I just find the weird emotional arguments the weakest.... Like all these owners, GMs, and many NBA players are narcissists at this level.
All of the GMs in the league except ours like to take accountability to the media. Remember when Sam Presti traded Sengun to us for nothing and said "I gotta do better, y'all. It's on me."? Remember Morey telling Paul George to his face "I totally regret overpaying you."? Remember when Bob Myers committed seppuku over drafting James Wiseman? Why can't Stone do that?
I agree with everything you said had we not traded for KD and extended him. KD is on the books for the next 3 years and the team will be in the luxury tax. For Fertitta to dodge the much heavier repeater tax penalties, he will have to get under the tax in years 4 and 5. Meaning the Rockets next true competitive window after KD's presumed retirement will be in 2031. There's just no way around the fact that the Rockets are likely as good as they will ever be this year and next. Stone's strategy pretty much lock this team into 1st and 2nd round exits in the forseeable future.
That's pretty dumb. The best thing he could do to save his job is build a winner .... which he has, even if not perfect.
You don’t have to double down and say stuff that’s just plain silly. U say something like, “we expect dfs to be back playing at a high level next yr”, or something like that. But honestly my concerns with Stone are less emotional and more about his decision-making. You point out that he took us from the basement to 5th in the west. But I remember what it was like before Ime. Stone’s decisions were a big reason for our bad reputation. Trying to build the team around bad character guys like Wood and KPJ. Busting on our highest draft pick since Yao. The Silas era. There was a reason Wemby cheered when Houston didn’t get the top pick. Stone trading our picks back to Brooklyn and sitting out this generational draft was a big mistake. As was giving Ime a premature and unnecessary extension. But I dont think Stone is a terrible GM. I just don’t like GMs that don’t take accountability, which he doesnt do. We still don’t have our franchise guy after 4 top 4 picks. Our player development hasn’t been good. so yeah, I don’t enjoy listening to the guy talk, but mainly I don’t think he’s made great decisions.
KD is under contract for the next two seasons, not three. There is no guarantee we pay the luxury tax both seasons either, as FVV will be expiring next season and DFS' contract is non guaranteed. Whether we are a luxury tax team will depend on how much we extend Tari and Amen for, if we even extend Tari at all. If this team doesn't look like a contender next season I wouldn't be surprised if the team explores KD trades to either retool or rebuild. If the team does look like a contender I think Fertitta might just pay the luxury tax penalties until the window closes.
See that’s not a valid source. There’s an outlandish claim being made that it requires 9 years to make an assessment of one trade. The average GM lasts 4-5 years. There’s no universe in which someone is afforded 9 years to be proven right. The fact that one journalist decided that for his own personal reasons he will evaluate it in 2027 (btw still before Stone’s timeline) is irrelevant. It’s a really crazy claim and obviously as a matter of fact no one has ever been given that kind of time and no one will ever be given 9 years to assess the viability of a trade that includes many future picks. Stone was behind the WB trade, this is a fact that has come from an insider that has been right more often than any ESPN or X journalists. Where have you been? We’ve had plenty of real and fake insiders on here, it’s well documented. It’s the reason Stone has his job, he stabbed Morey in the back by telling Tillman Morey was wrong to oppose it. He set the franchise back and then asked for 9 years to be judged for the trade to replenish our picks. Anyway, the key point is he won’t get 9 years and it’s hilarious he thinks that’s reasonable. Everything he does indicates he’s a person who sees his job as lying to a rich guy in order to shovel as much money into his own pocket as possible. He screwed up the initial trade and has been trying to desperately make up for it ever since.
Tell the dude we ripped the whole team down because it had a ceiling of 3rd/4th in the West. Anyone can bring a team to 5th in their conference if they don’t mind that being their ceiling. The game is about how to become a real contender for a title.
This team with FVV (or any competent point guard) would probably be #2 or 3 in the west and look like real a contender. The problem was FVV got hurt and there was really no financial way to fix that, especially with FVV having a pseudo no trade clause and being 1.2m away from the hard cap at the first apron. And further, throwing away assets for a short term fix (rental) is detrimental to the future and would have eaten away at Shepard's minutes. You had no shot at White and you had no shot at Dosunmu, maybe you could have gotten Alvarez instead of him going to the Knicks .... but was it worth sending out Tari and benching Reed for what has been a career backup?
