Who else would you say is better than them? I would add MIA and GSW to my list of good front offices, wasnt able to have my edit go through, but added these. GSW had a lot to do with previous leaders like Jerry West building a foundation, recently they may be on a downturn but overall still a good FO. I gave Toronto credit for pulling off a rental and winning a championship, that seems difficult to pull off, I also gave them credit for drafting a guy 4th overall and him being the ROY. I think that takes some effort in talent evaluation to pull off. I look at opportunities vs. how they handled those opportunities, so a good front office may not necessarily be winning championships. I am more so evaluating how they handle the cards they are dealt. I just dont see what the Spurs could have done really to be considered a "worst run franchise", there are just too many teams that have made massive mistakes that i would not consider SAS or TOR as worst run, not even in the realm of possibilities. When I look at worst run franchises, I look at teams who made a mistake that cost them heavily. For example LAL won a ring, but trading for westbrook set them back and took away a big opportunity while they have Lebron still playing, Blazers have not done anything to make themselves competitive while having Dame, Brooklyn we all know threw away their present and future quickly, Mavs made mistakes and seem to be moving backwards, Atlanta seems to be moving backwards as well with deals they have made. I just cant imagine someone thinking Hornets, Knicks, Pacers, Pistons, Rockets, TWolves (gobert, ouch), Magic, Bulls, Hawks, Wizards (lol), Pelicans (they are about to blow this team up) , Utah (what have they done besides collect assets for blowing up their team after decades of failure), are better run than SAS or TOR. If you were to really try to order the worst franchises and actually had SAS and TOR at the bottom, I would not be able to take the list seriously.
I view doing what the spurs have done the last 4 years (prior to last season) as the worst thing you can do in the nba, and that’s trying to win 30-35 games. I don’t view what the spurs did as better then the wizards, they have been run with identical philosophies except the spurs finally tanked, where as the wiz waited an extra year, so i’d rank the wiz below SA. Raps won the title because of the spurs idiocy and the warriors injuries, but that’s not relevant for what they are today. To me, them not trading fvv and all those guys and rebuilding is completely idiotic and indefensible. I would consider the rockets to have been much better run then the spurs from the moment of the harden trade
I would like to think this is true, but the consensus in league circles seem to put the Rockets well well below the Spurs. There was a reason Wemby got excited he was going anywhere but Houston and could not physically restrain himself from a childish reaction to not going to Houston (I have never seen a kid on lotto day be this excited about draft positioning ever, especially since it wasnt excitement about where he was going, it was excitement about where he was NOT going since 3 teams remained), he was told Houston is not a good place, KJ Martins father felt the same, and so did Evan Mobley's father. I think paying what we did for FVV and Brooks also is telling of what people in inner circles think of the Rockets as an org. Carmelo Anthony has been talking non stop to other NBA players who respect his opinion of how bad our front office and org is, John Wall has been doing the same, although people respect his opinion a bit less than Melo. Melo is a legend to these kids, and what he is saying about the Rockets has taken a toll on their reputation as a front office. I do not think players and league professionals think the Rockets are a better franchise than Spurs based on this. The fact is that everyone here is hoping that a simple deciple of Pop is going to turn our franchise around, should be telling of how important having Pop in an org is as a decision maker.
The issue here is you taking so many things out of context and making g assumptions. John Wall? The dude who is a 12 man b****ing about not playing? Carnelo Anthony b****ed during a time when this team was competing for rings. He simply wasn't good enough to be on the court and b****ed. It's just a story of a over the hill player lacking self awareness who was a number one option his whole life not getting he is no where close to that anymore. Mobley said nothing about the culture of the Rockets lol. He probably just thought the Rockets were dead set on Green. KJ Martin'd father asking for more playing time for his son is evidence that the front office is bad? To me that's evidence of a hovering dad yelling from the stands that their son deserves more playing time. These are all examples of individual players having self interested motivations. A lot of bad faith loose interpretations for you to formulate a grand narrative off of.
Nothing taken of context, you seem delusional when there were numerous examples given and you are trying your very best to come up with reason, but the reality is that this has been the most unstable organization in the league the past few years and that is blatantly obvious to players and league personnel. Other than the numerous reasons provided, this team has had more headcount turnover than any other org. Entire coaching staff was gone, franchise player gone, team president left, long tenured GM left, and then once AGAIN you fire the head coach and coaching staff, you even fire the commentators. It has been a circus. KJ Martin's dad, Mobley's dad, Wemby being glad he was going anywhere but Houston, John Wall talking bad after getting paid, Melo trashing the team to every young player in the league, Eric Gordon even lost his patience w the franchise and he is one of the most professional people in the league. When you evaluate any organization, head count and retention is a key metric in any business to determine if leadership is stable and competent. The reality is you can not name one single organization that has had this number of players talk trash on an org while simultaneously having unprecedented front office turnover. You can keep grasping at straws, maybe you can find a hot dog vendor that stuck around longer at toyota center than anywhere else.
