Tilman was never going to give Morey Harden after Morey weaseled his way out of his contract. When you consider that, you know Simmons was never a realistic target. Should he have been is another debate but you're take is as Stone had a choice between Dipo and Simmons and he chose Dipo. That choice never existed.
Do you really believe Brooklyn let’s them all walk for nothing or that they won’t try to resign them or that those dudes will age poorly? That’s a lot of bad ifs for a competent organization. We could have gotten more from Philly had we just leveraged them more. We could have gotten Maxey and picks. Simmons could have been traded for high lottery picks. This is Morey and Harden we are talking about. It’s better to get guaranteed assets than banking on a competent organization being incompetent, especially a big market team IN New York.
I don't disagree with that statement at all. I think its accurate - they'd have a better record. What I do question is if they are any closer to a championship ? Better positioned to acquire top tier players via Draft / FA / Trade ? That's debatable. What we do know is that Morey wasn't giving up picks or swaps without some protections included. So we wouldn't control another franchises draft for the next 7 years. That's really huge in this whole thing considering the age of the players involved - all over 30 and with only 2 years on their deals and with Kyrie .... that **** could implode at any minute - that dudes nucking futz. Wood , Simmons and Wall screams perpetual 8th seed / 14th pick to me. I think the picks are more valuable than Simmons even if its not immediate. Jarrett Allen ... I think that was a mistake , but he wouldn't be a Rocket next year , can't see them paying him big money but I think they could have gotten more out of him than they did either at the deadline or as a S&T in the offseason. Oladipo has been a disaster but that mess can still be cleaned up .... between now and the deadline or in the offseason as another S&T. I'm content to ride out this season with a buncha young players figuring it out (or not) and hopefully landing a premium draft pick in the process while clearing cap and being ready to make a big move should one present itself. I think that's more desirable than a perpetual 8th seed / 14th pick.
Stone hand picked Christian Wood who is basically an all star level player. You think thats a bad job? Stone traded for Porter Jr, you think that's a bad job? Wall may be always injured but he and a pick are still a massive improvement over WB. People who think Stone has done a bad job are just dumb AF period. Simmons would have capped the Rox out and Morey was just fooling around with no concrete offer either lmao. Just stop. We aint winning **** with Simmons, injured Wood and injured Wall.
Lol if Simmons could be traded for high lotto picks Morey could have made an agreement to trade him for high lotto picks before talking with the Rockets, like how Nets got an agreement to trade Allen away for FRP and cap relief. Since Morey didnt do that nobody knows whether a team out there would give high lotto picks for Simmons. Its not a sure deal Simmons is making the max and prob not want to go to a rebuilding team whereas only rebuilding teams would have high lotto picks. Morey could have called OKC and line up a favorable deal for Simmons then called back the Rockets. He didnt do **** just expected a call that didnt come. Maxey isnt a difference maker check out Philly record when Embiid sits. He is a nice player but not anything special. Picks? Rox got way more picks with Nets than Sixers would have given. Next.
Never said I wanted the Philly deal....read my post! What I said is that I was happy with Stone until he royally screwed everything up by not keeping Levert, Prince, and Allen. Let’s not crown the wife beating, drug guy the new LeBron quite yet. He still hasn’t played a minute for us. Hope that it works out, but nothing will convince me that Stone did not screw us for years to come with the disastrous handling of the most important part of the Harden deal. LeVert is younger and better than the oft injured Olidipo and don’t get me started on the handing over of Allen to the Cavs. Had Stone done the right thing and kept the trade he made then he could have been a candidate for GM of the year. Instead, just like his predecessor, he can’t provide us with the size needed to be competitive in this league.
The difference is Oladipo has already proven himself to be a scorer. Simmons CANT SCORE AT ALL. He's basically invisible on offense. Not only that, he can't shoot free throws either. You keep bringing up he's 25. But the fact he's been in the league 3 years and REFUSES to shoot a jumpshot makes my point It's funny because you're so down on a rookie coach not even halfway through the season, but so high on a 3yr veteran with absolutely no shot whatsoever. Weirdo
Dude is an all star at 25 and the second best player on their team. The argument makes zero sense. We could also have kept Simmons, raised his value and then traded him. And honestly who’s to say Morey couldn’t do that(trade Simmons to a third team for picks)? The Rockets were never negotiating in good faith with Philly to begin with. If we had squeezed them more we probably could have gotten protections lifted off those picks and Maxey. Maxey is just another young asset we could use. He would prolly be the third best player on our roster immediately lool. Those Nets picks likely may never amount to anything. That’s what y’all don’t get. Banking on a competent organization to lose three superstars for nothing and hope they completely crap the bed isn’t a smart gamble it’s a bad one. No it’s not next, Fertitta sold a pipe dream and I’m not buying it.
