I agree with many of your points you outlined initially except the "hit the gas" thing at the end. They are on Amen's timeline not KD's. I am VERY confident in that statement.
the portland gm who drafted sharpe, scoot, and got penalized for tampering with yang? lol Uriji? He overpaid players like Jakob Poeltl, RJ Barrett, and Immanuel Quickley and he got bad value for OG and Siakm; he wasn't good in those final years in Toronto Anyway, the rockets won't win anything substantial with stone or udoka here and both seem in lockstep with each other which is worse
Does a team that did nothing to do address glaring weaknesses at the mid season deadline strike you as all in?
Like when Stone forced Ime to actually give Reed more of a chance by not addressing a point guard situation at the deadline?
They need to make good on that no.3 pick but it was so blantant that they just gave up on the season not getting anyone at the deadline and seeing guys like Ayo traded for cheap or Mccain traded for cheap. Now all their hope lies in Adams, FVV, and KD coming back from their injuries
Houston Rockets Trade Breakdown Change in Team Outlook: -1.7 ppg, -4.5 rpg, and -6.4 apg. Incoming Players Lauri Markkanen 28 year old, 7-1, 240 lb SF from Arizona 26.7 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 2.1 apg in 34.3 minutes in 2025-2026 Cody Williams 21 year old, 6-8, 190 lb F from Colorado 8.8 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 2.0 apg in 24.3 minutes in 2025-2026 Outgoing Players Alperen Sengun 23 year old, 6-11, 243 lb C from Besiktas Icrypex (Turkey) 20.4 ppg, 8.9 rpg, 6.2 apg in 33.3 minutes in 2025-2026 Dorian Finney-Smith 33 year old, 6-7, 220 lb SF from Florida 3.3 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 1.0 apg in 16.8 minutes in 2025-2026 Reed Sheppard 21 year old, 6-2, 185 lb G from Kentucky 13.5 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 3.4 apg in 26.2 minutes in 2025-2026
Not against shaking the core, but I wouldn't trade ANYONE of our young guys until we get a REAL coach who can draw plays, manage usage correctly and is not an overall douchebag!! The Pickle lies in the Owner who would rather be mediocre for the next five years rather than eat U-Dooky's contract. Rocket Nation!!! ....... ....... .......
I hate the Lauri contract, but the question I have “is Lauri that much worse on defense than Sengun?” If we could turn around and trade KD for a stretch five and sign or draft a decent 3&D shooting guard this year or next, it might work out. Amen, good sg, Jabari, Lauri, stretch 5 with rim protection. 4 out offense and good perimeter defense (save Lauri) with a rim protector. Much better prognosis than what we have now.
Trade your future away to never win anything, having any of those old aging stars on our team is not going to get you better then OKC or Spurs, you're in favour of never winning anything
Re-read what I said, then respond. If you're going to ignore the post, don't bother quoting me. For clarity, you'd trade absolutely anything for Sengun, stop trying to act like you have any rational takes, you don't. Your post history proves it.
If your statement is true, then they should trade KD. I understand keeping Fred as the table setter/babysitter, but KD is much older and has not been good for the culture. Personally, I would take Miami's pick plus Tyler Herro and some salary filler - let Pat Riley and KD ride off into the sunset together.
I am not a doomer about our positioning long term, as many on this board are, but I agree with you about the concern. My fear is that Stone believes he personally succeeds and keeps his job only by winning with some permutation of our current group, or our current group + an ugly trade for an older star. That he spent his capital as a GM drafting in those four drafts, hiring Ime, signing FVV/Adams, and trading for KD. That he’ll be judged by their success/failure, so there’s no point to any other draft picks or young players because they won’t help him - they’d help a future iteration of the Rockets that he isn’t in charge of. I hope this isn’t true, but I would not be shocked. And then we’re in deep trouble.
I think a lot of us trying too hard to get into the minds of these folks instead of just looking at actions. From my perspective, the actions suggest this is a team with flexibility that committed to a short window. I'm not dismissing the actual concerns surrounding the development issues or what to do with Sengun and Amen, but it's getting a bit exaggerated.
