I wish we got De'andre hunter so bad. Fourth overall pick, shooting over 39% from the three point line. The Cavs got so much better now that they actually have a starting SF who isn't a bum. I can't believe the hawks gave him away for a bunch of 2nd round picks, bum Georges niang and chronically injured Caris LeVert.
Probably a good starting point would be Luca and Fox. Luca was a weird situation, but Fox was achievable and wanted Houston. Spurs gave up zippo for him and now have a team that will be favored to compete against OKC next year and years to come for the Finals. Better managed team as Castle looks like the real deal along with Fox, Vassell, Sochan, and a guy named Vic. Take Fox out of that lineup and switch him to the Rockets and there is a major pendulum swing in our favor. Instead, we’ll roll out our same retreads next year and be content with the 6-8 seed and a first round loss. Welcome to Houston where a lawyer runs our team and is too cautious to take any risks!
Are you serious? Fox’s wife is from San Antonio and he clearly stated he wanted to go there. His family was already preparing for him to arrive in SA. Do the research, Fox had little to no chance of coming to Houston. Luka also had no chance because we don’t have win now players that the mavericks want. The mavericks obviously aren’t tanking because otherwise they would have traded for 6-7 FRPs instead of AD. Rockets are perfectly fine. Our defense dropped from number 4 to number 18 the past 20 games with FVV and Jabari out. Our rebounding also dropped to #28 from #11. Rockets also had a brutal stretch end of Janurary into February playing 10 games in 16 days.
Hello play-in tourney. Its inevitable. we barely missed last year and we’ll definitely be in it this year so I guess that an improvement. The 2nd seed was fools gold until the nba caught on. They’ve clearly figured Ime’s rockets out. Playing hard with no real offense or shooters doesn't guarantee Ws in this league. This teams confidence is gone and they’ve been exposed. Going to be a long second half of season.
He is not necessarily the type of player we need imo, but considering the low return that Cavs gave, I do feel bad we didn’t go for him instead.. We definitely had better assets to send the Hawks to get him.
I don't think we will drop that far, but the 6th seed looks to be difficult with the Doncic and Butler trades. If those guys stay healthy we will probably be a play-in team. Butler was a better get for the Warriors than Durant. The Lakers are a shoe-in with the refs in their back pocket. Dallas may already have a deal in place for Flagg, so they will be 11 or 12.
Rockets are 5th but agree with your point. But also acknowledge that the freefall was real + could continue.
Doncic is better than either Booker or Fox. He got moved for peanuts. But an elite 3P sniper like Cam Johnson would have been perfect zone killer + improved the half court offensive issues that have plagued Rockets all season, not just during losing streak.
The Luka thing is irrelevant, that was a lakers only situation. Nobody else was getting him for peanuts, it's kinda like being mad when a ring chaser signs for a minimum. For a reasonable price i thought Cam was a good fit, but it seems the asking price was outrageous, plus he sucks on defense and is usually injured.
They probably explored a trade for Cam, but if you notice, nobody got him. The price was probably too high. The Nets have plenty of draft capital now and they may see him as a valuable piece going forward. Same with Coby White and a plethora of others players that Rocket fans wanted us to pursue, which we probably did. We have really good draft capital, but if you start spending it on bench role players when something really enticing comes up, you are screwed. We have to start spending the Sun's picks this off-season or next. My guess is if the Phoenix pick is 10-15 we trade it for a 26 pick that we don't currently have.
Mavs offered Doncic to at least 1 other team. Not Lakers only situation. Stone's primary responsibility as GM is to be switched in to these type of opportunities, especially since Rockets goal all along is the acquisition of a superstar. Luka is 1st level superstar, top 4 player + only 25.
19 PPG player shooting 41% 3P on 8 attempts is a starter imo. Or the very least, first off the bench for offense. No team is more desperate for elite 3P shooting than the Rockets. 2 FRP or 1 young player + 1 FRP was asking price, that would not have dented Rockets war chest very much at all.
The front office cares enough to have us a top team in the western conference. This all in year 5 of a complete rebuild
Not every GM has accumulated war chest to specifically acquire a superstar + have stated repeatedly that they are a superstar trade away. Stone first target was Mikal Bridges then he pivoted to Booker/KD. Luka better than all those targets + moreso fits timeline at 25.
