'll have Dwight Jones, (or Terrance Howard, whichever you prefer) coming off the bench to provide us with a skillset never seen before at the Center position
I don't support "tanking" as in intentionally losing under any circumstances. But this teams isn't going to be good anyway. High lotto pick no matter what we do.
People who are voting "No": why do you think we shouldn't tank? Or maybe the better question is how do you think the Rockets will fight being in the bottom of the league??
I don't get how this is a choice right now. The roster is substantially what it is now, absent some dramatic opportunity popping up. The team will have to play a lot of young players, they'll do their best on the court and live with the results, win or lose. There's no choice of "tanking" or "not tanking" to be made unless you are saying the coach and players will intentionally blow games.
I think people here have different definitions of tanking. I don't want to intentionally lose or just throw a bunch of rookies in the court all at once. But that doesn't mean that I want to trade every one of them and all of the draft picks for established veterans with long term contracts either. There is a middle ground that can be explored. I don't see trying to stay competitive as Ava's thing if you do it right.
This is dumb, these young guys are hungry and humble...that's what Lin and Parsons said at Lin's press conference. They're not going to intentionally tank, they're gonna play their butts off. We'll deal with the losses at the point.
Hmmm, I think by "tank" most of merely mean being at the bottom of the league. No one wants intentional tanking (especially since that's not a good habit for young players). I was just wondering if the "non-tank" people are looking for Morey to sign some middling free-agents/make middling trades.
Tanking = trading Kevin Martin for an useless player and a draft pick or two Not tanking = trading for vets/signing vets & keeping Martin
Frankly, I don't think Martin is that relevant to the win total. He wasn't that great last season: doesn't seem to be a good fit with a non-Princeton-type offense and certainly isn't helping on the defensive end.
I'd rather Morey not try to improve the current roster at this point. The team isn't going to make the playoffs. What would be the point? The term "tanking" does have the inherent connotation of losing on purpose and throwing games in an effort to gain a higher draft pick.
I agree, but he would take minutes away from our young players and he isn't exactly what you would call a leader or men. So if he doesn't impact the win total one way another and won't help keeping the locker room 'together', then what's the point of keeping him?
Lin turned Steve Novak into a legitimate threat during Linsanity because Lin knew the tendencies of his teammates and where they want the ball, and how much they should get the ball. Imagine how many wide-opens opportunities Kevin Martin will get (and backdoor cuts!) not to mention Martin is a lot more versatile and agile than Steve Novak and should be able to get open even more easily.
