[Stone] Houston has the Smallest Front Office in Sports

LOL - things a control freak says for $200, Alex.

DD

 

Translation: The Rockets have the most dated front office in basketball and one of the smallest budgets.

I really hope at some point that Stone stops being so insecure.

The Rockets need a better organized and deeper scouting department, player development - and could use some people that actually coached or played in the NBA involved. TF wanted to add a VP or EP and Stone freaked out. Having someone like JVG overseeing the entire basketball side of operations would only improve the Rockets.

 

Tilman and Stone are lucky they live in one of the most desirable cities in the country.

 

He knows how a multilevel organization works, right? You don’t have to actually talk to every person every week. Letting his scouting department hire a bunch of analytic nerds that help the scouting director is valuable even if Rafael never talks to the nerds himself. It’s a very ego-centric mindset … people only matter to the extent they are personally advising me.

 

Stone taking the fall for cheap owner?

 

Houston is only desirable when you can escape the summer heat and go to your offseason home in Southern California.

 

lol. I love Houston, but yeah, not really.

 

it's smol

 

Out of curiosity I checked the Texans front office, Spurs front office, and Rockets front office list. And they way they do these are just different. Also, RealGM has a list of basketball hires for each NBA team and the Rockets definitely isn't the smallest size based on that list. In the end, I would say how one define front office size is likely very arbitrary so I don't think there's much to gleam from this quote. Perhaps Stone just doesn't treat the low tier analysts as part of the front office, while another GM would even count the intern as part of his office.

 

Small is fine for short-term, quick decisions.

Long-term, that could hurt innovation.

I would not have guessed the Rockets were a small front office. I tend to expect teams that trust analytics to have more people working on ways to improve the data. There are some teams that just look like they shoot from the hip on decisions.

 

Houston is one of the more desirable cities in the country for working class people because it offers a lot of job opportunities and cost of living is relatively reasonable and those are likely the top two things on your mind if you're struggling to get by.

I'd argue it's in the bottom half of major metro areas for those people in the top 10% or so of income who can basically live anywhere they want. (If your high-end income is heavily tied to the local Houston economy, of course you may not have much choice.) Traffic sucks, climate sucks, ugly built environment, no beautiful nature nearby, cultural stuff is mid, it's a relatively long flight to Europe or Asia.

I guess it's pretty good for nightlife and food, but not top of the pack by any means.

The income tax situation is relatively good but I just don't buy that's as big of a differentiating factor as people think it is once you get into the upper income brackets unless you're one of those people whose mind is incredibly distorted by greed. The high property taxes largely counterbalance it anyway until you get to the level of wealth where housing is a tiny fraction of your costs.

 

Translation: Tillman has gutted the budget for scouting, and analytics as well as Stone having an ego the size of Texas where he thinks he has the capacity to outsmart everyone in the NBA with the methods he's deployed since Morey left.

The only reason why I was okay with sending out draft picks in a star trade wasn't because I wouldn't normally value those draft picks. Quite the opposite. I've lost all faith that we have the capacity anymore to scout for young talent that the rest of the NBA doesn't already see. There are so many signs now that the Rockets are surprised to learn what they have in a prospect after they drafted him.

So I've seen the warning signs for a bit now that this has happened, and Stone is basically confirming it here. The Moneyball story is a great story, but it shouldn't be your aspiration as a fan to want THAT. You should want your team to be staffed like the Red Sox who actually win championships. Not just strive to be the A's who might have a Cinderella season every once in awhile. Love them or hate them, The Red Sox win more than the A's because of investment, and alot of smart people.

Being the A's of the NBA is not a virtue Rafael.

 

Poor man and stone are lucky they operate in a city where basketball is only the third largest sport

This **** doesnt cut it with actual passionate fanbases

 

Just gotta laugh at the frauds ..... or is it broads?

Carry on with your BS narratives.

 

Need to do better. Amazon has 1.5 Mill employees.

@Jontro

 

Nah - Houston is certainly in the top half of major metro areas for those in the top 10% to live, especially for basketball players. It isn't up there with Los Angeles or NYC or Chicago, and I think at this point is a nudge behind Dallas - but it is ahead of most of the other large markets. There is a reason that so many NBA players and former player live in Houston or have lived in Houston.

As for working class people, I don't think it is the value that is used to be. It has gotten a lot more expensive. It isn't the only city dealing with that, but there are now other areas cheaper.

Houston's food scene is pretty damn good. The only thing really hurting Houston is the quality of downtown.

 

I agree.

Daryl Morey was in the process of trying to reorganize and increase the front office and scouting/player development staff when he left.

My concern is for the long term as well.

 

Meh, I'd have to differ on that and so does Chat GTP when asked what the top 10 US cities to live in for the ultra affluent -

Top 10 U.S. Cities for the Ultra-Affluent
City Why It’s Elite
New York City, NY Global finance hub, iconic real estate, elite arts and dining
San Francisco Bay Area, CA Silicon Valley wealth, coastal beauty, innovation epicenter
Los Angeles, CA Hollywood glamour, luxury estates, creative industries
Miami, FL Tropical lifestyle, booming real estate, international flair
Chicago, IL ️ Architectural grandeur, cultural depth, strong finance sector
Houston, TX Energy capital, sprawling estates, growing luxury market
Boston, MA Ivy League prestige, biotech wealth, historic charm
Seattle, WA Tech-driven affluence, natural beauty, progressive culture
Washington, D.C. ️ Political power, historic neighborhoods, diplomatic circles
Dallas, TX Business-friendly, upscale suburbs, rising millionaire density


There's a reason why people are moving to Texas from literally every corner of the globe.

No beautiful nature nearby ??? .... there are places inside the loop that provide that and then you have multiple lakes within an hour or two that provide the scenery and world class fishing on top of it - and there's more wildlife in the area than you can shake a stick at, dozens of state parks and resort area's & the crystal clear waters of Corpus Christi only a couple hours away .... no they may not be the grand canyon, Arches state park in Utah or California redwoods but that doesn't diminish them by any means.