He has not built a winner yet, if he relied on draft picks to lead you to the Playoffs,yes. He has used the short cuts FVV and Dillon, and now Durant. I admit he bet on those guys and somehow got 30 year olds to act like tigers. But it is not building, it is putting band aids. I guess you have players like Alpe, Amen, Reed and it is not totally buying players like Luka. The Celtics built with Jaylen and Jayson, that is building. The Spurs built with Wemby, Castle, Harper. OKC traded for a young player in Shai......and built the whole team around him.
Nope. We’d maybe be better defensively, though Amen is a far better defender at POA. Offensively we’d just be taking shots from Durant, Amen, Sengun and Reed and giving it to a guy who shot 38% from the field and 34% from 3 when he was younger and before he got injured. We’d be a different team. We’d maybe win a couple more games. There’s no fixing of two non-shooters on the floor. We are at the same ceiling with this team as we were before making ourselves older and giving up a pick. The only difference is we’re about to play a much easier first round matchup. This is false. Trades were not impossible. They were just difficult or required maneuvering - as you yourself told me. You find it a bad idea to acquire an asset worth its value for one of our tradable assets and that’s a fair opinion but that’s not an actual constraint. The fact of the matter is difficult and inconvenient choices could be made but they chose not to. Capela, Tari, Adams, Tate, Holiday, Okogie are all players who we have alternatives for and their absence would have been much easier to patch up. Even DFS was technically tradable as you confirmed a few months ago. Not that anyone would take him without a pick, but technically possible. Again, I understand there were no trades you liked or players you thought we should trade but that’s not an actual constraint. As you yourself told me, it’s not true that we literally could not make a trade. We’ve discussed a couple of times that we don’t agree on what would be a feasible trade.
What trades? White wasn’t an option making 13 mil. Neither was Dosunmu who went for 4 second rounders and Dillingham and another rental due for a big pay day this summer. Alverado isn’t starting material. Who else could the Rockets obtain? One of the challenges for GM’s is how much do you give up and risk not having assets for future acquisitions and trades?
I think the team was desperate for a star post Harden and saw potential in both Wood and KPJ and bought low. The team was rebuilding so I didn’t think those were bad deals. And remember the KPJ deal only guaranteed the first year. It’s easy to talk about or judge in hindsight but I think Stone makes wise decisions. The JG pick didn’t pan out but again the Rockets had no dominant scorer and Green was highly touted. He really wanted Cade but Detroit didn’t budge. Again easy to look back in hindsight.
we are not a 32yr old FVV away from contending with OKC and the Spurs. That’s laughable based on the season we just witnessed . Come on man.
we relegated our top young prospect to 2nd fiddle in a backcourt with KPJ. A guy who had been kicked off two teams. A guy Mobley’s father thought was so detrimental, he didn’t even allow his son to work out for Houston. It’s not that Stone took a chance on KPJ. That’s perhaps understandable. It’s the fact that he literally elevated the kid to “head honcho” and tried to build a team around him, including subjugating the fit with our best prospect. Turns out all the while KPJ was doing things like getting physical with John Lucas? No wonder our culture and rep was in the toilet. That’s one example of terrible judgement. And when KPJ inevitably was kick off his 3rd team, this time for domestic violence, Stone says, he could not have foreseen this. Takes no responsibility, no accountability. But that’s water under the bridge. Are u happy we are sitting out this generational draft when we could have had a top pick? Or is that not Stone’s mistake either?
This season isn't over. So I am counting this season. But if you want to know the salary layout it's like this. This year - Over the tax Next year - almost guaranteed to be over the tax unless major cost cutting moves. 2028 - FVV/DFS off the books. Amen's max or near max contract starts. KD still on the books. Nearly impossible to field a competitive team without being over the tax. 2029 - First year with KD off the books. Can duck under the tax if make no major additions. But again, unlikely to compete for title when you lose an all-star caliber player. 2030 - If the Rockets stay under the tax, will reset penalties 2031 - Rockets can freely spend money again for their next run So yeah, unless Fertitta suddenly decide he's spending with the big boys going into repeater tax territory, this is basically a consistent 50-win team with minimal playoff upside.
