Rafael Stone: "I think continuity for continuity's sake isn't what we're trying to achieve

Giannis confirmed?

DD

 

I’ll believe it when I see him. He’s made one player trade since he got here and that was for Steven Adams. He’s a draft pick merchant.

 

Pick one and stick with it.

No more of this "mixed signals" nonsense.

 

It seems like he wasn't willing to say this during the season. I suspect they have something in the works.

 

You guys put way too much work into parsing Stone's every sentence. He never has and never will be the kind of guy who tells the press anything that isn't already obvious.

 

This is nothing new. It’s from the presser at the end of the playoffs. Why are people reading into it now?

 

I take solace that Father Time is undefeated and there is going to be a younger GM at some point in the future.

 

Younger? Patrick Fertitta, you mean?

 

I am wondering if he really holds that much power, it is inevitable if so.

 

RAFAEL STONE
PRINCIPAL

 

What he means is that JaeSean Tate isn't coming back

 

I’ll believe it when I see it. I have supported Stone since he got here, because he laid out a plan and has stuck to it. He has now built a very talented young team with one of the most flexible and ample trade treasures in the league. When he passed on making any improvements this past deadline, it made me nervous that this guy is either too conservative to take a chance or is too under the thumb of Ime. This season is a very good season to start to implement a vision for a well balanced championship contending team. If he merely kicks it down the road another year, I believe he is lacking the balls to be a good GM. When he extends FVV, he will enter the Bill O’Brien ring of dishonor along with Silas, Jerry Granville, and Dusty.

 

https://rocketswire.usatoday.com/st...ty-more-likely-than-major-trades/83483393007/
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/sp...a-offseason-trade-roster-changes-20312601.php

“I will give you an inside betting tip that I think continuity is very, very likely,” Stone told reporters. “Last summer, we didn’t make changes because we were really comfortable with where we were, and we’d seen really good things from our team in terms of kind of a good progression. And I think we saw more of the same this year. So I think the bar to make changes is very high.”

“The goal ultimately is to build a championship team,” Stone said. “If we think there’s a move or series of moves that make it more likely we will be that, then we would ignore continuity, and we’d do those moves.”

“Plan A has always been to develop within our group.”

“I think continuity for continuity’s sake isn’t what we’re trying to achieve,” Stone said. “Continuity is great, but the goal ultimately is to build a championship team. And if we think that there’s a move or a series of moves that make it more likely we will be that then, then we would ignore continuity, and we do those moves.”

__________

Continuity vs. Superstar, what factors play into that decision?

RS: Superstar thing, it’s largely points in the NBA. Points are a factor of who shoots. Some of that is offense driven. It ends up being cyclical. If you engineer your offense around one player, they’ll score more and get more assists. I don’t think that’s in Ime’s DNA. Some of this is just how we’re gonna go about it. We’re gonna be a team-focused team. Doesn’t mean we won’t do a trade but we have talented players on this roster and they’re all improving. Before we trade one, two, three, four of those guys for more veteran guys, we want to make sure we give this current group room to grow. The huge caveat to all of that is the job is to win championships. If we think there’s a better path than continuity, we would pursue it but right now, that bar is pretty high.

Spoiler

And as @CantStopJG24 has said many times, he can do nothing, be praised for doing nothing and keep his job. Why rock the boat? Why put himself on the hot seat?

Re-sign Fred, maybe bring back Adams (or if he’s too expensive, maybe a Lopez or another center), make the 10th pick, disappear for another year.

Most of the time, it is GM speak. But he tells you.

“We’re not gonna make a trade at the deadline. We want to see our kids.” … Didn’t make a trade at the deadline for help.
“We’re likely gonna run it back. The bar for change is pretty high.” … Breaking news, they’re most likely gonna run it back.

 

Because we live in a world where lots of people think there's hidden meaning in everything and a myriad of conspiracies behind every single facet of society. These sorts will believe some inane nonsense they've come up with based on the number of letters in something's name more than they'll believe something right in front of their face. It is what it is.

 

Stone is a former lawyer, this guy isn't going to say **** to the public.

 

Makes me sick to my stomach.