A lot. Tillman is a known quantity with his BS, but I'm still holding out some hope that he can learn from his f**kups. From strictly personnel management there have been some major, major red flags.
My frustration was way higher, when Morey left - and then again when Harden called it quits. Right now we are tanking. I don’t know what the Gordon situation was - but trading him, getting back a real bad contract and a late first rounder is not a deal I would have made either. Wood? Well he is a headcase but his talent is undeniable. With the right coach he might be a very valuable third star. M frustration mostly is with the development of the rookies and the gameplan to involve them. Sengun should get at least 5 post ups and 5 times of him initiating the offense from the high post. Green should get at least 10 pick and rolls and 5 off the ball screens. I don’t know, if that is on Silas or if the rookies aren’t ready. But right now I would be pretty happy with us going another direction at HC.
I keep hearing others pointing out that late 1st round picks don’t matter as much because we have no roster spots to develop additional players. a yes, we are full to the brim with young developmental players. But good GM’s consolidate talent and make decisions on who they are really gonna invest in relative to using or trading draft picks. It’s of course hard to know who will blossom into a stud when guys are so young, but again, that’s the GM’s job. You don’t just turn your nose up at late 1st rounders because the kitchen cabinet is full. Make some room then. KPJ, Green (I guess), Christopher, Sengun, KJ Martin. Those are the players with the highest developmental upside on this team. That’s only 5 spots and they aren’t all untouchable. Everyone else is very tradeable. so I just hope that we can walk and chew gum at the same time. Yes hold onto talented players and develop them, but make tough decisions to move on from guys and consolidate so we can continue to have the flexibility to improve the team. You don’t have to hold onto every young guy with talent. You can package young talent, vets and late picks for better consolidated assets and more space.
For me all 4 of Sengun, Green, Christopher and KPJ could average 18- 20 ppg or more. But I doubt you can let them all score without plugging in some glue guys. That is not how team building works IMO. You have to surround them with at least 3 defensive bulldogs. Tate is an undersized SF, he shouldn‘t be playing that much. You got to bring some size at SF and PF.
I'm frustrated. Heavily frustrated actually. I'm more so frustrated with the play on the court and coaching though. I know this year we obviously weren't winning the finals but we're also way better than what our record says it is. I tried to give the Silas hiring a chance, but it's become clear that he's way in over his head. This team has no identity. They play zero defense. They showboat after an electric dunk or 3 (even if we're down 25+). All of that starts with coaching. When Harden left I knew we'd be going through the rebuild process. I accepted that. It sucked, still does. However I've grown so exhausted from the nonstop discussion of draft picks, and trade capital. This past week with the Eric Gordon and Christian Wood trade talk was so exhausting. On Twitter Clutch and Bima were going back and forth about potential trades for 2027-2029 draft picks. I finally sat back and realized this is where we are as Rockets fans. I miss the days where we were discussing trades for impact players for the title run. Now we're talking about Eric Gordon and 2027 draft picks. I get that you have to plan for the future, but we're talking about a guy who's still in middle school who could be a draft prospect in 2027. I think in a way the Harden trade in 2013 spoiled us. We were spoiled into thinking that these types of trades are easy and can be done again. The fact is, getting Harden in 2013 took a leap of faith and a lot of things going right. Morey struck gold. The odds of that happening again are very low. But hey let's keep up the talk about future draft picks in 2035. Idk man I'm just frustrated and exhausted. I hate losing probably more than I love winning. And watching these Rockets has been torture. I'm a die hard fan and have probably seen 90% of our games this year. I get that things don't come over night but man the promising future can't come soon enough.
I would love Jabari Smith and Im ok with their direction. I wish Stone would have traded Harden for Simmons, players and picks but I think that was more on Tilman and not Stone. However, I'm good with this past draft too. I think 3 out of four picks is not bad, Green, Sengun and Christopher looks promising, Garuba hasn't shown much. Hopefully, they can move Gordon during the off season and pickup a legit SF.
I 100% wholeheartedly agree, Tate should come off the bench. We definitely need size. However, not just Tate, Sengun needs to also come off the bench. He's not a starter in this league. We have three starters; Wood, Porter and Green. We need two more. A center and a SF
Well, I want them to lose. So, I can’t really be unhappy at this point. We are doing what must be done. We are trying to accumulate young players and draft picks. A little disappointed we couldn’t make a couple more trades at the trade deadline, but it takes two to tango.
I was most frustrated when we were just barely missing the playoffs every year and getting the 14th pick in the draft. Right now I am actually excited about who we draft next and how those players will fit with our current team. I understand the frustration from the fan base that has come from seeing the owner and GM screw up time and time again. However, things could be worse. A lot worse. Could have lost our 2021 draft pick to the Thunder. Could have accepted a worse offer for Harden with mediocre players and barely any draft picks. Could have used our #24 pick on someone other than Josh Christopher who turned out to be a great pickup. Could have not traded for the #16 pick and acquired Sengun.
A lot... I feel like we are willing to sit on our hands and do nothing... waiting for 'the process' to come to fruition... I'll give Murray credit... he was always looking to finagle some little deal and squeeze out an extra 2nd rd pick or something... swinging on high draft pick busts... always trying to turn nothing into something... Stone - not so much... I mean guys like Levert and Allen are the type players we should be experimenting with - not the Oladipos... thats the kind of thing that we should have been juggling alongside 'the process'... Gordon (and prob others) should be gone and another asset in the coffers to be included in a future trade.... and i really dont like how the KPJ and Wood situations were handled... after years of coddling a superstar (cause hey ya gotta do what u gotta do...) we need a 'culture reset'... we are not setting the right precedent...
I liked Simmons for Houston as well. But then the, Rockets would have won some games last season and not been in position to draft Green would have altered things perhaps.
None of the options really match how I feel. With one massive exception I think Stone has done pretty well and when he’s missed I think the logic was pretty defensible. Green over Mobley is the tough pill to swallow. If we’d gone with Mobley our rebuild would look great right now and ahead of schedule. Stone will get another shot this draft to make a high pick. If he ends up making a Green over Mobley level miss with that one then I’ll start getting worried.
I'm still in the "things are headed in the right direction" crowd for the time being. Why you ask?? That's simple - While they did nothing at the deadline they still have the exact same options on the table today, with the assets they wanted instead of what they would have settled for otherwise - And they have the option to orchestrate a S&T with the contracts of both players that they wouldn't have had they taken back expiring / filler contracts - See Enis Freedom Simply put, in the case of both Wood & EG it was better to do nothing than to take back something they didn't want and that would have almost certainly been diminished as a result of consolidation in the offseason. They drafted 4 rookies last year, they can't draft 3 more this year and combining multiple picks to move up a few spaces is not a good use of "currency" when those picks are more valuable in a trade as unknown picks in a future draft. The powder is still dry. Now my position is subject to change should they not make use of EG and or Wood either this off season or sometime before the next trade deadline. That's when we start screaming about the failings of Stone & Co. The worst thing that can happen here is EG helps them win a few games - It's my hope that they shut him down for the duration and load manage Wood & KPJ .... would be nice if they cut Schroder as he's pointless here, taking minutes away from Christopher & Nix.
That would be the ideal outcome. But I don't have confidence they will waive Schroder given the comments by Stone, and I don't think they will shut EG down give his comments and clear desire to play. Again, I just find it hard to believe that no one was willing to part with a 2023 first round pick over a 2022 one.
