I can't believe so many people here are even entertaining the idea of tanking. Have any of you guys played competitive sports? I can't condone the creation of a losing culture, regardless of whether it gets us a high draft pick or not. It seems like a lot of people have the "Championship or Nothing" opinion, where if you aren't considered a contender there's no point turning up... If thats the case, lets all pack up our booties and leave the big boys to it.
I don't think that people are advocating the Rockets go out and deliberately lose games, such as miss layups or sit their best players, rather that they trade away the valuable shorter-term pieces and plan for longer term contention, rather than scratch and claw their way to late-lotto/8th seed limibo.
I think sitting our best players was exactly the suggestion. I'd just rather lose playing hard, thats all.
The OP mentions 'intentionally playing less talented players.' I don't really think that's a fair way of describing it. It would probably be better described as 'intentionally playing players that have a future on this team.' For instance, playing Chuck Hayes over Jordan Hill probably nets you a few more wins this year. I'd rather us play Jordan Hill more minutes though, even if it cost the team a few games. Giving Hill more minutes doesn't 'create a losing culture' -- you're not trying to lose games on purpose. But what it does do is allow him to play through his mistakes and develop more on the court. I believe that in the long-term, Jordan Hill being given more minutes and time to develop on the court is more beneficial to this franchise than Chuck Hayes allowing us to win 2-5 more games this year.
Maybe I'm reading too much into it, or taking the OP's post too literally, but I think we dont need to rip apart the whole team to be competitive. Oh and BTW, i totally agree with Hill getting more minutes, if Hayes can toughen him up and help him with his rebounding we've got a real talent.
One factor to keep in mind is that the Rockets believe winning games makes them a more attractive destination for other players and also increases the trade value of their current players. In that sense, winning now could also reap long-term benefits (if you buy into that).
This would arguably be more true if they were a 53+ win team, and not the 36-46 win purgatory outfit that has been around since.
How unlikely do you think it is for us to be in the 53 win range, if not this year then the next few? I think we can get there with a few minor moves without overhauling the roster. The plan would then be to put together a package to move up the draft when we spot a potential star.
