You can't be drafting top 5 year after year and ALSO be a respectable organization. You have to win to get respect. Being a bad team doesn't get you any of that. also it isn't fair to compare any team to the Lakers. The Lakers are the only team that will always have respect from players because of location and history. No matter what people say it means something to players to wear that jersey and to be among the Lakers legends. It just means something to be a Laker for players. The Lakers are the only franchise that can suck for years and just build a championship team with just cap space. Not even Boston can do this despite their history because of location, it isn't exactly a place players want to be.
That is where the respectable ex legend comes in. You just have to read the whole part. You have ex CAA agents turning GMs, they have tons of athletes in their former data base. A whole new world.
If a historically horrible franchise as the Clippers can turn it around to being respectable, I have no worries about the Rockets even with a couple seasons of losing....... The Rockets have to use the charm of their championship legends, get them to reel in players again. The Harden fiasco has probably cost some plus points. The problem is the owner is a cheap shot and they have virtually no guy inside the management that has been a legend, it is either a lawyer or a stats nerd.
Winning through the ole addition through subtraction? So Wood and EG = Sabonis? Wood + EG = Simmons? Barf. And good thing it isn't the only option during a rebuild. Same thing applies to any other means..... doesn't matter if that player isn't there. And we'll have a nice war chest if we don't blow our wad on someone Sabonis or Simmons..... Or sometimes you just do a strategic rebuild. You can be left holding nothing special if you just compete. Nothing is guaranteed. Spurs is the worst case of competing and churning after they traded Kawhi. What if this is the last season we are a bottom 4 team? What if next year we are in the mix for the play-in right of the bat..... We weren't a playoff team when we traded for Harden.... You lack vision and creativity because of your disdain for using the draft as part of a rebuild strategy. No.... I'm talking about the city itself. Minnesota got their guy in KAT..... but botched everything else. It's more complicated than "draft sucks" so we should always "win".
As long as it doesn't involve rebuilding...... This is about asset accumulation, draft picks are just part of the means.
You don't need this to be a GM though, it could be the coach, it could be the players... But I know one thing for certain...if you're losing games year in and year out, players won't want to play for you and the good players you do have will want to leave. This is worse than the cycle of mediocrity, this is the cycle of just being bad. It's very difficult to pull yourself out of the mud. You need good people in your organization period. I'm just saying, the Lakers are their own thing, it's not fair to bring them into this disucssion because they were terribly run and Lebron still wanted to play for them because "Movies" and "Purple & Gold" this just doesn't happen for other teams. Not even the Knicks or Clippers. Durant said he liked Brooklyn because he saw how competitive they were and that if they just added him and Kyrie...well, rest is history. Clippers are getting better at attracting FAs...but we'll see. The biggest get they have is Kawhi, a lifelong Laker fan that's playing for the Clippers because Lebron already chose the Lakers and Kawhi rather compete then join Lebron. That's why I'm saying you can't argue for tanking and then also argue for attracting star players. If Tatum said tomorrow he wants out of Boston (Extreme case...there is some tension there but I'm sure it's not that bad) do you think Houston would be on his list? Right now. No way in hell... But if Houston had a decent run, a playoff appearance, my guess is we'll be closer to being a team he'd like to play for and all we have to do is make their list. The teams they really want to play for...Miami, Lakers, true contenders, won't have the ability to make a trade for a player like that. We do. The point is, there are other ways to get stars. It just doesn't have to be the draft only.
They come to play for guys like Jalen Green if he is becoming a star. I doubt that stars would align to play with Tate or Armoni Brooks yet. There are also tons of ways to get stars, thru playing with Team US........recruiting them. I also doubt that the real stars care about a lowly Playoff seed as much as us fans do. I think they want the real deal. They want at least a Conference Final. I think you are purposely overblowing the importance of lowly Playoff seeds, but that is just my 2 cents.
Spurs traded Kawhi in 2018.... how's that turning out for this respectable organization? What do they have to look forward to? Hopefully their own Harden trade? Time will tell, but I like our situation much better after one full season removed from Harden.
You're vastly underrating both Sabonis and Simmons. You'll be LUCKY if any of those guys you want to tank for are even as good as Sabonis or Simmons. It isn't the same because you can control who you want to go after and how you want to go after them. Tanking completely relies on a random lottery...they are not the same. I trust the Spurs being a contender before I trust OKC or Detroit or Minny...I know that much. The Spurs have done nothing wrong, they've played their cards the best they can... Umm...yes we were? We made the playoffs his very first year here and that attracted Dwight Howard...now if only we were getting prime Dwight and not back issues and less explosive Dwight...but we didn't know that at the time. Dwight wanted to play with another young exciting player, not those old ass Laker teams. I mean you can continue to try and strawman but it work. I've said multiple times using the draft is fine, more than fine...there is no disdain on using the draft, only disdain on wanting the team to lose on purpose. City matters but only so much. Knicks couldn't get star players despite being the New York Knicks...Heat were only a destination in the Riley era, before that the Heat were an irrelevant franchise, despite being in Miami.
As mentioned, Dwight joined the Rockets after just one year of seeing Harden and his 8th seeded Rockets. Durant specifically said he chose Brooklyn because they were a competitive franchise, they had made the playoffs a year before, that impressed him. Durant thought that them adding himself and Kyrie would make them a contending team and he was right on that, now if only he can get Kyrie to actually play. I mean if you look at star players and their list of teams it usually (9 out of 10) includes good teams. Not bottom feeders. Simmons is the only one that wants to go to bottom feeders because he's in that same mindset that Kobe was in where he just wants out of that franchise period.
