Not sure you can call it anything but tanking until we get a new coach. I’ll give Silas the beginning of this year but if he pulls another 10+ game losing streak, then it’s time to pull the plug on what has been embarrassingly bad coaching and discipline the past two seasons. He does develop players well and that’s a positive, so maybe one more year of a 23-59 record will be fine, but let’s be clear….Silas has never lost any game on purpose as he played Gordon, Schroder, Wood, etc. significant minutes until the last week of the season.
I understand they are young, but they are talented enough to where if their results end up similar to an intentionally tanking team, heads need to roll. The only way it happens is if the top picks aren't playing well and maybe weren't deserving of being top picks. I think the absolute minimum acceptable win total is 30. Anything under that and Silas needs to be gone and probably Stone too.
I think context needs to be added though. If they win 27 games, give or take most of the players show improvement and the team as a whole shows improvement on the defensive end to stay in more games and turn blow out losses into closer losses I would still stay that is improving. Stone is fine, if the rockets still look lost defensively with the assistants moving on this off season Silas may be in serious trouble in 12 months.
If they only win 5 more games than when they were intentionally tanking, they didn't show improvement and it's time to start questioning just how talented they really are. The Thunder improved from 23 wins to 50 the last time they stocked up on young talent, I'm only asking for 30.
Best I can find right now @peleincubus But to be honest, I believe after preseason games I up'd it to 34 wins. Posting was dated June 25, 2022 (before FA)
I think the Rockets will be a better than average team by post all star break. How quickly we find ourselves is what will determine if we make the playoffs. I could see us floating around .400 until January and then making a decent run. Or we could come out better from the start. Depends on the schedule structure and how well these guys take to Udoka. This assumes some kind of growth from every player. Doesn’t have to be massive. Just something. The talent has always been there to some degree. Just inexperience and missing key pieces.
The uncertainty is so much for this team due to potential leaps of young players or maybe no leaps and whether coaching staff was really that bad before and whether these new much higher level vets than we had before can make a genuine difference. This team can be anywhere from 25 to 45 wins. It so depends on if one or two of the young guys make leaps.
I expect us to struggle big time and FVV tries to live up to his contract, and Brooks learns when to shoot and when to pass..... And the lineup is finally settled...I expect us to start picking it up in January. DD
Logically, it makes sense that they would start slowly. New coach and staff, a new system, new players and new objectives (start winning). But more and more, I get the sense that our guys from last year felt underutilized and stymied to some degree. With all the changes, guys are enthusiastic, energetic and anxious to get things going. While some of that will translate to turnovers and poor decision making, some of it will carry over into helpful things like defense. I expect us to mature more quickly on defense than on offense. I just hope our guys can stay within the system when things get challenging rather than go off individually to try and prove something. If Ime can keep them together, the Rockets could be a top 15 defensive team. Maybe top 12.
