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

"Continuity'... or sittin on yer a** not doin nothin....?

We have some good pieces - but this is not yet a championship team... merely 'maturing' is not gonna take us to the promised land... imo.

 

So, stick with internal development unless the league drops a superstar on our lap like they did with LA/Luka? Makes sense.

 

I know you're joking, but I think Tate probably will be gone and then that's the last connection to the Harden Rockets gone. Kind of sad to think about.

He (Tate) can probably take like a tax payer MLE from one of the more roster crunched teams like say Denver and get a lot more playing time

 

Stone's interviews aren't worth the time to watch or read.

That said, I might do the same thing if in his shoes.

 

Man, remember when we had an owner butting his oar in and forcibly trading backcourt players? Y'all b****ed too much and now he's going to sit back and watch us run it back with Jalen and FVV. You have yourselves to blame.

 

Tilman didn't like Cp3s contract and he was useful. I doubt Tilman would agree to sign FVV to a high contract

 

Eh, Tate’s connection to Harden was during the brief “fat suit” era. I’m not weeping any tears.

However, I think Tate could be a solid role player for the right team.

 

If your prerogative is to save your ass and just ride it out making millions without any concern with building a championship then, yes. If you are a little bit of a risk taker and want to build a championship roster and make even more millions, then no. We will see what kind of person Stone is during this off-season. p***y or empire builder, take you pick.

 

Lawyer lawyering

 

LOL. That is spot on.

 

You realised that was a joke post, right?

 

Exactly. We must judge Stone solely by what he does because his words are mostly cliches. He always keeps his cards face down.

Despite being a harsh critic and strongly disliking the guy, I believe Stone sincerely wants to build a championship roster. I expect a #1 scoring option to be secured at SG or SF using a combination of players & draft picks. I don't know if the Rockets will ever be in better position than now to make a big move.

 

I hope you are right. I pray that you are right.

 

Sure but literally the last player we have that played with Harden

Really more than that I really like Tate and will miss him for that reason, he was such a great find to just get for free basically. But he deserves to go somewhere he can get minutes, not really happening here without injuries.

 

Never listen, watch what they do.

Stone said a lot of this stuff about kpj and then went out and maxed FVV. Remember at the time kpj was highly thought of and had been given the keys to run the team up until that point.
They also drafted Amen who had been thought of and played as a pg early on. Despite what they said publicly about kpj they were clearly not ok with him being the teams starting pg.

They also made the controversial (at the time) move to "overpay" Dillon when a lot pf people thought Tari was the next man up. They tried to add Brook Lopez which probably meant Sengun or Bari off the bench and also is the reason they traded away 3 young first round picks that they "really liked".

Ime also said they want to play Cam and Reed more next year. I'll believe it when i see it. Just a bunch of talk going on right now.

 

From the comments in this thread, seems like most people are calling him out on his BS rather than actually believing in his words. Stone to this point has been one of the most conservative GMs in the NBA.

 

Except Pelinka is under watch every single day by Lakers fan. Even after getting Luka. Rocket fans think Stone is a genius and truthfully no one cares about the Rockets outside of Houston to even know who Stone is or put pressure on him. Stone will continue going down on this path of selling a dream and push back the timeline. I wouldn't be shocked if he even traded this pick for a couple firsts 5 years from now.

We were a 2nd seed who lost to a 7th seed, mind you, a Warriors team that wasn't even good at all and there's talks about continuity. Continuity would sound good if Sengun learns how to finish, Jalen shows up in the playoffs, Jabari learned how to dribble more than 3x without losing the ball, Tari grew a brain, FVV wasn't shooting 30%, Reed doesn't become a bust. Continuity means absolutely nothing when you have zero superstars on this team.

 

Please no Brook Lopez. As a matter of fact that is a double no. Steven Adam's or a big that is a lob threat. Our rebounding and defense efficiency will suffer greatly with Brook Lopez.

 

Did Stone and Dana Brown go to the same colllege?

 

You make good points, if, our key players were veterans of at least 25 and up, if not older. As it currently stands, it's smart to give a chance for internal growth when our best player Sengun is still only 22 years old (23 next season) and the second oldest of our drafted players with Jalen currently being our oldest at 23 and our most disappointing player so far, still has a chance to at the very least raise his value. All the flaws that you pointed out are usually very reversable on players that young, particularly since pretty much everyone except FVV is 23 and younger, some just 20 years of age still like Cam and Reed.

Staying the course for another year at least is not a bad proposition when they were highly successful (2nd seed) and seeing what internal growth looks like before making moves. I would say it's even wise, unless, a true superstar is dropped on our lap that fits our timeline that we don't have to give up a ridiculous price for, just like LA did for Luka.