Stone has done the EASY part, the drafting of players and signing a few vets, it is the DECIDING of whom to keep and whom to trade and what you get back that is the hard part. The crafting of a true championship contender, with a killer instinct and championship roster. We do not have that as we are constructed, this is the job, this is the moment that matters. Whom to keep and whom to trade and what do you get in return. The REAL GMing is just beginning and if he gets it wrong, he will be fired. DD
I actually agree with all of this... aint gonna lie... its a lil unnerving... lol we tanked and he took the concensus picks. fine good job hiring Ime and focusing on culture. good stopgaps with FVV and Brooks... leadership advancing the culture. but now its about if u got the chops to run with the big dogs. he's got the assets... he's got pix and tons of young talent now its about what he does with em... Imo, if he thinks he can just let guys mature and work the free agent market, he's gonna come up short. Ya gotta take some big swings.
Yep, we can't keep em all and we can't pay em all - this offseason should see significant turnover, if we don't - then we extend Bari and Tari - we are gonna be locked financially.....this is the offseason.... DD
To be fair, Stone has to be looking into the "big swings." Cleveland held onto its star. Phoenix announced it's going to build around Devin Booker (I posted that article on the Devin Booker thread and apparently it wasn't seen by everyone who should have read it; he won't be available). So if someone worthwhile shakes loose? Sure, he has to look into it. Just how much is he willing to get bent over for it?
...yeah, and I think it's worth noting how Sam Presti was on the verge of a dynasty in OKC with Durant/Westbrook/Harden and somehow managed to never get a title despite having prime Durant and Westbrook. Tanking and collecting talent and picking the obvious picks is a low risk, high reward strategy for a team with nothing. As your team improves and you gotta pay people, that's when the difference of a few coins to pay X vs Y is SO crucial - it's the difference between missing out on a HOF player like Harden and having Durant, Westbrook and...Jeremy Lamb and Kevin Martin??? Or think about the fateful decision to let Trevor Ariza go that many of us feel destroyed our legit chances of beating the greatest team in NBA history.
No, you're not getting away with this. Easy? Nothing is easy about rebuilding a franchise. Especially with inpatient fans like yourself calling for him to be fired before he can fully do his job. We had the most cap space in the NBA at one point. How? By taking on bad contracts and flipping them. All these moves were critized by fans like you & now that it turned out to be brilliant it was "easy"?
Yeah, there is absolutely nothing easy about the moves Stone has made to put us in the #2 seed this early. Many GMs blow top draft picks, ask Charlotte, Orlando for many years, etc. Many teams never get the right vets or do it too late. The consensus around here hated the FVV and Brooks pickups, but they were a perfect fit to help reset the culture. Hiring Ime was a homerun flat out; our offense and defense have improved every year under him. The great mistake Presti made was letting Harden go and breaking up his young core, who had just made the finals to pay and keep Ibaka instead. He should have Not made a big swing and just let his talent develop, some fans always think the grass is greener at times. When you have a core this young and this talented, with results ahead of schedule, you keep that and let it improve organically, we're seeing that patience does pay off.
He's done well enough but he has a major issue though no fault of his own. Adams FA and Eason availability are major issues that hurt the team. With Adams, a new contract might not be worth it if he continues to be a non-B2B player. Can't have those on the roster unless they are HOFers. Eason is a massive ?. Probably need to draft a replacement just in case. He becomes a bonus if health solidifies. I think FVV comes back on a team friendly retirement length deal. You have the other young players so that only leaves a Cam (bench scoring) replacement because he 'aint it.
Well said! Washington and Charlotte are a couple of teams that come to mind that also can’t seem to get that easy part right. I don’t think Stone gets the credit he deserves!
Neither team has been tanking for years. Wiz finally started last season, same as the hornets when they chanted ownership. Those teams goal was always making the playoffs/playin.
Houston Rockets Multi-Year Table 2 Decisions must be made: FVV club option and Holiday club option. 3 UFA: Adams, Tate, Jeff Green Guaranteed Contacts: Brooks, Jalen Green, Sheppard, Smith, Thompson, Sengun, Eason, Whitmore Non Gtd: Landale, Williams Stone can still slow play one more season. The 2026 offseason is as long as the slow play can go. The conservative slow play is retain FVV at a lower salary, pick up Holiday's option and make a fair offer to Adams we'd look something like this: FVV - Jalen - Brooks - Jabari/Tari - Sengun Holiday - Thompson - Whitmore - Jabari/Tari - Adams Reed - *1st - Williams - (vet min?) - **2nd - Landale 2025 NBA Mock Draft with Lottery Simulator | Tankathon 1st - Jase Richardson, G 2nd - Eric Dixon, F 2 sweet stroke lefties lol nice. Probably keeping Dante and McVeigh on their 2 ways. Then the hammer falls 2026 offseason. This outline is the kind of thing I'm expecting though, unless some really crazy deal comes up why would they press?
If you don't understand the complexities of bball operations rebuilding will seem easy to you. Just tank get superstar what the hell is hard about that amirite? Not a surprise people who wanted Stone fired before are the ones calling what he did easy now. As for DD specifically while being a CF legend he has also been making the wrong calls almost every time since the rebuild began. Dude wanted Green traded for Mikal Bridges, kept saying we should have picked Keegan Murray over Jabari, thought Brooks was gonna be horrible etc etc I see him more as a Rockets fan enthusiast than somebody who actually understands the intricacies of GM moves so if you agree with him you are prob on the wrong side of things. I'm not even mentioning the DD curse where after he hypes someone up the dude ends up being a scrub. You know what the issue is with Cam? DD was convinced he will be a star last season. That straight up doomed him.
This thread is full of r3tard3d ****. This team is about to go to the playoffs as a two seed after not getting in the door at all in the last 4 years 22-60 .500 ~53 wins. That's called progress. Those of you crying about not adding players to this team forget that assets to make upgrades are limited. They don't have a huge pile of draft picks to waste on marginal upgrades to a green playoff team. We really don't know who these kids are either. Save those assets for the big one. Stone is still dealing with Morey's screw ups in CP3 & Westbrook, yet the team is in a great place overall.
Because they haven’t been tanking. They were run horrendously by morons who were trying to win and make the playoffs.
Who to keep is pretty easy thou, there are only two players currently that you do not trade for anyone unless its Giannis, Tatum or Luka.... Those players are Jalen Green and Amen Thompson..... Green and Amen are the core, they are the black mambas...... Sengun is the guy that you give up to bring in the guy/guys that will complete the championship.
