LOL wtf ever, it isn't...if you understand context and have a brain.....but it is if you can't read beyond a jr. high level. DD
I have haters like you who hang around and chase me and try to argue...for some odd reason. ANyway.....you are right you don't matter. DD
I'm not a hater I just read all your posts talking about how we should have traded Jalen and all the Nets picks for Mikal Bridges or how you kept complaining how we should have drafted Keegan Murray over Jabari Smith. In fact you were also one of the people who wanted Stone on the hot seat for actually trying to make the Rockets tank prior to last year. So now you are saying how its so easy to tank and build a team when all your previous calls would have been disastrous moves. Remember those posts? Just repeating the stuff you said before doesnt make me a hater.
I was expecting this thread to have been from over a year ago, but it is from this month lmao. There is not a single player from the Morey era that would not have loved to be added to this team at any stage in their career. Going from worst record in NBA to 2nd in the West in 2 years, the rest of the league is going to try to follow this same model to rebuild.
People bashing Dillon Brooks need to go check out the Grizzles fan forums, they feel like they traded the sole of their team. He was their glue guy, and now look at them, Desmond Bane shoving his own teammate while Ja stands there and laughs, their coach getting fired right before playoffs, and Dillon is loved by his teammates and the whole org in Houston. Grizzles fans say they wished they kept Dillon and traded Bane, they likely would have been better off. This team is pretty deep at his position so he is not valued here as much by fans, but he would be a key guy on any playoff team in the league. The guy has showed up, played nearly every game, that type of reliability is rare in this league.
The 2nd seed is not the goal - it is a nice indicator we are headed in the right direction, but it is just an indicator nothing to be celebrated too much. DD
It is a way better indicator than if Cam Whitmore becomes a good NBA player which seems to be all you care about.
I don’t think Rocket fans have ever gone through a rebuild with 18 and 19 year olds and therefore are ready to give up on young players as soon as they have a string of bad games. Francis, Mobley and Yao were rookies at 22. Parsons, Lin and Harden came to the Rockets at 23. Age will make a difference and 18 or 19 yr old rookies will find it harder to adjust. Laker fans hated Kobe probably more than Rocket fans hated Green his first couple of years, Celtic fans would have traded Brown for anyone after his 3rd season, and SGA was considered a throw in when traded to OKC. Living in LA I can still remember when Clippers fans were overjoyed to get Paul while seeing SGA as nothing more than a role player. Looking back at this forum, how many were ready to trade Sengun because he will never be able to defend and make Bruno the starter. Or trade Green for a mid to late first round pick because he doesn’t know how to play within an offense. Or trade Amen because he can’t shoot. And now how many are ready to trade Reed as a throw in. Judging a GM after a couple of seasons is premature just as it is judging an 18 or 19 year old after a couple of seasons. GMs are suppose to be strategic and unlike coaches they aren’t always looking to win immediately. Stone has gotten us this far in less than 4 years, let’s give him his due for the success this year. He’s probably never satisfied as any GM would be and is looking to build the best team. But trading young players who have gotten the Rockets to #2 could easily kill the momentum and set them back. If there’s a trade, it has to be for a superstar that’s going to get the Rockets to the #1 spot and winning it all. Winning it all doesn’t mean taking chances, it requires calculated decisions. We don’t want to be the Suns and bring in big names, we need to build the right team to start a dynasty.
I can take or leave Stone honestly. He has made some adept moves - and some that were questionable. However, a lot of the moves so far were obvious. He had to trade Harden - and he got what he got. I think the Sixers deal with Maxey was better but we can debate that. He cleared cap space - that was obvious with a rebuild. Most of his top draft picks were fairly obvious too. He got lucky that we got to keep the pick for Green and it didn't go to OKC. The Sengun pick and Eason picks were very good and not as obvious. The hiring of Silas was bad, as was the coddling of KPJ. Most of the hard/risky moves are yet to be made and those will determine how good Stone is or isn't. I don't think you fire him though - they are the #2 seed in the West, and he has drafted and signed the players that have them in that spot.
Just in general for a rebuild you want things to work out a certain way. Acquire young, promising talent: He's done that pretty well by making "obvious picks" as well as finding gems with Tari and Alpi (maybe Cam, we'll see). Find the right coach to lead us out of rebuilding and into contention, check. Make moves that allow us to continue to acquire young talent for cheap contracts in case we lose one of the young guys to free agency or trade. Check.
