I see no argument for keeping KD if we are not contending. I don’t know how anyone can watch last season and think we are close to contending. So make your best argument for keeping KD instead of trading him for assets that will help the long-term success of this team.
He is good at basketball. Nah I am actually in the trade him camp, getting him in the first place was a terrible idea. Front office wasn't patient enough and made a rush trade.
To act like we are trying to be competitive but feels like the winds been taken out of those sails. I am in the camp of trading him for a 2026 pick if possible but I doubt Stone / Ime ego can trade him after a year
The biggest reason, what are we offered in return? And I disagree on opportunity to contend. A point guard and an offensive scheme would certainly have gotten us to the second round.
let’s say KD’s trade value is the 10th pick in the 2026 draft. It may be more, but let’s just use that as a proxy. How realistic is it for Fred to look great coming off ACL surgery and Ime to magically becoming a good offensive coach? And even if both things happen I think it’s still a steep hill to climb. But fair argument.
I honestly think the long term future path of trading Jabari Smith Jr and Reed Sheppard for assets (competent guard play) that will help with short term success and make us look like punchers chance contenders is better. Belief in the long term championship success of a team being built around those 2 as key starters dictating our play style and who we draft in the future is delusional. If our future draft picks don’t have the runway to pass them and relegate them to over invested bench players, that too would be a failure anyway. They simply don’t have physical make up to be more than non champion fringe starters and age isn’t going to fix it. Early acknowledgment, playoff series wins for our top young talent, training winning basketball, and open runway without play style limits for the future fast coordinated athletes we will draft is better in the long run.
I'm for trading him. He's still got game and some team closer to contending could use him to push them over the edge. We just need a worthy return for such a great player. Something's gotta change drastically on the offensive end with or without Durant. The whole league knows how to defend this team as it is constructed and with its schemes. VanVleet will not help there.
The argument for keeping him is fairly simple (and still wrong): He's still a great player who brings a lot of things the Rockets need--shooting, spacing, a go-to scorer late in the shot clock. If you think we can contend with this roster next season and you think KD can be healthy come playoff time and give us about the same level of production, then it makes sense to take a shot at it. The problem is that argument is based on two faulty assumptions: One, that this roster when fully healthy is close to being a real championship contender (say, in the top 3 or 4 teams in the west) rather than being outside the top 5 teams and a near-guaranteed first or second round exit, which I think is the actual reality. The second faulty assumption is that this team team's expected outcome is "fully healthy". We have too many injury-prone 30-something players to think that the odds of that are good, or even 50/50. And possibly the biggest contributor to that second problem is KD himself, who will be age 38, who played the 2nd-most minutes in the NBA this season, and whose injury history lately has been very spotty.
Well... First of all, I dont think we suck as much as many posters here evidently do... I think having Adams as a rim protector and FVV to distribute will help immensely... (this is where people get snotty and say "so u think these old guys are going to save us?" No... but they help with a couple of our worst problems...) All of the kids having another year under their belts will help... If we can turn DFS and Tari slots into at least consistently decent players - that would be great... Let Amen be a sf and thrive from the dunker spot... Make Alpi work on his shot so he can run next to Adams for stretches... (yeh i know yall hate the double big but i dont - lol) Let FVV work with Reed... Those few things make us contenders... not favorites - but contenders... from there... Wemby breaks a leg and Shai blows out a knee - and its anyone's ballgame... I know that we're all bummed that we didnt get a superstar for our years of tanking... but we got KD and that aint nothing... even at his present age, KD is still a perennial all-star who's having some of the most efficient games of his career - just dont ask him to be yer fkn pg... lol! Everybody says we gotta give guys time to develop... well lets hope they do... and not just say "oh well, they all suck, let's start tearing it down... Oh, and feel free to retort how we may as well give up since Ime and Stone suck... lol
There isnt one unless youre a KD stan and you think he's still a superstar. However, since Im being told by so many people there's no way we're trading him. I would trade for Kawhi and try to go for a chip because the Rockets are going half assed at this. I mean are we rebuilding or contending? You have to pick one. So eventhough I hated the KD trade and I think it would be stupid to keep him the only reason I can think of is that Kawhi might wanna play with him.
Best players are traded from bad to mid teams all the time. What you dont do is trade for a 37 - 38 year old as your best player in the middle of a rebuild. They need to correct that mistake.
but at 37 he "played the 2nd-most minutes in the NBA this season"... he only missed 4 regular season games... and then gets injured in practice... smh...
I literally never know anything about draft classes as I don’t watch any college basketball. But even with the hype I’m not willing to roll the dice on a number 10 pick when we have a HOF player, as flawed as he is, and a team that was the second best in the conference only a season ago. Ime doesn’t need to become a good offensive coach. You add someone who can dribble and automatically you get more open shots than we were getting this season. But hopefully he adds some offensive focus to his staff. As for FVV, players are coming back from ACL tears a lot faster and stronger than they once did. It’s not the career death sentence it once was. I feel like this team has all the lumber for framing a house, but no nails. The playmaking guard(s) is the missing piece. all that is said under the assumption that KD isn’t absolutely hated by his teammates.
