That's fine, as I said, I blame both. If Udoka didn't want him, Stone wouldn't have gotten him AND Udoka wouldn't have just given him a starting job guaranteed without competing for it. This embarrassment is on both of them.
The signings are for sure, hand picked by Udoka - and that is my worry some coaches are great at coaching and CRAP at GMing because they tend to over value players who play like they do....they are consistently looking for themselves in players. DD
I’ve been positive regarding Stone’s drafts, but it’s becoming pretty clear that his trading abilities are less than desirable. You’re probably right about the hatred extending beyond basketball, because we have all heard the interviews where he is very smug and acts as though his negotiating abilities shouldn’t even be questioned. Personally, I don’t care about losing the actual players (Tyty, JC, Garuba), but what we got for them looks like poor asset management.
We dumped 4 young players and 5 2nd round picks. we also used all 60 million cap space. But if we still play horrible next season, who would take the blame then?
Thats true. The news about Stone moving all those 2nd rounders yesterday caught me off guard, but upon reflection was that really anything to be concerned about? Will we get people alluding to Jokic somehow in an attempt to further discredit Stone? Is Stone out there just signing guys to meet the salary floor with no input from Udoka??? Nah. I hate he gave away TyTy and Garuba for free and got played by the Lopez situation, but thats his worst offense so far.
He could be like Bill Walton with the Clippers. Do the Rockets home games and then do a national game for NBC on Sundays if they get it back. Cut down on the travel.
For sure it's going to be Stone. I think we will know for sure after this season whether his draft picks (Sengun, Green, and Smith) are actually worth a damn. They are the X factor and how far we go this year really depends on how much they improve upon last year. People can no longer blame coaching with Udoka. It's time to hold the players and therefore Stone accountable. IMO, anything less than 40 wins is a fireable offense. 40 wins is perfectly reasonable considering Stone has had three shots at the draft to find a valuable player with a top 5 pick along with $60M of cap space this offseason.
In all honesty, this is a genius idea and it deserves its own thread. Maybe even stick a petition in the first post.
People keep talking about TyTy and Garuba being lost draft picks. Not every 1st Round picks is going to make it in the NBA. There are many 1st Round picks in the last three years, did not make it in the NBA and sitting at home. TyTy did not get a fair shake but the short time he was here they felt it would not work. Amen is way better prospect than TyTy. Honestly, Garuba is really not good. He does not have a special quality, such as shooting, handles, not big enough to be a Center, I do not see a future in the NBA. KJ? KJ was a 2nd round pick and he was trade for 2 2nds??? Obi Toppin was the 8th pick in the entire 2020 draft and he was traded for 2 2nds! KJ was a nice player, with no special qualities other than a great athlete.....not a elite shooter or elite defender.
Getting rid of draft picks because they are not any good or we do not have time to develop them anymore is one thing....Overpaying all free agent is STUPID!!!! Why pay Jeff Green 8 millions? The only team competing with us for Dillion Brooks was Dallas and they only had a 12.3 MLE? Nobody was paying Landale 8 million dollars!? How long has he been in the league....2 years? We went on a shopping spree....
Stone drafts well, but has a long way to go before he's competent at dealing with other GMs. That said, I'm not going to pine over the young players he gave up recently. I've been a Rockets fan since 1971 and know first-hand how fans get all emotionally wound up over players we draft, then discard, and the vast majority of those players are gone from the league within a few years. Off the top of my head... Armoni Brooks, Chris Chiozza, Nick Johnson, Terrence Jones, Zhou Qi, Gary Clark, Chris Clemons, Scott Machado, D-Mo, Sam Dekker, Kyle Wiltjer, Mason Jones, etc. I'd be shocked if any of those guys played more than 2 years in the NBA after we dumped them. If you listened to people here on ClutchFans at the time, the GM(s) who cut/traded them were making HORRIBLE mistakes. There were guys saying Mason Jones was going to be a HUGE asset for some team, yet he only played 10 games in the NBA after we let him go him. As for the guys we dumped last week, only KJM is likely to still be around in a few years.
People get way too attached to young players. You only get so many roster spots, not everyone will get time. We have way too many prospects as it stands even without Martin, Garuba and TyTy.
Did he draft well? 2021 draft? I have the 2nd pick: either Jalen or Mobley....and Mobley did not even want to come down for a workout? 2022 draft? I have the 3rd pick: pick the remaining of the top 3(Jabari, Chet or Paolo) Jabari? 2023 draft? I have the 4th and 20th pick: Amen was the 4th best player and Cam fell in your lap
I would say getting Sengun and Tari are his success stories especially at the position they were drafted. We specially traded to get Sengun, who was very coveted by many other teams in those 15-20 draft spots.
I'm not sure I follow your logic here. In every one of those examples, Stone picked the best available player (Mobley made it clear he didn't want to play here), so that means he sucks at drafting? Whitmore also fell in the lap of 15 other GMs (5-19), who all passed on him. Stone did not. So that makes him bad at this?? Time will tell, but if Whitmore pans out, that means Stone succeeded where 15 other GMs failed.
