If teams are tanking for Wemby the Rockets should....?

I get that, but there will still be guys in the 6-8 range. The odds at 6th-8th aren't that much worse than 1st-3rd. With Utah and SA already going hard core tank, not playing Green and Smith for most of the season would be the only way to ensure a bottom 3 pick. I think not playing Green and Smith would be detrimental to long term success.

Edit: I think it is going to be very difficult to be a bottom 3 team this year without complete dedication to the craft.

 

I don't like the choices. First, I want to keep this team young and have them grow and win together. No need to take on bad contracts and older(25+) players.
Second, the Rockets should prepare themselves to play against Wemby/Scoot and whatever team they go to for years to come. As I have said before, Silas will not survive another tank season as our head coach. Even though y'all know we are tanking, y'all still wouldn't know how to act. Silas' name would be dragged up and down these mean Clutchfan streets.
Do the best you can with what you got.

 

We are going to bad organically, the question will eventually become do we want to bad intentionally.

 

I think we need to play a few more games before we decide on what we need to do.

If Jabari and Jalen Green look good there's no need to tank. Just draft best player available BUT!... If one of those 2 players or both are not playing well, then I say lets tank hard the rest of the way!

 

dont waste another whole year on the POSSIBILITY of getting one of the top picks... Let the kids play to win - build that culture!

We'll prob STILL end up in lotto - so we'd have a long shot... then use some other draft capital to move up if desired...

Personally, i feel we have enough youngsters - and need to start bringing in the vet leadership to help mold 'em... i dont agree with this whole having everybody on the same developmental schedule - i think you need a mix...

imo... 9 times outta 10 you get more bang for your buck (draft capital etc) with a proven commodity - than you will gambling on the 'potential' of an unproven rookie...

 

Having proven commodities is usually better than having rookies. The Rockets don't have enough of that. Young players with potential will lose mostly to mediocre veteran talent. Having mediocre veteran talent tends to stay mediocre veteran talent without a lot of luck.

That said, the Rockets should do everything in their power to develop Green and Smith. I don't think vets are the answer unless one of them is a star.

 

Rockets already got 3-4 excellent players and good rotation players. There's no need to tank. Just replace the head coach with somebody better and it's all set. Wemby may not be worth it. If it were me, I'd try and sign Kai Sotto. He may not be a star but I can see him as good rotational player eventually. He's a lot cheaper and can fulfill some role in the front court. Just jettison any front court player that won't pan out this year. (Boban, etc...)

 

Winning culture mindset, or generational talent. Easy answer. Get the generational talent, solves the winning culture problem. Time to tank this season and this season only.

 

https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/in...s-ranking-league-best-worst-teams-nets-lakers

 

I am sure the Rockets brass have analyzed their young core versus the rest of the leagues young cores who are rebuilding at the same time. They know whether to tank or not. If they tank it's for a damn good reason. There is a lot of very talented young teams out there right now. Victor and Scoot are going to launch some franchise to the top of the league very quickly.

Do y'all really think Green, Sengun, Eason and Smith could hang with OKC, Orlando, Detroit, etc. next year if they added Webanyama or Scoot to their young core? I think we would behind those teams for the foreseeable future.

 

What is the advantage? Being slightly less bad in wins is the only thing I can see the Rockets could do to take advantage of other teams tanking in normal scenarios. Odds are not good that vets/SRPs that may be acquired from tanking teams will be worth the lost odds at Wemby/Scoot/etc. I expect the Rockets will be focused on developing players, and the other teams tanking will just put Rockets at a disadvantage.

The only scenario (not likely) I see that other teams tanking would help the Rockets is if Silas pulls off a miraculous coaching job and has the Rockets ready to do damage if they can get into the playoffs.

 

My biggest fear is actually Detroit getting somewhere between 5-8th worst record and still landing Wemby.

A core of Ivey/Cade/Wemby is scarier than any other tanking team trio to me. Then you add Duren and their other young pieces? I do think other teams would see Wemby/Smith/Green the same way though.

 

Agreed... Seems like even those wins aren't all that meaningful if the end goal is learning how to win. Cool, you won a game the other team was trying to lose.

I'd imagine there's about 5-10 games like that this year and I'm sure we'll naturally win most of them, as we should.

 

For those that want to tank, what does that involve for this team? What steps do you think they need to take if they are going to tank?

 

Years under Tilman:
2018-2019 - picked up Carmelo, Michael Carter-Williams, Marquese Chriss, Vince Edwards, Kenneth Faried, Brandon Knight, Austin Rivers, Iman Shumpert.
2019-2020 - picked up Ryan Anderson (corpse of), DeMarre Carroll, Tyson Chandler, Michael Frazer, Jeff Green, Luc Mbah a Moute (corpse of), Ben McLemore, Thabo Sefolosho (corpse of). RUSSELL WESTBROOK.
2020-2021 - doubled down on trying to win with Wall, Cousins, Oladipo. Washed veterans, everywhere. Accidentally lost a ton, landed Jalen Green, Alperen Sengun, Usman Garuba and Josh Christopher. Bonus: Kevin Porter Jr.
2021-2022 - intentionally started losing. Landed Jabari Smith, Tari Eason, TyTy Washington.

Which years have been wasted more? In 5 years will we be more happy that we tried to ride Harden and the Fertitta Clearance Rack Allstars to the 2nd round in 2018/19/20? or that we picked up future all-stars in 2021-22-23?

 

You have to look at what happens if these other teams wind up with one or the other. How do the Rockets compete with that level of talent. Right now our rebuild is about on par with several other young teams. It's going to change after this next off-season

imagine OKC rolling out:

P.G. - Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
S.G. - Jalen Williams
S.F. - Josh Giddey
P.F. - Chet Holmgren (if healthy)
...C. - Victor Webanyama

The interior defense would be impossible to penetrate.

 

Oh I agree that whoever gets Wemby or Scoot that propels then pretty far forward. I am just saying the list of projected bottom teams that would be the most dangerous by adding Wemby to them goes Detroit and Rockets then maybe OKC and Orlando.

In fairness I am not a big time believer in Chet but understand if someone views him highly.