First - a lot of general managers have a more in depth understanding of basketball than Stone. The ones that don't, surround themselves with people that are former coaches and players. The Rockets have not done that under Stone. Also - no, that wasn't Stone (it hasn't worked all that well anyway), Udoka did that already and SA did a version of that years ago. Stone isn't terrible --- but there are better ones out there, and better organizations.
why do you think they needed to cut salary? Thats just all they were able to get along with 2nd round picks. Those players were dirt cheap Again the pelicans arent desperate to cut 4 million dollars lol. Bulls were not desperate to cut 1 million dollars
You're misunderstanding my overall argument. I'm not hating on Stone. I'm being critical of his decisions compared to GMs building actual title contenders. My critique isn't about hindsight. I'm NOT saying Stone should've predicted FVV's ACL tear. I'm saying elite GMs build insurance against predictable injury risk. Stone extended a 32-year-old FVV at $25M who had already missed 22 games the prior season. He signed DFS to $12.7M with prior knowledge that he requires ankle surgery. He didn't add veteran guard depth. When FVV went down, we had no Plan B and the season derailed. That's not bad luck - that's putting all your chips on aging, injury-prone players staying healthy during KD's championship window. The alternative? Use the $14M MLE on someone like Ty Jerome at $8.8M per year. He's efficient, durable (played 70 games), and playoff-proven. Start Jerome, develop Reed Sheppard as backup. You'd have depth that doesn't collapse from one injury. Look at the contrast: all signs point to Tatum returning before the playoffs, which is most likely the reason the Celtics decided to manage their current roster accordingly. We lost FVV and we're looking at a first-round exit. Stone built a roster that requires perfect health to contend. That's not hindsight. That's critiquing the roster construction philosophy of betting everything on injury prone veterans versus building championship-level depth. I'm holding Stone to a higher standard, not the tanking team standard.
@roslolian We can agree to disagree, especially when it comes to how you and I perceive Stone's overall GM performance. I have my standards and you have yours, maybe mine is higher, hence the debate. At the end of the day, as long as he can take this team to the promised land with the resources he has, then that's what I'm excited about. Maybe we can grab a beer and have discussions over the Rockets when I visit Manila one of these days.
Based on what? How could you objectively say Stone’s bball knowledge is worse than most GMs? You’ve been persistently negative about Stone. Big lineups aren’t new…. We can agree to disagree about the innovation. I think the Rockets went more into winning the possessions battle earlier than other organizations. Well no one is arguing the Rockets have the best GM or organization or even top 5…. I would argue that Stone has been above average based on the results so far.
Why do you assume Stone is building a championship contender roster this season? We still have a very young core that we still need to evaluate and pay…. Im pretty sure all of Stone’s moves have loudly indicated this isn’t an all in season. I think this is the disconnect…. Stone isn’t going all in this season despite what you want or think.
Based on his background in basketball - based on how he has constructed a roster that does not fit well together, based on the absolute dearth of people within the upper levels of the organization that have coached or even played at the highest levels. He hired two journalists to be high level scouts - he did everything possible to prevent TF bringing in someone like JVV to be VP of the team. He has resisted bringing in people that know basketball at a very high level. He even hired Silas as a HC and then wanted to attend all the practices and offer tips and critiques. No - I have been honest about Stone and what he has been good at and not good at. Even in this thread I have said that he isn't a bad GM. What the Rockets are doing now came from Udoka - and Udoka learned it with SA. Also - winning the possession battle isn't anything new either. Okay - he may be above average, I think that is a fair position to have. I don't think Stone is terrible - he is smart, he is cautious and well prepared and that will keep him in the middle of the league when it comes to being a GM. I also haven't said I would "just fire him", I would only move on from him for someone that is better, or support replacing him if I had confidence in TF in choosing a replacement - and I don't really have that confidence at that point.
There isn't really a "go all in" season, it is all just kind of aimless and see what happens. At this point he has to know that he doesn't have the talent to beat OKC or SA going forward - so he will have to hope something shakes loose. The problem is that the salaries for these young players are going to be going up, and the Rockets will be hamstrung if several of these guys do not make a major leap forward. It CAN happen, Boston for example recently did it -- but skepticism is warranted IMO.
I see your point but trading for KD might indicate that we are going all in. As a matter of fact, I don't think any GM actually goes all in in that sense. They should still operate with some sort of contingency given how injuries are unpredictable
He has not made any great Follow up moves to suggest he really wants to go all in on KD....... his demeanor more than not indicates a Wait and See approach which is deadly for Kevin Durant and his burners. I am sure he has made Top 10-12 GM but his timidity and no deadline moves at all .....I cannot give him Top 5 or Top 3.
Actions always speak louder. We traded for Durant and essentially peed and went to bed the rest of the offseason and did nothing at the mid season trade deadline. Our contingency plan was a combo of Amen/Sengun/Reed because we don't even know if Amen and Sengun will be our franchise players. Much less what we actually had in Reed heading into the 2025 season.
That seems a bit strong.... I don't think there's anything aimless about seeing what we have in our young core in the context of competing in the playoffs. Things change in the NBA, as I don't know how long "going forward" is, but the NBA is very competitive and we don't know if we have a core that can contend. Maybe.... But it's better to think about it as % of the cap. Both Jalen Green and Sengun are ~22% of the cap but Sengun has a longer contract. Jabari will be ~13% of the cap after this season. I think Stone has shown he is not going to overcommit with rookie extensions. Even if Amen gets 25% (he's eligible for up to 30%), do you think we wouldn't be able to move that? If anything, I think Stone is pretty elite at negotiations and cap management. Jalen Green has 2 years remaining on his contract (player option 2027 season) which was a really good move Stone. Even a contract like DFS isn't guaranteed after next season and can be used to build up a larger trade.
Again, how does that actually compare to the rest of the 29 other organizations? Stone inherited a rebuild under the context of the disastrous CP3/WB trade and despite all of those things you just said he has an objectively impressive turnaround: Bottom 4 to top 4 in the West within 5 seasons. We still have our war chest of assets (BKN 2027 pick looks juicy and young blue chip players on multi year deals). No chance at Cade or Wemby despite being put in the best position for the odds. No.... but we really leaned into the trend after the league had a decade of "moreyball" with smaller, quicker, more 3 point minded lineups. We ended up drafting and acquiring a bunch of wings, oversized wings, and centers. Just like spamming 3 pointers could work the math in your favor.... bludgeoning and overwhelmingly winning the possession battle could work the math in your favor. You could argue that Detroit and Magic also went this route, the latter seeming to be stuck in mud. I think Stone and Ime have created a pretty good base with defense/effort/winning possessions but I think we all know that is not the final step in having a true contender. It'll be 6 years since we've traded Harden after this season, I think where we are takes a bit of top 15 GM work and good coaching. TBD if the GM and coach are great.
If Ime was the Dallas GM, he would definitely trade away Luka for a bag of chips because that fat dude doesn't play defense.