Levert you might be right on .... but the book isn't closed on Oladipo yet. We'll have to wait for the deadline at the earliest and a S&T in the offseason at the latest to see how that plays out. Jarrett Allen to me is a pretty good player but definitely not a fit here , might have been a good fit with Harden, Here he's a backup 5 and they wouldn't match offers for him in the offseason to play behind Wood - he was as good as gone from the get go. That said , I'm not sure they got maximum value for him going to the Cavs for a the Bucks later first round pick. They might have been able to extract a better asset closer to the deadline .... and he'd have been nice to have while Wood is out. But he was never part of the long term plan here. Have a little patience ... it was a lost season the moment Harden said "trade me".
It's very clear to me that your problem is you don't even understand what they are trying to accomplish. It's not what you want to accomplish. They're doing just fine at their current goal. I'd also add that it's completely absurd to expect this team to be good after trading away the second best player in franchise history.
While I dont agree with the OP, I also don't understand what they are trying to accomplish. Unless they only decided after Wood's injury that they were going to tank then the direction of this team has been schizophrenic. What is their goal?
Simmons and Wood - This could be a corner of championship team? Need some Shooters and Grinders Rocket River
That team's picks wouldn't be worth much with Embiid continuing to get better. Simmons is a better player than oladipo and that's the problem. We knew this team would be tanking. Rookie coach that teaches fundamentals. Trading westbrook for Wall and "pick". Trading Harden for an expiring contract and picks on a team with 2 guys over 30 is probably a smarter move. We just need Wall's contract to be moved for smaller ones that are either expiring or easily movable. I doubt we get picks for Wall.
Oh I think it's been tank from the second they knew Harden was gone. If they were trying to make the playoffs this year they'd have likely done the deal with Philly to add Ben Simmons to Wood and Wall, or they'd at least have kept Jarrett Allen in the deal. Instead, they went for as many draft picks as they could get ahold of, traded LeVert, who is locked for 3 years, for an expiring Oladipo, cut Boogie and brought in a young big with the potential to eventually be a decent NBA player in Justin Patton. I've seen people point to the fact we aren't sitting Wall as evidence that we aren't tanking but I just wonder how many of those people have looked at the record of the Wizards with John Wall. You could tank with John Wall as your best player even before the injury. Can anyone point me to literally anything the front office has done that has indicated they aren't looking to tank? I can't think of a single thing. And some of you guys are still thinking back on that winning streak and thinking they wouldn't have allowed that if that's their goal. I think that's to misunderstand tanking. Even tanking teams still go out and try to win every game. Those organizations just don't prioritize the moves that would immediately facilitate winning. They look towards the bigger picture instead. But nobody in their right mind is going to go tell a 25 year old Christian Wood to stop being so awesome and winning. They aren't looking to curb his growth and development or confidence. They just aren't looking to give him the help he needs right now.
The problem for me is Brooklyn’s return isn’t actually a return. It’s really just a gamble that depends on a lot going wrong for them to succeed and for them to be completely incompetent as well.
I agree and that all makes sense. That win streak could very well come back to bite the Rockets in the ass. I agree you never tell your team to go out and lose but if they do in fact convey another lottery pick to OKC it will likely be because of those wins.
Everyone knows you are dumb AF with your dumb AF monkey boy takes. Lesson #1 - Wood was identified by Morey last season as a target. Don't Ted Cruz us son.
Learn the game stupid. 24, not 25, right now. 3 time All Star. That's already more All Stars than 28 year old gimpy ass Dipo. That you believe Simmons is the equivalent of Chuck Hayes tells everyone how low your basketball IQ really is, you've essentially disqualified yourself from any worthwhile discussion on any subject.
