This is only my speculation - but I think that the issue is that Stone knows that the current team isn't good enough to win a title - and likely will not be good enough long term. Thus, he would likely want to continue to gather assets and opportunities to improve the long term outlook of the team. On the other hand, the ownership wants to win right now and Stone doesn't want to lose his job --- so KD sticks around, Smart is signed and the team puts on the veneer of being a real contender. I find it very hard to believe that KD wouldn't be traded for assets if it were entirely Stone's choice. The Rockets lost the #10 pick last season for KD and the Rockets didn't have a #1 pick for two seasons...... that seems against what Stone has tried to do in the past. I don't see how the Rockets can have a real fighters chance to win a title over the next couple years -- there are a lot of very good teams, and the Rockets are lead by a 38 year old and lack the type of top in young talent that the elite teams have. Stone has analytics - he isn't stupid. Witus isn't stupid either -- and he has certainly shared the models with Stone.
As someone who cheered the Rockets through the depths of the early 80's, hearing folks say they're going to "skip the season" is blasphemy. I may be as disappointed in their performance and direction as others, but I'm not going to stop cheering for them every game. Go root for the Spurs.
Or..... Both FO and ownership just have realistic expectations 3 years removed from historic tanking. Tilman could have demanded a WB like trade for Giannis, Brown, or Kawhi but ownership seems to be having more patience. Stone doesn't seem to have a mandate to be super aggressive. Are the SAS and OKC the Juggernaut Warriors? I don't think so. OKC has 3 max players and are pretty locked in Does Chet and Jalen Williams keep you up? Spurs have Wemby who has a frame and size that is a historic lower body injury prone risk. The new NBA is parity.
One really good player and they play in the East. The West has always been the tougher conference, we've been saying it for decades and it's largely true.
That’s what I don’t get is how some fans continue to view the Spurs and OKC as some mythical team descended from Zeus himself. We always play them tough and it came down to one quarter or a few minutes of play that decided our games. We can look at the glass half empty or realistically think our guys got another year better and we are ready to compete and whoop both those teams ass.
Well said, sir! The pessimism is rampant... folks are jumping on any action - or inaction - as some incompetent move that is hurling us deeper into the abyss! lol Incremental improvement and calculated risks are flaunted as failures bc they dont automatically propel us into a top-tier contender... Folks need to get a grip and get some perspective! It feels like many have decided that Stone and Ime suck - so anything they do is some grave injustice... lol
So Ayton, Rui, Smart, Kennard, and a couple games by Reeves - are nobodies... just "practice squad"... ok, got it... lol i ain't sayin they're all-stars... but to call them "practice squad" players is rather disingenuous...
but... but... Kawhi is 35... with injury history... isnt this the type of guy that everybody on here hates? Isn't that what Stone gets constant sh*t for? For "doubling down on injury prone old guys" is the narrative, right? lol
THIS. ...we are where we are as a result of a set of GM choices that have a very very small window of working out. The fact is - this could be a good team with Fred, KD, Stevo, Smart, and all our young guys making reasonable progress, Ime figuring out how to balance offense and defense appropriately and make it work, etc.....but the odds of all of that falling into place is really really really small. I do think this is true with a caveat - Houston CAN compete with the Spurs and OKC but their margin for error is significantly smaller than it is with those teams. Basically we can't have significant injuries, we can't have multiple guys having an "off" game and most importantly, we can't make critical mental errors down the stretch for it to work - this was where we struggled the most last year in Fred's absence - we put the ball in KD and Alpi's hands and neither were particularly effective at protecting possessions..and then it helps if some of their players are having off games - maybe Champagne or Chet is having an off game from the field, etc. So YES - Houston can compete with those teams and certainly the door is open for us to knock one of those teams off if we catch them in the playoffs during an key injury but it's still highly unlikely Houston can compete over a 7 game series unless they really tighten up their execution and avoid the 'old player injury bug' that Stone has hoped we would avoid and so far haven't.
It’s a new year and as rockets fans we have to believe the 2 of the big 3 got better. We have to believe our other supporting players have grown. If we were talking about last year’s team perhaps you’re right. But it’s not. If all players and coaches think the way some of the fans think and just gave up and resign themselves to losing or think these other teams are better then what’s the point? Knicks had a worse team on paper and no one expected them to win but they did. Spurs were psychologically weak. The more mentally tough teams usually win. The mental dictates the physical that’s why the smart signing was so important. As i say to anyone doubting or saying we are less than “wait and see”
