Good. There was so much talk earlier in the season why the media weren't talking about how bad we were. 3 seasons bottom of the league. Rebuild or not, that's simply not good enough from Stone through to Silas.
Stone hasn't really done anything that I disagree with, other than keeping Silas til the end of the year. This team is rebuilding, he has accumulated picks, and generally taken the consensus players with those picks. Silas is a complete trainwreck of a coach, that is on Stone too. But personnel wise, I wouldn't have done much differently.
The team has successfully tanked for 3 seasons. Not sure how you can judge Silas's job if the team is trying to lose
it wasn’t a 100% accurate, but I agree with his take that our culture and reputation are in the tank and that’s Stone’s fault. I’ll flag that u absolutely have to hang the failure of the Silas coaching choice on Stone too. Obviously Olidipo, Wood, Allen, and Wall were all mistakes. Theis was a mistake but at least one Stone corrected. They did not maximize the return for our high level vets like PJ, Russ, EG and even Harden. Lastly, building around KPJ to Jalen’s detriment was a huge mistake. I give him credit for drafting good players, but if you can’t develop them or put them in a good environment with structure and culture, that’s not good. Stone just hasn’t done a good job. I wish we had cleaned house along with Silas.
Serious question --- what else could have Stone done differently keeping in mind that TANKING was the goal? What moves were "bad"? Culture is partly on management, but mainly on veteran leadership of which this team had NONE - by design.
I'm digging the plan so far. I continue to believe in Stone. The only bone I have is the Green & Sengun vs Mobley + strategy. In spite of that, he's exceeded expectations. Needless to say, we're entering the most important period. What RS does with Coach, ammo, and capspace speaks volumes.
I don’t blame the man, I would have done the same thing. We couldn’t tank under Leslie Alexander and finally we were able to experience that as fans. It’s pretty clear we wanted to be bad for top picks and we shouldn’t judge Stone just yet. However, moving forward I do believe he doesn’t get any more passes. Things are real now.
I haven't had the hunch that he is busting his azz off for winning.... that one is right. He be giving off this 'too cool for school' vibe......fancy car, hot looking wife, made it. I mean yeah he had his plan gambling on the whole NBA giving him picks, eventually giving him those disgruntled stars which might work but it also might not work. Too much gambling. And yes he doesn't care much about overall chemistry. We knew Eli Witus was behind Sengun. He could have many jobs outside the NBA so he shouldn't be too worried.
There are moves that Stone did that he could have done differently, for example he could have taken Evan Mobley, the Cavs trade of Allen was bad, Oladipo.... held onto Gordon too long..... held onto Wood too long. Having said that, I am not going to beat him up for taking Green over Mobley as the general consensus was that Green and Mobley were very similar prospects at the time from a value standpoint. Jabari Smith was the no brainer pick, and Sengun was a good pick. I give him an overall average score from that standpoint. Wood/Gordon/Allen all standout as bad or underwhelming moves. The Westbrook deal was arguably bad as well, based on what the Lakers gave up. This is the biggest mistake Stone made. He brought in really poor chemistry fits - he then emasculated the authority of his head coach by stepping in and telling players how they should play or not play, he picked the assistants and encouraged the discipline to be handled by the assistants - he would meet with the players privately and overstep what his head coach had to say. He also almost never takes accountability. He actually recently claimed the Rockets culture is really good and that the evil media is saying it is bad and blamed Daryl Morey when he was GM of the Rockets. Stone has been TERRIBLE when it comes to building culture for the Rockets. His insecurity has been an issue, he needs to not be threatened and hire a coach that he will stay out of the way of....
Frankly the best coaches available seem willing to interview for a job with a lot of young talent, a lot of picks and a lot of cap space. The only thing that can get in the way is if Stone or Patrick have some weird conditions about how much control they'll have over the coaching. That's now, that's not in the past so I don't see how Stone has damaged things beyond repair. No damage has taken place that can't be fixed with a good disciplined coach, a training camp and 20-30 games of basketball. People are overreacting like hell.
I think the jury is still very much out on who will have a better career, Green versus Mobley. Mobley is the better player right now, but both of them are still young (with Green being almost a year younger) with lots of room left to improve. So I'm still in "wait and see" mode on that one, and I still think Green was the correct pick for our specific situation given what was known at the time. On team culture, it's hard to argue Stone has done a good job setting things up for the youngsters to develop well. I definitely agree that's the biggest real criticism of him right now. At the same time, he is a new GM and I hope he has learned more lessons than it appears on the surface. The choice on the next HC and whether they let him bring in his own staff and run the show without interference will say a lot as to whether Stone and this front office have been self-reflecting and learning from past mistakes.
Tari and Sengun are terrific picks. Both arguably should have gone top 10. You can make case for Sengun going top 5. Suggs was the 5th pick. KJ was drafted 52nd overall are you serious this guy nails it in drafts. Garuba and Cristopher are his only 2 misses imo and they are not unplayable. Jalen over Mobley is understandable especially considering how limited Mobley offensively is. He got abused against Knicks.
I know now why he is avoiding giving interviews during the season so much. He is so insecure doing press interviews, I haven't seen anyone more nervous. As if he stole someone's wallet or time.
Is Jarret Allen at 100Ms really moving the needle for a team with no face? Stone picked up Wood at the perfect time for hardly any assets (Ariza,Isiah Stewart ?, and a 2nd round pick) and then dealt him for 1st round pick after he gave the team 20/10 type seasons albeit being a bad fit in the process. Evan Mobley is a high level role player. He will never be the face of a franchise and that is what Houston was looking for. I agree he held onto Gordon too long. The plan was to tank and tank these guys did - at all costs including the intent to not have any chemistry. It wasnt supposed to look pretty. The personal jabs at him are just some bias creeping in. You see insecure and I see a guy who doesnt pander to the press or "insiders". He treats them like mushrooms and I personally like that in a time where insider reporter types get a pass and far too much adoration. We'll see how this team looks next year. I think Stone is fair game NOW as the hourglass has turned.
Major props: 1. KJM: top 15 player drafted in the second round 2. Eason/Sengun: Top 10 players if not higher, drafted mid-first round. Generally OK: 1. Harden trade. looks blah in comparisonоn to the Gobert and D.Murray robberies, but we could have ended with Ben Simmons, so no complaints. 2. Westbrook trade 3. Picking-up KPj for nothing No brainers: 1. Jabari 2. J.Green, with a caveat: only because Mobley refused to work out. I wouldn’t have drafted a guy who didn’t want to be here. Question is: Why did Mobley camp blow him off? Expensive Misses: Theis, Blah: Dipo, Wood, Ego Incomplete but promising: Garuba, Christopher Character: Repulsive. Constant lying, BS-ing and leak-planting. "J.Wall-mutual decision, great mentor." "Rockets have a mid-1st offer for Dipo." "We have great culture" (when all indications are it’s a sh|tshow.)
This man tanked for 3 years, and what did we get... An inconsistent Jalen Green A bricklayer by trade in Jabari Smith Screwed in the Wemby sweepstakes Does anyone really think Stone has what it takes to build a competitive roster when his job just got harder based on the signings/trades he's done in the past?
Time to make a thread about who the new guys are........still confused how many we got back and who would not be rerouted.
