Getting Worried

Exactly this. So many fans drool over the core 6 or the core 7 but I'd rather have 1 young true star than 7 question marks with upside. I think people are fooling themselves if they really think that teams like San Antonio that yes had a worse record but have a legitimate young budding superstar and are at least a step ahead of us just by having Wemby. They also have more assets to trade than we do to add star players in terms of picks so it adds on top of just Wemby. The Thunder aren't going anywhere for the next 5 years minimum and they have one of the best GMs in the sport.

Whether we like it or not, that is the hand you are dealt. Consider all of that when you want to think about whether Jalen is worth keeping around or whether Sengun is good enough to build around. In the small sample size we had, Sengun outplayed Wemby but over the span of their careers I expect that will change. Stone will need to get creative in my opinion or one or 2 of the young guys will have to show something they haven't yet to really put us in a realistic position to just maintain with those teams.

 

Yeah, people are delusional.

I remember when this forum debated whether you'd trade the Green pick for SGA and people ridiculed me for saying SGA was better than you could reasonably expect Green to be.

You can't win in the NBA without a superstar and right now there isn't a single player on this team that is clearly on that trajectory.

 

It might help if we view the issue from 10,000 feet, so to speak. The Rockets, since the championship years, have been obsessed with getting that "superstar/s" to be a championship-caliber team. It is 2024 and there is still all this talk about trading for a superstar. But the stars (no pun intended) have not aligned for this franchise after all these years. We went through the Morey trade machine era without a trophy to show for it, excuses and all. Let us give this new Rockets regime a chance to go a different direction and build from within and give a chance for the rough diamonds some time to get polished. Let's give a chance to our young stallions to show what they have this coming season and see if it works out. If not, there is always next year, and it's not as if we haven't been there before. Let's chill and enjoy the show in this upcoming season.

 

I’m glad they didn’t make moves. Our goal is to compete for a playoff spot, not win a title this year. I hate when they make moves simply to make a move and that comes back to hurt them when it’s time to actually be serious.

 

So Memphis, New Orleans and Minnesota don’t matter? Lol. Minnesota can easily replace Gobert and Conley and still compete 3 years from now… Memphis is just as young as us with a true star and pelicans oldest player is CJ who’s falling to the bench…

 

That is the not worrying part but as impressive as the record was I did not see much consistency other than good Defense being played.

Yep, of course but if you go back and hindsight sets in you would know that in many of those 41 games they took care of business against injured teams or they had 11 win streaks against inferior competition but when they had the chance to make those Play In they rather lost in disappointing fashion.

There should be some context to all of it. FVV contributed more to winning than most young guys not named Sengun, veteran help and not enough development etcetera....

 

and yet look how the finals turned out; luka all by himself vs a whole team dominating: jrue, jaylen, tatum, white, etc

The Spurs are not ahead of us lol; I don't trust their FO going forward although people might disagree

 

I don't trust senile Pop but it is not hard to have Wemby recruit players....it's a piece of cake.

Dude is just a monster about everyone wants to play with.

 

There's absolutely nothing to worry about. It's not like these are the 1996 Rockets who just got swept and have maybe a year or two of contention left.

The core of this team is ridiculously young. Several of them still can't legally drink. And they just nearly doubled their win total, their key guys all showed huge improvement, they added Reed Sheppard, they're adding(or adding back) Adams, Eason, and Griffin, and they've still got several potential lottery picks coming their way through the end of the decade. Add in projected cap space and a ton of tradeable contracts and assets and they've done a miraculous rebuild in only 4 years.

Also, they're highly likely to make the play-in(if not playoffs) next season simply due to the deterioration of teams like the Clippers, Warriors, Lakers, and Suns.

 

Lol Jaylen and Tatum have both made All NBA/All Star teams multiple times, they are absolutely star players. Jrue is an all defensive player 6 times and a 2 time All Star. White is a great role player. Yes, they are a really good team but lets not pretend like they don't have superstar players, they absolutely do.

As for the Spurs, yes I'd take their situation over ours every single time, 100 times out of 100 due to Wemby alone. I don't think that is that controversial of an opinion tbh. We had a better record his rookie year but didnt make the playoffs either and picked one pick higher in one of the weakest drafts of the past 2 decades. Whoopty-doo.

The NBA has been and will continue to be about star power and until you have that, you are just spinning your wheels. The one and only exception to that rule was the 2005 Detroit Pistons team and even they had guys that made All star teams multiple times and multiple DPOY winners and HOFers.

I am not saying it's time to panic at all. What I am saying is that I believe the fanbase needs a reality check sometimes to realize our actual position in the West among young and upcoming teams and there are some serious things that Stone and the Rockets need to figure out to get themselves positioned better to get to where they claim to want to be, which is contender status. I do not believe that the top player and potentially the top 2 players on a contending team are currently on this roster. Sengun is the one player that has an outside shot as of right now to me, possibly Amen or Cam if things bounce a certain way, but that is about it IMO.

