Harden sitting #1 in the east Morey sitting #2 in the east Westbrook at his usual medicore spot in the east Utah Jazz #1 West CP3 #2 west Rockets worst in the league I'm starting to see a trend and it has nothing to do with CP3 and Westbrook.
Its never a shock when a new owner arrives that people leave their jobs. You saw the same thing when Crane bought the Astros.
"Could" is doing a lot of work here, man. First off, you are giving Tilman credit for some kind of team building wisdom when we all know that tanking helps his bottom line. Tilman was too broke to buy the team for $2 billion in the first place. Second, do you seriously think this is turned around in 3-4 years? No way. Too many smart and talented people in the front office have left of their own accord. Why would a free agent, or a top coach come to this dysfunctional organization? They have at least as good a chance of losing their pick this year as keeping it, by the way. The Kings have had lottery picks for over a decade and they have struck out continually. I don't see anybody on this roster that would be a top 3 player on a true contender. Those Brooklyn picks may not even be lottery picks.
This franchise has become the ship of Theseus. If the logo still says Houston Rockets but none of the people that were behind the success of the organization are still there is it still the same Houston Rockets? What determines the identity of a team? Is it just the logo or the people running it?
The ship of Theseus is a classic philosophical thought experiment on what determines identity. It basically goes like this: It is supposed that the famous ship sailed by the hero Theseus in a great battle was kept in a harbor as a museum piece, and as the years went by some of the wooden parts began to rot and were replaced by new ones; then, after a century or so, every part had been replaced. The question then is whether the "restored" ship is still the same object as the original. Just like the ship, the wooden parts or in this case people that made up the Rockets are all being replaced one after the other. Obviously though players/coaches/front office personnel can't stay on forever but usually there is some overlap with some new and some old people so that we have enough time to identify with the new people while still having an emotional connection to the old people that are still there. What's happening now though is an almost unprecedented mass exodus where the franchise is almost unrecognizable personnel wise in the span of just a few years. Thus, like the ship of Theseus, it begs the questions, what really determines the identity of an NBA team?
Harden was coddled in Houston as in they got his ear on everything, as is every nba superstar that is doing hoF things. Heck almost any high earning elite position in any job if you are generating the majority of the revenue, you are going to get a significant say. Harden made his mistakes, has his communication problems so on. But really, if he were coddled and got everything he wanted, he wants to win. In the nba that takes depth,talent. They’ve been cutting cost since fertitta bought it. Here are the facts, tell me which one is disputable: 2018, tillmans first offseason ,we were one game from the finals we go into he offseason with bird rights to sign all our players bc we’re at the cap, thats our only option(We didn’t use any of them), we had TPE for over 10Million to take a swing at talent(we didn’t use any of it), We had the MLE(guess? Didn’t use it). So then the ariza situation, obviously we not worth 15 million, its a one year contract so its tradeable at the deadline an we have no future cap ramifications since its a one year deal and we can try running it back, trade him at the deadline as an expiring(he was traded at that deadline for Kelly oubre). ariza was hardens best friend, he even lobbied on players tribune about harden being the mvp over curry, And well chris paul even after he left described it as this, an exact quote : “People don’t realize, that’s the biggest thing that we missed. That was tough when we lost [Ariza] because he sorta was like the glue. He was that glue for our team.” But no worried, nba is a tough business, we can try to get better. Who do we sign? JamesEnnis on the minimum contract. He is playing in MDA’s short rotation and that very season he is traded for a....top 55 protected 2nd rounder, we also dumped another first round pick and multiple 2nd rounders....We kept a minimum contract of Carmelo for months until we could trade him and so much that we cut our Dleague pick up Daniel House mid season and sent him home until it was tax friendly, but don’t worry all those deals scored us....nothing. That’s right, we just lost talent, depth but we somehow coincidentally did get under the tax. So unless you think Harden and Morey talked on the phone at night scheming of ways how they can put a smile on Tillman’s face and more cash in his pocket, then its hard to see how harden got what he wanted...those are the facts above, and remember luxury tax doesn’t even help our gm, provides no future cap flexiblity, doesn’t help the players/coach, doesn’t even help us fans who had prices raised...that goes to one mans pocket. This was done during mvp like seasons with harden while he continued to play heavy minutes, games, usage. And then the trade, had we traded him and honored his request like Texans did for JJ watt, we wouldn’t have this **** show. Rockets cheaped out on harden for 3 straight years, he lost faith, the coach lost faith(don’t look at the offseason, go check the 2019 when tillman got caught lying about MDA’s contract to the press), Don’t forget Jeff bzdelik our associate head coach when our defense was highest ranked. So in the offseason we could wheel and deal quietly, but we didnt and it blew up in our face. Then we blantantly chose a late first rounder of the Bucks instead of Jarret Allen. Who we could’ve featured and even traded him for at least a first, or signed and traded this year. We’re young, accumulating all the talent and youth is a good thing. Then taking Oladipo over levert. Oladipo was an expiring who had put it out