is Şengün good or rockets are bad that we want rookies seems good?

its not... if you have no 1 pick you may be bullied by the media to take the most hyped prospect instead of the best

 

I think the "should we tank or not tank?" argument is pointless given the fact that we will have at least two rookies playing a lot of minutes and a roster with a bunch of replacement-level players. Losing is inevitable on most nights, even if the team gives maximum effort. Tack on the other variables (a starting point guard that, clearly, still needs to learn how to run the point, a coach that is still working out a strategy for this year, etc.) the better discussion would be "are we ending up in the bottom 3 or can we eke out a 5th worst or 6th worst finish?"

 

I may have to revisit this tonight, too difficult to respond to everything from my phone. But I’ll try to get to all your points.

why did we get high draft pick? We sucked. We didn’t tank. We genuinely sucked, lost harden and then had major injuries. I don’t think we were playing guys with the intention of losing. We played Wall and Ego as much as any other veterans we could play, when they weren’t injured.

If we suck again, it’s not tanking, it’s sucking. There is nothing to argue on this point, if we suck, we naturally will get a higher pick. The question is do you want to continue to suck or do you want guys to TRY?

the Okc thunder didn’t lose a bunch with Kd/Westbrook. They won 52 games the year they drafted harden and were always among top of competing teams. They are also an anomaly in terms of drafting. They hit 3 years in a row on franchise-caliber players. EXTREMELY rare.

the Suns didn’t bottom out for numerous years. Booker kept them somewhat competing for playoff contention. They just kept collapsing about midway through the season. Then they got one high draft pick, and SIGNED a HOF veteran to immediately compete again. But they don’t have a bunch of high draft picks that are carrying that team now. And booker was the 13th pick. Ie he was BARELT a lotto pick. Certainly not a high lotto pick. And this is exactly what we are talking about. Getting a 5-14 pick instead of a top 4. You can improve in multiple ways, draft, free agency, player development, and trades.

I’ll continue responding during lunch, sorry. I miss my old job where I wasn’t afraid of doing non-work tasks on my computer lol

 

lol booker was the 13th pick and they almost won it all with him....really theres no argument to tanking

 

They had to do other stuff and did get a high pick in Ayton. But the point stands. They didn’t all out tank for multiple years. They tried to win. They tried to add pieces via trades and FA. I think Houston has a better shot at signing an elite FA than 80% of the teams. Miami, NYK, Nets, Clippers, Lakers and Boston are the only locations or organizations that have a clear cut advantage over Houston.

 

You have a very high tolerance for losing or a low bar for success if you consider being one of the four worst teams in the league "competing" for playoff contention.

Just to be clear, in the four years after Philly traded away Jrue Holiday for the #5 pick and officially started "the process", they averaged around 19 wins per year. In the four years after Phoenix drafted Devin Booker, they averaged 22 wins per year. I really don't think you'll find many people in Phoenix who have fond memories about how hard the team tried to compete so that they were a tiny bit better than Philly in it's most infamous time period.

The Thunder traded away Ray Allen for the #5 pick in the draft, and declined to re-sign Rashard Lewis in the off-season that they drafted Kevin Durant. For the next two years, they had the second-worst and fourth-worst record in the league. Obviously they were historically lucky to draft two future hall-of-famers, but I also doubt you'll ever find another situation where the team was intentionally trying to suppress attendance, piss off the fanbase, and lose money so that they could justify leaving a larger market for a smaller one.

You can build a winning team in multiple ways, undoubtedly. This article from the Ringer both suggests that the #3 pick would be expected to deliver about twice as much value during their rookie contract as the #14 pick, and that draft overperformance can only be pretty loosely correlated with overall team success (around 21%). Shocker, getting extra value above what you're expected to is good for winning.

If anything, the Suns should be the absolute model of why it's important to maximize draft position in years where the team is not contending. Instead of having Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Darius Garland (All-Star, All-Star, potential cornerstone) they ended up with Josh Jackson, Dragan Bender, and traded down for Dario Saric/Cam Johnson (4th year option declined, 4th year option declined, good role-players). Additionally, the one year they got lucky, they were able to get DeAndre Ayton, while the Kings settled for Marvin Bagley. Draft position could mean a lot, or it could mean very little in the grand scheme of things.

