Is to win 50 games and push for the playoffs. No tank, no dump. WHAT?! Only to get swept in the first round? Yes. Getting swept(hopefully not) in the first round is our only hope of contending in the near future. Why? How does that make any sense? Let's first make a few assumptions: 1. The team's ultimate goal is to win a championship. Any moves must facilitate this. 2. In order to win a championship, a superstar player is needed. 3. In order to acquire a superstar player- a) You must draft him b) He must force a trade to you, to play with the other superstar player you already have 3. No superstar player will force a trade to the Rockets, since we just lost the only thing remotely close to another superstar. 4. Our current team is too good to get any picks high enough to draft a superstar. I think those assumptions are pretty fair, and with those givens, it is hard to have any hope as Rocket fans, as it seems our team is hogtied from any maneuvering towards a championship. We seem to be in a loop, the basketball equivalent of Dante's first circle of Hell- Limbo. There is one loop-hole though: we can't trade for a superstar, and we can't draft a superstar, but we can trade up in the draft to get our superstar. This is much different from trading for one outright, since established superstars require a king's ransom, in addition to some consent from his majesty. Trading in the draft is much more of a gamble. In fact we wouldn't actually be trading for a superstar, but rather a chance that our pick can turn into one. This is how the Lakers acquired Kobe, how Dallas got Dirk, and countless more examples. This is also the only chance we have. What does this have to do with our topic at hand: win 50 games? The only way to trade up in the draft is if you have something of value to trade in the first place. And the only way to build value is to win. Think about it. Kevin Martin scoring 20+ points with some of the highest efficiency in the league on a bottom 5 team gets you Carl Landry, a backup PF. Kevin Martin scoring 20+ points with some of the highest efficiency in the league on a 50 win team gets you...? Maybe a top 5 pick like what OKC got for Ray Allen? Same logic applies to Scola, Brooks, Battier, Lowry etc etc. We know this mentality exists in the league, as Morey has repeatedly tried to exploit this inefficiency already. Lowry, Lee and now Williams were all acquired from bottom teams with deflated value because of that. Now we must do the opposite, to win and inflate the value of our current players. Only then can we trade up in the draft, and have any chance of getting that superstar player that has any chance of making us a contender again. I know on a day like today it is hard for fans to see any light at the end of the tunnel. Not only are we a 10-15 team, but we just lost our only hope for going deep in the playoffs, even if we make it there. It is easy to say let's dump everyone and tank. But that gets you nowhere and this is the argument against it. By tanking you get one improved pick, while devaluing all other assets, handicapping yourself from any other transactions. More importantly, you get an improved pick, but NO guarantee of a superstar, while wasting an entire year in the process. What if your improved pick gives you a choice between Corey Brewer and Brandon Wright, then what? Tank another year? By winning, you ensure that you maintain all your assets, and when it is time to trade, it will be on your terms. On draft night, you can target your players and trade up. If no players with superstar potential is out there, you can simply stand pat, as opposed to wasting your pick if you tanked. Our play has improved of late. And with Brooks back soon I think we have a shot at a mid-40s win total. Our biggest hole now is rebounding and shotblocking. I believe we passed on a few chances to improve this area because we were still counting on Yao to plug that hole. Now that that ship has sailed, we can go after a Gortat or Thabeet. If we can get that done, I think we have an outside shot at 50 wins, this year. Keep that pace up the next few years and we will have our ammo on draft day. For us fans it is hardest when our team's direction is lost. When it is difficult to see a future and keep hope alive. Thankfully for us, I believe one of Morey's biggest strong suits is his ability to plan ahead. Multiple scenarios and multiple contingencies. That is the Wizard's best trick up his sleeve, not the numbers crunching and $ball. I highly doubt that given Yao's injury history, our currently predicament isn't one of Morey's scenarios. From everything that I've heard from him, I believe our only course of action, our only hope now, is to win.
Tanking should almost never be an option. With that being said, of course the only course of action is to win. Winning increases confidence, increases the prospects of good players (superstars, stars, etc.) to come to Houston, and increases revenue of the team, because more people buy stuff. Classic example is the Knicks team, currently. With Stoudemire doing so well on the Knicks, this increase confidence in his fellow teammates, increases the chances of Carmelo (and maybe Chris Paul) coming to play for them, and makes that one person on the fence of buying a Stoudemire jersey, buy it.
honestly, there's no one I'd be willing to tank for entering the draft this year... there is no Durant, no Kobe, heck there isn't even a Chris Paul
I hope Morey is smart enough to realize this, we could have possibly gotten cousins or wall had this team not been chasing the 8th spot last year, were wasting time
Daryl Morey: [Daryl stands up] Well then I guess there's only one thing left to do. Rick Adelman: What's that? Daryl Morey: Win the whole ****ing thing. never liked tanking and its never a guarantee I would rather trade for a high pick then tank to get one
And where exactly has that gotten them? On a sorry team like the Kings, even if they did get lucky and drafted a Cousins, and drafted a Evans the year before, they are still one of the worst teams in the league. I would rather be one of the better teams, and have the maneuverability to move up on draft day to get that one guy who can put them over the top. It would be hard even for a "superstar" to drag a team who has tanked out of the bottom of the cellar. More likely, in the 3-4 years it takes to build a team back up, the "superstar" ends up leaving to get out of the situation.
No tanking purposely. Tanking is only when we have alot of young players we want to play to raise their value and start to develop their games. Then trade away all of the older players for draft picks and other younger guys. Thats the only sort of tanking I will tolerate. One that is actual losing by doing that from the moves and talent standpoint causing the losses.
Yes never tank if you plan to keep your players around. Don't let millionaires playing a game to think losing is acceptable. They might never get their edge back.
"YESSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111!" -Minnesota Timberwolves, Sacromento Kings, L.A. Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies, Golden State Warriors, New Jersey Nets, Washington Wizards
Cousins and wall have a whole decade to grow, while we'd having guys aging on a team that's nowhere close to contending with a 3-4 year window. The value of those picks can really turn a franchise around we've seen it with the celtics when they traded their lottery pick for an all-star like ray allen and with blazers and thunder teams that built their teams through the draft. Morey has tried every year to trade up yet teams aren't willing to give them up so it's time to get in the lottery ourselves, but we have to move the veterans scola, battier and miller because will end up around 15th in the draft again.
NO, we need to tank.. But tank smart.. We need to trade Scola and Martin for young players to 'develop', and if we lose games no big deal we'd be developing the young guys And Hayesfan I disagree with you, I'd tank for Perry Jones, Kyrie Irving, Enes Kanter and Donatas Montiejunas without hesitating!
I rather get an established star like Iggy then to play our hand in this year's draft. Unless we get Kyrie...
"Even" a Chris Paul??? Chris Paul is pretty damn good, dude... he's fallen off a bit since his injury, but I think part of that probably has to do with his situation in NO. Before he went down, he was the plurality choice for best PG in the NBA, and competing with Kobe and Lebron for MVP.
