All of these expiring contracts were meant for that. If Harden doesn’t work out with Wall and Wood, proceed to pull rip cord. Rockets have been accumulating PG/SG combos to trade at the deadline like an NFL team hoarding QB’s.
Not in favor of tanking. Am in favor of acquiring young talent. If that leads to more loses? So be it. Tucker and Oladipo don’t really fit here long term in my view and I think they can both bring back young players. No need for picks. The team has enough. I want young players to root for next to Wood and Tate. Try to get Precious or KZ from Miami and/or Thybulle from Philly for a combination of PJ and /or BMac. It may take both players to get any of these assets but BMac for Thybulle helps both teams and PJ for Leonard (expiring and hurt) and Precious makes sense. Try to get Herro or MPJ for Oladipo. Neither player has taken a superstar leap this year and both teams are struggling. Oladipo is better than both in 2021. These are teams who want to win now. I know the reactions are no way. Just give it time. Those suggestions are more reasonable than you think.
Look, most of us are diehard fans of the rockets and have been for years. What we want is for the Rockets to rebuild to relevance as quickly as possible. Scrapping to be an 8th seed is the longest route to contention as you are forced to either a) overspend for free agents to get better; b) luck into a James Harden type trade (which nobody saw coming as a member of the board at that time) or c) luck into a Kawhi Leonard or Pascal Siakam type guy. I would rather see the team be crappy for the remaining 3 months of this season and, hopefully, increase their odds at getting a franchise player than see them miss out on that all just to get swept in 4 blow outs to the LAL. What would be the best would be if the Rockets could finish as the 10 seed and play in to the playoffs yet still win the lottery and get a tp 4 pick. But the odds of that are very low. I wouldnt take it that far. I think that young players outperforming their contracts are second only to high first round picks in terms of value to a rebuilding team. Wood, Tate and Porter are the 3 players on the team that I think should feel the safest about being here long term. With all due respect, what are you talking about? The Rockets have not had a losing season since 2011/2012. You do realize that team had the NBA's best record 3 seasons ago? I just cant believe that one of the winningest franchises of the past decade is going to turn into a dumsterfire loser after 1 Covid shortened season where they lost their head coach, GM and top 3 players in the span of 4 months. I think the Rockets brand, their culture, is more durable than that myself.
Not quitting, but rebuilding. You saw how it work for the stros. I remember watching the games everyone one of them at the bar 10-14 3-4 years, then it got better in 2015, it hurt, but it was a treat to finally get that trophy! Rockets can do the exact same thing if they get good drafts scouts, and rebuild. Not bad to watch a young team grow and lose at first but finally get the young players together to win and then sign your big contract vets to get the ring going. I think it would take a good 3 years here for the rockets to rebuild properly for 2023-24 season. I mean think of it as waiting for bron bron Durant curry harden etc.. to leave then you have this new exciting young teams to go battle with. These players got the torch anyways till 2024, so better to shut, bottom it out, and rebuild.
You must not have watched the Astros in those 3 years. It was an abomination to baseball. no-one went to games. The team was absolute garbage. the front office culture will be remembered for the toxicity and all for a tainted World Series ring. No thanks. I appreciate the Rockets winning over burning everything to the ground like the mixer have and all for nothing.
We're 2.5 games back (ahead?) of the 4th worst team, the Magic - that or better (worse) gets us close to coin-flip odds for a top 4 pick - it's definitely doable! We are a lot closer than you think. All of our games are losable. We just need to not believe.
Sam, appreciate the nuanced thinking on this. I will also throw in a monkey wrench that its hard to say there is a causal relationship between tanking and being a winning franchise. Often cited examples of tanking worked were the Celtics in the early 2000s and the Spurs in the late 1990s. But I will also point to the Kings, the Twolves, the Hawks, the Hornets, and the pelicans of the league. There are actually more examples that tanking didn’t work. I think it also comes down to good management, superior scouting and a good culture. course high draft pick position will help, but those things are equally important if not more important. Losing breeds bad culture in the organization. The Lakers of the world didn’t seem to have to tank and still be on the top once every a while.
I said this alot last week - but briefly -I don't buy the "losing culture" argument. Getting good players changes that fast. The quickest way to get good players is in the draft (unless you're the Lakers, the Heat, Warriors, Celtics or if you have a pre-existing superstar in place). But when you're starting over from zero, your fastes (but by no means guaranteed!) route to relevance is the draft. BUT IT'S NOT GUARANTEED! Ask Sacramento. THe Lakers are actually the exception that proves the rule IMO. Pre-LeBron they were kind of a joke, the ownership is the clownish soap opera of the Buss family , the front office/coaching staff was loaded with Buss favorites/Laker legends like Kupchak, Magic, Byron Scott, and as a consequence the second half of the last decade was basically given over as tribute to an increasingly washed Kobe - basically there is not a lot separating them from total Dolanization. But, they're the Lakers, not the Knicks, they had enough aura and recent success in living memory (unlike the Knicks) to pull LeBron in, and the rest is history. I think this is the type of thing the Rockets (and almost every single other NBA team) is uniquely not capable of ever doing.
It's tainted. It sucks but it's true. I enjoyed the memories and the parade but I'm not a homer. They should have learned to hide it better like the rest of the MLB. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemons learned about that the hard way too.
I agree with most of this post. Re: draft picks I am pretty content with the teams stockpile of picks. However, if in turning veterans into younger more developmental players the team starts to fall down the standings then I would embrace taking steps to maximize the team's chance to get the best pick they can. Basically, Id rather be the 4th or 5th worst teams than the 10th or 11th worst. Young players I really like most of your proposed deals/ I have suggested similar deals myself. I think Herro or MPJ is tough to pull off with just Oladipo but I would certainly consider sweetening that offer with a pick or two (Det or Washington's most likely). I think Precious, Okpala and Thybulle are all very obtainable with the assets the Rockets have.
It creates a toxic culture that permeates and organization and doesn't even have a >30% chance of paying off. Tanking is not some new idea when it comes to team building. Plenty have tried and become stuck in that dark realm. The Knicks, The Kings, The Suns, The Bulls, The Pelicans, and the list keeps growing. By the time you do draft a Superstar the team is so bad he leaves just like AD did. Just like Durant did.
Agreed on needing to add a pick or two for Herro or MPJ. That's fine with me as long as it's nothing to do with the Nets draft assets after 2022. Thybulle for Benny Mac is probably a bad trade for the Rockets the way he's playing this year. Thybulle has been terrible, I'd still take the gamble. Precious has stagnated and Okpala doesn't play. PJ would instantly help them. Taking Leonard from them alone without sending back salary is worth a late FRP, it's possible the Rockets get both of those players in said deal or a pick attached to one of them.
Philly, Celtics, Lakers, Memphis? Astros? The Astros have been in the championship discussion since they tanked they are not stuck in some dark realm.
All u did was name the worst organizations in the league. They’d be trash no matter what they did. Yeah, if the Rockets are truly a dumpster fire like those organizations have been, then they could fall into the trap of being sh*tty for years on end with nothing to show for it.