If the plan is to go after stars that become available they will also need to compete with other teams that have similar, if not better, assets to deal with in the West, including the Spurs and Thunder who already have star players in place.

 

i still can't figure out how the castle hype is warranted. this is a diva who can't shoot and does not have anything close to elite athleticism. both his offense & defense have largely been bullyball against smaller college players. and then sochan, the entire spurms fanbase want to be rid of that guy lol

 

Did you look at Gobert's contract my guy? They will implode due to luxury tax.

Memphis is Team Glass and Pelicans has Zion who is Mr. Glass.

 

FA just started yes but I think most players know SA is a ways away from being contenders right? Klay joined the mavs after seeing they were 3 wins away; who wants to join the Spurs just based on potential?

 

The tatum and jaylen was for you saying, I rather have one superstar than just 7 guys who really arent and I was just stating I rather have an all around awesome team than just have one guy like the case was for the Mavs vs Celtics.

I can't trust Wemby going forward; not with unfortunate history on his side. Those guys just don't last long and while they may have the pick behind us, you have to understand we almost doubled their win record with multiple injuries to our guys lol.It looks way better morale and process wise to barely miss the play in than it is to know your season is over 3 months in. I also rather get a nice prospect this draft then do what the Spurs did and trade it for some 6th grader down the line. Beisdes Wemby and Vassell and maybe Keldon, that talent is sparse on the Spurs and instead of capitalizing on a guy that could help them now, they helped out a WC rival for picks that will be unprotected while Edwards is 29 and is in his prime lol.

 

Chris Paul did....I know he is washed but he commands a lot of respect as the former boss of the Players association from other players.

The Spurs are 5-6 years away from where the Mavs are and trying to make Play In, like the Rockets yet do not have the veterans and depth of talent of the Rockets.

 

Zion was healthy until the last games of the season. Basically he’s on the trajectory of lasting this entire season coming up… Memphis is solid, could use a replacement for kennard but that’s on them oh well… Gobert’s contract can easily be moved to a tanking team who has cap space if picks are attached… a mentor for their young center as plenty centers are going to be developing in the league years to come. We don’t have an ant Ja or Zion level type of player, just facts

 

I think the majority of us are realistic about this team's opportunities. Otherwise, you would not have endless bickering about Sengun and Green, or any of our "Franchise Players" for that manner. The Rockets have been really unlucky in regards to timing, that's all.

Harden decided he wanted out when there was no real star players (either young or established) available for trade. We got a bunch of picks and so far it's worked out pretty good, but we didn't have any team out there offering a Shai type of player, or hell someone like Brandon Ingram. It's easy for us to criticize management's decision on this, but Harden could not have picked a worse time to want out. It is what it is, but let's give the FO some credit for getting the package they did get. They could of easily gone with the 76ers pupu platter of Ben Simmons and other garbage, but Stone was smart enough to stay away from that.

Same goes for our current stash we have. No star player that is on the right side of 30 has requested out recently. The Rockets have a few potentials, but at this time those are off the table (Booker, Mitchell, Williamson). We can't force teams to deal with us, so at this time we are currently stuck hoping that one of our players works out to be our actual franchise player. We have assets to make a move if it's needed, so we also have to give the front office credit for the accumulation of assets. We have expiring contracts, unprotected picks from teams that will be going downhill soon, and we have young talent that we won't be able to pay all of them once they are up for extensions.

This rebuild has gone much better than expected. I'll admit that I've doubted Stone and I still think he has ****ed up at times when he holds on to players too long or wanting to attempt reclamation projects, but overall he's done a decent job putting us in a positive direction rather than panicking and putting us in a position to thread water (think Kings for those 15 years they were rebuilding or even Magic for the many years they were rebuilding as well).

 

The Wemby sleeping is silly on this site. He is top 5 ever potential and them winning 20 games last year means nothing. People will want to play for him and he'll be a top 5 player soon. I don't think SA is trying to win anytime soon, they're just trying to accumulate players. That's why I want them to win with Chris Paul to avoid getting a great draft pick next year. SA will gather players and in 3 years or so will be a top 4 West team every year.

OKC has a team around our age but miles better than we are now. And they have a ton of draft picks. The concern about them now is real.

I hope Memphis falls off. Ja is just a headcase and if he fails then maybe they do as well.

The Klay signing doesn't make me concerned about the Mavs at all. But they have a finals appearance, a Western conference appearance, and maybe the best player in the game. Hope for Kyrie to go bad and drag them down or Luka to get traded.

Minnesota has real potential as a young team.

The Nuggets remain tough until Jokic declines a lot.

We have an uphill battle. But things may change in 3-4 years when our players are hitting their primes (if we can keep them).