Did any of you watch the rise of the Astros? I hear this run it back or this season doesn't matter BS all the time. I think back to the 2015 Astros. Barely lost to the WS Champ Royals. Begged for help during deadline but got cheap fixes and a nuclear bomb. Missed the playoffs 2016. Begged in 2017 and was left with about 15 minutes before they got Verlander. We got 2 series but it should have been so much more. Look at all the wasted chances. I hear this same stupid **** all the time. We have all the time in the world. You have the ability to compete now and compete later with our assets. When you see something that is obviously wrong and doesn't work you don't ignore it. That cannot be the culture. An 82-game season is there for a reason and playoffs revealing something is BS. You either have the balls to do something about it or you don't. If you ACTUALLY believe in your players and trust your team you treat them like men and do the right thing, the hard thing, and make the changes needed to give them every chance to win. This team did the right thing in trading Harden that may be one of the greatest trades in history. The organization owes it to the team now not to squander that gift by "running it back." In the season we traded Harden we cost ourselves assets by not quickly moving on from other assets that had no future here.
Who said Sengun had to be our best player?? We will need more than one Allstar to win a chip and its very rare in todays NBA that your center is your best player. You really have a poor basketball mind. Its very simplistic and linear lol And youre overly emotional. Again Im glad youre not our GM. If GSW destroys the Wolves in 5 games will you stop crying about how we failed? lol
I think you missed the point here. A team that was ahead of schedule and exceeded expectations with a core that’s still maturing is worth running it back. You don’t burn future assets just because you’re impatient. Contenders aren’t built by constantly panicking every time a system hiccups --- and Who says running it back means stagnation? We keep the core, and add other pieces around them. The playoffs reveal exactly what matters: composure, depth, adaptability, and weaknesses under pressure. But they also reflect matchups and variance. Not every early exit is the final call. Sometimes, it’s just part of the learning curve. Please keep in mind, the hard thing might not be the right thing, making a move just to prove you’ve got guts sounds extremely reckless imo. The Harden trade worked because it was the right move, not just a bold one. That doesn’t mean every future decision needs to be as drastic to match magnitude of it. Staying competitive isn’t about making a blockbuster move every time things don’t go your way. It’s about timing—knowing when to go all-in and when to let the team grow. You don’t start flipping pieces just because you’re frustrated they didn’t win right away. You let them take their hits, learn from it, and get better. That’s how real teams are built—teams that stick around and contend for the years to come. .
I’m for running it back with all the core other than FVV and maybe Dillon (if he’s needed in a trade scenario). FVV is Ime’s fatal flaw. As long as he is on the team we are trying to run a formula 1 at a Nascar pace. We have the most athletic team in the NBA, but as long as FVV and Jalen are allowed to dribble the ball around the logo for 18 seconds, we have no chance at maximizing our talent. If we could just trade Ime for a more well balanced coach we could just continue to build from within.
I agree. Stone should be on the hot seat this off-season. We are on the verge of competing if he can make the right moves.
You missed the point. This "ahead of schedule" is a load of crap and what I was talking about. What schedule are you on when you are the #2 seed. Outside of OKC who else is standing pat? Our players will get better but certain players don't fit long term and that includes FVV and Green now and Brooks later. I said compete now and compete later. That doesn't equate to burn future assets and impatient. I have mentioned it in many other posts but I am all for keeping the core and maximizing our assets. BS with the playoffs nonsense, Ime's quote today told you exactly the same thing I am saying, we SUCK at shooting. It was the only honest thing said at the press conference. He knew that for 82 games which is why he played the team the way he did. We had to grind it out. 1000 FTs and 500 3s a day will help with our young guys but you still make changes. Durant for FVV, 2025 PHX, and 2028 HOU can make sense. Things like that. I am not calling for dumping everything we have for Booker and Giannis. I want "discounted" stars to augment our young core and maximize the 2027 BKN, PHX, 2029 PHX, DAL picks. That means 2028 and 2030 to me are available in trade. If we get Cooper Flagg, great keep him, but I don't mind trading 2025 for the right piece. We benched the #3 pick all year that might have been ROTY if he had the minutes. We had to send him back to Vipers for a game to drop 50 to remember he could still play. Cam rode the bench. Our players are starving for minutes. Our core was Sengun, Green, Thompson, Smith, Eason, Whitmore, Sheppard. If you add the 5 potential lottery picks that is 12 players without FVV and Brooks. I want Adams back. We are not keeping ALL of those players. If we are not getting Ant or Luka and I don't want to dump everything for Giannis and Booker then you have to have a different strategy. Durant fits that for the RIGHT price.
Did anyone actually expect us to be a top-4 seed in the West at the start of the season with a core made up of 21–22-year-olds? If your answer is no, then yes—we’re ahead of schedule. Being the 2nd seed or losing in the first round doesn’t suddenly rewrite the developmental arc of an extremely young and inexperienced team. And honestly, I don’t think we disagree that much. I’ve already said running it back doesn’t mean standing still—it means keeping the core intact while adding smart, complementary pieces. I’m not against improving the roster. I’m against dumping the entire foundation for aging stars on borrowed time. There’s a difference between being aggressive and being reckless. So no, it’s not “run it back” or “do nothing.” It’s be smart, be calculated. That’s how you build something real.
One thing that really stood out to me during the playoffs was just how shaky Jalen’s handle is. It’s honestly not a great sign when your primary perimeter scorer makes you nervous every time he puts the ball on the floor. And the tough part is, ball-handling at that level isn’t something you usually improve drastically over time through hard work alone—you either have it or you don’t. Was this something that showed up in his scouting report before we drafted him? Or is it more about his strength and physical control rather than just skill? I genuinely don’t get it, but it’s hard to watch sometimes. On that note, FVV was clearly our most reliable ball handler all season, and I keep wondering—who takes over that job when he’s gone? Is Sheppard the guy?
