Don’t forget, Rafael Stone put this team together.

Totally agree. And there are definitely no guarantees.

But to expect substantial progress at the 2.5 year (post-Harden) stage of a complete tank job is just silly.

 

Interesting that it was used for the Astros.

 

? Do you mean the total tank and rebuild approach?

 

I agree with Bobby, Jalen is too athletic. Lets break his knee caps! That'll teach him skill.

 

I like this team. We just need a better coach and a better PG. Rockets are a yacht without a captain and bosun. I've been watching below deck on bravo so I know what a bosun is.

 

I don't understand why Stone didn't bring in a vet PG in the off-season. Plenty of guys who would have been a big help, if not for on-court impact at least as a mentor and practice companion for our guards.

Waive Boban (sign him to the coaching staff if he'll take it), and sign Rondo, Elfrid Payton, Tim Fraizer, or DJ Augustin, somebody ffs.

 

I think that's the blueprint that Tilman thinks he's going for. The key difference is that Crane is man enough to hire the right people. He's not a whiny man child who wasn't hugged enough as a kid and needs everyone's adoration all the time.

The fact that Tilman took over a team that was a contender and shortly after everyone (including 3 HoF players, 1 HoF coach and 1 HoF GM and Worrell) fled or "quit to be with their families" should give everyone pause. Even Caileigh bounced. She probably got tired of creepy Fertitta Baratheon staring at her with a **** eating grin on his face.

 

Maybe.

I think they need to start finding some vets that fit this team. I let Gordon, Kj Martin, and nix walk. If they have money for D Russel, pj Washington, and or cam Reddish I sign these guys . Yet Russel on max might piss people off around here

 

I could picture it.

 

Bump.

As much as I despise Silas like the rest of the fanbase, I pisses me off how Stone avoids criticism. There should be just as much outrage towards Stone as there is Silas.

Stone is the one who constructed this broken roster to begin with. The man in charge of the whole KPJ experiment. The guy who sat on his hands and had to trade Wood for a late 1st. The one who passed on multiple first round pick offers for Eric Gordon. And hands out extensions like they’re fliers to scrubs like Matthews, Nix, and Bruno. Gave an extension to Tate, rather than prioritizing KJ — who’s younger and has the higher upside. Like, Stone PUBLICLY stated he viewed Nix as a lottery talent. Embarrassing.

So when we’re complaining about KPJ, Matthews, Nix, Bruno, Gordon, etc., and advocating that our team sucks, don’t forget Stone put this team together.

 

Well he also drafted garuba, sengun, eason and green.

Man isn't entirely free from blame but he's not exactly handing silas players w/o any talent to work with. Silas really is doing a poor job at coaching.

Stone gets flack if he whiffs on his draft picks but day to day results, that's all Silas

 

Go up higher. 'CP3 has the worst contract in sports'. Downhill ever since.

 

Stone drafted Jabari, which will ultimately get him fired.

 

I don't really agree with any of your takes here but I understand most of them and think they are somewhat reasonable stances (though I'm surprised you have a problem with all of the non-guaranteed contract extensions), except this one. This one is weird to me because Stone is the guy who convinced Fertitta to spend millions of dollars buying a second round pick so he could draft KJ in the first place. If you love KJ, you have Stone to thank for that. And I suspect Stone, like most people, enjoys when his gambles pay off and so would naturally like to work out the extension with KJ if it makes sense.

KJ has played really well thus far into the season - but at the time of that extension Tate was definitely the better trade asset.

p.s. I remember at the time of the Garrison Matthews extension there were people around here throwing around numbers like 8-10 million per year. We got him for a small fraction of that and, if I recall correctly, there is a team option on each year. So Stone sure did a whole lot better on that deal than many of us here would have. For the record, I always thought those numbers were insane. His current deal seems very reasonable to me though. At worst, you include him as salary filler and he's waived since his contract basically functions as an expiring. The same with Nix and Bruno.

 

Those extensions to the fringe players aren't fully guaranteed and don't hurt that much.

Resigning Tate was dumb.

Hanging on to Gordon past his sell by date was dumb.

KPJ obsession is dumb.

Worst of all, Smith looks like a certified bust at this point due to lack of athletic ability. To blow a top 3 draft pick on that is a franchise killer

 

Too many posters caught feelings….

We had a brutal opening schedule, didn’t do anything with the roster to make us better, introduced another two 19 year old rookies that were going to get significant minutes.

I won’t be surprised if we start looking better as the season goes on as the schedule gets softer and the players get used to the new guys.

BUT… we are still very much using the tanking window provided us via the OKC trade.

The scariest thing is there is a very good chance we don’t have our top 20 franchise player on the team. On the other hand, not really seeing one of those players from the last two drafts except for Paolo. We still have a war chest of picks and a high draft pick this season.

 

Ehh, his only criticism is he didn't get a pg before the season. A point guard is CRUCIAL 2 this team's success including guys like Jabari. Without a fully balanced roster it's hard to put it on Silas

 

This is not a hot take, this is basically a guarantee. It's annoying to watch so I understand the outrage.

 

Green
Jabari
Tari
Sengun
KPJ
….are all exciting young prospects worth patiently developing. Garuba is starting to make his case case as well. And I’m not even saying any of those guys should be untouchable for the right deal. But that’s a good core group of young talent. Add another cornerstone in the draft and surround them with solid veteran players to fill gaps (like PG), the team should get a lot better.

I get we are trying to tank for one last year, but we better be making some major moves this offseason.

 

People give Stone a thumb up because he drafted, Green, Sengun and Jabari.
Positives:

Got a 1st round pick out of Wood and PJ Tucker.
He got a boatload of picks and swaps for Harden instead trading for Ben Simmons.
Drafted Garuba who looks like a keeper on this team and Martin who he got for a 2nd rounder is a starter.

Negatives:

Trying to make Porter out of a point guard, but he is not. Porter has a attitude problem but he is a scorer and can average 20 points
Not having a veteran point guard to train
Hanging onto Gordon too long




He would hurt this team if Gordon stays and not get a veteran point guard. Gordon is in Martin way and we need a point guard on this team. Also I believe Tate will be traded later on in the year, he does not fit anymore