How long are you willing to tank to get a superstar?

If we were in the same situation as Detroit, I would be on board with tanking. But we are a good team. We aren't getting blown out every night, aside from Portland, and it's not like we're looking at our roster with no bright future. We have Lowry Brooks Twill Hill Pat Lee who are all going to become GOOD players. We are missing 1 important piece to be a top 6 team in the west and 2 pieces from being a contender. I am fine with the Rockets right now and like what management has done. We can still win games and we have the pieces to get our star WITHOUT blowing a season. I would hate to be sitting in Detroit right now, looking at my team with nothing positive to look at.

 

I'm not willing to tank.

However, I would like us to do the following:

1) Trade established players for good picks, when available. The problem is that sucky teams who have the good picks often have no desire to trade them.

2) Acquire good picks by eating bad contracts, when available. Not sure how crazy Les is about this but he supposedly gave the green light for 2nd pick + Brand so who knows.

3) Acquire former lottery talent with a discount. The talent is probably still there, now we are in a position to take some more risks with a possible high reward coming down the road. The key here is to get it cheaply. I'm not advocating trading half of the team for Thabeet or Anthony Randolph who are probably going to suck eternally.

4) Make lots of trades. There are situations where there are value to be had by helping other teams facilitate bigger trades. You don't have to always rob the other teams blind, small incremental improvements are important also.

5) Buy lots of picks. Stash some of them overseas and hope they pan out.

6) Don't chase after need. We have no need to get that mediocre defensive 5 with a bad contract, when we probably are more than couple of pieces away from contending anyway.

 

I'm def not comfortable with Aldrich at starting center or Mayo as the backup pg, as a matter of fact.

 

Right! But the thing is.. we dont even NEED a superstar. We're just one or two right players away from being one of the top teams in the west.

We're 4-13 against playoff teams this year. 8 of those 13 losses, we could have won if we had ability to close out the game or make a defensive stop or 2. In those 8 losses, we lost by an avg of 4.75ppg and allowed 111.5ppg.

That's where your PAINT CLOGGING, SHOT BLOCKING center comes in. That's and average of 2 1/2 plays that the defense needed to make to possibly win the game. So hypothetically speaking - if those 8 losses turned into just 4 wins, we're sitting at 8-9 against playoff teams and 12-5 against non playoff teams (which we have now) for a record of 20-14 rather than 16-18 - which would be good for #6 in the playoff race and only 2 1/2 games out of 4th.

What everyone has been crying about in the GARM since Yao went down is for a TRUE, LEGIT, SHOT BLOCKING force who will also change shots in the paint and force misses.

I think this is where Morey should try to go get players like Emeka Okafor, who IS experienced and can probably be had.

 

Tanking is for losers

 

All of the elite teams have players who makes plays at the end. The Lakers have Kobe, the Celtics Pierce and Rondo, the Heat Wade and James, the Spurs Manu and Parker, and the Mavs Kidd. That is something we lack if we want the title.

I think we can be a very good team with an additional player, but all of the top teams in the league have a go-to-guy when it counts the most. I think we still lack that player. Someone who demands attention. Martin is a sneaky scorer, but can't be relied on in the fourth when teams adjust to him. It seems that for the past couple of weeks, kyle lowry has taken on that role and has done a great job, but it's hard to imagine him being that guy consistently in the future.

 

Say no to tanking. Top half of the lottery doesn't make up for the deflated losing mentality you interject into the locker room.

If you're eliminated completely from the postseason in April, go ahead and shut down guys that were going to need surgery/procedures/scopes no matter what. But that's as far as you go.

 

Totally agree!! That's why I didn't vote (the 1st option assumes tanking). Besides the "aforementioned group" has a total of 1 ring & Wade did that with Shaq's help. A star can't win a ring by himself. He has to be surrounded by some very good role players. With the cast we have now, we are a couple of defensive 5s away from a title.

 

In 3 years Blake Griffin is going to win a ring by himself by taking out every player on the other teams by dunking on them so hard.

 

What happens if, lets say, we suck in Jan and early Feb but then once the schedule gets easier we clean up again, it becomes pretty obivous we can't hang with the big boys but stay alive thanks to the garbage of the NBA and we are 9 or 10th in the West for most of the season. Once the season hits April, knowing that the Spurs, Lakers or Mavs will tear us apart in the 1st rd, do we go for it or play the young guys?

 

By taking the Spurs rout, we can end up like the Celtics and instead of Duncan we end with a raw Chancey.

Btw we don't know if is any Duncan like or Griffin like in this upcoming drafts

 

to be honest, as long as it takes provide that we play fast paced basketball.
It is not like we won anything in the last 10 years by being competitive.

 

that's true.. but at the same time, the type of system Adelman has implemented, i think we can get by without one of those "go-to" guys and do it by committee.

I think AB showed last year that he can hit clutch shots. Lowry is stepping up this year. Scola has shown that he can be big down low, but we seem to go away from him down the stretch.

I think once AB's back to 100%, he can be that go-to guy again. He's got the quickness and shooting ability. Just has to work on his passing game and decision making to help the team down the stretch.

 

Oh just to add, i can stand losing if they are playing the T-Wills and not the Battiers.

Besides, we don't have to lose every game, take it to the Spurs and Lakers, just experiment a little against the Grizzles of the league.

 

Wake up. Rockets are a long way from the title, not just one defensive player away.

Rockets are a defensive center away from being just a normal mediocre team.

 

What about Aaron Brooks last season he was the go-to-guy at the 4th quarter and during the playoffs in 09 he was scoring very well in the final minutes. Surely his not a "superstar" or whatever but we can depend on him when it counts. Lately his a little slower than usual but I believe he can get back on that horse and produce the stats his been producing when he received the M.I.P.

 

Remember, Scola has been playing games non-stop for like a year now, right? The guy is probably just tired.

 

Sorry to disappoint you, but it doesn't work that way. You don't automatically get a "superstar" by tanking. You get a pick, and maybe it will amount to a good player, or maybe it will be a mediocre player, or maybe one who's not so good, or maybe a great player. Wouldn't it be nice if all you had to do was post a bad record and you'd get a "superstar" for your trouble? That would definitely be a strategy worth using.

 

Good thread Meh. However you can't choose to stop tanking. Its not like you can trade all your guys, end up sucking horribly and get a top 3 pick and then say, "ok let's stop tanking now". People always point to the Spurs getting TD for a one year tank job, but the truth is they got TD only because the Admiral got injured the whole season, and the Spurs beat the lottery odds (worst team was Boston I believe) and got number 1.

Once you suck enough to get a top 3 pick there's no going back. You're doomed to be a crap team for...how long have the Thunder sucked now? Oh yeah, 4 years at least in the very best scenario, and even with a superstar or 2 in the making you might still not be a contender.