Stone has a plan and....he is sticking to it.

There is only a 14% chance of getting the top pick, when I ran the simulator it took 10 times to get #1, and most of them were 4th or 5th pick. It doesnt make sense that Stone would sacrifice the development and potentially derail the career of several guys on this team who he already lucked into even being able to draft high. Is this even a particularly deep draft? It would make sense if it were, but it sounds like only the top 2 guys are maybe worth tanking. I don't think Stone of Patrick really have the skill set to draft that well beyond obvious choices.

 

I don't think they will .... the odds are essentially a coin flip even if they have the worst record in the league again. 52% you sneak into the top 4 and 48% you end up 5th.


Those odds just don't make it worth the trouble when you can end up with nothing.

They played with fire that first year and got lucky .... but they didn't have much choice, that team was gonna be bad no matter what and they couldn't throw money at the problem to fix it.

Now they have the option to throw lots of money at the problem. I think they do that ....


I just hope they don't end up at 3-5 and feel pressured into drafting either one of those Thompson kids. They are fundamentally bad at basketball, let someone else take that gamble.

 

The top 9 teams in cap space in 2023-24 are all under .500.

Only 4 teams will have actual cap space -

Houston $34,559,499
Detroit $13,161,262
Indiana $9,213,476
San Antonio $639,560


NBA 2023-2024 Cap Tracker | Spotrac

 

this is certainly comforting to see.

 

Tanking isn't a plan.

Rockets have made a big mistake not instilling culture, accountability, and prioritizing development over a 14% chance at Wemby.

We've tanked the value of players by making them all look soft and bad on D - including Wood, and Gordon. We hold onto guys too long. We're rigid and stuck into an iso-guard philosophy. We've made a guy who no body wants as our centerpiece of the future while marginalizing front court players in a baffling way. Jalen Green is starting to look like a very mediocre player. Guys across the board are not happy. Some guys want out and don't believe in our direction.

It's not my job to have a better plan. But it's obvious to see that the one in front of us looks like ****.

 

I don't think they will be a Play In team right away next season, now I got to have patience till the lottery but good guess is they would be around 12-14th place.

15th is not ruled out due to the horrible state they are in.

The West is pretty balanced these days.

 

Sure it is .... it's just hard on the fans.

I think a lot of this is fans making excuses for how bad these players are. They were drafted on potential and have a million miles to go to reach it.
These coaches have been in the league for 2 decades or more, they can't be that bad .... these players on the other hand, they have been a splash in the pan. Maybe they are this bad.

The franchise had just about every one of these players in the gym working on their games all offseason. That's instilling culture and development.

Wood has been a piss poor defender since day one, and Gordon is still known as a capable defender.

As for holding onto guys too long, the only one you could be referring to is EG .... and let's be honest here, the problem is what you have to take back in salary for him making any deal a potentially toxic one. There was never a day where they had EG going out and nothing but a #1 pick coming back.
Sometimes the best deal is the one you don't make and I think that's highly probable in this case.
Taking back $15m-$20m that eats into your cap space in either this offseason or the next for a pick in the mid to late 20's just isn't worth it. I'd cut him and preserve my cap space rather than make that trade.

In the case of Porter, they were trying to make something out of nothing .... and they have at least created positive value.
No one else on this roster can break down a defense ....

Sengun .... he look ok. He's not being marginalized, the guy is getting minutes and has all year - he has not played fewer than 28:01m in the last 8 games and has 32:29, 35:17, 37:19, 37:06 & 39:14 in that stretch of games.
The SOF's don't help the perception .... but their narrative is BS.

He looked mediocre from the get go .... had a hot streak to end last season and has reverted to form. Maybe they drafted the wrong guy. I'm not ready to give up on him just yet, but he has a lot of improving to do to become even a replacement level player. He was drafted on potential and has been given every opportunity to thrive. He hasn't - Yet.

I've heard none of this, aside from Kenyon Martin Sr complaining.

I have heard the players talk about how losing is hard .... and it driving them to work harder.

I just asked a question .... everyone seems to have nothing but negative things to say and seems to have a better idea on what to do .... then you read some of these trade ideas and SMH.

