Rafael Stone: "I just think we're not a developmental team any more"

Neither one of them are franchise superstars at this point.

That is why the Rockets went out and got Durant.

Perhaps one of them will emerge in the future, but the Warriors series made it woefully obvious that the Rockets lacked one last year.

 

Was that the journeyman that averaged like 16 ppg in the Finals with some lock down Defense?

See what you did there, Giddey was a lot more developed than Cam at that stage and he was already a stand alone player type that they recognised isn't tough enough to win it all.

So from that angle, they took the necessary time, developed him, got his value up and traded him unlike with Cam whose value never took off.

 

He's gonna be traded

 

We’re not going to waste time develop a head case who’s not coachable. Doesn’t mean we won’t continue to develop the young players that are worth developing (the rest of the young core apparently).

 

I see no evidence to suggest he isn't one of the more likely players to be traded if a deal presents itself.

What we do know is that Stone is going to prioritize the highest lotto picks for playing time or to be included in trades sooner because of the salary implications. We saw this with Jalen where because he was such a high pick, he commanded a higher salary so he needed to play in order to justify his salary, and it was also a priority to include him in deals... again because they needed to alleviate his salary if he wasn't going to be receiving star level usage.

Same will go with Reed as the 3rd pick. This season really he either needs to play, or be traded... or play to be traded if he's not a star level player.

One things for certain at the rookie scale salary at the 3rd pick plus what he's going to need to be paid on his extension a couple seasons, the Rockets CANNOT afford to "only" commit general role player or backup level minutes to him. If Stone gets the sense that Ime does not trust Reed to play 25 minutes a night, or think he'll severely underperform I think we could see Reed traded sooner than later for sure.

 

This is the opposite of what they did with Josh Christopher. We were a developmental team, and Josh Christopher was so hyper developed that we'd have gone undefeated if he played significant minutes.

Bring him back. It's time.

 

Cam was trending that way, he is going to be a primary scorer in the league.

And if the org didn't recognize that, they are in the wrong position....trading for KD at 37 MIGHT work, it might not....but trading the ONLY player on the team that could be a primary scorer is a problem.....

DD

 

There are maybe 10ish "superstars" in the league - and then there are a group of guys a tier below. Durant's one of the first group, still.

Sengun and Amen may get there, but both have significant weaknesses in their game they need to work on. Mostly, shooting. Big difference between All-Star and "franchise player".

 

Any team in the NBA could have had Cam for a 1st round pick... if a single GM thought he was a franchise type player, they 100% would have traded for him and beat the offer of 2 2nds. He's not it. But if he puts his mind to it, he could be a JR Smith / Jamal Crawford type some day.

 

20th pick did 20th pick things. Cam was more Donatas Motejiunas than Alperen Sengun.

Jalen is a better comp for Giddey.

 

Regular people don't know the story that Alex Caruso started his career with OKC's Gleague team Blue and their coach at the time was named Mark Daigneault.

Therefore it was more like a Homecoming, a Thunder player for an Ex Thunder player.

Coming Full Circle. Presti never stopped caring about Caruso who gained chip experience with the Lakers.

That is how deep the anecdote truly went.

 

Maybe in your head....

Essentially you want the org to tell the rest of the team that this special player named Cam Whitmore is going to get special treatment more than the rest and doesn't have to meet the same on court expectations as the rest of the team. You won't say that's the case, but that's where things were.

And again, Jalen earned his time by meeting expectations. Your arbitrary, non team expectations of a certain shooting percentage isn't relevant.

 

This....

The league has the tape on Cam and knows the behind the scenes.... and we got 2 second round picks.

 

If Durant is really the franchise player, why isn't there a thread stating that?

 

Nice Moonwalk

 

I am thinking about his lawyer side, not Rockets GM gig.

Read, Think, Type.

 

CFers are slacking.

 

They literally said they viewed KD as a 2 guard. I can see him playing there in spot minutes as well.

 

Why wouldn't fans have an issue with their favorite franchise's heads stating theyre incapable or unwilling to do what a team like OKC does for example @ play winning ball while also developing younger talent for tomorrow?

Ime is just too stubborn to go deeper into the lineup.