You left out fire Ime, trade Durant, and re-balance the roster with young players on the same time-line.
I always hated the concept of filling "the roster with young players on the same time-line"... I've always felt the best move is to have a mixture of vets and youngsters... I think that is the best way to mentor the kids and give the vets a sense of pride... young energy keeps the vets pumped... hopefully some wisdom get passed on to the kids for development... Otherwise, what are you going to do? Get a bunch of kids on the same time table - and hope they all are hits and that they all peak at the same time?
Fire Ime. This dude is supposed to be some kind of defensive mastermind and has built a roster to suit that - Yet his defense is hot garbage. Offensively he's terrible, can't draw up a damn inbounds play to save his life. Refuses to make adjustments based upon score / clock. Just runs with the same dudes. The Point KD is his fault too - He's the one putting KD in those spots and doesn't even give him any outlet when dudes like DFS, Capela, Tari & Bari are his outlets and they can't dribble, pass or shoot. Ime's replacement needs to be able to run a more motion oriented offense - no more standing around waiting for someone else to do something. More picks, curls, cut's and rim runs .... make the defense defend the players, not just space. You have to do something with Tari - hopefully there's a sign and trade out there that returns a rotation worthy player. I think you almost have to move Sengun (assuming moving Amen is out of the question) and get a guy who can shoot from 12ftout to 3pt range and is a solid rim protector on the other end - With Reed you need a defensive backstop. I'd prefer a younger player still on a rookie deal, maybe you can get draft assets too, you are after all trading away an Allstar. FVV - I wanted an upgrade last offseason, I still want one now. Might have to wait for the trade deadline to make this happen but there will be a team unloading a young guard because of salary issues. DFS needs to be gone some time last month. Dorian F'n Sucks. Can't believe Ime keeps running him out there. Adams - love the guys effort but it's time to cut bait - just get rid of the contract without having to pay to do it. Maybe get a 2nd round lottery ticket back. Resign Okogie for as cheap as possible. Shooting and defensive depth. Sorry KD haters, I'm not dumping him. I think most of the bullsh!it comes from Ime forcing KD the creator into existence. He had Reed defer to him most of the year and made me want to kick my TV. KD goes back to the sniper assassin role, knocking down catch and shoot shots from the high post or 3pt line - efficient. Find a competent combo guard in FA - Ty Jerome and or NAW were the perfect fit last year, haven't looked at this years list. Balance is in order this time around , no guys that can't defend or shoot.
The Rockets traded away their picks in 2024 and 2026 and swapped rights in 2025 for Westbrook. Aside from blindly trading young players to stay really, really bad, tanking was ruled out because it offered little benefit.
Yes, that was part of the reason ownership wanted to start winning. But I also believe that after signing KD to an extension, ownership is not going to reverse course just because our picks will be available again.
This is a ridiculously stupid poll if it doesn’t include “fire Stone” as he is the bum who put this disaster together.
Most of our “youngsters” other than Reed have been mentored enough. Most of their issues are related to their basketball skills, which can be coached. Vet mentorship is about how you go about your business in the NBA. They’ve had enough of that. Not sure I want Kevin Durant mentoring anybody other than how to shoot. I sure hope FVV doesn’t mentor Reed to become a version of himself.
I left an option for 'other'... feel free to write in your vote. Imo Stone is middle of the pack... he doesnt do a lot to help u, but he also doesnt hurt u - he's very conservative in his moves... DFS and Ime are his worst contracts - and Ime is just eating the cash if u fire him and doesnt affect cap... Otherwise, he followed the blueprint for tanking and took the consensus bpas.... the vast majority of his moves were widely considered to be good at the time...
I don't really know where to go from here because every option is bad. We are just in a really really bad spot as an organization. Running it back won't work, getting rid of KD won't work, getting rid of Ime won't work, getting rid of Sengun won't work. We tanked, we rebuilt, and the result of our rebuild is simply not good enough. We didn't get good enough players and I really don't think its fixable. I don't think there's anything you can do to overcome it. I think we're in a situation similar to Orlando, like, what can they do? They rebuilt and got Paolo, Suggs, and Franz. What do you do with that? How do you take those 3 and make a team that's better than the Pistons, Boston, or Cleveland? The answer is nothing. There are no tweaks to fix this. I think we're in the same boat. We drafted Jabari, Sengun, Amen, Jalen Green, and Reed Sheppard. There is no "how do we fix this so we are on the same level as OKC and the spurs". There is no answer, there's no switch we can flip. I know it's bleak but that's just where I'm at with this team. We got players that are good-not-great and there's really nowhere to go from here. Outside of some historical fleece, or one of our players magically turning into a superstar, I think this is the end of the road. There is no path to put our roster at the same level as the real contenders.
