Hmmmm..... well we are currently 3.5 games out from 4th worst. But trading Dipo, Cousin, and Tucker by the deadline at a minimum..... be better to include House and BMac as well. Obviously we would be taking back expiring contracts/bad contracts plus picks plus young talent. There is this thing called Covid and injuries, which is extra volatility that could tank (pun intended) the Rockets. Lastly, there's just luck..... If we end up 8th worst than we have a 26% at a top 4 pick. Obviously that can go the other way..... A top 4 pick isn't inconceivable, just not probable without things breaking our way.
That's a grim picture you painted breh. Sadly dominos could fall like that. If f'n Lakers come poach Wood at the end of his three year deal... that's a depressing picture.
I would be excited if we make the playoff this year after Harden called us out - the rest of guys were not good enough. Why are you so sure we will be destroyed in the first round? No I don't enjoy that, so I will be rooting for that does not happen. The elephant in the room right now is what we will do about Victor's contract come trade deadline next month. I would trade him if he is demanding a supermax and try to get the best deal on the table. However, if he realizes that there is a future for him here (obviously not by tanking right now), and is willing to take a reduced pay so there is room for this team to acquire other pieces this offseason, I would contemplate keeping (although I am torn on him these past few games). If we end up trading Dipo next month, we might as well look into what we can get for Gordon. I think he is fairly easy to be moved. Wall is harder to be moved. Assuming Dipo, Gordon (possibly PJ and Bmac) are gone after next month, I would fold Wood and Wall for the season. If we end up Dipo still being here, it's pretty simple - play everyone for the remainder of the season and make the playoff. Come to the offseason, we deal with possible trades for the better of this team. I do not want to speculate about that right now. Too many unknowns. Do the best on things we can control.
It'd probably be Miami to have him play with Adebayo, Robinson and Herro. But, for real, can't you just absolutely see something like that happening?
Again, it will be tough to beat out Wizards, Pistons, Twolves, and OKC on the bottom 4. If we want to have a somewhat decent value return come to trade deadlines for those guys you mentioned, we cannot tank right now until the trade deadline, right? Assuming we are still a 500 team at that point, we pretty much out of the "contention" picture for that trophy. Look I am not saying tanking is stupid. I get it. I am just pointing out the execution of it is actually harder than you think and thus is not appealing to me.
I guess I am not sure but I certainly dont like the odds against either of the LA teams. This team, at best, is a 6-8 seed in my opinion. I dont think it is a team that can, in 7 games, find 4 games where the whole team is healthy and playing out of their minds to pull off that type of upset. But, of course, I dont know that to be the case just what my eyes see. My understanding is that Dipo refused to give a hometown discount to the team that actually plays in his hometown. He seems like a good guy and he says all of the right things but I suspect that at the end of the day he wants either a) Miami or b) as much money as he can get. I suspect he wants both but I will say that given how putrid the free agent class is this summer, he is going to get a large offer I'd bet. Hopefully not from the Rockets. I absolutely understand this logic but I think that it ignores a lot of strategy that can be used to navigate the space between being good and bad. The goal is to put together a team of guys that can compete for the title for an extended period. Putting such a team together requires planning and, yes, some luck. What the Rockets have going for them is that they already have some guys (Wood, Tate, maybe Porter, Jones and Brown) that can be part of building such a contending team. They also have good draft capital and little long term salary on the books. Adding a top flight prospect this summer could do a whole lot to quicken the rebuild.
I'm in favor of getting the best value for our expirings plus shopping Gordon and letting the chips fall where they fall this season. The execution of getting superstars is hard, I just believe there are times to go for high draft picks and times not to go for it. I see a consecutive 2 season window coming up where it favors high draft picks, and we can start getting ready for that now. I'd rather end up with the 10th pick than making the playoffs because I just don't have a lot of confidence in this team.
Sure. No disagreement there. Can we maybe also achieve that objective by playing well? E.g., convince Dipo to stay on a reduced pay ... make the playoff and he shines. Then we can look into if we can trade him next season. Would that be also a path to land a top-pick? The same can be said about Boogie, Wall, Tate and others.
No need to if 2-3 wins can get you a good playoff spot. The best thing to do is win as many of the next 15 or so games to try and get far over .500 as possible.
Good and bad are relative terms. You seem to agree that it's wishful to think tanking would necessarily net us a good team. I agree that strategies and luck will play into the next few seasons, where Stone will be tested. To me there is not just one path to success - i.e., tanking. You are right that there is space in between for us to explore on. If the circumstance calls for us to focus on playing the younger guys, like trading away Dipo and Gordon in the coming trade deadline, yes we should do that. This is something we can control and is different from tanking no matter what IMO.
I just feel like you've also forgotten about when the Spurs tanked one single year and drafted Tim Duncan. Tanking this year doesn't have to mean indefinite tanking. But personally I'd be very comfortable with a 2-4 year tank to acquire the assets we need for this rebuild. Without drastic action we will not be competitive for another 10+ years very easily. P.s. I'm already not watching. I have zero interest in watching this mediocre team do mediocre things. I'd be more interested in watching promising young players with star potential. And, as of right now, we only have one of those. Kevin Porter Jr. (As far as I'm concerned Christian Wood is already a star and he's also already 25).
I agree that Stone is going to have to earn his salary here pretty soon and we should have a better idea of where things are heading in the next few weeks. The Rockets are going to need to use all of the options at their disposal to try and come back quicker and better than before. Utah sucks!
I voted no But if we aren't going to get a C & a PG Then it might be time. Roster construction is important.
Playing well is how you optimize the expirings but I’m just less confident in Dipo’s abilities and the overall team. I think trying to maximize the expirings while setting up bottoming out for 2021 season is a balancing act. I wouldn’t mind getting like the 11th pick while moving pieces by the off-season.
4 game losing streak, and if John Wall doesn't pull out a homecoming game special next week it could be up to 9+ There is hope!
Yeah nothing will come from tanking just one year. Nothing from college will change this team anytime soon.
The fans must understand something and they must understand it quickly, this is not a playoff team. It's a team under construction that needs to have the best possible picks in the next draft.
