I'm not sure I understand. Clearly the decision that he wasn't a good fit was made AFTER he came to Houston. Maybe they thought he would be excited to play her and revive his post-injury career while signing an extension... Or maybe they thought his expiring contract would be worth more on the trade market. Whatever the case may be, clearly they were wrong, but I don't think he's denying that.
I just want to point out how incredibly easy it is to toss out these doomsday-negative takes. We're losing, so you always have that card to play to prove your BS point. Screaming about how the sky is falling and how everything is going wrong is like kindergarten-level stuff here. Please, get rid of this garbage and try to say something with a little thought or analysis behind it. So you don't like Stone's public speaking... that must mean he's a moron!!! Like, you're so right! The franchise is imploding!
YES!! Rafael Stone IS INDEED Elon Musk! He said "like an Elon Musk" referring to his PR skills... That means he ACTUALLY IS Elon Musk in reality. That also means that Rafael Stone is going to start his own space exploration company, and Elon Musk would be a highly successful NBA general manager if he felt like it. The skillsets are exactly the same of course... which is what was implied by that post.
How is Stone like Elon Musk? Sheer intellectual brilliance? Stuttering buffoonery? If you are going to make a comparison like that be prepared for the guffaws.
Stone is a liar indeed. He didn't want to come out and just flat out say they got the better player in Olynyk. Don't want to hurt feelings and burn bridges.
I hope your expertise isn't vision doc. The franchise has lost one of its greatest players, coach and GM in the space of a season. The franchise has had a historic losing streak. If you believe there are no reasonable concerns then perhaps you've been self medicating.
Houston we have a real problem. I wish I was in the Morey/Harden group chat - I mean they must have endless stomach pain from all the endless laughs.
When this conference was first announced, few of us wondered if Stone was going to drop new bombs. This wasn't that. This is more of a reflection and clarification after the trade. Stone (and his staff), have probably been fished and poked by various media people on information nearing the trade deadline. Finally as the deals wrapped out; Stone had the opportunity to address. takeaways. He likes the return from Dipo's deal. Olynyk and Bradley. Getting rid of Dipo affords more playing time for Kevin Porter Jr. - Most of us knew this, but it's officially confirmed by Rockets GM. If plans on signing Olynyk and Bradley after this season. Team option for Avery and bird rights for Kelly. - He says 'for sure' interested; sounded more like a wait and see. He sees value for vets as stabilizing influence. Agree in the sense the two new vets could help and not necessary take playing time away from KPj's development. "Tilman is not meddling". He's not a mouthpiece. So whatever happens all the trades is on Stone. "not wholesale tank" - Not everyone will agree with this. But if really the case, then profound sadness on how far this team has fallen and long record book losing streak. Stone then referenced Avery and Kelly as possible band-aids to stop the embarrassing blow outs. Future of Wall of Ego - not much of an answer for Ali's question. Boiled down to injuries, covid, and a wait-and-see. Team spend remaining of mid level exceptions - yes likely "if consulting with Christian when making big deals" says no; but values his input and aligns vision. More or less an appropriate response. Harden trade - no regrets. Didn't comment on the other 76ers/MIA/Celtics offers. This might not sit well with half of the CFers. The what-if topic is going to be a thing here for a long while. Spoiler: on the public speaking When you see some of the young Rockets players go on interviews; many of them seem relaxed. They've been around media longer (HS, college, NBA). I'll preface with Public speaking isn't easy. But listening to the conference, the first few minutes was rough. It was in front of a gallery of familiar Rockets reporters with predicable questions. He fell into a common trap; over use filler works like 'ummm', 'like'. That's the brain buying time to form the rest of response. Nervousness and a lack of public speaking experience. It's actually better to pause for a quick moment, formulate the thought, and then respond. Instead of using words like 'certainly', he likes to use 'for sure' as an adverb, which is a weird thing. It's sports, but he's still technically 'corporate'. I says this as not to make fun of him; but polite constructive criticism, where he should consider practice public speaking more. Look into resources like Toastmasters. Being a GM (90% of the job) is managing trades and contracts. But things like public speaking do matter. If you're in a leadership position; the ability to articulate one's ideas is important. It's less to do with yankee/snake oil; but a good soft skill to have. Helps handle the media or speak confidently with other GMs during trade talks. To be fair, as the interview went on, Stone seemed more relaxed. The questions were standard. Talk about the trade. Talk about your vision. Reporters pitched a few softballs: what you think of Silas or DJ Augustin, usually an invitation for the GM to compliment the coach and a new Rockets player. The Tim McMahon last one (net value for Harden) is a gotcha quotable, Stone handled it.
6 years! Lol IMO better nail the draft if he wants to be here 3 years. Top 4 pick in 2021 and secure a player who could be worth near-max when it's time to extend. Barring that, it's going to have to be a big FA. Won't be easy to move Wall without giving up young assets. Brooklyn picks won't be useful for 2 years. We'll only have a late first in 2022. Frankly if I'm Stone I'm trading the BKN 2022 pick, the first two BKN swaps and a second rounder this summer to the highest bidder. If we get into the 8-12 picks range in 2021 and we keep our top 4 pick, things can accelerate vastly differently. It gives us a great batch of young medium to high potential players to start developing early.
not imploding. has exploded. the chicken little doomsday sky wasn't really falling. unlike Rockets' stock ...
Is it mutually exclusive? They thought it might have some merit. Tried it. It failed. Therefore didn't see Victor as a fit. But yeah, the extension offer... hmmmm
It’s all about this years lotto pick to get a game changer because if you think with that ownership (Nets and along with the front office) will have a major fall in about 3 or 4 years even after the big three part ways you are mistaken. Joe Tsai might be the best owner in basketball with no qualms about spending and staying out of the operation along with Sean Marks being the best GM or in the top echelon of GM’s
Fertitta saw the scathing national media on yet another short sighted move and sent Stone out there to take the fall.
Caris LeVert last night: 8 points on 14 shots in 32 minutes. His TS% for the season is literally .47. I realize Oladipo didn’t work out, but why are so many longing for LeVert?
Those Nets Picks for this year and Next Year are definitely late picks. So it is better to trade up next year to a worse team. High School Stars are going to enter the NBA Draft Next Year which adds Depth in the Draft.
Everything I have said has thought and analysis behind it. Just because you don't like makes it Kindergarten stuff. It's Kindergarten thinking that everything is fine.
It would seem that their is a GM in Houston that has some power to make the moves that are necessary to make the team better.
Levert simply isn’t that good, nor do I think his value would’ve been all that high to begin with...I doubt he would’ve fetched much in a trade at the deadline...he had a mass removed, returned, and then played 7 mostly subpar games heading up to the deadline More value than Oladipo? Sure, but it’s not like he’s some premium trade asset. Allen probably would’ve gotten u something better than a Milwaukee pick if we had kept him the most important thing is securing this top 4 protected pick
The point being he's on a solid multi-year contract, which maintains a solid trade value on the market. He's very overrated but he quite clearly had more trade value than Oladipo. It was a misread by Stone, though I understand his thinking when he made the deal.
