Taking touches from the young guys is not why our odds got worse, it's because everyone knew we were going to be big players in free agency, and we made underwhelming moves with our cap space. Went from "maybe the Rockets will do a great job in free agency" to "nope they definitely didn't do a great job in free agency".
That was done to sign Brook Lopez. They weren't gonna trade those guys away if Lopez didn't say he was gonna come here.
We nabbed "the best free agent available" IF the young guys on the team are outplaying the free agents then we have a huge problem. We didnt reach the salary floor we broke through it as if we knew what we were doing! LOL Im trying to be cautiously optimistic, but I have to admit I was not expecting the front office to take the wrecking ball to the team the way they did I hope it pays off.
This is one of your poorest posts. Your negativity has completely taken over reasoning. We know what the vets bring and it is foolish to think they will have a negative impact on anything. If the youngsters out play them that is great news. The Rockets signed FVV to a 2 year contract and a backup center to a one year contract. If you think signing a really good defensive player to take over for KJM as blowing it up you are really losing it. 20m a year in the new NBA is the going rate for a good role player and we still don’t know how the contract is constructed.They got the best available coach as well and retained all their high value assets. They can easily maneuver into max cap space next year if the opportunity comes up.
You're still a pure Rocket fan I envy that. Good for you to be able to remain fully optimistic and give the decision makers for this team all the credit in the world to turn this around and give the fans a good product to root for again. Spending 200Ms for the hell of it is not good business, but then again its not my money. These yahoos jettisoned TyTy and Garuba for what? They were played into giving those guys away. God forbid either of them turn into anything significant, but they could have continued to develop under Udoka since everyone has crowned him the savior of this team, but instead we had a handshake deal with no gurantee in place. How awesome was that? Its funny to me to hear guys NOW trying to justify expenses with the new salary cap when just last year when others were doing the same in trying to extend our homegrown guys people felt that KPJs contract was just too much and that X amount for X player in those discussions were "too much" pocket watching for Tilman and NOW its "well the cap is going up these contracts are not bad guys cmon lets go Rockets" the bipolarity of the fanbase never ceases to amaze. edit: I knew I had some positivity spread around somewhere!!! This was me on our WORST signing in years: https://bbs.clutchfans.net/threads/...4-yrs-80-million.320289/page-34#post-14718074
Don’t lump me in with guys b****ing about KPJ’s contract or the guys calling Tillman cheap. What I am is the guy that heard exactly what Stone said was the plan and have seen him implement it exactly. I’m also the guy the could care less about “giving away” a couple of guys that were going to see exactly zero minutes this year and a starting SF that has wanted out for a better SF that they slightly over paid. We all knew this was a sh*tty FA class and Ime said they were going to sign vets that would help the youngsters improve. They also preserved virtually all their valuable assets and signed short term contracts that will allow them to easily manufacture max cap room if they need it. By the way, they spent 10m over the amount they absolutely had to spend. It is an extreme overreaction to think signing a 2nd team all defense player to 20m is the worst contract in years. Just laughably pessimistic on your part. I’m not a blind optimist, but I am excited about our young players and have the patience to see a few years more re-building into a competitor. I put them at somewhere between 33-37 wins this year with the addition of the vets and the improvement of our youngsters. I wouldn’t call that blindly optimistic or just fanhood.
Easy for you when your vision seems to align with the team decision making process! Signing a 20Ms defensive player is not the end of the world no - bidding against yourself is. Pessimist or cautious optimist its all the same (even though it isnt!). So you are excited about our young players just not KJ Martin, TyTy, or Garuba - got it! These guys needed to spend 60Ms and they spent 60Ms. Its an underwhelming offseason if 37 wins is the high water mark. I"ve already said Im expecting .500 this season and why shouldnt I? Best free agent available. Best coach available. Best defender available. Brand new playing totem and minutes allocation. Udoka knows what he's doing right he's a "championship coach" so kicking the can down the road is bullshit.
This offseason has been an A-. Love the Ime hire, came away from the draft with two top 5 prospects, cleared out the logjam of developmental players that weren't developing (besides K.J.) and got two out of the three top players on their fa board. I'm intrigued by Jock Landale but I'd also like to see them bring Alpha Kaba over and see if he's got something, they could still use one more guard and I'm hoping its Terrence Ross but the offseason isn't over yet. People, fans have got to sop worrying about the money these players are paid, its not our money and the contracts given out won't hinder any potential extensions for Green or Bari. I'm completely baffled at how twitter has made people think that Dillon Brooks is a scrub but I'm excited to hear all the pundits calling the rockets the biggest loser of the offseason for signing one of the best wing defenders in the league eat crow in eight months
I think I slipped into a wrinkle of the space-time continuum and emerged into a kindler, gentler dimension this morning. I can dig it.
The fact of the matter is you can’t develop as many young players as we had on the roster. The organization had to decide who were keepers and who were not in order to add vets that would get minutes. The other aspect of letting these guys go is to give them an opportunity to play for another team. Organizations do that from time to time. The mistakes they made were not developing TyTY and Garuba last year and deferring to NIx, Matthews, and Fernando, not getting rid of them this year so that the could develop much higher potential guys like Amen and Cam. You can, but shouldn’t, look at just the upcoming year and say if they don’t go .500 that it was a failure. You have to take into account the crappy FA class, the luck or unluckiness of not getting a top 3 pick into account, and how much other lower teams get better organically or through luck like getting Wemby.