Yeah, it's been ugly. I think it'll remain so the rest of the year and they'll spend some $$ to right the ship in the offseason and we'll see a large improvement. Once EG is cut, they'll actually have more dead money than money spent on the active roster.
The timeline has been next year from the moment Harden was traded. Let's give them that long to get their act together - If it's still bad next year, then we get our pitchforks out.

 

OKC tanked. Orlando tanked. Detroit tanked. Yet somehow they managed to do it without creating a mess. Anyone can tank. It's not a strategy or plan, it's a tactic that is easy to do. It's not a rebuild. It takes a lot more. This isn't about being hard on fans, it's about the concerns with a real lack of effort and accountability that still exists on other rebuilding teams.

At least Sengun was willing to try to stop Edwards. It's easy to laugh at him being posterized, but I'd prefer that vs Jalen Green just stepping aside "Ole!" to avoid looking bad.

 

But yet tactics are the elements of the said strategy in a nutshell, similar to how Orlando used Smith as a decoy (tactic) when they won the 1st selection knowing they probably wanted Banchero off top...... just as whoever get this upcoming 1st pick will use a bush league tactic to see if any team will mortgage their present and future for Wemby while knowing they are going to keep the pick

Thing is those other teams didn't get blind sided by their franchise player wanting out after hiring Silas so they had to make tough decisions on the fly plus deal with the bogus deal they gave up to get Westbrook

All else what you mention is pretty much on point

 

A team can be bad and still have a strong coaching staff and a good culture.

The Rockets have the bad part down but their culture is poor and the Rockets are not well coached.

I have heard people say it is because the players drafted by the Rockets are not that good, or it’s because the GM interfered.

To me, it doesn’t matter because it all comes back to a lack of play development, a lack of structure and player accountability and a lack of proper team planning and unified philosophy.

Everything the Rockets have done under Stone and Silas has been helter skelter… from the draft, to trading for Porter and appeasing him, to how they handled Wood and Gordon.. and even the assistants.

Someone looking from the outside would conclude that the team was owned by someone from a different industry with a massive ego, that the GM is in over his head, that the head coach is lost and that there is no direction.

 

I have shat on Sengun’s defense before and pointed out his flaws… but one thing I can say about him that I can’t say about Porter or Green or Gordon is that Sengun doesn’t give take plays off, and that will make a difference down the line.

 

OKC, Orlando and Detroit have been used to losing. I bet their fans have been similarly hysterical throughout the years and maybe still.

 

OKC's rebuild has been the same length as Houstons. Detroit I can't speak to, but Orlando fans have been really happy since they drafted Banchero

 

Just looking at what we have now -

While they have a long way to go, I've seen enough of Sexgun (16) & Green (2) to say we have a couple of franchise players here.

KPjr (trade - late 2nd) - Considering that a large chunk of the offense will eventually run through Sixgun, KPJ's ability to be a secondary ballhandler, along with his catch/shoot perfectly compliment this. Also, he has nice upside that some are discounting. Let this kid play in his natural instinctive scoring flow...The game is about to get a lot easier for everyone on offense.

Jabari (3) - Too much concern about him. No worries. He'll be better than fine. JSjr will lead our defense. The shot will get back where it needs to be...Again, his game will seamlessly fit/fill in blanks with what is here. In the meantime, I've noticed a lot of plays on both siides of the ball that he'll handle well when he puts on muscle/gets stronger/physically matures. Better ability to put it on the floor, and get to the rack than I origiinally thought too.
Then, there's the vocal leader that Jabari will eventually be. It might seem out of sorts now, but as he grows and plays within the structure of running it through Alpo (jk) Alperen, he'll earn the respect for his game that jibes with calling folks out.


The Harden deal - The guts of this deal/insurance for us was always the 2025 & 2027 swaps, along with that 2026 pick. Anything on top was going to be akin to gravy....and we've gotten some already.. Though they were on a roll, the Nets were never going to stay healthy. It was just a matter of time with KD. Dude's a great player, but he's breaking down...Kyre & BS (back on the court, although w/o Durant his deficences really stand out) are wack. It was almost a given that as the year went on,you'd only have 2 of those 3 or even one of those three out there. Make no mistake, they are still imploding much faster than our original timeline. Love shorting the Nets.


We're armed with young studs, and another coming after the season. PICKS & CAPSPACE on the way....

We're still in talent acquisition & development mode. Subtle & not so subtle tanking involved here.

A little more patience....

The Stone Age is gonna kickass.