I won't be mad if we don't make "the big move" to get a star this summer. I'd rather get a star that fits, rather than force a trade/overpay for a guy that would require a massive shift in the teams' direction. I'd rather wait for the right star to show up, even if it takes 12-18 months.
There are two sides to every coin remember the Suns lost in the Finals and blew it all up for Durant how did that work out? The difference between Rockets and Astros or w/e is this team isnt done growing, the team went from 0.500 to 2nd seed and all they really added was half a season of Adams. Sengun and Amen are 22 and 21 they arent winning a ring anytime soon unless you think they are 6 yrs better than Jordan and Lebron. Rox will be one of the few teams with capspace they can go after a good free agent like Ty Jerome or Quinten Grimes and also add another good piece in the draft.
The Astros were at the beginning of their journey and drafted Bregman and Tucker that year and got Yordan the next. The correlation is identical. We are not the Suns. I have posted multiple times Durant for the right price. That's not our young core and all of PHX picks back like the Nets trade. Nobody is giving them that. Giannis and Booker is blowing it up. You can compete now and compete later. Most teams have binary options, we don't. We have the most talented young team next to OKC and the best draft assets in the NBA. Nobody said go all in. Ant or Luka or Giannis or Booker is all in. Hakeem got there in 1986 and didn't get back until 1994. You compete now and compete later. If you think you are waiting 6 years and everything will just keep flowing in line with no changes around you I have a bridge to sell you. You are making the mistake that outside of OKC everyone else will sit around and run it back too. The NBA is an arms race and if you miss your shot you get outgunned. I haven't closely examined the stats but I believe the current Rockets are the same caliber of team from the post all-star 2024 break to now. We use the 0.500 data because they were the same team as the previous lottery seasons prior to the all-star break. We have a full season and a half of consistent data to tell us what the Rockets are and Ime told you at the press conference today. That was the only honest statement at that thing. Our core was Sengun, Green, Thompson, Smith, Eason, Whitmore, Sheppard. If you add the 5 potential lottery picks that is 12 players without FVV and Brooks. I want Adams back. We are not keeping ALL of those players. Ime only plays 8 so your FAs mean nothing as we can't even get Reed or Cam real minutes. The problem with "ahead of schedule" is that is a faulty mental concept and a failure of imagination that everyone just accepts. You are ready to compete whenever you prove it. It has nothing to do with growing. You continue to grow but you have to always be able to assess who is growing with you and who else do you want to grow with. The Rockets are a young gritty team that can't shoot. With that horrible weakness we were the 2nd best team in the West that fell because of our weakness. You statement about Sengun and Amen is a failure of imagination because if they hit their damn FTs they would be playing right now. We just as easily could have won the series, beat the TWolves and challenged the Thunder. When you are that close you don't say ahead of schedule. You say what could I have done differently. We wasted assets at the deadline that could have helped this team. You have to trust your young team to grow and give them the weapons they need to succeed. We went this far without stars. History doesn't wait on you to be ready. It doesn't move to your timeline. The teams of the past had time to play your linear game of wait 10 years. With the CBA and just like people's lives you don't keep a job 30-40 years. Things change too much now. As much as I hate the Warriors they did exactly what I am describing and won multiple different ways with keeping pieces and discarding pieces for other pieces. Even if desperate now they managed to get Butler who everyone on here said was worthless. .
Every team in the league should be able to limit our offensive game - those who didn’t figure it out during this season, will probably figure it out in the following. Our defense on the other hand, which was the main driver of improvement this season, doesn’t really have much more room for another improvement - it will be as good as this season, but we can’t add new elements. So the key for additional improvement in the following season lies in the offensive side. Our shooting % from all distances were in bottom 5 or 10 in the league. Our assists numbers are low. Sure, we also didn’t TO a lot. That’s because we dribbling and passing the ball far too much, and with 5 seconds in the shot clock we’ll probably take the most useless shot. Unless in a magical way our guys can develop decent shooting during the summer, we’ll need to make some adjustments - whether in our roster or coaching staff. I’m not necessarily saying that we need to make blockbuster moves and trade half of our young core and draft picks for aging Durant or something, but we can’t remain stagnant either.
Teams that just run it back eventually run out of time, you have to build a team that fits, we are unbalanced currently too much D, not enough O.... DD
The only thing that didn’t make any sense to me was not increasing Jabari’s usage in the playoffs, at least after some point. We needed shooting and he was shooting well. That part is on ime. other than that ı can’t imagine running it back with the green fvv backcourt. Neither can drive to the rim, shooting is shaky, neither have size. It is simply too many overlapping weaknesses. One of them must be replaced. I am good with the rest of the roster.
I agree we should run it back however we should also be looking to upgrade the SG position if we can do it without costing too many assets. Run it back but next year actually let Reed play and cut FVV minutes by at least half.
If you can get Giannis for two of three of Jalen Green-Eason-Smith and the firsts, I don’t see how you don’t do that.
Good comment. Although, I think the one for sure that needs to be gone is FVV. I think you could make the case to get rid of both of them, but for Jalen it needs to be a reasonable return. My biggest concern this off-season is Stone genuflecting to Ime and extending FVV and we will go another whole year with this same BS offense.
I doubt they would accept anything less than Amen or Alpi for Giannis which I would 100% not do. But I would be all for it if they would take what you listed.
