Yes there is a lot of ways to build a team to a contending level... The Rockets have been trying that for the last 3 years and look at where they are now, stuck in the same position for the last 3 years. Plus right now, Houston is not considered a winning team. We are a terrible team that just happens to be the best out of all the losing teams in the league. The Rockets missed the playoffs 3 years in a row. They will never attract big name players and the Rockets don't have the pieces to trade for one either. The Rockets should tank and I mean tanking as in rebuilding. That's not cheating. They should let the young players develop instead of having veterans play and sitting out the young players to win a few more games. I think its cheating if the Rockets have a good enough team to contend in the playoffs but choose to lose on purpose to get the number 1 pick. But having the young players develop and get better while in the process of getting a top 5 or top 3 pick is not cheating. Would you rather have the Rockets develop their young talent and still able to be in the top 5 or 3 lottery pick and have a chance to get a game changer instead of having old vets on this team that doesn't get this team anywhere? Plus when Houston drafted Yao Ming, they were in the playoffs a few years later. They became contenders when they got another star to go with Yao in Tmac and they were considered contenders afterwards. But sadly Tmac didn't have the drive and Yao was too injury prone which brought the Rockets down. Now we have a chance to rebuild this team again and instead you rather have them stuck in mediocre again? The Rockets are a good enough organization to rebuild properly. They just need to start. They keep on adding veteran pieces and try to make the playoffs which hurts this team in the future. It doesn't get us anywhere. So hopefully Morey realizes that the Rockets are not going anywhere and they are at an all time worst, he need to start rebuilding ASAP. No more adding on average veterans and try to make another run for the playoffs and ends up in the 9th spot or maybe 8th or 7th spot and get swept out of the first round. Right now, rebuilding is the only thing they can do because they don't have a chance in signing a big star or trading for one. Unless they can somehow land a Dwight Howard and a Deron Williams but they don't have a chance. So its better to rebuild than be stuck in this same position for another year. You say thats cheating now but wait til next year when the Rockets are again in the 14th spot, you will regret them not rebuilding and getting the top 5 pick. Winning a few more meaningless games with veterans and ends up with the 14th pick is MUCH worst than losing more games while developing the young talents and end up with the top 5 pick.
Drafting Yao was the right choice at the time. We had a great big man, and ended up getting a great trade with TMAC. I would be fine doing something like this again. We just got unlucky with their injuries.
i was saying the were in the bottome 4, for three years in a row, and took those picks. nice name. loser.
This right here is why the argument for tanking blows. For years team tank and get nothing out of it because drafts rarely have franchise changing players in them. Looks like Anthony Davis is the only one this year, meaning NO gets a franchise changer thanks to Stern's "basketball reasons." Everyone else, at best gets a good starter or if someone develops a second franchise player that no one saw coming like Kobe at #13. THAT's who we need to be shooting for, the next type of Kobe surprise you out of nowhere kind of player.
If we tank two years to get the next Hasheem Thabeet and Kwame Brown, it's a dream come true. Perpetual 20 win seasons would be so much better than fighting for the playoffs, because it's fun to watch development. Sports aren't about entertainment.... but wait, what are sports for again?
Go ask a Bobcats fan if they would rather be in the Rockets situation now. Id be interested to hear their take. They are looking at trading their #2 pick right now for .... Rudy Gay... really? Thats what tanking on purpose gets you right there. The hope that you could trade that pick for a boderline all-star calliber player who is the third best player on a 6th - 8th seed team that gets paid a max salary. Either that or you take that pick with the risk that the player turns into Hasheem Thabeet. Its all blind luck unless there is another 2003 NBA draft which comes about once every 20 years. If that kind of draft comes around and the Rockets are still muddling around doing what they are doing... maybe I will change my tone a tad bit.
yes, we have to believe that Morey will draft Thabeet and Kwame Brown out of No. 1 and 2 picks all the time. Does mediocrity even have entertainment in it?
Trading pick for a boderline all-star calliber player is not tanking, it is anti-tanking. Tanking on purpose will get you #2 pick, not the maniac Bobcats management.
A must read article on tanking: http://www.freakonomics.com/2012/06/05/michael-jordan-the-bobcats-and-running-the-lottery-treadmill/
we won't be a legit contender until we tank, or get lucky at pick 14. NO Free agent that matters will come here.
Durant wasn't exactly a beast during his rookie year but he DEVELOPED into what we see today, all our young guys need is to feel comfortable on the court and they will start to shine.especially Morris and DONUT
Thank you! I am truly glad you read it. People really need a back ground before they pose their opinions. Informed opinions are so much more interesting.
Yes. For God's sake, it's the only way to rebuild this team. Look at the final four in the playoffs this year and how they got to contender status: San Antonio - Tanked the 1996-97 season to get a high pick. Luckily for them, they won the lottery and got Tim Duncan despite having only the 3rd worst record. I lived in that city during that season and trust me, despite all their injuries, there was no reason they should've only won 20 games. Since then they've won 3 1/2 titles and have been the most consistently dominant team in the league. Oklahoma City - Stunk for several years(including their last few seasons in Seattle) and were rewarded with Durant, Westbrook, and Harden, all picked 4th or higher in the draft. I don't think they intentionally tanked. They were just a young, bad team who made matters worse by hiring P. J. Carlesimo as their coach(hey, maybe they DID tank:grin. But being bad for several years helped lay the foundation for where they are today. Miami - Were mediocre one season and then really bad(25 wins) the following season. Their reward: Dwayne Wade with the #4 pick in 2003. His immediate impact on the franchise paved the way for Shaq wanting to be traded there which resulted in a title and several years later luring LeBron and Chris Bosh as free agents which will almost certainly lead to additional titles. All this because they were willing to be bad for a couple years. Boston - Willingly broke up a playoff squad that had made it as far as the Eastern Conference Finals. Well, at least Ainge was willing, despite many fans screaming for his head at the time. But he wisely deduced that that Conference Finals appearance was fool's gold and wanted to reload through the draft. A few years of mediocre teams(and one really bad one in 2007) resulted in a ton of young talent that was used in trades for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. The result: an overnight title team that won 66 games and made it within one quarter of another NBA title just 2 years later. The Rockets need to face reality. They don't play in a market like Miami, L.A., or New York where free agents will flock even when the team itself isn't any good. They've been in the lottery for 8 of the last 13 seasons(no, that's not a typo), so this isn't a franchise with a winning tradition to help lure top tier players. And they don't have what I would consider a roster chock full of young, promising talent that's just one star away from being an overnight contender(i.e. the Clippers right before Chris Paul got there). In other words, they've got to accept that the path to contender status is going to last at least a few years. It will be painful and ugly. And many fans(myself included) will get restless at times despite knowing in our hearts that this is the only way to return to the glory days of the Dream era. Because what they've doing for the last decade and a half clearly hasn't worked.
