When I signed up to this board, it was to make a topic about tanking the season after steve and others went out for the season. Didn't generate that many positive responses, but we drafted Yao the year after. Not saying we'll be as lucky as we did, but the lotto for a year aint a bad thing. Spurs know it.
i'm not sure about all of that. rebuilding seems to mean taking steps backwards in order to get younger and try a new mix. though you dont care about wins more than cultivating young talent, the goal isn't to lose for a better pick. tanking means trying to lose more games than you normally would've. i think if the rockets tell tmac it's not worth coming back this season it might be tanking. also if they limit minutes of guys like shane and scola in favor of "developing young talent" like taylor and dorsey, it's probably tanking. getting money for yao's injury would be great but only if we could sign a really promising young player like von. otherwise we're cutting into the cap space for next summer for a guy who won't be around when the team develops. pointless. the chances of tmac coming back to his old form is slim to none. i think we can forget about him as a rocket. sad but probable. your last line was a perfect reflection of the rockets front office reasoning this summer. why go after vets to win now when there is no chance of a championship? another first round exit... not thanks. i'd rather get a top 3 pick next summer and start over.
the thing is w/ adelman's coaching, emergence of brooks, and stability/consistency of scola, i dont' think we'll be as bad as we need to be to get a top 3 pick. and the only consensus from what i read is that there is only one real franchise player - in john wall (don't know who else will pop up and prove themselves a year from now). we still have the defense and experience to avoid being so bad. so a high draft pick is unlikely i think.
No, it seems like Adelman is more competitive with REALLY good role players. We do have REALLY good role players.
we have the best. again, the experience those guys got in the playoffs will make them even better players. remember, we played the last 4 games without yao AND artest basically. they'll be competitive. i won't be surprised if they make the playoffs. and the offseason is not over. morey might sign some new players or do somee trades.
but what's the point in another first round exit? the goal should be / is to have max space next summer and a top pick to build around. you're right that we may not be bad enough to earn a top 3 pick, but there's always a chance of jumping up in the lotto. you don't know who will be on the roster come opening day. it won't surprise me if shane and/or scola aren't there... traded in favor of cap space and younger players. the way i see it, there is no point in winning meaningless games and hanging on to mediocrity. if at best we're looking at another first round exit, i'd rather miss the playoffs. if we're probably going to miss the playoffs, i'd rather get a damn good pick out of it. sure they may not all be franchise players but a top 3 or top 5 pick is better than the 14th and it's better than the 18th with a first round exit.
There's no way Adelman is going to TANK. Unless he gets fired, he's still a coach that COACHES to WIN.
i do agree with you of first/2nd round mediocrity. but the thing is, as the roster stands now, we're going to be competitive and not as bad as you would like to earn a top pick. if we want a high pick, we probably have to let scola and battier go and be REALLY young. then the inexperience will get you that high pick.
The Rockets should try their best to play for the first 40 games, if they end up been under 500, then just play all the 2nd round players and young players for the last 40 games. If they are over 500 with a easy schedule remaining, just try add talent before the trade deadline. I mean we pushed the lakers to 7, what if we get into playoff and play like what we did last year, but to play a better game 7?
who said anything about tanking? tanking is when you can win, but choose not to. IMO, the rockets are aiming to get younger and clear cap space. shane has already been offered for a lotto pick, what makes anyone think he's going to make it past the deadline. he and scola may very likely be gone for endings, young players and picks. the rockets may play hard, and adelman may coach to win, but there wont be enough talent to get it done. if they wanted to put out the most talented team they could, in order to win the most games they could for this year, they would've offered ron more than a joke 1 year contract.
ariza was a better signing and morey knew that. he's younger and is much more efficient than artest, and can only improve on D.
i agree. we might be competitive, but i don't think we'll be good enough without yao, tmac, ron, and wafer to compete. as we agreed, who needs another first round loss? this team might be one of the better lotto teams if the season started today, but i don't think morey is done just yet. he offered shane for a lotto pick (rubio), i wouldn't doubt that shane gets moved for an ending to clear some space and a pick. same for scola whos $6M cap hold taking up our cap space until he's signed, and i bet he's going to want more than $6M. better to move him for an ending and a pick now than lose him later. i think we will be really young and will lose a lot of games. this roster is unfinished.