I couldnt disagree more... i think people benefit from having wisdom whispered in their ear throughout their careers and lives... and you are telling me that Sengun wouldnt benefit from having Steven out there with him - pushing him? I'm sure there's insight that FVV can offer Reed on how to deal with diff situations... Obviously our squad could use some help with beating a full court press or even inbounding the ball... things like CP3 telling guys to get up on the ball and not just let it roll... yeh, you'd hope coaching would do all that... but here we are... lol and aside from his Dickerson stupidity - KD is regarded as the epitome of a great example for his work ethic and gym time...
We could send Durant to Heat. Jovic would be nice around Sengun. Davion Mitchel New PG, and Andrew Wiggins off bench would be exactly what we need, with FVV coming off the bench as well. and we could get Heat 2026 draft pick. Who says no? Heat wanted to pair Durant with Herro and Bam anyways, makes alot of sense trade. Wiggins replaces Eason. Get that draft pick, plus 2027 picks for future. Davion Mitch, FVV, Reed Reed Shepard, Wiggins, PICK Amen Thompson, Wiggins, DFS Jovic, Jabari Smith, Tate Sengun, Adams, Capela
Pretty hilarious considering all our arguments in the past that you and I have reached almost the identical conclusions on every point. I’d like to unload KD if Ime is still coach if we can get something/anything for him. If we had a new coach that would force him off the ball, I’d keep him for offensive gravity and he’d be an expiring next year anyway.
thats why the Giannis option intrigues me... I dont think we drafted a franchise guy - a few Robins but no Batmans... Nobody is gonna give us a franchise guy and Stone is too conservative to gamble on a Harden type scenario... So do u run the KD/Giannis 2 year window with your Robins and hope u can dodge the injury bug - and then go into rebuild?
The thing is we actually still have pretty good draft capital after this season. We have two picks in 2027, hard to say how Phoenix's will turn out as it depends on what they do in the offseason and what kind of season Booker has. But the Brooklyn one is probably still a lottery pick pending what they do in the offseason. In 2028 we just have our own pick and we control the destiny on that, so if we were to decide to be mediocre instead of loading up with veterans, we can get a mid-first rounder at least. Then we've got two draft picks again in 2029, under kind of complicated conditions, but real chance at least one of those ends up in the lottery. My point being, we have the tools to go back to the rebuilding phase if the Fertittas wise up. (Which I agree is unlikely, they are similar kinds of people to the company they keep.) Say you get one mediocre first round pick for KD and two or three for Sengun, or some equivalent value in young players/picks. Suddenly you're looking at 8 first round picks over the next few years. You can work with that + Reed, Amen, and Jabari. You just need to hit once on a #1 option, you already have the framework in place to put good players around him.
My biggest issue with this is I still don't consider that team a contender. Amen, Reed, Giannis, KD? Personally I would hate rooting for that team, but I also don't think that team is good enough either. That team is still not on the same level as OKC or the spurs. But maybe it's our best available option, cause like I said, every option is bad. If no option is good then you have to choose the one that is the least bad, and maybe this one is the least bad. I don't know man, I hate it. This sucks!
Trade all the young talent for what's left of Giannis and complete the transition of the Rockets into the Sacramento Kings. Go full on lottery team with no future since we're sticking with Ime.
I generally agree with all of this, but I still think KD has to go if things are as bad as the rumor mill and body language indicates. Maybe they're not really that bad and it's all a bunch of BS, I have no clue. But you can't have this team out there trying to be competitive if things are that toxic. The other issue is his age and minutes load. He is a career-ending injury waiting to happen, and the moment that does, we'll all wish we traded him while we could still get something for him.
I think people confuse "defensive mastermind" and a coach who prioritizes defense. The former is someone who can devise smart defensive schemes to stop opposing offense. The latter is just someone who thinks defense is the most important thing for winning. Udoka is the latter kind. His team plays good defense with good defenders, not necessarily with smart defensive schemes. That's why he prioritizes using defensive players.
Got it in one. It was eye-opening watching the way Golden State, running a squad with no Curry or Butler, basically only three real NBA players and whatever is left of Al Horford, played defense against us early this month when they (shocker) beat us in overtime. All their players were bought in, playing hard, and making sharp rotations to make life difficult for us. That's a coach who knows how to design a defense and get his players all on the same page and giving effort. And Kerr isn't even a guy who I would characterize as prioritizing defense the way you describe! He just knows what he's doing on both ends of the court.
