I don't think Lakers lose too much sleep they got a ring. Granted if they were more patient the Lakers window of competing would have been wider
Sad thing about all this losing to get the #1 pick is that The Spurs will end up with number #1 pick. Boo!! H-Town Crazy! Go Rockets!
Man, people really b**** and moan about everything. What did people expect from this season? Yes, coaching is terrible, but at least we can look at some bright spots: Sengun is really coming into his own, even if that's organic. I'm sure the coaching staff had something to do with it. Nevertheless, lots of pieces that don't quite fit and the offense doesn't flow all that well because: This team is YOUNG (younger than the Cougars FFS) Due to youth, defense is predictably horrible There is no true pointguard This was a throwaway year, and honestly I think the panic is overblown about how "damaging" the losing is to young players. If this team had veterans who were trying to compete then there would be rightful b****ing about how the young players need playing time. The West is absolutely STACKED and the right decision was to use this as a practice year, see what sticks and go from there, starting after the 2023 draft. Hopefully the team gets a top-2 pick. If they don't then I would anticipate some sort of package trade to upgrade the talent as well as clarify roles and get rid of redundancy. Most of the young players have some real positive upside (except for Nix, unfortunately). Not everyone will be a star, but pressure is on this offseason, leading into 2023-24. In my opinion, as much as losing sucks, hedging to deliberately lose now is worth the risk and gamble of getting a top-2 pick, while "waiting out" the aging teams in the West. Even with a top-2 pick, this team isn't a contender next year. The biggest challenge is obtaining a new coach that will be interested in coming into a rebuild, but at least with more talent. I don't think Silas is the answer at all, and while I do think someone like Lucas would be a major improvement, the risk is his coaching flaws might hold back the team in 2-3 years. Would it be better to have Lucas over Silas? Absolutely, but I also don't know that Lucas is the best option long-term. I'm confident Stone has all of the above in mind.
This sucks no doubt, but we haven't done anything like this since 2001. I think we are a bit spoiled and have cause for concern. Take a look at the record... only one season under .500 and 4 missed playoffs from 2002 to 2019.... Take a look at Tilman... While I'm wary of Tilman, he did the most prudent thing when we lost Harden and had the Westbrook trade (Tilman's fault) looming over our future. Whether doing a Hinkie style, rock bottom tank job over trying to balance bottoming out and building healthy habits/culture was the most prudent choice remains to be seen.
Many respects pop this league…besides they wouldn't throw a genius to dummy hc who refuses to run plays for their 3rd pick lol
But patience is rarely rewarded, when is the last team to do a ground up rebuild, was it Golden State? And they were bad for 20 years. DD
If that happens then we should just send the Goon squad to take out Wemby early on (genuinely joking before people get all pissy at me)
Yeah…we all loves winning. nobody loves watching paint dry (except diehard fans), that's another reason vets not willing to get along n help this team tanking, not mention no any longer term engagement being offered by this franchise.
I think people here really need to engrave the fact that the average starter age of the Rockets is younger than the average starter age for the Cougs. Puts a lot of things into perspective
Luck played a role, but being prudent also played a role. They could've been stuck with John Wall and Victor Oladipo...plus no young talent like Smith or Green. THAT alternative would be worse than the current situation as it would've delayed a full-on rebuild. This is what I think people can't appreciate: Rockets were destined for a rebuild either way, so why not go scorched earth and rip the band-aid off? Morey wanted to do this, but couldn't (he certainly was a wizard, but luck was also in order when Harden became available). Imagine the alternative timeline where Houston got Gasol in that overruled trade with the Hornets, then signed Bosh. That would've meant no Harden.
This X 1000. Wall, Dipo, EG, Capela, McLemore, House, Hartenstein and Anderson is a first or second round exit no matter the matchup or luck. Now we have young talent, another high draft pick (top 5 or 6 at worst), and ****-tons of cap space. WARNING TO ALL: Even if we get Wemby or Scoot, we will still suck next year and struggle to make the playoffs, regardless of who's coaching the team. The year after that, we'll likely be around .500 and get some playoff experience. And THEN, if all goes well, we can start to compete. Of course, all of this is dependent on whether we can acquire a star or two, which could knock a year off that timeline.
Things are bad right now but things can change in a year. We have talent(Green, Sengun, Smith and Tari), high draft pick and 65 million dollars to spend on 3 free agents. We just need a point guard, two shooters and a new shooting coach…..oh yeah a new head coach in April!
You do realize that these vets have $$ at stake in their desires to join playoff teams and cash playoff checks rather than babysit these kids??? No, more money wouldn't make them want to leave .... no way. Here's an article by a former Fab 5 member, NBA player & ESPN-ABC analyst - Jalen Rose. Have yourself a read, and one less reason to shiit on the team. Money Talks. How Much Does Nba Players Make In The Playoffs? - Metro League Who wouldn't want to leave for another $894k ....
Don't get people's hopes up! We will NOT be a playoff team next year unless we import at least one star and two other starting-caliber players. It won't happen. That's is. I'm adding "Looking forward to possibly making the playoffs again in 2025" to my sig.
That is a good fact. The Rockets players will get better. They are very young and poorly coached. The question is how much better and if they will be good enough to compete for a title. The Rockets will likely be a playoff team in the next few years, but the jump from first round fodder to title contender is massive.
There is a pool of money for the playoffs. It was like 25 million total for the 16 teams a few years ago. That 25 million isn’t evenly split over the 16 teams. The farther a team gets, the more of the pool they get. I want to say I’m 2019 the pool for a first round playoff exit was like $300,000 per team, split over 16 players and sometimes trainers and staff get part. So that’s less than $20,000 per player from the playoff pool for round 1. There are a few players that have bonuses in their contracts but most don’t. Some teams vote to have an equal split, some vote to do a prorated percentage. So, unless something has changed in the last few years, the vast majority of players are not going to playoff teams for money - they are going because they want to win. The Rockets are probably the least attractive spot for a veteran. They have been the worst team in the league, the current power structure for the Rockets has a bad reputation and players don’t want to deal with young players and a clueless head coach. Now maybe it has changed recently, but not that I am aware of.