Yes everything you said previously was taken out of context. And you are doing it again. Eric Gordon in a frustrating loss right after in an interview just said "no improvement". That's it. John Wall b****ed about not getting playing time and just being a mentor while the following season showed what he was, a 11th man on a roster. Evan Mobley saw little interest from the Rockets camp and assumed they were set on Green. KJ Martin's dad has self interest in his son having more playing time. All of that is called context. You throw all of that out the window to create some narrative. Almost all of these examples are of players with self interest motivating them outside of Gordon who was just expressing frustration after a bad bad loss.
Sure and when the GM, President, head coach and staff, commentators, and once again another set of coaches all get fired , replaced or quit for other opportunities in a short period of time that is a narrative too? Lol its just facts dude, face it. It just exudes structure and confidence in an org. Everyone knows we HAD to overpay for FVV and Brooks, you dont do that when your rep is good. When you have high turnover in any business, and leadership is visibly weak or there is a mass exodus of leadership, you end up having to overpay new employees to make up for the lack of stability.
then defend your narrative with better examples than disgruntled former employees believing they deserve more playing time. All I know is that in 3 years I went from a hopeless fan with the WOW era(Wood Olidipo Wall being our franchise core essentially) to a fan of a team people rank consistently in the top 4 as one of the best young cores in the NBA from general NBA media outlets. I don't think. You remember how hopeless fans felt when we were in that state. We were in such a sad state of affairs most Rocket fans were more interested in a 29th pick who threw food at management playing Gleague games than actual Rocket games. That was what we looked forward to most that year. It was such a low point in the organization and to be at this state today where there is genuine hope for a sustained future of success built through the draft says that either we lucked into this or there is some level of competence somewhere in the org and the dysfunction is overblown media narratives.
LMAO I just did by mentioning that the GM, President, two sets of coaching staffs, commentators, multiple max players all demanded out / got fired in the past few years. Name one single org in pro sports that has had that level of visible turnover and instability. We all see it, the players see it, their parents see it, you may be the only one who doesnt.
A lot. It just wasn't your organization you are a number one fan of therefore you weren't closely following every negative news of that org. And you are ignoring my main point. We as fans, at least most of us went from a state of cynical hopelessness with a franchise core of geriatric over the hill guards and Christian Wood to today where national media outlets consistently rank us as having one of the best young cores in the NBA. Any dysfunction was because of an introverted coach and essentially no veteran precense. This should be resolved with not only a genuine extravert hard ass coach but also vets who played high level minutes on winning teams.
i don't care what some random out of the league scrubs think, i'm only talking about it from a fans perspective. To me, what the spurs did from the moment when Kawhi demanded a trade to the moment where they decided during last season to tank was as badly run of a franchise as can possibly exist in sports. This was as incompetent as you can possibly be in sports. Trading a top 5 player in the league for nothing, just to try to win 30 games a year is the epitome of incompetence and stupidity. Of course, the cp3 for russ trade was just as incompetent, but the rockets tanked soon after so their incompetence was shorter.
not disagreeing entirely but playing devils advocate… having an exciting young core means ….. Nada until they put wins on the floor . how many years did the timberwolves, kings , det , Indiana , orl etc add top picks and ultimately ended up not doing much . we did luck into getting that many consecutive top 4 . the “hopeless” WOW group was brought here on purpose . It’s not like stone was saddled with that . He chose to take that particular harden package and commit to tanking …. Despite a big risk . we haven’t seen if it’s paid off yet . I don’t like some others’ argument that tanking is the only way and mediocrity is r****ded. It’s like they didn’t see Morey literally figure out a way to asset build and get off that treadmill . the last team to win a title by tanking was probably Cleveland. As that’s largely because they got lebron to sign back . GS’s players were drafted 6 and 11 , KD came as a FA LA did trade highly drafted pieces for AD , but signed lebron as FA Gianni’s was drafted 13 tor and SA won rings in the last 10 years our closest title since Olajuwon was with traded players and FA the idea that treading water on your record is dumb is dumb player development is the key . Not necessarily having the highest picks
For some of your examples the tanking and getting a top talent is still within the neighborhood. Lebron is a 1st pick and going to LA Lakers is all within its own thing that the vast majority of teams can not replicate. Durant is a 2nd pick and going to play with another star. Having a 2nd 3rd and 4th pick gives you the chance of having a star and getting another to come. Duncan was the 1st pick for the Spurs. Trading for a player like Harden under those circumstances is always available. You just have to win the actual real lottery and trade for a top 5 player all time at his position. Which he by the way was a 3rd pick in the draft (I think) as well.
Welp… I certainly hope FVV is the leader of the team - if not the franchise player… We’ve needed some vet leadership for some time… Already wasted a couple years with the blind leading the blind…. While we shoulda been building a culture…
