Agree that the author could make it seem that way with that writing. But if the Rockets issue is not getting medicals because of the #3 spot, it still makes no sense to not move for weeks when they only had the medical for Paolo and he was never at all a certainty to drop to their spot. I guess it's more a logical issue with the article, if the author wants to say that was the entire thought process of last-minute moving up was due to medical uncertainty. And if Stone indeed never prepared for the situation of not getting Chet's medical at draft night and then wanted to trade up in a panick move, it's very bad preparation. Everything we know (intense talks and workout with Paolo, only having his medical and being fine with kt) makes it far more likely he was our only real #1 option.
i could see that... but are they telling him - you're the guy we'd take at #1 so ur a lock at #2 - regardless... and are you really going to trust any of these execs - i mean trust em enough to paint yourself into a corner that if they change their mind it could hurt your other draft possibilities? i think watching Jabari on draft night he was rather shook as things unfolded... like he had a guarantee in place - or at least thought he did... i could understand the players believing - but id expect their agents to be more cynical and cover all their bases... just my thoughts though.. lol
Going back to where our discussion originated, my point is that this statement you make absolutely isn't reflected in the article at all and it just says we didn't want to draft a Chet without knowing his medicals. Everything else is debatable, but if you say "clear implications that Rockets had Jabari at one", there's no way the Rockets wouldn't have traded up to #1 when it seemed like Orl wanted him and also when that was supposedly the only way to get his medicals prior to draft night for us.
It's actually reasonable inference based on both deduction and induction from articles posted prior, during AND after the draft.
See this makes no sense to me if they did try to trade up at the last moment. If they were THAT afraid of Chet why wouldn’t they have tried to trade up to number one waaaaay before Orlando switched to Banchero? The possibility of Chet falling to 3 was always there. For all the Rockets knew OKC could have been posturing to take Paolo had Jabari gone number one. I don’t see how those two opinions coexist. If the Rockets wanted to trade up to number one it’s clear that they had no clue what the other two teams wanted because if they did (and Jabari was their guy) they wouldn’t have tried to trade up, if that’s even true. If it’s true they tried to trade up my guess is that it’s because they really wanted Paolo and once it became clear that Orlando was taking him they tried to go up and get him and probably told Orlando that they’d still get one of the two players they actually brought in. Orlando didn’t budge so Houston had no choice but to stay put. Orlando really fooled everyone for no reason at all. It’s clear Jabari thought he was going there and Banchero thought he’d be a Rocket. Okc was always locked in on Chet and it’s clear that they at least liked him more than Jabari. Whether they liked him more than Paolo we may never know. But Paolo gave all indications he wanted to be here without outright saying it. I think the players here thought it’d be Paolo and were probably a little taken back when it wasn’t him. Stone went out to dinner with him went to watch him in person. They wanted Paolo but they’ll never admit it. I think once the process started they were probably open but after pouring time into him they both fell in love with each other and the Rockets wanted to trade up to make that Union but it didn’t work out.
Exactly. If Jabari was clearly their top pick I think they’d have pushed harder earlier in the process to connect with him and make a real effort to get the first pick.
Neither. It's not being prepared for ANY scenario of any of top 3 players falling to them. And not having the necessary info to confidently make pick of any of top 3 that fell to them. Rockets were only prepared for ONE outcome, Banchero. The threat of losing Banchero caused Rockets to scramble for additional info and propose half assed attempts at trade up. It was amateurish.
I know you have no love for Stone. But if the Chet camp refused to provide info to the Rockets, what could he have done? It seems to me, Chet's camp was trying to sabotage any chances that Chet would go to Houston. It's kind of similar to Mobley's situation last year. It makes no sense that a professional FO guy for so many years would be willingly so unprepared no matter how much you despise him.
This was becoming evident leading up to draft. Chet pulled out of ORL workout, became very active on social media showing bias toward Thunder program and specifically playing with Giddey. Then only provided his medicals to OKC and maybe ORL. That Rockets FO did not have this or even better info is disheartening. It was clear that Holmgren team preferred the Thunder and were steering it in that direction. Chet's team did the best job of using their leverage to get to their preferred destination.
I'm literally not sure what inference you're trying to suggest. That McMahon's sources close to the Rox didn't go on the record? I literally don't understand what that has to do with the question - whether news that they were trading up to first tells you anything about who they wanted to take there.
I don't despise Stone. I just don't trust him based on precedence. And facts are facts, Stone was unprepared. Period. He was not ready to draft whoever of the top 3 that fell to them. He lacked necessary info for all top 3 picks. Fact. Tried last ditch half assed trade up to #1 minutes (hour?) before draft. These are the facts.
possible but I don’t think stone passes on Chet. I assume stone still relies heavily on analytics and Chet was the analytic king this draft.
I agree, picking Chet if he fell to #3 is the logical decision and an analytics WIN. But fact that they behaved like picking Chet would be disastrous simply because they did not have medicals tells us differently. And we know that Stone has ignored his analytics team in last draft by choosing Green over Mobley.
yes now you add more drama to a summer league game, and after the results tonight, the talking heads on friday will run with this story depending on who does better. this will of course lead into the regular season as the top 3 will all be measured together
You’re backpedaling as this was not the crux of your initial argument but I’ll take back the part about the article inferring that Jabari was on top of the Rockets draft board. I’ve said as much in subsequent posts. It doesn’t matter who they had ranked #1 the only point of the article is to say that the Rockets were trying to move to #1 to avoid making a decision on Chet. That’s it. They were absolutely fine with Paolo or Smith at 3. You’re making it more complicated than it needs to be.
I don't see how any of this information gives us any evidence on who the Rockets would have been trying to trade up to get at #1. It could have been Paolo and they didn't want Orlando to take him. It could have been Jabari and they felt like OKC might have taken Jabari over Chet if Banchero went #1. It also could have been Chet, presuming that holding the #1 pick would have gotten them access to Chet's medical records. Nothing in the article seems to preclude any of the 3 from being the Rockets preferred player.
I never said that. I said they probably loved Chet they just didn’t have his medicals so from a risk assessment standpoint they preferred the other two. Do you know they didn’t like Chet? It seems to me that Stone was pretty pumped to get one of the big guys.