he was going to Miami and Miami with the possibility of cap space showed mutual interest, so our backs are against the wall we chose an expiring contract with two months to make a deal or trade with no leverage. levert is 26, mainly he has 2 years in his deal so we have time to make more of an asset out of him, he also has high regard because in the two playoff series hes played with playoff defense he averaged 20-6-5, coincidentally thats what he’s putting up now in the month of April after coming back from removing his tumor, so him getting a first rounder is easy this summer. Lastly if harden was the problem, why were stars Ike KD trying to play with him, why is he putting up more efficient numbers than ever. Maybe they wanted to goto a franchise where they know the owner won’t get in their way with money concerns. Gone are the days where the guys bought in the 90s or 100s of millions, the revenue is growing, its a billionaires game. We just happened to have an owner who bought in the peak and also is the most over leveraged owner in the entire league. Harden isn’t blameless, but this narrative just doesn’t support the facts. The trajectory is on tillman, now we lose another solid Exec in Tad Brown who cited the guys above that were lost. The league has never seen a faster meltdown since tillman took over, at least we still have...Patrick.... But yes, that said.. Jury is out on Stone. I love that he picked up Wood, Tate, KMJ,KPJ. We need some luck to get this pick and walls contract maybe un tradeable but we can start taking steps and hopefully tillman can figure out his money situation
There’s a a difference between the Knicks, the Knicks always spent big money. And now as the revenue rises, the billionaires come into the game, thats the new nba. Sadly our owner bought in the peak and happen to be the most leveraged owner and the one hit hardest by the pandemic. Terrible for us fans. It’s been 3 years, we’ve probably never seen a faster burn down and more public bs fed too us. I do get and agree that its not productive thought...but this is a message board.Sports is a very odd market. Knicks fans can hate how their owner operated and protest, but they have no control and its an emotional and geographical allegiance, so you cant just use market forces like you would for other businesses. Likewise we all love Houston, love the rockets, have an attachment, but the way the nba works we’re at the mercy of a benevolent owner. When I found out we got a Houston local right as we’re in the cusp of contending...I coudn’t have asked for more, he said all the right things...and never followed up, and now the more you learn he seems to have a habit of over selling, taking the mike, and more words than actions. We don’t have much power, but our community comes here to come and talk about it all. We have nothing going but hoping for a lottrey pick this year so I’d imagine until then we’re going to be looking at how the hell our house got burnt down. Productive thinking...Well, we have somewhat of a new slate. Stone has made a couple good moves sans the levert/oladipo /Allen fiasco, we got woods on an amazing contract, kpj, KMJ, Tate! If our pick hits, we can have an exciting team and maybe another great prospect. It’s a steep fall , but theres hopes. But history repeats itself if we dont learn from the past and this matters and us fans need to make it heard bc a few of those guys above will need extensions in a few years, and those rookies too and hopefully this time the owner doesn’t get in the way of our city I hope he just reads his books and learns to SHUT UP AND LISTEN...I guess to stone since every body else is gone
Problem is if Fertitta tries to take the negotiations again, he botched the underreported ones with Jeff bzdelik, our associate defensive coach when we had contending defense. His only success was lucky because capelas agent was dumb. They held out late too the offseason, this isn’t about what your player is worth, its about the market and team situation, rockets had no where to go, they lose capela and thats that, but that worked for tillman and now he thinks hes playing some elite negotiator on a reality show. Here’s the article from ESPN about how unprecedented our owner’s negotiations and for the life of me I can’t understand why this guy volunteers to take the mike and goto the press all the time, the lack of self awareness is stunning : "I think his agent did me a favor, OK," Fertitta said at the media availability, explaining that he now had an easy out if the Rockets had a disappointing year and decided to move on from D'Antoni. That's typically not the kind of comment made out loud, much less to the media, by an owner who is attempting to defuse drama. Of course, it's also an unusual approach to point out a coach's age and publicly wonder whether he wanted to continue working beyond next season, as Fertitta did when asked by the Houston Chronicle weeks earlier about a potential extension. That prompted the 68-year-old D'Antoni to make it clear that he planned to coach "at a high level for at least another three years." Nor is it normal NBA business practice to spill the specifics of an offer that wasn't accepted. Fertitta volunteered that the "great extension offer" he made D'Antoni included a $5 million base salary -- below market value for a coach of his stature -- and $1 million in incentives for each playoff round won. Fertitta failed to mention the buyout language that guaranteed D'Antoni only half of his base salary if the Rockets fired him before the extension began. That was the primary sticking point for D'Antoni, who hoped for a commitment of two more seasons beyond this contract and never seriously considered a half-hearted offer of one more year.” Whether you like the offer or not ,find any other owner who first goes to the press about negotiations, then further more lies ned misrepresents to which a coaches agent who we hear very little from publicly has to call them up and say the offer was half that guaranteed for the veteran coach who has come off of rockets highest winning percentage and had the strong support of the Star and the GM
