(True Hoop) Rockets Source: "they might end up as the worst team in the league."

Ending up the worst team was probably the very best outcome ....


Imagine that they got back a "star player" ... and that guy pulled the wagon to "the play in bracket" That's probably the best case scenario ....

If you win the play in you are highly likely to be one and done. Woo Hoo ....


Now what are your prospects for "getting better" ?? Your draft pick is ~18 Now what ? Run it back & go .500 again ? Stuck in mediocrity.

The implosion was the best thing that could happen at the time .... It killed any notion that there could be a quick fix & gave them a slightly better than 50-50 shot at picking 1-4 instead of ~18

 

this comes under the broken clock rule. wasn't the first time they predicted our demise.

 

our trade might end up sucking, but i definitely didn't want an anthony davis trade. that gave new orleans some talent, but all it got them is some B/C level players who will still command big contracts and be getting paid right at the time new orleans should have cap space to put a star around zion to build around him. now they just have a team that can't even make the play-in and will probably be capped out soon. granted, i don't know their actual situation and maybe griffin is managing them better than i think, but if they pay ingram and alonzo, that's not good.

 

I think they havent' maximized the talent.
They didn't hire the right coach, they are using lonzo as a 2 guard, hes risen up to really improve his shooting, is a great defender. And an top level playmaker who makes zions game effortless.
brandon ingram just got his first all star, he took a step back under Stan, but the talent is there.
Griffin got rid of holidy, brought in Adams, and a win now coach in SVG, some sort of confusion in direciton if they are winning now or later.

That said, they got a lottery pick, and arguably ingram, and ball who would've been lottery that year had they came out of the draft even in those ages.

And thats the new nba economics, did you see the contracts? Role players, guys like beltrans, luke kennard getting 15+ million. Revenue is only growing.

You do realize we've got to pay KPJ, and Wood in 2 years. They will command 20 plus as well. ITs hard to adjust to inflating contracts, but thats just the status quo at this point.

We didn't even get a lottery pick. We took Allen, once again when we're this bad, we can just use assets. He would command more in the sign and trade than a late first rounder, but thats what we got for him.

Then we chose Oladipo over levert. LEvert is now back to averaging 21-5-5 this month and more importantly he isn't an expiring, we had our backs agains the wall and got Kelly olynk, who is due a nice raise as well this summer but is 30.

Our netst picks are just punts. We have to hope for a lot to go right. We have to hope they some how implode, we also have to hope their brand new arena, city branding, and reputation as a solid organization keeps them from attracting talent for us to materialize good picks.

Thats for the best player in the nba.

Pelicans may not have managed it well, but for two teams with stars demanding out, pelicans did way better than we did. What we did was sell hope, that in 4 years we might start getting good draft picks, then that those draft classes will be good and we should start scouting kids in middle school right, and then also that we will choose the right ones because the draft has never been a science, let alone the lottery as we learn this year is less of sure thing than ever too.

Pelicans have now a solid core, in the nba you are going to have to pay up, especially a city no one is going to goto. They can make moves and get in, zion, ingram, and ball will only get better. I don't believ griffin and stan have handled it right, but they did far better than we did, we got hope. we punted or hope later

 

I agree that Griffin hasn’t handled things that well since the trade...they have a poorly built team, and Stan probably isn’t the right coach for them

they are just 25th in 3 point attempts, and 26th in percentage...it’s hard to win in today’s NBA with those numbers, and Zion needs spacing and shooting

They downgraded heavily from Jrue to Bledsoe. They have Lonzo, but they were trying to trade him at the deadline, and I read recently that they might do a S&T in the summer. How are they gonna adequately replace him?

Lonzo, Ingram, Zion, Hart, and Walker-Alexander is not bad...they can build that up and become a solid, consistent playoff team...they need to add shooting and become much better defensively

 

Yea I forgot hart, one of the best rebounders pound for poudn as well at his size, can shoot, tough D.
That roster should be better.
They are young, but they should be run and gun and be a headache for any team with the young firepower.

MDA coincidentally would've been perfect for them, he could've rejoined Jeff bzdelik, but more so he would let Zion and Ball flourish. Ball just moves the ball forward as fast as he can, hes given Zion so many easy buckets. Zion is far more talented than Amare was who flourished under MDA too in the pick and roll. Hes a great playmaker, can shoot. You also have Ingram who can create and is a solid playmaker. At their age, mda might not shore up their defense, but he'd let em run jump and shoot everyone out of the jump and be an absolute headache. Lonzo has not gotten that leash from any coach, but hes had his flashes of big scoring and assits nights while also having great size and defensive instincts. Why they drated another lottery pg, traded for bledsoe(i get the picks) and then as well as give Adams an extension was just confusing.

I held Griffin in high regard, I think he botched the pelicans and when they lose Lonzo they'll feel it. Both the ball brothers are great instinctive playmakers. They make the hockey assists and can get the board an push and just move the ball forward and play with amazing pace. I think anyone woudl love to play with them, let alone him and Zion have a great connection on the court since zion is an elite finisher.

But the original point is they did much better than we did ,they have something tangible to show for it and it isn't perfect, both teams had their backs against the wall and I think pelicans dropped the ball for Davis rather than he just purely wanted out. They cheaped out on his team as well. But nonetheless they got assets, and young solid assets. We got hope, we punted and hope our owner gets his finances in order and in almost half a decade those picks o what is considered to be a good, new franchise and destination somehow can't rebuild or keep the ship going, then we hope those picks have a good draft class and we nail that. It can all work out, but its a massive punt and we won't have much to show for it directly from that trade for a while. With levert, playing very well now, we'd have room to get a first at least. Moreso with Allen for a late first rounder, we could've signed and traded him ,kept him close and traded him later. he is young and getting better.

 

The real demise was straight up injures. Ive never seen a team so banged up, it was a terrible season.

 

injuries can mess up any team ... will still need an NBA roster to succeed.

 

From page 1, December 9 post.

Okay, ouch.

 

Homerism is a real condition, We watch these guys more and underestimate almost how talented most nba players are to make it to even the cusp of the final 300/400 best players in the entire world. Gleague has real talent, as does fringe nba players, but there are levels to it.

I've had discussions where the guy would goto bat just recently that he wouldn't consider even trading Nwaba/House for Thybulle and Maxey.

 

Was no lie about this. This team blows.

 

When I watch this team every other night, I only watch Green, Sengun and Martin playing. Sometimes at the corner of my eye I watch Wood...

 

+ 1 Without Green and Sengun there is zero reason to watch. KMJ needs a lot more minutes as does JC. Garuba is fine in RGV for awhile. House and Gordon are likely gone at the trade deadline too. This team might win another 5-8 games just because some night everyone gets hot from 3 but that’s about it.

It’s going the way it’s supposed to but yeah it makes for a crummy product in the meantime.

 

They tried to tell us.

 

Big hitter, the Lama. Long.

 

Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald . . . striking.

 

Oh the Pay Wall is still there.

 

...forever"

 

Holy cow.

DD

 

Pretty crazy stuff. This has been going on for years. Basically, when Tilman bought the team.