Jackson Gatlin was 100% correct in asking, Rafael was a douche in the way he answered. Maybe Jax could have said, some splits show the team struggling, do you guys look at that data, when deciding whether to make a change? But it is pretty clear, and the data supports it, Jalen makes the team worse. DD
It's rare for me, but I'm on Jackson's side on that one. The question was fair, despite the dismissal from Stone.
Agreed, but Stone is not going to be able to answer that - and Jackson knows it......I think the phrasing should have been more ambigous......like... "When the data shows a player not making a positive impact, how do you draw conclusions as to whom to possibly trade?, is it based upon data, chemistry, effort, what?" DD
Quick disclaimer, I’m open to leaving the phones open for Jalen offers after this playoff but there is also an argument to see how he responds as well. Not for blowing up the overall team at all right now though. Kyrie famously didn’t work in Boston and it could be said set them back a few years, he wanted to be the #1 option in a leadership role which backfired. KP definitely got them over the hump as part of smaller moves for a third option along with Jrue as a role player, but here is a list of Celtics tenure’s during the championship year, they definitely had a core of role players beyond two players that had tenure for 4-7 years. They even brought Horford back after a short absence because moving him was a mistake. 2024 Boston Celtics Championship Roster – Tenure with Team Long-Term Celtics (Multiple Seasons) Jayson Tatum – Entered his 7th season with the Celtics in 2024. Jaylen Brown – Entered his 7th season with the Celtics in 2024. Al Horford – Entered his 6th season with the Celtics in 2024. Grant Williams – Entered his 5th season with the Celtics in 2024. Payton Pritchard – Entered his 4th season with the Celtics in 2024. Boston definitely has higher end talent, but they never had 8 players from age 19-23 at the same time this talented overall. Presti did choose to pay Ibaka $48-51 million with incentives over Harden, who said four million in negotiations was the difference in their contract dispute. While we can get into semantics, that shows they didn’t believe Harden was worth the investment from what they had seen at age 23. It was impatient and the biggest mistake of Presti’s career. They had recently gone to the finals with a very young and talented core. We haven’t even picked our 2025 draft pick yet. It can be argued the process failed primarily because of injuries and partially that. Instead of building organically with smaller moves to their core they traded for Harden, which didn’t work and now are tied to Paul George who missed the season due to injuries himself. They wanted a big name and Paul George was old and overpaid like some want to trade for Kevin Durant here. I’m for making moves that make sense for sure, but gutting a core of 22 year olds who just made the #2 seed and took a team of three HOFers with multiple years of championship experience to 7 games in their first playoff series is impatient imo.
Mazzulla is way too inexperienced and defensively challenged to make a real dynasty out of it......unfortunately for them. OKC's management is on a hot streak.....let's see what they are up to next. I heard from some Oklahoman journalist that they coveted Cam Whitmore from the Draft.
Giddy had those underage dating rumors back then if I'm not mistaken and likely contributed to fans wanting to move him. I agree, they did get better, but honestly they were 57-25 with him and got to the second round and would have likely improved not matter what, but I agree maybe not historically and it was the right decision. They are also the favorites and we'll see what happens. I'm for making smaller moves that make sense and getting Caruso was a smaller move but still kept their primary group of Shai they had for 7 years now at OKC during thier rebuild in a trade and Dort, Jalen Williams and Chet, all of whom they drafted themselves organically.
Just to clarify, my point wasnt that it worked. My point was that they didnt just sit on their young talent. They did try to add significant pieces and did so until they found the right combo. No one drafts a bunch of young players and wins a ring with them. Theres always a significant trade or FA acquisition.
Feel like every year I see Jackson try to ask that "hard hitting question" that Stone and Ime just give that look of "wtf you trying to do here bro"
But this is a good question! It's not a softball and Stone didn't want to answer it. The question isn't flawed. Stone could pretend the data is flawed but it's not. Stone can't answer the question honestly because he understands the results are damning. The whole "I can make data say anything I want" doesn't apply here at all. This is easily available data that people have been using for 10-20 years. (I just watched all of Gatlin's video and explains what I'm talking about.) Stone is trying to act like the data isn't valid for whatever reason but he knows you can't refute it. Again, the Rockets won't dump on a player and surely won't admit that one has done poorly if they are looking for trade value. Support your player to pump up his value. Gatlin is right, Stone could've dodged the question without being an azz.
Yeah, I think he could have generalized the question like this. OR, he could have mentioned the specific stats and really pinned him down on it. Stone still probably couldn't answer it, but the specificity of the question may have resulted in him providing some specific alternative metrics that they would reference to evaluate players like this. All in all though, I think he's doing a great job representing the fans in the room. If you're reading, Jackson, keep it up man!
That sounds like a strawman argument, as the Rockets themselves added FA Steven Adams last year and FVV and Brooks the year before to their young, organically drafted talent. Not sitting on anything, but also not gutting their core. We also made trades/transactions for the Suns picks we now have which are valuable for future moves or depth. So as far as making smaller moves that make sense and letting our very young core develop over seasons, I agree with you there.
Stone didn’t answer it because he doesn’t like tipping his hand - what are they asking JG to do on the court, is he executing it and just not at a high level but at a level they are willing to accept. Similarly to us continuing to run PnR to get Alpi that shotput/ hook all series vs GS even tho he was shooting it at a awful clip it’s what Ime wanted I 100% hope the Rockets have abandoned the 3 or layup or FT mentality … and I don’t want them to lean too much into the 40-60 3pt attempt mentality either. I watched OKC coach call offensive sets up 20+ to get different players open shots … from all over court and that’s what we need
I think the question was flawed because Gatlin framed it the way he wanted the answer to be. Stone has been married to Felicia for years to fall for that. There was a better way to ask that question.
Stone was like: what are you doing here bro Ime was like: ask this dumbass I'm not answering it. Both of their reactions spoke volumes. From Ime's "not touching it" knowing damn well he's probably asked for an upgrade already if you take into account his earlier statement about "going out and getting the Butlers and the Lukas" to Stone's condescending response that he then proceeded to stammer through like he was explaining to his wife why he had to lock the credit card.
Ime started Jalen the entire season and the playoffs knowing those numbers. There’s no louder answer than that.
