Not going to argue with you further since you seem to don't get my point. Just to be clear, I am not trying to change your opinion on Stone and you do you. This is just me voicing out my displeasure against his recent non-action with the team's struggles. Oh and yes I do really well for myself. I own businesses and also owned/built my own property in Laguna Beach. I might not be a "giga chad" but I do know mediocrity with the way the roster stands at this time. We might be better next season who knows? All I want is for us to have a shot sooner rather than later. Have a good night lad
Not trying to be combative here, but what franchise player do you think Stone should have drafted in those last 4 drafts? The only franchise players to emerge from those drafts so far (Wemby, Cade, etc.) were picked before the Rockets had a chance at them. As of now, not one player we had a shot at drafting is a franchise player. There are some possible future ones, but you could say that about a couple of ours: possible future franchise player. There are valid arguments to be made that Stone left better players on the table in each of those drafts, but he hasn't passed up a shot at a franchise player.
Plus one to this. I don't think he did bad with the draft and was able to actually get the right pieces available. Well except Garuba and Tyty
Not that I expected the Rockets to have drafted him with the 3rd pick, Jalen Williams is a legitimate All-Star and the Rockets would be a way better team with him instead of Jabari right now.
Not even that, Stone is 54.....dude needs to groom his successor and who else than Eli Witus. And what better time to pass the torch on to him when the Rockets are making the Playoffs. This is a natural process.
Is that why Reed and Cam keeps getting yanked left and right in some games and just get DNP-CDs in other games? Is that why FVV is the leader in mpg and played major minutes even at the end of blowouts? Is that why when the Rockets had injuries, they decided to call upon the like of Jeff Green, Jock Landale, and Aaron Holiday to fill in the ranks? Let's not kid ourselves. The front office may not have tried to improve this team, but they absolutely are giving Ime Udoka the directive to win over player development.
No argument from me. But a lot of other GMs made that mistake, and though he may be an All-Star, he's no franchise player. Even guys like Barnes, Mobley, Wagner aren't really franchise players, the kind of guy you build a team around. At least not yet. In those 4 drafts, Stone got an actual All-Star and two likely future All-Stars (Green and Thompson), and who knows how good Sheppard and Whitmore might be one day. And throw Eason in there as well.
I feel like Mobley is a franchise player. But him and Cade are the only two from that draft that I’m certain are true franchise guys. If u include Sengun, our 2021 draft netted us two of the top 7 guys in that draft. So pretty good. 2022 I think we got two of the top 10 guys in that draft, but I don’t think Bari is gonna end up being worthy of that #3 pick. 2023 was a home run. Amen is a legit franchise guy and probably the #2 prospect in that draft. Lots of potential upside with Cam. The verdict is still out on Reed with our 2024 pick. So pretty good in the draft. But only one franchise guy out of top 4 lotto picks the last 4 drafts. The real question is can Stone put together a contending roster…or even a balanced roster. We just haven’t seen that yet. But honestly it’s this offseason that will tell the tale. If Stone doesn’t get it right for next season, the pitchforks should come out.
Also still to be determined: Can Stone make a deal for a true superstar giving away the team's future? And I personally think Patrick and Tilman will give Stone two more years after this one to at least reach the conference finals and make a decent showing.
It's nice having Amen on this list but Stone missed a huge opportunity to improve an already championship caliber defense by not trading for Timelord or signing Javonte Green at deadline.
I agree but... Honestly Cade is the only one that stands out. I really don't think we are that much better with any of those guys. I think we'd actually be worse with Mobley and Barnes, I think they are worse offensive players, maybe we'd be slightly better with Wagner. I feel like Mobley, Barnes, Wagner, Green are about the same level of player. Mobley just benefits because he plays on such a talented team but all of these guys are still trying to prove they can consistently dominate games like true superstar players can and really all of them right now are what I like to call fringe all-star players. Which are still very good players and start on most teams but don't consistently dominate like perennial all-star players do. I do feel like each of these guys have a shot at becoming perennial all-stars. Cade is definitely that guy though lol.
We are not going to end up the 5th seed. If we don’t turn it around soon we could easily drop 3 spots. It’s same bullshit with Ime. Oh, we are so much better than last year so he gets a pass. Screw that. Next year is Stone’s and Ime’s time to shine. If they don’t, so long. There is not time to be patient any longer. LA now has Doncic, OKC is loaded with assets, SA is loaded with draft assets and may get Flagg. Hell, I bet Phoenix gets enough for Durant to elevate in the next year or 2, Memphis is still better than we are and just as young. We’ve got our superstar in Amen, so it is time to stop f***ing around.
We have 3 tier 1 prospects. You are the dumbest of the dumb. Virtually every GM and player in the league is slobbering over Amen and Sengun. Ime and Stone are fine up to this point, but they should be on the hot seat to fill out the roster and put a decent offensive scheme on the floor. Our true core are all under 23 years old. No team in the history of the NBA has been a contender with such a young core, except OKC and there superstar is 26.
I think this is largely true. I do think the new rules have changed the timelines for teams to get good and sustain. Also, the corrupt NBA obviously is still going to favor the West and East coast. Fair or not, Stone and Ime have to move up their timeline with the competition that is now in place with SA, OKC, Lakers (Doncic), Memphis all young (except for LA) and better. We need to make our move to contention next year not in another 2 years.
The Rockets current team construction would be way better with Mobley. The Rockets offensive issues stem from lack of shooting, but especially from putting Sengun & Thompson (both total BACK OFF HIM guys in the HC) on the floor which murders the Rockets spacing, with a bunch of average to mediocre shooting around them other than Brooks. Unfortunately they are also the best 2 players on the team so it's not really tenable to keep them off. Mobley automatically becomes the 2nd best 3 point shooter on the team and is an elite, All-Defense level defender - they would instantly improve if you paired Mobley with Thompson or Sengun.
I thought people were saying the Rockets were gangsta AF when we were a fake #2 seed. Times change quickly I guess.
I can't with these posts. I just can't. It's so wildly stupid that I don't even know where to start. I think I just won't.
Buddy said Sengun is a tier 1 prospect lmao. Amen has potential. Who’s the third one? Rafael Stone loves idiots like you. I’d sit on my ass and do nothing if my fanbase believed that BS too.
Nah. The goal next year is dependent on what they achieved this year. If they dont even make it out of first round then I think second round should be the goal next year. Sengun and co are all 23 yr old and younger its absurd to expect them to make WCF so quickly we dont have a Jokic.
