Chris Mannix: In trade pursuits, Ime Udoka ‘a real asset’ for Rockets

We have seen four title winning coaches in recent years being jettisoned. Talent wins in the NBA. Period.

 

I wish this fanbase and my own expectations were just the playoffs every year. We can be the Blazers in the 2010s, just hoping to make the playoffs but zero championship expectations, then so many troubles would just disappear.

But, unfortunately, most of us who watch this game care about winning it all and the way we're built and heading right now is nowhere close to a match against the OKC Thunder.. in fact, no teams in the West currently are in a 7 game series except maybe the Nuggets, a championship team with the best player in the world.

It's the sad reality no one wants to admit, we'll never beat the Thunder in the playoffs because they have the same timeline (in terms of player ages) as us except they're built way better. We're always going to be 2nd fiddle to them. The only shot we have in making out the west the next 5-7 years is through injury luck. Otherwise, we're just all witnessing a dynasty blossoming on another team.

 

The Rockets are also not better than the Timberwolves granted they keep most of their players until Antman leaves.

The Spurs are getting better by trades and Draft selections fast and should be at Rockets level in 1 or 2 years......most injuries are not career threatening.

Denver, GSW, Lakers, Clippers, Memphis, I am not discussing them right now, obvious.

 

We're nothing like the 2010s Blazers respectfully.

One thing to keep in mind dynasties are extremely hard to do historically.

OKC is a few years ahead of us in the timeline, many are not on rookie contracts. A major issue with dynasties is keeping everyone together, motivated and healthy.

They have to pay Shai a huge extension coming up, they have to pay Jalen Williams soon, Chet later, whether to keep Hartenstein and his 30 million on the roster, if they keep Dort and Caruso at around 20 million each in future years. They have to stay healthy, see the Celtics this year.

They have to stay motivated in upcoming years, not make roster mistakes and still win, see Milwaukee.

Many teams and players get a ring, lose the same drive and start looking for money or different cities for lifestyle/family having got a chip, see Kawhi and Toronto.

Denver has had all three issues, paying everyone, health and motivation/winning.

Here are OKC's contracts, it's very difficult to get to the top in sports. It's immensely harder to stay there.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/OKC.html

 

I don't think there is any way Stone could get fired based on this off-season, and I seriously doubt there is an ultimatum within the organization that something drastic has to be done. In fact, I think it's probably the opposite and there is likely an emphasis on continuing to develop what we have.

I think you're really getting ahead of things. At the beginning of the season, this outcome would have been considered an extremely successful season, and it would have exceeded almost everyone's expectations. Now that we made the playoffs and had some success, the bar has been moved - you're comparing the team to a group of seasoned veterans where the only option to improve is alter the roster.

While I doubt Jalen will be the player everyone thinks he has to be for the team to be successful, I would point out that he made drastic improvements with Ime on defense, so I wouldn't underestimate what continued improvement could produce.

 

Fertitta has other worries, he is Ambassador to Italy...... while people suggested Patrick is supervising, I doubt Patrick has the cojones to fire people yet, remains to be seen.

They probably wait till Fertitta comes back and forth from Italy.....

Even his businesses are sort of not handled by him.

 

I don’t mean if he stands pat he gets fired immediately, but if he stands pat and we have a worse seed and another 1st round exit while expending at least one of our assets (the #10 pick), he should be fired. He has followed his plan to a tee and I have been one of his staunchest supporters during the re-build.

His stated plan was to take advantage of the flexibility he has built to create a championship calibre team starting this upcoming season. Now is not the time to pause the plan, because you are supposedly ahead of schedule. Getting the 2nd seed has made folks complacent. It was fool’s gold and only 4 games ahead of the play-in. Looking at things in a vacuum and not reacting to what is happening with your competitors is short-sighted.

LA just got Luke freakin’ Doncic, is not in the 2nd apron. GSW will have Jimmy Butler from the start of the season, Memphis was plagued by injury. Denver can stand pat and because of Jokic still be closer to a contender than us. The Spurs will have Wemby and Fox together from the start and either add Harper or Giannis. OKC is miles ahead of us with no end in sight for their dominance. We have our superstar and a very solid core, we should maximize our window not just kick the can down the road another year. With the right moves we will be right up there with OKC. Without making moves we will regress as our competitors get better.

 

I swear, NBA fans are absurd. Ime made the Finals year 1, turned this team two seasons, but isn't a "championship level" coach? Give me a break. Y'all have fun with the coaching carousel - I've watched NBA history. Teams that fire good coaches often never recover. I'm riding with Ime.

 

It’s not all gloom and doom. We have better (not more) draft assets, a budding superstar, and a solid core to build around. If we just stand pat we fall further behind and are like you said, just another iteration of a mediocre team satisfied with a few playoff experiences. Okc is 1 year closer to having salary cap issues. They won’t be able to sustain their current roster much pass next year. Signing Hartenstein to 30m contract and getting Caruso were all in moves that have most likely paid off in a championship and maybe 2, but they have an upcoming super max extension and several other Max contracts to deal with. With the right moves and logical progression of Amen, Sengun, and Jabari we could be right there with OKC in as soon as the next 2 years. Let’s hope Stone is the man for the job.

 

took Cs shockingly to Finals. Couldn’t seal the deal then.

Get ‘me’ to the Finals. We’ll seal er see about the deal then.

 

it's just mostly JOFs who blame Ime

and Alpi, and Amen, and everyone one else including the "spacing", "unfavorable matchup", and "defensive schemes"

 

After Boston fired Ime, they won the championship. Without a couple of injuries they would probably be in the finals again. Ime is a great defensive coach and a lousy offensive coach. That mix can only take you so far and is not going to win a championship. Ime is even less flexible on rotations and offense than Thibs and look what happened to the Knicks. I’ll gladly eat my words if Ime can improve his offensive prowess and his bench coaching (rotations). He should be on a short leash.

 

To be clear, we are a very imperfect team at the moment. We are very young, our leading scorer only averaged 21 ppg (which is lower than some teams' SECOND leading scorer), we were pretty bad from 3 (21st in 3 pt %), and DEAD LAST from the FT line. Despite this, the team willed itself to the second seed through Ime's great coaching, and, somehow, despite our offensive deficiencies, we ended up scoring a decent number of points (13th overall in PPG). Sorry, but the idea that the guy who could pull that off isn't a championship level coach is ludicrous in my eyes.

 

Sure, that's all that happened. Boston fired Ime, and they won the championship. Nothing else changed with that team...

Sorry, you can write all the words you want. You'll never convince me that Ime isn't a championship coach. I'd have to close my eyes to believe that.

 

Oh, and by the way, Ime > Mazzulla. Ime would have cakewalked into a championship with Boston's 2023 - 2024 roster.

 

That’s fine. I can respect your point of view while disagreeing with it. Hopefully, you can afford me the same. One other thing Boston did was to re-structure the roster to get rid of some of Ime’s sacred cows like Marcus Smart. Maybe if Stone can get rid of FVV, Ime will surprise me.

 

That could be many teams…. just a few moves away…

And you aren’t one of those emotional posters….?

Seems like you weren’t able to accept there wasn’t a better offensive creator than FVV on the team. Amen wasn’t ready…. Green isn’t that guy…. Reed wasn’t for the NBA…. Sengun does a decent job but needs more help….

 

Ime is definitely an asset when it comes to trading for bad or washed up vets.... they know his rotations have nothing to do with merit, he'll keep playing vets no matter how much they are hurting the team

 

When did meritocracy and setting standards for players not become development?

What is development to you? Give unearned minutes? Allow a bunch of mistakes so a player develops?