The fact that you personally didn't remember how bad those OKC/Phoenix teams were also illustrates just how little a few extra wins or "trying" actually matters in the grand scheme of things. Build a team that makes the Finals, and no one is really going to care how it was built, or how low the franchise got in the interim.

 

The only argument For tanking is in a year where there's a player like Lebron .... then you have to hope you get lucky.

 

If given opportunity would you get on you knees, cry and beg the most beautiful woman in the world to have sex with you?
because this is what tanking basically is...

Spoiler

I wouldn't...

the point is that you become strong enough to get it naturally, not to p***y your way to the ring

 

This team just doesn't have much talent .... the only thing they are going to "go get naturally" is an early draft pick.

17 wins last year , probably not many more this year .... no matter how hard they try.


Sure , it would be nice if they shocked the world and won 30 games ..... but I just don't see it happening

 

This ROX team will try VERY hard to win - and still lose. Booker was just a guy until Ayton and Paul came around. Suns tried as hard as they could to win and the best they could muster without the roster arrangement they have now was 34 wins. Arguing middle round picks are somehow an indicator or "better" than top of the board guys is foolish.

 

then just imagine how it sounds when someone says its better to lose then to win.... yeah right....and boy hows that for the tank ('arguments') backfiring!
hahahaha!

 

I’ve honestly tried to respond multiple times but just keep getting tripped up trying to break up the quotes and scroll through every point on my phone.

You’ve made a solid argument, I can’t deny that. So I’ll just say this. I don’t root for winners. I root for my team — whether they’re good or bad. Of course I WANT them to win it all, but I don’t want to spend every year thinking “are we the best? No? Okay let’s not bother this year maybe next year we will get a high draft pick.” Seems like there is a lot more pain watching consecutive years of that kind of losing than to just compete with what you’ve got, try to sign guys to improve.

If we didn’t have wall, ego, and Wood, I’d say well heck yah we have no shot at competing this year. Bunch of 19 years olds. But we DO have those three guys and those three guys are enough to at least compete night in and night out with MOST the league. Doesn’t mean we will win, make the playoffs, or when contend for the playoffs, but it should mean we aren’t expected to lose every game. As long as Wall, ego, and Wood remain on the roster, I think we should be playing to win.

nothing is guaranteed in this life. You can stack the deck and still lose to a royal flush — see Houston v gsw. Additionally, who knows if we will make it another year on this planet. I’ll take the enjoyment I can get this year watching MY team struggle but try hard over the CHANCE to MAYBE be really good in the future. Because again, I don’t watch the Houston Rockets only when they’re good. Im watching them regardless, so I’d rather not put myself through more pain than necessary.

 

just answer me straight up no bs would you beg her on your knees or not?

Spoiler

(and well know what kind of man you are)

and imagine if you have begged her for a year or 2 to get laid then she rejects you anyway...lololololol thats how the pels hornets minny etc fans are feeling X 10

 

imagine rockets fans dying of grave diseases (cancer, covid etc) with no more than year or 2 left....
give these people spectacular good buy! dont fail them forfeiting 70+ games in advance just because you are a p***y, a sore loser that wont play and compete if youre not 100% the best

give these people somethin to rejoice, to cheer for and fight.. perhaps someone of them will recover just because of that fight...
what kind off message rockets are sending them by losing the games on purpose without an ounce of fight?

 

Again - this year we will lose a bunch of games and it wont be because of a "tank". If the #1 pick clings in the balance at the end of the year and all we need to do is lose 1 or 2 games - this team wont tank. They're just not that good yet and Ben Simmons or Kyrie Irving isnt going to change that. To say mid rounders attribute more to winning than top of the draft guys is not helping your cause. Just sayin'.

edit: last year this team NEEDED to tank to even have a shot at retaining their pick. Worked out didnt it? Next years draft may be better than this years by a wide margin and luckily this team owns its pick so the flagrant need to lose wont be as great. I'd still love to have Banchero or any of the other highly rated prospects on this team vs being an easy out in round 1 and being caught in the revolving door of mediocrity.

 

I think the offense is that atrocious that when Sengun does a smart play we go like:

 

I can confirm, they good.

 

Just how many games do you expect them to win ?

 

LOL!

How the **** does that make him a better professional?

 

I hope those fans like the Astros because they'll be effed the next couple years with the Rockets.