- I wouldnt have paid Brooks 20Ms - I would have kept Garuba and developed him to be a better version of Brooks or at least not looked like a fool giving out that much money to a guy who was persona non grata in the NBA or offer Lopez 30Ms per season to make sure the castoffs to Atlanta would have returned SOMETHING. - I wouldnt have jettisoned TyTy the "pure" PG for a bricklaying floor general at a max level contract - I would have thrown 100Ms for 2 years at Harden and continued on with the youth movement without sacrificing anything moving forward if 37 wins was the expectation! James doesnt care about rings - he was just trying to get paid anyway. The team has been broadcasting that they expect to contend this year so I will hold them to that however unrealistic it may seem to die hard fans. I've been sitting shotgun next to Stone and his moves up to this point, but I have my doubts about this latest batch of moves - they feel more like Udoka moves vs Stone moves so thats why if this team underperforms and there is a better coach available next year I'd fire Udoka after one season. Good level of bias in there for sure, but it is what it is.
Man, what happened to new dimension you entered? I see your point of view, just think it is more emotionally based than an objective viewpoint. It probably all goes back to the much more common need for immediate gratification that exists in today's society, than a more reasoned approach to progress, which I think the Rockets are doing much like the Astros did.
First, no one can say this offseason has been boring or slow! That alone deserves some recognition and an A+ for our entertainment value. I mean what else do we have to do, but cheer and complain about our Rox? I know it's only natural to evaluate and grade everything--hiring, firing, draft, trades, and signings, but none of us has a clue how these will all come together at this point. So I'll take a little different approach. COACH: Silas had to go and Stone didn't waste any time in making that happen. That was needed and smart because we had our choice of top coaching candidates. I may have liked other prospective coaches a little better, but the Ime decision and hire was timely and ensured we got our guy. How he and his staff do developing and growing this team is to be seen, but count me as hopeful and excited to see them work. First glimpse starts with SL tomorrow--can't wait! Solid "A" so far. DRAFT: Once we lost out on the Wemby, Scoot and Miller sweepstakes, Amen seemed to be the consensus choice although a few folks called for Cam Whitmore as well. I'm skeptical of OTE as a developmental league and drafting a guy at #4 that has such a bad shooting form is worrisome, however, Amen has some other elite gifts that have the potential to make him special and he seems to be as groomed/polished of a prospect that I've seen in some time. With FVV signing, Ime's staff has 2-3 years to prepare Amen for running the team, that seems optimal and part of a well orchestrated vision/plan. I love this aspect of the offseason moves the best so far. When we traded EG and received the pick swap, I don't think anyone imagined a talent as bright as Cam Whitmore would be available with that pick. Are there concerns, sure--injuries, playmaking, maturity, etc. Stop! He's 18 years old and is an elite athlete who's a dynamic finisher with a sweet jumper, defensive upside (nice feet btw) and oodles of potential. We got him at Pick 20, unbelievable! Is he a Godsend? Only time will tell, but he's an incredible talent that we're very fortunate to have gotten that late in RD 1. Grading the draft this early on is a complete crapshoot, but I think we swung for the fences at 4/20 and if one or both hit that will blend well with our current young core. With ending up at #4 and the Gordon pick swap, then who we got this seems like another "A" to date. FREE AGENCY/TRADES: Media reported we had 3 targets going into FA--FVV, Brook Lopez and Dillion Brooks. We got 2/3 and apparently came close to getting all three. The Harden vs FVV debate seems to have faded, and with the fact that our new PG's contract only has 2 guaranteed years makes this a palatable decision. Seeing Fred and Jalen working out together, warms my heart and gets me excited to see our new dynamic backcourt duo. Signing Lopez and prying him from MIL was always a longshot. Kudos we tried, but it's the how we orchestrated that attempt that we're all questioning. Paying another team to take 3 former 1st rd picks seems desperate and unwise. Losing JC, Usman and TyTy is not a showstopper by any measure, but not getting any perceived value for their potential is. It's been litigated already on this forum, but needless to say we could have done better. I've said many times, I didn't want Dillon Brooks, but our GM and Coach did. We got him and we paid a premium for him. Adding DB and FVV should change our energy on defense, and hopefully lead to a much better two way game. If Ime can harness Dillon's talents, reshape his passion into a positive force, and structure his shooting into the offense's flow many of us will be eating our sneakers. Ok, I'll shut up and see how he works in our new system with our new staff. He may be a _____, but he's our _____ now, so embrace the suck my friends. Jock Landale, love this signing and glad we didn't get the dude from the Mavs. This Aussie is a scraper and will be a great addition to our 2nd team and will contribute to that defensive energy. He's got some two-way skills and did well in the play-offs. This is his 3rd year in the league and he should take another step up. Bringing Jeff Green back gives us champion with tons of experience and the ability to still contribute. Dude seemed very vocal and positive during Nuggets playoff run, should be another part of building that winning mentality and culture that Ime is looking to create. I like this move as part of the whole vision. I don't know what to say about Patty Mills deal because I haven't seen specifics, but I like Mills, just not sure what we're doing with that move. In totality, I really like the majority of what Stone/Udoka have done this offseason. Was it perfect, no, but tough to truly assess until moves are done and team plays games. I do see the semblance of a vision, which is highly encouraging for guys like me. The tough work will be making this a team, blending the diverse talents and melding them into a group that trust each other and can win games. I'm somewhere between a B+/A- with where we set today and I'm actually really excited to see SL and then get to (Training) Camp-Earn It! Sorry for the really long post, I did this between meetings!
We brought in 4 nba players and shipped out a bunch of young guys. Without getting any value for recent firsts and paying premiums to free agents , I can’t give it better than a C mat least we got some guys . Let’s hope there is actually a fair competition going forward. I don’t know that we actually added any competition for kpj / green….especially if we just play small and take away mins from tari and sengun instead . A skeptical C . didn’t want to be too negative
Nope, Jake Fischer is saying the starting lineup will not include Jabari Smith. PG- FVV SG- GREEN SF-KPJ PF- DILLION BROOKS C- SENGUN Jabari does not deserve starter minutes
