Give Stone his credit

Stone is the Full Faith and Credit Clause in the American constitution....his credit(draft picks) extends and is marveled by all the other aged & young teams in the Union States (NBA association)

Stone gets all the credit and all the debit

Stone is the jack of all trades, master of none

His latest and biggest move was pissing off the anti JG club members by leaking that trade deadline rumor with Nets, only to keep the scrub

 

I think Stone has done a really impressive job thus far. Obviously he made one of the worst moves in basketball history in trading away Josh Christopher, but other than that he's been really solid. He still has quite a bit to prove before he can be considered amongst the top GM's in the game, but I have few complaints right now (except for trading away one of the greatest talents in the history of the NBA in Josh Christopher. sorry. had to be said twice).

 

Stone has done at least a decent to good job, cannot deny that. Stone's vision around the trade deadline was the future and not push for the play-in. Not sure Ime was on board with that and not sure it was the right strategy, but that's what my conclusion given Tate in particular was definitely coveted and we have some glaring weaknesses regarding our bench.

Now here's two sides to the way Stone has handled things around the deadline and how Morey used to do it. The good is that at least you won't see a Tate traded for some nobody and a pick, hoping that pick and the player will turn out good. So always the long term vision in mind while gambling it works out in the short run. At the same time, Morey was always looking and finding a way to be either the 3rd team to facilitate a trade and get at least some fresh blood at the deadline or just sign players to 10-days etc who could be eligible for the play-offs.

Stone is less likely to make a deal and trust that whatever the team is is what they need to work with. I like it for the fact that you are showing trust in the coach and players, something I really did not with Morey with all that wheeling and dealing. It also helps just to keep it all a bit more stable and guys focused on play, not having to hear their names in all these potential deals. That wasn't necessarily Morey's fault, but his reputation didn't help with the perception of our "assets" and kept the media speculating on any player being dealt not named Yao, Harden etc.

There's of course context needed here, which is our owner. We know Leslie gave Morey pretty much any resources he needed to buy picks, players and such to make those deals. At the same time, Morey also needed to cut costs to get under the tax apron so not all of his deals were about the players and didn't even want to trade them, but he was likely instructed to move some things around. Adelman spoke about how he didn't know with Morey - at the end - who was available when, because there was always something happening. And he was relying on certain vets to be there, only to be traded for a pick and a young guy or another vet.

Not sure where our good ol' cowboy knucklehead of an owner stands and if he's getting in the way of Stone doing all he can, but I'm sure it's not easy working with an ego filled family like the Fertittas, especially if you are forced to have a son as part of your staff who doesn't know a lick about basketball. So yes Stone has done a solid enough job, but I am worried about how much power he actually has, who's running the show not that Ime is here and if he can actually hit on his trades, because he's not been far from great on that front. Drafting and signing players has been good enough, even if I never liked the Brooks contract.

 

Frankly he’s been good except 2 situations:

- The handling of Jalen Green, letting him accumulate bad habits, not giving him a good coach for 2 years, letting Porter run the team, forcing Ime to keep starting him. We knew he’s a player who’s behind on fundamentals when we drafted him age 19. We proceeded to give him the worst coach, PG and veterans in the NBA for the two years where he was finally supposed to learn how to win. Frankly if you’re going to tank in such a brutal way, you’re better off picking up older more solid prospects who just need to improve their skills. That makes a lot more sense since learning how to win and playing team defense is impossible for everyone in the roster. If Jalen turns it around, we will be lucky. His career was severely mishandled imo even though there are major chunks that are Jalen’s own responsibility.

- KPJ situation. Then dumping 3 players he had just drafted to make room for a signing when it was obvious KPJ should be dumped now that we know what they knew about his attitude during that final year. He paid to dump 3 recent picks who had also never been developed properly. Rather than get rid of KPJ’s expiring contract. This was a big swing in draft capital AND he did it based on a verbal agreement with an FA. An FA who then walked away from the deal after we paid to dump 3 picks.

These two things in his control imo have had the biggest impact on us. Everything else he’s done has been good. If he offered the Nets all their picks back for Bridges that’s crazy, don’t do that.

 

1. We were tanking and trying to lose as many games as possible. How come Sengun didn't develop bad habits these past 3 yrs? If you are trying to tank you won't get a good coach cuz that coach will find ways to win, simple as that. You can't have your cake and eat it to, I'd rather have a bad coach for 3 yrs and collect top picks than have a good coach and be 0.500 the past 3 yrs. Jalen being bad is all on him, Sengun turned out great in the same situation. KPJ being told to run the team is also part of the tanking strat, his backup is Daishen Nix it's pretty clear what the vision was.

2. The 3 scrubs were dumped because Stone thought he would get Lopez. You can't get more than a verbal agreement with him because to sign him to a contract you need have the capspace. Do you want Stone to lock Lopez in a basement till he can sign the deal?

3. The scrubs all suck ass and haven't played any meaningful mins on the court. Stop calling them picks because they aren't picks anymore they are 3 minimum players who already got cut and signed to two ways by multiple teams. Tyty was a trade down pick and came with 2 srps so he wasn't a bad draft. Garuba and JC were misses, but then again only Herb Jones turned out to be the great pick in the draft class after them so I don't really fault Stone too much for that.

 

He has done his job, but what he does with that war chest is what will really define him.