I don't have a big problem with the rebuilding process. That said, I have a problem with overly blaming the vets, and the belief that the young guys will be better without them. Granted, I think the young guys will generally improve. I just doubt they improve by enough to offset the loss of the vets while becoming very expensive preventing other talent from being brought in. I'm not as much of a fan of Brown as most. I worry the cost to acquire Brown would be high. To me, it would need to be something like Sengun and JSJ and no picks. I just don't see that working for Milwaukie unless they can ship one or two of those off to Portland for picks. Though, Portland would just cut the Rockets out if they were willing to deal picks.
Why would you assume that? Even so…. KD averaging 25% less PPG on good efficiency still puts him around 20 PPG. 20PPG on +40% 3 pt is still very productive. KD had a monster season being doubled team and blitzed. That’s just going to drop off next season?
That's a fine assumption. My assumption is that removing KD makes it dramatically harder for the Rockets such that the Rockets need to either jam this season (or preferably at least not punt and see how things go) or send actual significant resources to the future. Getting rid of the vets will not turn the young guys to contenders.
It’s the constant churn and the constant blaming of the vets and everything. With all the players like Giannis, Brown, and Mitchell the devil is in the details. But ASSuming the Rockets are just cooked and have no choice rebuild is simply crazy.
I see the “not going to move the needle” crowd is back in action. As if basketball is about the home-run move.
That’s still crazy to me. He is relatively old and had just had a very productive season taking on an oversized role. Even a 25% drop in production is still highly productive.
In order or preference: 1) Another team stupidly trades a star to Rockets cheaply. 2) Wait and see until the deadline to see if young guys improve or if vets have better health. Prefereably both. Make decision at deadline or next offseason on if to jam, rebuild, or need more time. 3) Go full tilt rebuild. Trade a couple of the young guys and KD to give the Rockets an actual rebuild. 4) Trade away vets if can be done for FRPs. Assume young guys will grow enough in 2-3 years to make up for them becoming expensive and not having KD. 5) Stupidly overpay for a "star". I think the odds are higher than I like that the Rockets have to do a true rebuild soon. That said, internal growth is not linear. I'd like to see if the young guys pop or not.
Old guys break. I expect KD is going to be good one year and not the next. While I'm not sure when this happens exactly, I expect it to be soon enough that I would not bank on him too far in the future. Granted, I expect any pick acquired for him will be done on that understanding such that trading him for a pick just spreads out his value across a few years. One of the Rockets' problems is that their value is not consolidated.
Because he's going to be 38 years old and historically that's when a lot of former superstars finally fall off a cliff. Dirk is a good recent example with a similar style of play. Age 37 was the last year he put up really high level production. There are exceptions like LeBron but they are rare.
A true rebuild has very little chance happening in the next couple of season. I don’t get why folks still think this is an option? “Stupidly overpay for a star” is just how sports work. I think Stone would prefer a Harden/Halliburton like deal but that’s not always realistic. We’ve literally been hoarding assets to do exactly what you think is stupid.
We literally have him on contract for two more seasons…. Quantity what you think his production looks like in two seasons…. Is he averaging 15PPG? Help me out here
Relatively old. LOL. He is 38. You also always ignore that he did get hurt at the most crucial time of the season. You also don't acknowledge that he has had an injury plagued career. He only played 62 games for Phoenix the year before. Most of us aren't advocating a full re-build, we are advocating a re-set of the roster to be more balanced going into the future. You are being too emotional trying to hold on to hope that by some miracle getting another old guy that doesn't fit our offense or getting back a 32 year old bottom 5 pg in the league is going to suddenly make this team competitive with the likes of OKC and SA. Building a championship roster takes patience. Making strategic moves to get younger and to re-balance our roster is the more prudent action. It is not panicking it is being realistic. KD shot great. He also is slow, turns the ball over, is a liability on defense, and is an awful teammate. Getting a player that fits better with our young core and a draft pick as a return for KD is absolutely the best thing for this team.
He banged knees during practice, that only happens to 38 year old players? LOL This is my issue.... You and posters like @Nook just seem intentionaly ignorant about the greater injury issue occurring in the NBA. OG Anunoby is 28 and has missed 220 games in his career and was a key contributor to a championship run. Players are having major injuries at a younger age. The average amount of games missed now is now closer to 15-20 games per season. Pretty much every MVP candidate and many of the first All NBA players barely made the minimum games played. So knowing that: In the past 3 seasons Durant has played 78, 62, and 75 games. That's literally better than the average games missed in the NBA. I would imagine both Tatum and Tyrese will have a pretty injury plagued season next year like Durant had when he came back from his Achilles. Rebuild and reset sound like the same thing..... Retool sounds more like what you want where we take a small back to hopefully take a big step forward. No. I am being realistic about what the ownership wants to do and not what fans what to do. They don't have this "if you ain't first you're last" mindset that many of y'all have where you want to "retool" or "rebuild" at the first major adversity. The ownership wants to put KD and Amen or Sengun with a Mitchel, Brown, Giannis, or player X. We literally have hoarded assets, made these FVV/DFS/Capela type contracts to aggregate, and kept flexible for this exact purpose. To be clear, I think the FO prefers to trade for a star in the 25-30 age range but those don't come available often and are very expensive unless you pull a Harden/Tyrese (which I believe they also want). The NBA doesn't work where you just get to pick a 27 year old budding super star... every season brings a new sampler tray of potential stars. This ioffseason we know all the names and we will found out if there's any player x star. Despite everything you said about KD.... he was literally our only ALL NBA Player last season which is not a fan voted award. Like FVV, I think you consistently blame the vets instead of the real issue. Getting younger doesn't guarantee anything more than moving forward, except you get the endless dreams of draft potential.
I think it's something like a 50/50 chance that he has a season-ending injury next season given the way we over-utilized him (2nd most minutes in the NBA). I mean obviously I don't know the exact odds, I'm just saying that whatever they are, they're far too high for my liking. But yes, I think even if he stays healthy, his production is likely to start dipping. 15 points per game? I don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me. Maybe not next season, but the one after? Could be?
This is a panic trade with a coach and GM trying to save their jobs. But it’s only terrible if we overpay. Unfortunately I can’t see KD having the yr he did last yr. We have no foundational star to pair with JB. JB does not make us a contender, and he will kill our cap. But again, most important is to avoid overpaying.
Wow..... 50% he has a season ending injury next year. Production drops by almost half to 15PPG? Is that also next season or just within the 2 year contract. That seems a bit high....and seems just kinda licking your finger and sticking it in the wind. It could be.... I think KD averaging 15PPG seems the least likely. Do you think the Rockets intend(ed) to use KD as much they did last year going forward?
I don't think he will drop to 15ppg next season while healthy, no. Probably a significantly smaller dip than that, but still a dip. The season after next, all bets are off, especially if he does get hurt. He will be age 39. How many players have been capable of all-star caliber play at age 39? (Actually, StatMuse has the answer: Three since 1980. Kareem, MJ, and LeBron. That's it. Maybe KD will join that group, but I'll believe it when I see it.)
