Are we tanking or not?

It should be very very clear that we are tanking.

 

the truth is that Kings and Magic are much better teams than our team now. It doesn’t matter if you accept it or not. Everyone knows that.

 

same old

 

since rebuilding I meant…

 

Is that being successful? 2 conference finals in 19 years. Such an incredible achievement.

 

To be fair the Rockets had a long streak of being in the Playoffs and being 1st round fodder.

 

Yes .

we’ve been holding our best player , Tate , out the entire season so far .

if we wanted to win , the decision to play him would’ve been made by now .

Tate is a dog , I doubt a “sore ankle” has caused him to miss this many games.

 

Plenty of GM's have exercised control over coaches. They're the first person a coach has to go through to get a job/extension. Does Raf want a high pick? Of course he does. Who doesn't? Is it tanking if your only options are to play young guys or commit salary to find and play mediocre guys? It's not like there were high-caliber free agents available or that we had the salary space to sign such a player.

Keeping Ego alone was an anti-tank move. It was a recognition that we can't get measurably better via free agency (nobody available) and we're better off potentially winning extra games with Ego so that he can influence young guys. If we Raf was only interested in the draft pick, and this was his only way to influence team outcomes, why not trade Ego for picks and expiring? Surely Wemby/Scoot > best offer for Ego, draft pick wise.

 

Why not both?

Front office is trying to tank and the coaches + players are bad too.

Young guys playing for their futures don't underperform on purpose ...

 

If Nix is in the game, we’re definitely tanking.

 

fixed

 

EG hasn't exactly been helping with winning.

What is clear is that the Rockets are rebuilding through the draft at the moment.

 

Starting next year, when we don't control our own draft pick any longer, I expect that to change.

 

I dont disagree.