Bingo. People are forgetting something...this franchise had the goal of tanking until the OKC pick must be conveyed. That's been the goal. Therefore, any scenario thats imagining that the team would look good is a false scenario because the mission and goal was and has always been to tank.
In 2021 draft Pistons moved up 1 spot for #1 pick Rockets moved down 1 spot for #2 pick Cavs moved up 2 spots for #3 pick Raptors move up 3 spots for #4 pick Magic moved down 2 spots for #5 pick Thunder moved down 2 spots for #6 pick The case making for Allen was that, Allen would have still kept the team at the bottom 5, and not add something ridiculous like +5 or +10 wins to a season; which actually could ruin a tank as some people would suggest. The only real young player realized thus far from the Harden trade is Tari (from Net's pick). And there is diminishing return at more bites at the apple, if our coaching system stinks at development. Unless that's changed, more of our draftee could get spoiled.
Isn't it kinda dumb to finish bottom 5 when your pick is only top 4 protected? The goal was to lose as many games as possible and give yourself the best odds to keep a top 4 pick, which was basically a coinflip. Adding better players was counterproductive, as far as tanking goes that season.
Allen's cast with Cavs > Allen with a 2020 Rockets. So Allen on 2020 Rockets is probably still a bottom 3 team. Rockets finished last. If in an alternative universe with Allen on a 2020 Rockets was winning too much, coach can 1) Sit Allen to rest on back-to-back, (as Rockets wasn't afraid to do to Russ (prior in 2019), Wall, and Gordon. 2) just flat out sit him at the end of season if there were too many wins. Which they also did with Wood. End of year Rockets winning a few matter less anyways since team was already so deep into the hole. Point is a coach has tanking levers he could pull. And we've seen Rockets used them. If in the following years you want to turn on the wins, you have players who can actually do it. Like Cavs with Darius or Thunder with SGA; the team can flip them ON.
I guess the way I look at it is that just keeping Allen would have meant also keeping Taurean Prince - and IF being willing to pay for Allen, then clearing LeVerts salary (for Oladipo) probably isn't a thing either. From memory a bunch of guys were just shut down after the all star break to let the youth go at it We could possibly have been running a lineup of Wall Gordon Allen Wood Tucker Prince LeVert House Bradley Tate Martin I think we also started off 11-10 that season. I may be off in my memory, and there were probably injuries that I have forgotten, and there is also no reason that entire lineup couldn't be shut down to tank too!! (OK, let House play. He was dreadful). I think basically I agree with the idea of getting the twin Towers. I actually wanted to deal direct with the Nets and try and win games (Utah style), but we went a different route. C'est last vie. I guess that undergirds my assumption we wouldn't have been a top 3 pick (of course outside of top 4 we owed OKC?). So perhaps an unreasonable assumption on my part. I think bottom line I totally agree re: take current assets and maximise them. For sure we could have tanked anyway and played end of bench scrubs. We would have lost that Bucks pick - so one of Garuba or Christopher. And probably not traded for Sengun (so still have the Wiz and Det picks and waiting for them to confer). I doubt we get Jabari though. And I doubt we are bottom of the league right now, so probably not in contention, nor in Wemby stakes.
It's like cooking a complicated dish, some of the ingredients have to be prepared in advance (before throwing it into the pan).
