We now have 7 awesome, complementary prospects and substantial draft picks though 2029. Also, an awesome coach. But hey, screw Stone!
This isn't right. You are missing the 27' Suns Pick, arguably the most valuable Sun's pick. Durant's contact would have already expired the season before, so he likely won't be on the team, and even if he was he'll be 37 years old. They are also still stuck with Bradley Beal's last year of his contract, which is 34% of their cap hit, so they are severely hamstrung on their ability to improve. Most importantly, the West will likely remain significantly better than the East, meaning the Suns will lose more games due to conference competition alone. For 29', the Rockets get both Suns or Mavs pick and Suns or Mavs swap. The Rockets gained an additional pick. The end result is the Rockets received 2 swaps and 2 picks for 1 swap and 1 pick. Furthermore, the Rockets guaranteed that the Nets will be really bad in 25', 26', as opposed to being a mediocre 9-11 seed team. Thus, the onus is on the Net's to climb out of bottom seed.
Stone is doing what others were already doing long time ago, collecting assets for a 26 yr old disgruntled star player, the gripe is every other GM is doing the same thing and assembled more assets.
You are unfortunately too dumb to understand nuance. My argument was about Stone's skill as a GM. You are giving Stone credit for tanking and getting very lucky with lottery balls. We could VERY easily have gotten the Detroit picks and you would be singing a different tune right now instead of your Stone glazing. Also, while yes, FVV, Green, and Brooks were solid FA signings, he just overpaid to get them. I'm not going to call him a good GM for paying far more than anyone else. Again, the vast majority of Stones great moves required NO SKILL. Any GM in the league and frankly, almost any fan on this forum could do any one of those moves. As you become a winning team and you dont have cap space and you dont have top draft picks, SKILL is what matters. Extracting more value than you give up is what matters. He SUCKS at this part of the job which will soon become the most important part of the job. What do you think about the Theis signing? Or the Oladipo 2y/$55M extension offer? Or the prioritization of KPJ? or the weak Jarret Allen trade? Or paying to get rid of Garuba and Tyty after barely giving either a chance? The inexplicable Josh Christopher pick. The hiring of Silas was also horrible but now forgivable with Ime. When we are a team that is truly in winning mode and doesnt have top picks and max cap space, we are screwed. It is you who exposes the idiocy of Stone fans who simply look at the shiny objects on the team that we tanked for or the solid players we vastly overpaid for. Such a binary outlook with absolutely no foresight.
Several sources have said that without the Rockets trade first, the Net never entertain the Knicks deal. Which I mean, seems like common sense. in the East with Bridges and the slightest of effort, the Nets are a fringe playoff team. I think the Rockets did the Nets a solid, by getting equitable assets in return for the Nets draft picks back. The Rockets got good assets and were civil in the process. Hence the Nets now have the freedom to commence their rebuilding in full reset mode…
My goodness you're dumb. Most the work as GM requires PATIENCE & discipline. You said most his moves require no skill? But then proceed to criticize the moves he's made? That's how much you idiots despise a GM who's results say he's done phenomenal in just 4 years. Idiot. Just becoming a winning roster in just 3 years after Harden is good GM work. What are you smoking? The Rockets have been improving every year in this rebuild lol
notice how you cant address my actual argument. its pretty telling. but lets try again and see if you can muster up the IQ points to make an attempt. Lottery luck + generating cap space takes no skill. obviously we are in a good place as a franchise. my point is that even someone as dumb as you couldve made all the top draft picks and cap space moves that Stone made. The moves he made that actually require skill (trades, smaller FA signings, late draft picks) have largely been massive flops. We are entering an era where the easy, low hanging fruit moves are over. Creativity and skill will now be paramount. Stone has frequently sucked and infrequently hit in this regard.
Turning 2nd rd picks and trade exceptions into 20 year old lottery talent with 40% from 3 as a rookie. DAMN YOU STONE
That's the point fart face. He PUT US in a position to make those draft picks by fleecing Brooklyn in the Harden trade that idiots like you criticized. Remember? When the narrative was we should've got a star in return. Now your telling me anybody would've made those picks that you at first said should've never been traded for lol. Second, what massive flop is this franchise paying for? Every contract on this current roster has value. Even Dillon Brooks has trade value if needed. All your points become null & void because of how successful we are in under 3-4 years.
Stone had a pretty good last couple of days. Credit where credit is due. I still don't trust him not to go and **** it all up, but for now it could have been much worse!
After letting the details digest and hearing stone's prospective, I see it as less of a gamble and more of a calculated risk. More picks / more ping pong balls means more chances at a top pick, the shift recently of requiring a ton of draft picks for a star I think is based on that idea. Potentially losing out on the top of the 2025 and '26 draft I initially thought sucked because there are quality players there, but my guess is if there is someone that the Rockets really like in next year's draft outside of maybe #1 overall, they have a ton of assets to trade to get the actual player instead of just a pick, this would involve less risk. We also have another year to see what we got with our core, if someone seems like they are not a fit we can move some pieces and still get our guy in 2025. We bet on KD being injured once, I almost feel like we are doing it again. The Suns are one turned KD ankle away from the lotto. I think we have way too many pieces to just sit and watch the 2025 draft from the sidelines if there was someone of real interest.
Bad take. Nets wouldn’t have done bridges the bridges deal w/0 swapping picks so they wouldn’t have tanked. This is a smart move.
what makes you think they'd be getting any healthier in 25'/26'? their core players actually had fairly healthy season in 23-24 (by their own standard): - Mikal Bridges: played in all 82 games - Cam Thomas: 66 games played (9 games more than his previous season, career average 63 games/season) - Cam Johnson: 58 games played (16 games more than his previous season, career average 56 games/season) - D.Finney-Smith: 68 games played (2 games more than his previous season, career average 66 games/season) - Nic Claxton: 71 games played (5 games less than his previous season, career average 48 games/season) - Dennis Schroder: 80 games played (2 teams) (14 games more than his previous season, career average 69 games/season)
