Yeah, I don't think it was ever "play-in or bust" this season for the front office, or hopefully for Tilman. I think they were content with showing significant improvement, which we have. Now, next season might be a different story.
Well if Danny Ainge and the Jazz have already given up on Agbaji, I'm not sure how much value he has. But I see your perspective. It's somewhat moot though because the Rockets don't have a late 1st to give up.
They are just borderline terrible at communicating what they really want but I am not surprised ....at least KPJ is gone.
Idk...i don't think you go out and spend that kind of money bringing in 2 starters (including a ball dominant PG) to NOT finish in the top 10 o f a16 team conference.
“might be a different story” my ass. Even the Astros were making the playoffs in less than 5 years of tanking
Well depends, the poster was talking about the "Liftoff" campaign which was clearly just marketing to sell tickets and not 'playoff or bust'. If the team really wanted to go all in for the playoffs they could sell a bit of their future to do that. Thankfully, as of right now at least, it seems they are not going to do that and it looks like their main thing today, based on reports at least, is getting rid of Tate. Which is more in line of a team content with their standings right now and Tate really should go because when Tari comes back he'll either be in the way of Tari/Cam getting minutes or he'll be benched and as such will lose any value he used to have. So they really should be trading Tate for whatever they can get today. I doubt Landale is even good enough to get traded at this point.
33 games remaining. I feel like we can make the playoffs even if we don't make any moves and Landale just bounces back to his career average. I think we can go 20-13 with everyone healthy and Jalen becoming consistent enough to help push FVV-Sengun over the line more often. Once the trade rumors die and these guys get some rest, I think the defense will trend back upwards. I'm glad "some in the front office" are challenging Udoka on his idea. You can easily make that trade and miss the playoffs. Then you will have rather saved your assets for the summer when you can make a significant upgrade more easily. I wonder if there's a powerful struggle in the organization. The Adams trade feels like Stone made it very clear we are sticking to the plan (Phase 2 this year, which means a bit of patience with development). Stone and Udoka at odds perhaps. I'm not sure it's a bad partnership though. One is an asset nerd and the other is a real basketball coach. It might be a good mix. I want the coach to be pushing the GM. I just don't want the GM to be a pushover, and maybe Stone is showing he's not. I think we would be rewarded for showing patience. I know I keep saying it but it's only been half a season with a new coaching staff, roster and culture. I don't think anyone actually knows who's going to fully pan out and who's not (except Sengun). If they have a better second half than first, it will change a lot of calculations, especially if different characters emerge and decline under the pressure of a playoff chase.
If they were about Lift Off entirely, they would have played Whitmore as early as November because Whitmore like KMJ is money with the crowd. Has been confusing undoubtedly.
damn Gafford can be had for so little?! Richaun Holmes was a negative value that the Kings have to attached the #24pk to unload him to the Mavericks! considering Adams cost 3 picks and out this season, Gafford would be much better pickup
For Stone, obviously he wanted to set the bar as low as possible. For Tillman, knowing him I think he’s going to measure success much more by looking at overall attendance, ticket sales, viewership, sponsorships, jersey sales, etc. I’m sure he has to be happy about both the step up in competitiveness and Sengun getting some notoriety around the league. I do think what that bodes for the trade deadline for both priorities is for Stone to make moves that push on the excitement button with fans and the media along with strong engagement on a play in push. So I do think Stone is likely to do something on the margins here but I’d be shocked if he did something like trade Jalen Green.
I just find it funny they rejected the Mavs' 2 Second rounders for Tate.....that is just too funny......after fans begging for Tate to leave. Even if they have a better plan.....
But we don't have a late 1st. Do you think the Wizards would have rather our three seconds? I know at least two of those are projected to be late seconds.
I already implied that I have the hunch that Tilman's greatest success would be to build an arena plus training facility......and not really a championship type .... Tilman is great at hospitality, he is in the hospitality business......masquerading as a sports club owner.
Fertitta literally said that we’re officially in Phase 2 now and that he expects the team to start to “be competitive.” He said nothing about making the playoffs this year, that was just complete misinterpretation by fans here. I wonder how many times in league history a team has jumped from 22 wins to the playoffs in one season and then actually won a title in the next few years. I’ll bet it’s never happened.
This really is our biggest problem this deadline. We don’t have any “medium” assets, for lack of a better word (late FRPs, starting quality vets that are not a part of our core, etc.) Maybe Tate, but that’s a stretch. So, we’re limited to minor moves or a big splash.
It wasn't a misrepresentation by the fans. Ime put that in people's heads when he had his introduction and said he's never not made the playoffs and that is the goal this year as well.
They could have had Harden and won more games. I really think this season was about culture and catching up on 2 years of bad development too. Winning first, but also a mandatory patience for developing 6 players under 22. He has free reign to bench them any time they're playing poorly so I don't see it as an issue. That doesn't mean they are not 100% aiming for the playoffs. I think it just means we will guarantee developmental minutes for the 6 young guys, be a bit more patient with them than a contender would be and we wouldn't cash in high value assets for a marginal improvement. The money they spent on those two guys was a lot but they also had to meet a salary floor and go hard on the culture. Once you have conditions like "must play defense, must be tough, must share the ball, must make 3's" then you become limited in your options. I think that's what made it cost them so much, there weren't many options that were known for being Ime-type guys. I don't think Tilman expected for one second that we were going to make the playoffs. The media was projecting us way lower and I'm sure he'd lean more towards those projections. Hardly anyone expected our rise.
