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

its good that you're not a doctor...all of your 50/50 patients would die and you'd think you have a pandemic at your hands

 

Confirmed: SenGOAT good, Rockets bad

 

Rox made a conscious decision to tank. At first they thought they could still make the playoffs with WoW factor but after the team started sucking they just decided to be as bad possible got rid of PJ Tucker and Oladipo when they could have retained those guys to win games.

I'm sure if the Rox really wanted to make the playoffs they can take measures to be less bad. Trade for guys like Malcom Brogdon, sit Wall less etc.

OKC wasnt a top competing team wtf Harden was literally the 3rd pick and WB was 4rth pick. Booker was the 13th pick, but Ayton was the 1st pick right? You dont get top 5 picks without tanking unless you are really lucky.

I dont get your point, if you're gonna get the 14th pick why not get the 1st pick? If you're gonna suck anyway might as well be the worst suck and get the high picks. You can improve in multiple ways but from what we've seen its all band aid solutions unless you convince a franchise FA to sign. The other option is trading for a franchise FA like what LA and we did for Harden, and tbats easier with a top lotto pick than with a 14th lotto pick.

 

I like him lots. First big man off the bench behind Wood and Theis is a good way to start your career

 

We had a lot of injuries last season and i mean a lot

 

That wasn't a 50/50 patient .... dude was Dead On Arrival and that was against the TimberPups who Vegas has as the 6th worst projected record @ 34.5 wins.

At least the next one is supposed to be easier in OKC who's projected as The Worst.

 

HE is the real deal

 

you mentioned the team of harden, Westbrook, Durant not winning. You didn’t say the teams that led to those three being drafted. So My response was in regard to 2009 and onward.

How do you know you’re going to get the 14th pick if you’ve quit before the first regular season game has even started? And for that matter; how do you know you’re going to get the 1st pick? You have just as much of a shot of ending up with the 4th pick even if you lose all 82.

my point is you shouldn’t be deciding to tank before the season starts. That’s a mid season decision. Every team should go into the season trying to exceed expectations and win. Any other strategy is detrimental to the overall health of the league. Which is why deliberate tanking is illegal.

 

Yah we didn’t decide to tank till Wood went down, I think the second time. After harden trade we got back to 500 and were kind of starting to get it going. But the injuries piled up and it became evident there were too many roster holes.

 

I want to say that there is nothing inherently wrong with simply wanting to see the team be competitive year in and year out, and from game to game. I understand that personally, not living in Houston and only visiting occasionally nowadays, it's a heck of a lot easier to distance myself from the day-to-day losses and general non-competitiveness of the team right now, so it's easier to take a long-term view of the Rockets rebuild.

The only thing I can rely on is my experience in watching the 2009 - 2012 Rockets that finished in the #14 position of the draft lottery for three consecutive years after Yao Ming was forced to retire prematurely. Those teams were clearly not talented enough to win it all, but moves were made to try and compete every season for the playoffs. I can tell you right now that I felt more despair and hopelessness about that team than I did about the Rockets last year (if they had been forced to pick swap with the Thunder it would have been a different story, however). Because at least now, the team has a viable path towards being a playoff contender again through collecting high draft picks, and a clear deadline for when to shift strategies (2023, when they start owing their picks to the Thunder for the next three years).

When the team was stuck in mediocrity, the only way out was to engineer a trade for a future MVP. We really don't appreciate how unprecedented and historically unique the Harden trade was; it has literally only happened three times in the 75-year history of the NBA that a player would go on to win his first MVP award after being traded. Meanwhile, only 7 MVP awardees have been drafted outside of the top-7 picks. MVPs are not the end-all, be-all, of course, but I like the odds of drafting a franchise-changing superstar over trading or signing for one. And I like the odds of drafting one a lot more when I get three consecutive chances at it.

I'm willing to have my mind changed if Alpi somehow secures the starting role and becomes a franchise player ahead of schedule. Last night was incredibly promising. I'm still ok with easing him into eventually taking over in the starting lineup; the guy plays so incredibly hard on every possession, I do feel like he will need to be eased into starter minutes over the year as his conditioning builds up. I'd rather him start slow and stay healthy through the full 82, than to be rushed into playing 35 a night and then be sitting for long stretches in February with back tightness. Even Yao played his first 10 games off the bench, averaging a paltry 15 minutes per game. If he keeps being the lone bright spot on the team, he'll beat out Theis soon enough.

 

Yah I didn’t have a problem with those years at all. I mean even the tmac and Yao years it’s not like we were ever the 1st or 2nd seed. Most the time we’d be middle of the pack playoff seed because of injuries and lack of depth. That’s why I wish Morey took over earlier from CD, I felt he got way better role players than CD ever did. Those Kevin Martin years were still entertaining to me though because we COULD beat any team any night. A playoff series is different of course but we had a good enough coach and we had good enough players to fight. And I guess I just appreciate that a whole lot more. It’s also WAYYYY easier to manage the stress that comes with watching my teams when they’re good, but not great. When we lost during those Kmart years I was like “dang. Oh well, good fight.” When we lost during the harden years I wouldnt speak to anyone for a week lol. I recognize that I’m not a normal fan. I like to watch games in silence and I get very superstitious about seating arrangements and cheering.

As for getting mvp candidate: there are free agents every year. And really really good free agents every couple of years. If you develop a good team (not great like harden) then the option to improve via free agency is there. I would think a top free agent would be more interested in playing for an 8th seed team than a 15th seed team. Unless they just want to be THE guy and don’t want any competition and just care about money.