This is pretty good summary but TLDR you have to nail your picks AND they have to be a tippy top AND you have keep your cap open and hit on two YOUNG and HEALTHY stars that see you as a destination. Its a very daunting task. You have to identify the FA targets or trade targets will in advance and plan as best as possible for high to strike with your tanking window. There is a before and after team. Once in you are ALL IN. Tatum and Brown are the key losses here in the draft. Obviously Luka is also key as a shot creator and Harden like impact. You need top level defenders and the ability to build that throughout your team with having players like Tatum, Brown, Kawhi, PG13 that develop offensively. You need several wings. You need a serviceable heavily defensive rim protector that is versatile that you are not going to max out. Your wings have to be your max contracts. You bring in two FAs and you have to resign your own guys using Bird rights to create that dynasty. You are going to get killed in luxury tax with later years but you do that because the ability to build a champion again is just impossible. A perfect example of where the could have worked was Brooklyn but they got disinterested broken down stars. Harden only got to play with that team like 16 or 18 times in two seasons. Any of us would have wanted out. It was fools gold.
We don’t have a 37 year old point guard who has proven not to be clutch KPJ might not be a “point guard” but I think he has a lot more Luka in him in the sense that he seems to come alive in 4th quarters and clutch moments, unlike harden & Cp3. KPJ seems like half the time he just gets bored and lazy
The real drafting error was picking Marvin Bagley III over Luka. But the Kings are the Kings. They were lured in by the one-year Duke pedigree that Bagley had rather than looking at the Luka's tape (which was definitive that he would be a star). The Suns "problem" is that their younger talent Ayton (age 23), Devin Booker (25), Cameron Johnson (26), Cameron Payne (27), Mikal Bridges (25), Dario Saric (injured 28), and Landry Shamet (25) seem to have hit a wall on the offensive end. Chris Paul just can't carry a team for 5 or 6 games in a row. They'll have to decide how to break this group up as they've gone as far as they can go. Defensively, the issue is that none of these guys has the body type to give Doncic any trouble. You need that 6'8 to 6'10 forward (at 230 or better) or they'll get steamrolled. The Celtics, Heat, and Bucks are much more equipped for a fight like this. This is why adding skilled size is crucial for the future of the Rockets. Tatum, Doncic, Giannis, etc. are coming into their own. You have to be able to match up. Not sure you can go small and beat these forwards.
This has been an amazing run for the Suns. If you think this is something the Rockets should avoid, then I have some good news for you: Don't worry, because Tildo will ensure we don't have a similar run.
I think people weren't really catching up on Euro superstars. Not anymore at least. Spurs and Mavs were good with European stars, made sense for them. Other teams just emulated.
I wouldn't say everyone had DA at 1. Luka should have been no1 pick. You can go back and look at the comments on this board. He won a mvp at 19.
CP is one my all time favorite players. The problem isn't that they gave up too much for him or that he didn't improve the team. He did more than most people expected. The problem is, if you want to win a champion, it will be difficult with their roster and all the commitments to #2 type of guys. As the guy who dedicates much of his posts to Harden, you of all people should know the goal isn't just to go deep in the playoffs every year and win some regular season games. You need that guy that can go get a bucket at any time, no excuses. A 37 yr old CP just can't do that anymore and Book/Ayton never could.
Sign me up for best record in the league mistake. Toss me into the finals briar patch Lottery is in 2 days
Luka + Booker would have been ridiculous. Moral of the story for me is dont fall in love with a big over "projections" in todays NBA. Same can be said with Warriors and Wiseman. Mavs and Kristaps. Maybe Sixers and Embiid even. Giannis couldnt get it done with the best version of Bully Ball around. Miami might win it all with Bam - a big who can distribute and play solid defense and not need to shoot a bunch of 3s. He makes great passes and gets after it on the glass. My Banchero Bias would tell me he's the only guy who could fit a role of playmaker among the big guys. LOL has my head loopy thinking we should skip all 3 bigs in the draft and start focusing on Ivey and Sharpe!
I wouldn’t say everyone; Luka was a very accomplished player with a lot of accolades and he got drafted to complement Booker, not take the ball out of his hands
I read your summary and it just proves to me that tanking isn't a guaranteed successful strategy. It could be a piece but the obvious answer to finding real success is drafting well regardless of position.
They had the right idea when they went SF's, Ariza and Kelly Ouber. Only problem is they picked up Ariza as an older vet at $15M (approx) while the team was worst record in the league. Kelly Ouber I'm being told is one of the dumbest players in the league. _______________________ Moral of the story is get all your pawns in place before going all in. But don't wait too long. 1) Window of opportunity is short....Rockets struck gold with 4 picks last season that can contribute and succeed. 2) Add a young Tate/Kenyon with 2 yrs experience. 3) Kevin Porter is relatively young Pawns in Place with pick #1-5 and #17 ----------------------------- Select vets you bring in (relatively young or up to age 28) *Stay away from under 6'3" players and big lug players that hurt PACE and don't pop out to defend the 3 well. The NBA is morphing as we speak. Need to stay one step ahead of the curve.
They certainly had the chance to get an Eric Gordon and they didn't. Trading Ayton is precisely the type of move I'm talking about, and this offseason I suspect they'll move him in a S&T.
It's absurd what the ring or bust mentality does. Yes I would absolutely love it if the Rockets won a ring in the near future but I sure as hell rather go 1st and win 64 games than lose 64 games for 10 years straight. The best thing for me is how OP thinks he's advertising for tanking but in reality the conclusion anyone should come to after reading the suns history is that you have to nail draft picks regardless of position. Not saying tanking this year and last year didn't make sense because it did but if you have the chance to get 64 wins, you take it every time.
I was actually talking about Aaron Gordon. But it doesn't matter, neither Eric or Aaron are better than 3rd or 4th offensive option. And if the Suns were already doubting if they had a Gold Tier superstar, neither would have moved the needle that much. Only guys who may have moved the would have been like Lillard or like Beal, but I doesn't sound like they Suns would have overpaid to make those happen. I'm not so sure about them SnT, because how much the will get for Ayton and how much would he actually make on the open market? Remember there are already rumors about Gobert being on the trade market. Who is better? Would both on the market raise the return for both or decrease it? I still think they both have too many holes in their game to merit the contracts that they want.
