Rafael Stone Interview after the 2023 NBA Draft (Full Video)

Ferntits cheapness and Stone's unwillingness to overpay in order to trade up really paid off this time...

 

We didn't have the assets to satisfy Charlotte or Portland. Miller wasn't needed here. The Rockets tried to get Scoot Henderson without success. I don't like TF as the owner. Stone is a good drafter. He's not good at trades. Let's hope that we can acquire a couple of valuable vets in free agency. Udoka's hiring is undoubtedly the biggest move that Houston has made since Harden left the team.

 

The man has the charisma and self awareness of a tuna fish sandwich - but I have to hand it to him, he had a really strong draft.

 

Stones interview mantra is to make everybody feel as stupid as possible for asking him whatever they asked

 

He is very bad with the media. He is a lawyer and is constantly afraid of saying something that will get him in trouble. He supposedly isn’t like that when around people he knows. It came out a little bit when he was asked a question and changed his answer and said something like “screw that” and then gave a more honest answer.

 

True to form, our best first round pick is usually our second one. Sengun (2021), Eason (2022), Whitmore (2023).

 

No real good info.

 

We deserve better journalists. These qustions suck

 

Good draft. Please make a consolidation trade. Get over yourself.

 

He mentioned trying to trade up from 20 to snag Cam or others sooner.

We had a surprisingly good draft night from his trade with the clippers so I should just leave it at that.

 

Is he really cheap though, spent on double choppers, his Golden Nuggets.....

 

This was an insanely good draft. Cam Whitmore AND Amen Thompson are probably better than just Scoot Henderson. Yet... members here still find a way to **** on Stone and the ownership. This is why we can't have nice things. Grow up. Have appreciation for things in life.

I swear people would be happier on here if we traded 4 first rounders to move up and grab Cam Whitmore than how things panned out. WTF is wrong with those posters? (Most of y'all are great... just venting about the punchbowl turds in here)

 

Didn't watch but I'm going to guess the Rockets MGMT are extremely satisfied, excited to get in the gym and feel like they got the best players to launch into phase 2 - meanwhile Vegas sets their over/under at 28.

Process Brain

 

I like that our drafts kept getting better and better from year 1.

 

Over a three year period I'd like to see how are draft hauls stack up with the rest of the league based on position.

The work is far from done of course, but Stone is one of the best drafting GMs we've had based on draft potential.

 

I love how Stone treats outsiders like red headed step children! NO ACCESS!

 

I like that he said the draft won't affect our FA plans. Udoka has said clearly we're most likely going to seek players that suit the core.

I don't know why everyone is so worried about having all the young players. There's 15 roster spots. We sign vets and let everyone compete.

Right now we have the following players:

Sengun
Garuba
Jabari
KJ
Tate
Eason
Whitmore
Green
Christopher
KPJ
Amen
Tyty
Nix

That's 13 players. You dump Nix obviously. You make a choice between KJ, Christopher and Garuba on who to deal elsewhere. That leaves you with 11 players.

So we can sign 4 vets. Why consolidate or trade anyone else? Hell we might even just sign 3 vets. There's 0% chance we're signing more than 4 vets. Let everyone compete and see who comes to the top in Udoka's system. No one's starting spot should be guaranteed, let everyone earn every minute. It's rare to have the opportunity to do things right. Starting at mid season onwards, that's when you start thinking about packaging your lowest performers for future picks or throwing them in trades for upgrades. This summer is not the time for that.

I've said it a million times, I'll say it again: you can't name 1 team in the NBA who can afford to be more patient than us. Stop acting like we're running out of time. That's just you panicking internally. (Ok, maybe you can argue the Wizards now can be more patient than us, but that's it)