To get better you have to eliminate the festering of the wound clean house completely Everyone including the ball boys shouldn’t get comfortable
We're the opposite of that. We need a GM that sees people as assets and big names as shiny gold objects.
Yeah, pretty much. Get rid of Stone and Ime. Amen, is untouchable as far I'm concerned. It would take A LOT to pry Jabari away at this point. I've got some flexibility on Reed, but I want to see what he can do another year older, and with a different coach. (as with Jabari, it would take a lot) The rest of them...Adios.
season ended over two weeks ago, unless Ime and Raf take time to be with their family, the rockets are running it back with those two
Do you trust Tilman to hire the right people? He doesn’t even give a fck about the organization anymore If Stone is kept on? Do you trust him to hire the right coach? People are talking about we should go into another rebuild. Do you trust Stone to make the right picks in the draft? We also have Patrick Fertitta involved in roster decisions. His basketball experience? Zero. And we know he’s not going anywhere if anything, if his dad does start paying attention to the organization again, he’ll realize we got embarrassed by GS last year and then an injured Lakers team this year and demand some stars are brought in (think Russell Westbrook trade)
We need new leadership across the board. Watched the playoffs last night and know immediately 33 year old FVV on a repaired knee is not the difference in any world we live in with beating OKC and the Spurs. They continue to become more dominant with decent first round picks in this extremely strong upcoming draft. Not buying at all that FVV puts us into their realm. Trade KD, DFS, FVV, etc. and begin a new rebuild as our last one failed.
Funny, I was considering starting a thread about starting over .... mentioned it in another thread where someone suggested taking on AD's contract for assets - the only way you take on two years of that $60m anchor around your cap's neck is if you are blowing it up and starting over .... I don't think the front office will do that - their evaluation is much this team is much more promising that what Clutchfans believes. If it were me, I'd trade everyone, KD, Sengun, Reed, Amen, Tari, Uncle Jeff and even Jabari .... He's no franchise cornerstone but he's the least flawed out of this bunch, him actually taking a leap is more probable than Sengun becoming an above the rim defensive anchor with a 3 ball, Amen learning to shoot from anywhere, Reed growing half a foot .... or KD defeating Father Time. Just give me matching salary that equates to enough talent to stay out of the bottom five of the lottery and as many unprotected picks as I can get.
So Sengun isn't the franchise player? Rockets are going to be mediocre just like Tilman's restaurants as long as he's the owner. I honestly can't believe how disinterested I am in them after being a diehard fan for 35 years.
Complete rebuild is the way to go. I know people are getting hung up on the Owner/GM/Coach etc. That doesn't matter if you get your hands on a superstar at the top of the draft. Maybe you don't win a championship because they can't put together a great roster. But, if you get a Lebron/Wemby or even an Ant type guy at the top of the draft you'll win a ton of games, playoff series' and you can figure the rest out later.
I said this in another thread, but the current versions of OKC and San Antonio will not be around forever. They'll likely get very expensive very quickly, and the aprons will make it hard for the small markets to retain everyone. Also, the jury is still out on whether Wemby and Chet can endure long-term. But it would be foolish to trade future assets to compete right now. To the contrary, I would sell off Durant, Fred, and Steven for picks and/or guys still in their 20s. I would also use restricted free agency to keep Amen's next contract as low as possible with an eye towards future flexibility. Patience should be the watchword. All that being, even if OKC and San Antonio level off a bit, you'll still need to be smart to catch up to them. That means (i) no overvaluing/overpaying/gifting minutes to guys just because you drafted them, (ii) no wish-casting (ex: Amen will develop a shot, Steven will stay healthy, etc), (iii) not favoring a particular type of player or a specific philosophy to the exclusion of other possibilities, and (iv) not falling back on gimmicks (ex: shooting only 3s, over-committing for offensive rebounds, all-wings, etc). One last thing: You're in the same conference with SGA, Wemby, Joker, and Luka. It will never be easy. You'll need a coach who exudes positivity - I'm talking about a Shawshank-level of hope. And Ime is not that coach.
Go let Stone, Ime, FVV, KD, and Adams be all they can be next season. Hopefully it looks bad enough for some real change. Sign a backup PG with a couple bench pieces but don’t waste assets on trades. DFS or Tari + 2nds for Ty Jerome about the most I’d do See where the Nets & PHX pick lands and sell the farm next offseason accordingly. Keep Sengun as a trade option to move up in next years draft if possible. Amen & Jabari are the only ones I care to keep
The easiest way to get get rid of Stone is to run it back with the squad we had last year. That’s the team he constructed to win it all. If they fail, you’ve got valid reason to fire him with FVV and DFS coming off the books. That gives a new GM some room to work with instead of making a bunch of knee jerk moves that hamstring the new guy. Give Stone one additional year to prove that this squad can do it. If they can’t, then move on. Just don’t wait one year too long and put your team into purgatory the way the Sixers did.
I had some hope after the Lakers series that they were going to at least move on from Stone. I didn't think they'd get rid of Ime due to his new contract. But even getting rid of Stone looks like it won't happen at this point, I think if they were going to do it they would have done it quickly. My impression just from the little bit of info you can glean online is that Patrick Fertitta, whatever his other flaws (I'm sure they are numerous), does care about the team winning, but I don't know if he has the freedom to spend that much of his dad's money or fire/hire guys in important leadership roles like the GM and the head coach. He may even be the one calling the shots on some of the bad roster moves behind the scenes and unwilling to admit his mistakes. Who knows.
