Yes they were a 2 seed... but you know what's the brutal truth? We weren't beating any of them in a 7 games series except maybe Minnesota... Teams get better but playoff match-ups sometimes dictate how far you're going .. Look at Minnesota last year vs this year.. They got destroyed by OKC this year after making the WCF .. So you take risks to get better if you get the opportunity.. The main young talented players are still here.. Some are sure shots ( Amen. Sengun) , others are projected to get better ( Bari, Reed)... It's worth the gamble to plug in a 37 year old all-time great sniper that can get you 25 for the next few years, while the aforementioned youngsters enter their primes in the process.. Then you build around them .. What's there to complain about?
Way i see it might as well have some fun, Because in 2-3 years this team will be ready to go @ age 25- 26! Reed - Thompson - Eason - Smith- Segun Note : Also kept the players that were really making that team a 2nd seed
I wasn't complaining. I just said that if they "DO" or "DON'T" make the NBA FINALS within the next 2yrs, how will we look at this offseason? Since they trade 3 pieces of ther young core; Jalen, Cam and #10 pick. If they get to the finals, it was worth the risk, if not, what will people say?
Well most shortsighted people will b**** and call for Stone and Ime's job.. Might have a few say sell the team as well lmao... But if you look at how Stone basically extended our window for 10 years ,if the CORE that's here develops into their prime years , then you'll appreciate what he's done.. Sure it'll be disappointment ,but to me, they didn't dismantle anything for the sake of " going all in" ... I mean you gotta do something! OKC ain't going nowhere anytime soon.. We would've been the 90s Knicks or Pacers trying to get over the Jordan hump for years and years, if we stayed the course..
I think the Rockets matched up well with OKC last yr. We werent far off. I thought this should have been an offseason of adjustments, not redirecting. My only concern is this puts us in a win now position with a 37yr old, rather than a 31 or 32 yr old.
I'm one of those Jalen Green fans that CFs despises.. But what exactly did the Rockets lose in cutting bait with Green , the no.10 pick that may or may not have been in the rotation for a few years, and Cam? And you get an albeit , 37 yr old ,present day 25+ ppg, efficient , unguardable scorer in return? One who doesn't squeeze 20 seconds of your shot clock to create a play for himself or others unless it's a clutch moment... And you keep Amen, Sengun, Bari, Reed, and Tari ...As well as Adams , Capella, and DFS as his "supporting cast" .... What's not to like except maybe FVV as your $20 mil starting PG.. But he's serviceable and I'm sure is willing to accept a smaller scoring role?
I have less of a problem with moving guys and more with the asset management. We turned 2/20/23/24/26 in recent drafts into net nothing.
The odds of Green ever being an all-star at this point are fairly low, I'd say around 5%. Even lower for Cam Whitmore. And there's a real possibility that getting those guys off the roster ends up being addition by subtraction even if age suddenly catches up to KD. Cam was obviously unhappy and not meshing with the team. He had no future here, all that could come from keeping him around is locker room problems. And while Jalen seemed like a good guy and a hard worker, he was the highest-usage player on the team, and we all saw how poorly he performed in the playoffs and how inconsistent he was throughout the regular season. Trading him frees up usage and backcourt minutes for Amen Thompson, who appears to have much greater potential. Losing the #10 pick sucks, but realistically we didn't have minutes available for whoever we drafted anyway. I think this trade was mostly upside, with pretty low risk of coming back to bite us. Even if we don't make the NBA Finals it will probably turn out okay since we held onto all of our most important players/assets.
Tmac deal and Harden deal were remarkably more exciting.....had to admit I was a lot younger then and excitable. Also signing Ronnie Artest with Adelman felt like he was the missing piece but guys got injured. 'I'll be on Clutchfans.'
Ypu are drastically overvalued Jalen, Cam and the #10 pick. Jalen has had years. Sure, he could still develop. But he has had quite a lot of time already. Cam and the #10 pick are way too early to tell. If they do develop, it will likely be years or more. You think we were the #2 seed last year, so therefore we should have keep trying. No one gave us a realistic shot at a title, most people didn't even give us a realistic shot of beating GSW. I think Stone saw we were the #2 seed and thought it was time to make an even bigger push for the Finals. Will it work? Who knows. But Durant, as much as I have hated him his entire career, does address our biggest need and has the possibility of putting us in the Finals conversation. Whether we win one or not, we will see, but to even have that possibility was worth the risk. We still have young players and draft picks, we didn't mortgage our entire future
