It's been a year I gave him a C I think as in Wait and See I have Seen Enough In Stone I Trust In Ime I Trust They both get a SOLID A They have officially Passed Calculus NEXT SEASON and the OFF SEASON is Differential Equations I think they are ready for it Rocket River
Drafting A Trading - D Free Agents B This transition time of trading pieces for ones that fit better is the most important part. So, who do you keep, who do you trade? That is the key, getting that right. DD
I gave him an A- for phase one, but really, in retrospect, it was an A+. He drafted an all-star in the draft in Sengun, with guys like Amen showing future all-star and DPOY potential. Hired Ime, and we currently have the #2 defense in the league and a #3 seed in the west, with a core of 22-year-olds. In phase two, it's a solid A, it may be an A+ if we go to the second round or further this year. This has been one of the most fun Rocket teams in a long time, and they are up there for me as a fan to watch them grow and improve over the seasons. When you have true, young star talent, patience pays off.
Stone and Fertitta having the cojones to hire a coach like Ime made them go up a bit in my book. FVV/Dillon were trend setting moves for rebuilding teams. Everyone clowned the moves at the time but no ones laughing now. Rockets have created the blueprint for rebuilding teams moving forward. He also gets credit for moving up for Sengun. All other picks were obvious. Whiffed on others. TyTy, Garuba, JayGup.
Solid F. Missed on Jarrett Allen and good chance that moronic trade with Brooklyn costs us Cooper Flagg. No action at trade deadline will cost us this year and when you have a chance you gotta go for it!
…..further had nothing to do with Ime pick from what I hear as the Fertitta family made the choice after Stone whiffed horribly on his personal Silas pick. For any Sengun fans…please know that Stone went hard and thought he had an agreement with Brook Lopez, which would have made Sengun just a backup and certainly no All-Star. Now looking like Suns making the playoffs so the pick drops to teens while Brooklyn will be getting top 3 draft pick thanks to awful and very arrogant Stone. Still have NO idea why he gave Brooklyn the 25 & 26 likely top five lottery picks for 25 & 27 teens (at best) picks.
This was hardly the blue print but a concept that worked with Ime at the helm.... Tons of 1b and 2a players.......don't you think other teams want a real face of the league type of player? It is like either the B Plan or C Plan worked out but most teams still want Plan A to work.
- Convinced Tilman to play the long game and operate like Sam Presti and not like Matt Ishbia - Made seven top 20 picks in four years. 5 of them are already clear starter level players or better; jury still out on the two 20yo's (Cam and Reed). - Excellent rookie extension work so far - Two biggest FA signings have been major successes w/ high degree of difficulty (FVV and Dillon) - Great head coach hire - Organizational culture reputation has flipped from terrible to very good - Turned post prime James Harden into Tari Eason, Reed Sheppard, half of Cam Whitmore, the 2025, 2027, and 2029 PHX picks, 2027 BKN swap, and 2029 DAL pick, all unprotected - Successfully bet against PHX and still doing work to destabilize them via trade rumors - Saved the Westbrook trade by hard tanking and then improving at the right time; only ended up losing Nikola Topic and next year's pick, while receiving a WAS pick for Westbrook that was used to acquire Alperen Sengun You'd have to contort yourself pretty hard to complain about the Rafael Stone / Eli Witus administration.
They picked at #2, #3, #4, #3. Not their fault that none of have currently developed into a 1A player. In the past 4 drafts there is currently one surefire 1A player. The rest could get there but have issues. Cade and Paolo are closest but are turnover machines and inefficient. There isnt a Cooper Flagg or Victor in every draft. Even the Edwards draft didn't have him as the consensus #1.
The Pistons did the same but only came away with 1 Number pick and had at least 2-3 Number 5 picks. You can't predict where the lottery balls go...... or where to track one Sengün. Numerous firings later..... You have to hire a defensive coach .....that is the real blue print and veteran shooters/playmakers/defenders. Everything before is merely a valuable lesson how to fail until you succeed.
