Honestly, you know the answer to this. The franchise guys were taken before our picks. There were some guys better than Jalen taken after him, but were any of them franchise guys? I went back and looked. I couldn't figure out a way to make this team substantially better without somehow being able to trade up - and I doubt Detroit or San Antonio were doing that. Best case is talking OKC into giving us the second pick the year we took Jabari - and Chet isn't a franchise guy either.
his conclusion to that lengthy explanation should've been "and so we did nothing" instead of "and so we did what we did" Leaning into size & physicality, strategically speaking, is "doing nothing" and expecting growth from "continuity" when you have had a year of sh*tty locker room culture without cohesion and leadership is also pretty much "doing nothing". The way they referred to expectations of growth, it was obvious that the onus was on the players to improve & make a leap in some magical way. I mean in that way the press conference was good - it confirmed what many here feared that the front office & coaching are simple shepherds who made their draft picks and roster decisions based on some singular view and even when the results (low growth in terms of record & players' skill) proved them wrong, they're just going to stick to it unless a good deal materializes. They wouldn't even suggest that they have ideas that they want to explore with regards to improving the roster. Terrible. Zero accountability for losing to Lakers on Stone's part. And that answer at the end on the fact that he and Ime never disagree was just the proof in the pudding that the front office is incapable of making any proactive adjustments.
I miss 1st and 2nd round series wins. Stuck with this team struggling to get out of the first round 2 years in a row, but hey let's run it back with the worst basketball IQ team in the NBA and a 39 year-old leader...GOOD TIMES!!!
What an uninspiring press conference. I felt like I was being gaslighted. Hopefully Ime was lying the reporters like he lied to Sanaa.
Disagree! They said what I wanted to hear and I ran out and bought season tickets. Can’t wait to see the new and improved Tari next year after he practices harder this summer. We don’t need outside shooting personnel, as these guys will improve their shooting through a summer’s worth of practice. Stone should give Ime another extension while he’s at a bargain price!!! Nice to see the team’s future committed to such a competitive guy as Stone! Surprised no reporter brought up that Stone hasn’t made a trade deadline deal in six straight seasons. Spoiler alert: Rockets win 50 games and lose again in first round next year with no improvements at the trade deadline. You can’t make this stuff up!!!
It's clear that Rockets are trying control the narrative. However, their past actions does not support what we heard from them. I think there is internal conflict there between Stone and Ime. Ime wants to be in win now mode and Stone wants to compete for 10+ years as he has leaked it out to ESPN. Ime refused to play the young core during regular season (especially Reed) when it was obvious that he would raise the ceiling of the team. If Stone really wants to see his vision come the fruition he better force Ime's hand once again and trade KD while we still may be able to get something in return. The alternative where we trade one of the young core (i.e. Sengun) would mean than Stone has mostly given up on competing for 10+ years. If Taris is going to get above 15 to 20+ million per year he is going to be soon out from young core. That will reduce the core to 4 (Alpi, Reed, Amen and Jabari) without any clear indication that there is a superstar.
They don’t want to bring in another point guard to threaten Fred’s position. I knew that was part of the reason they didn’t trade for a pg. Stone pretty much admitted this. These dudes operating like they work for Fred
This is not something we need since we already have a PG who is streaky, can barely get people into sets, is turnover-prone, and can't defend at an NBA level: Reed Sheppard. He'll probably improve in many areas but how many years will it take?
Fred wasn't bringing much shooting before his injury. He's steady at bringing the ball up and can make a low-effort offensive system work.
As long as we hold on to our draft picks, our future will look good. We could potentially have two lottery picks in next year's draft. We may have to be content with being a first or second round playoff team while we continue to add talent through the draft and then develop them.
The gripe with Stone was mostly that he spoke with absolute certainty like he was the owner and not a subordinate.......full job security.
the problem is that next year’s draft is not good and this year’s draft is insanely good. We need to get into this draft. People keep talking about the 2027 picks but if the talent isn’t there…if there’s no franchise player…. we need to get into this 2026 draft. We have assets to do that. We have players that don’t fit, we’ve got a 37 yr old chemistry killa, we’ve got the assets to get into this draft, and we need to.
Houston press are too nice, no heat Team massively underachied Here is a question Pippsux from Cluthfans Have you considered changes to your coaching staff? You just lost to JJ Reddick, Scottie Brooks and Nate McMillan Any thought to helping Ime out with better assistants?
You guys seriously didn't expect something different right? I mean @J.R. could of written the script for us before the press conference even started.