Or you're vastly overestimating them. No you can't, you can ask for a meeting or you can ask for a trade but that's doesn't mean you will acquire the player. The Spurs getting Kawhi was luck and preparation..... not "completely" relying on chance. I don't anymore. Spurs choose "winning" and these are the results. OKC/Detriot/Minny have better assets currently. We weren't a playoff team when we traded for Harden, but afterwards. We were the perennial 14th pick. Dwight didn't want to play with the Lakers because how they were using him..... the same occurred as a Rocket. Right back at you...... Calling it tanking instead of rebuilding..... Sigh..... there is no magic bullet. We aren't LA or Miami..... but we aren't OKC or Sacramento. I'm not choosing to rebuild for zero reason...... the context around the rebuild is built around the WB trade while you seem to want to apply this "one size fits all" of "compete now and compete forever. " I think there's a time to throw a punch and a time put up your guard.
Lol, we do not need to be insiders to know that Durant was choosing Brooklyn because of NY area and because he spoke to DeAndre and Kyrie during the Rio Olympics. Widely known. And because Draymond and him had some mini falling out and didn't clear the air enough. Brooklyn being competitive added to it but it was miniscule, that was just propaganda for Joseph Tsai. Stars have that certain thing about them that they have to embellish saying nice things to their new bosses. Dwight is not important enough to me to talk about him extensively. It was a nice chat, Jay, as always, I think we approach the trade deadline and go from there!
What if we weren't a bottom feeder next season...... Simmons has zero of the same mindset of Kobe. They are both human beings and NBA players but that's where it ends.
None of these dudes are even close to the prospect Simmons is...nor talent-wise. You're downplaying his talent by...a lot. Spurs also didn't tank for Kawhi so not sure why he'd be used as an example for that strat? You also can control who you go after, it's not luck if you're making your team attractive to FAs??? I mean sure but the Spurs FO have rings to show for it and those guys don't soo.... Oh so before? How does this help your point? We were just missing the playoffs by a few games (and right now would have been a play-in team) and still reaped the benefits? This seems to help my argument that winning also increases the trade value of players, does it not? They aren't the same thing. Either your for losing on purpose (tanking) or not. Tanking has ALWAYS been losing on purpose. Some people try to clean up the word for some reason, but it's always been losing on purpose for draft picks. That's how it's always been and that's what it means. When NOP was sitting AD to try to lose more games, it was tanking, the league called it such. Adam Silver treats it as such, in fact most of these things surrounding the play-in and the lottery flattening were all because Silver despises tanking and wants to discourage it. He even differentiates it from rebuilding... https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...ays-tanking-incredibly-difficult-issue-combat I want to get this straight because some people have confused what the term means. Tanking is and has always been losing on purpose. That's what it is. Rebuilding would be playing the young guys...tanking would be seeing that the young guys are playing well and then finding some way to make sure to sabotage that...and that has been done before. Tanking IS losing on purpose. If you're for that, fine, but don't call it rebuilding. It's tanking. Am I? I mean my 2nd post in here I said we can trade Wood and Ego for assets...
Well, I'm just going by what the players themselves have said. Kyrie+Durant were a package deal, few teams had the space for both, but Durant did literally say that the players on the team and organization played a big role in doing it. You can say it's just them being nice but I'll say it again...when do star players willingly go to bad teams? How often does that happen? I think the actions speak louder than words and there are reasons why when disgruntled stars make their list it includes teams that have at least made the playoffs. With that said, know its all love, I wasn't agitated or frustrated or angry in my replies or anything. I feel like we mostly agree. All I'm saying is the team should try to win games. The coach and players should try to win games. The GM and FO will have to deal with that and make their plans accordingly.
For sure you fought hard for your Play In comments. I doubt we can call them a bad team. The Rockets will be around 10-13th seed before a potential trade, not good enough but still not a bad team. Take that for what is worth.
Or you are overplaying his talent and his mentality a lot. Because the same logic applies to the Kawhi choice as the draft in general. You keep saying "completely luck" when it's not true. Sooooooo the Spurs are currently on the mediocrity train. The Spurs strategically tanked for Tim Duncan the year Robinson went down and that's how they built their dynasty. That's not completely luck...... that was a strategy. That's right, the year before Harden we weren't some respectable team but in the mediocrity churn. We weren't some young and upcoming team either. We were being spurned during FA meetings....... since it seems you have forgotten the ipad. How does this help your point? Harden came here because we offered him a team to lead, not because we were brimming with talent and were having such much success..... Plus the money..... So is trading Wood and EG for picks and young players rebuilding or tanking? Because you keep saying tanking and I'm not suggesting (nor have I seen people suggesting) that we sabotage the team, unless if trading Wood and EG for picks is considering tanking. Edit: I don't think trading EG and Wood is tanking per your ESPN article: "Silver said that tanking -- or the practice of teams intentionally losing games in an effort to improve their chances of landing a top draft pick -- is an "incredibly difficult issue" that the league continues to analyze." We aren't trading them for top draft picks. Which fits into "compete now and compete forever" one size approach you keep pushing.
We aren't even winning by playing our rookies. Forcing Wins with Eric Gordon as our main player is just gonna have the result of us getting ass blasted by the suns/gsw. Folks want to win at all cost but isn't even looking at our current situation or how we do it. We have no legit pg and we have two players folks do not like (wall and theis). If u want the best chance for a ring, u wait in the lottery at least until u get rid of walls fat contact and actually have a winning formula with a rookie as someone we use to win. U win at all cost folks is gonna curse Eric Gordon name when he gets overwhelmed in the play off trying his best to carry our a$$ vs the likes of the suns/warriors Ps. We have folks btching about weakass wood and Silas being a bad coach. And yet want to go into playoffs still regardless.
