Brooks is just another 12-13 ppg player without the green light to shoot everything that Memphis granted him. So it is not that hard to be Brooks......I do think he is crazy and good on Defense though. Brooks is slow and below average shooter though, that is why I think he should not be a sure fire starter.
The right decision. Just concerning that Fertitta and Stone were open to it and Udoka had to convince them not to.
Great news that the FO is actually listening to the HC. Also that the HC doesn't care about ruffling feathers. The young guys will appreciate this too and buy in more easily. Hope we bring him back after we make a conference finals without him.
Actually I would feel even better if Tillman wanted him, but listened to the people who are the experts. That shows maturity and I do not believe he showed that same restraint when we made the worst trade in Rockets history (Westbrook)
This is the biggest thing to me, that they are listening to the coach and not forcing their decisions on him.
Great news that the FO is actually listening to the HC. Also that the HC doesn't care about ruffling feathers. The young guys will appreciate this too and buy in more easily. Hope we bring him back after we make a conference finals without him.
I don't know. Udoka definitely made the right decision, but it's concerning to me that it appears like Fertitta and Stone don't have the discipline to keep to their long-term plan to build a contender. I didn't like the plan to tank because of the risk involved (#1 pick isn't guaranteed) and the damage it does to the organization's reputation and the development of players already on the team. But, the willingness to abandon that plan for Harden makes Fertitta look desperate. Harden to Houston never made sense given what he wanted (max contract, basketball freedom, and competing for a championship). In order to make it work, we were going to have to trade either Sengun, Green, or Smith plus draft capital to put pieces around Harden. Harden was a shortcut to relevancy that ultimately led to nowhere.
I can live with this as Ime is trying to build a team culture. However, I can't live with giving Brooks a 4 year contract for 80 million guaranteed and having the privilege of giving up multiple picks and trading away potentially good players to make it happen.
I'm pretty sure this was part of the deal with Udoka - we'll sign you out of the timeout chair but we're going to toss you under the bus for unpopular decisions (and believe it or not, contrary to the vocal minority people on this board, signing harden would have been a popular decision among most casual fans)
Maybe the casual fan would want Harden back. But it is certainly not just a "vocal minority" on this board who don't want him signed for a long term big contract. On the contrary, one can argue only a vocal minority on this board are FOR it.
It's important for the coach and the GM to be in close contact, but I would be wary about the idea of giving Udoka shadow GM powers because we think he is a good coach and Stone is a bad GM. Separation of powers is good. Conflating roles risks conflict of interest and skillset mismatch. If we have a bad GM, we should replace him with a good GM, not supplement him with a good coach.
Please argue it - with as much analytical data as humanly possible. The question of the vocality of the respective minorities must be resolved at any cost
