Nah - he can in time. The reality is that he made a number of poor decisions on some assets, but it didn't kill the Rockets because they were smaller assets. It is hard to judge Stone right now. I am pretty sure he isn't Jerry West, but he also isn't Dell Demps. The high lottery picks were kind of decided for him based on where we picked. The Green pick is the one most teams would have made, even if Barnes and Mobley were better picks. He wanted Banchero but took Smith, which is what everyone would have done. Amen Thompson is the pick most would have made too. He deserves credit for trusting his staff and getting Sengun, and Eason is someone that Stone personally wanted. So - lets see what happens. Stone strikes me as a guy kind of in the middle, but he can move up if someone like Amen blows up.
it’s been widely reported by insiders. It’s fine to disagree, but that information is reliable. I’m very excited about the future of the Rockets with Ime at the helm.
On money spent, the Rockets are 24th in payroll and yet have one of the deepest teams in basketball. The 24th best payroll should not win 40 games. What the Rockets don't have is much developed top end talent in which weren't available with cap space in 2023 unless one wanted Harden over FVV (technically, Harden never opted out and wasn't available). Free agent spending is not the problem. Heck, according to some, Stone should not get credit for the big acquisitions. Regardless of whether picking FVV was or was not a Stone decision, the payroll flexibility to get FVV and Brooks was almost all a win for the front office. The Brooks Lopez debacle costing the Rockets a couple of 2nd round picks is a ding on the front office in my opinion. Jalen Green may bust. If he doesn't improve, that will be the biggest strike against Stone in my mind. Rockets acquired Sengun because Stone wanted him. Tari and Cam were acquired with picks acquired via tanking (i.e., Stone could have gone with more win now moves) and other teams just passed over. I really like where Jabari and Tari are right now and I have much higher hopes that one of those two makes a big jump than Green (though Green may have the highest upside even if it is much less likelihood of being reached). Amen and Cam are too early to tell. Overall, I really like Sengun, Bari, and Tari's progress and where they are this year. Ultimately, Green, Sengun, Jabari, Tari, Amen, Cam, and payroll flexibility (ability to have it and use it well) is what Stone should be judged on going forward in my opinion as Stone's process of keeping team flexible has allowed any mistakes he's made to be very short term problems that for the most part no longer affect the Rockets. If Green, Amen, and Cam bust, and Jabari and Tari stop improving, Stone's tenure will be really rough. This isn't to say Stone hasn't lost some gambles, but he's won some too.
For this year's draft picks we won't know whether they bust for at least another two years. To me, it's nonsense to wait that long before deciding whether Stone should continue. We should be looking at the win-loss record after every season to evaluate Stone. If Silas was the coach with the most losses in Rockets franchise history then that goes on Stone's resume too. Drafting is just one part of the job. We do not have one of the deepest teams in basketball. If VanVleet goes down, this team will look as bad as they did last year. Stone's going to have to make some moves to add depth to the roster and possibly package some of the young core (ahem..Jalen Green) together with picks to bring some talent in. I could see us trying to trade with Chicago for Alex Caruso who is in high demand, Atlanta for Clint Capela, or New Orleans for Jonas Valenciunas. If Stone makes some moves to get us into the playoffs then I'll give him a lot of credit for doing that. Until then, I maintain my belief that he's not a good GM.
A lot of miserable posters here. I mean yeah it sucks to be on a losing streak, but we have massively overperformed so far. We are still young so there's no point to trade away assets for more win now moves. I would like a more viable back up 5, but I think it'll cost us a lot more than we think. This year should be the year where we valuate our young talents and hopefully have them learn good habits. Making the playoffs will be gravy
The Rockets were tanking during the Silas tenure. The Rockets lost a lot of games as intended. That is a success in my books even though it wasn't success. Really the only thing negative that may have happened during the Silas era is whether he potentially hindered Green's growth. On losing VanVleet, I'd say that is more a top end problem and not a depth problem. When I say depth, I am talking about the back end of the rotation and not on how many stars does a team have. To avoid confusion, I should have said Tari, Holiday, Tate, and Green have been one of the best sets of non-starter rotation players since the Rockets settled on those guys. Though I think you exaggerating a lot in the team's ability to win without VanVleet unless you think there isn't much a difference in Silas and Ime.
I’d be totally fine making no moves this year. I like what I see, no realistic or necessary adjustments need to be made. The free agents have worked out. Our young players are still young. Good with me.
I’m happy with the core. There is no reason to sit on our hands, however. Our draft picks are more valuable to other teams than to ourselves, because of the massive amount of young players with greater potential than what will be available with a mid-round pick. I actually think adding a starting SG will help Jalen to develop off the bench. A decent backup center also will not cost much and meet a need we have now and in the future. Stone has done a masterful job of retaining flexibility with our cap and with the Nets draft picks. No reason to throw this season away when we have a chance to get playoff experience. Just don’t trade the core, Jalen, Bari, Tari, Sengun, Brooks, Amen, FVV, and Cam.
I don’t want to pass total judgement yet on Stone . If the team starts going downhill after this year then yea , not good . But as the team progresses to get better , 2-3 years to a contender or even strong playoff team , I’d be happy with that .
I think we're in a great position. We're playing better than I thought we would be. If something too good to pass on becomes possible, sure, pounce on that. But there is no reason to be unhappy with where we are right now in this stage of the kids development. I think the main thing I'd like to see is that big athletic defensive center backup. Aaron Holiday seems to have regressed to the mean somewhat, too, but if we're assuming Amen will come along and eventually even take over the starting role, I'm not sure how big of a priority that can be. I'm not convinced Jalen is it, but it feels very early to give up on him. I probably would be open to including him if a legit superstar who is 28 or under hit the market, but I don't see any signs that anybody like that will be out there. Zach Lavine is on the market. It's possible one of Dejounte Murray or Trae Young hit the market too, but I don't think Trae Young fits here (his defense sucks) and the only way I could see us moving on Dejounte Murray is if they have given up on Green. If they have, I think he'd be a great fit under Udoka.
As long as Amen, Alperen or someone else becomes a top 20 player we are OK. I think is likely. We seem to be inna good spot for sure.
That's a wise approach. The team is very young and the development staff have not been given a fair shake yet obviously. No one can work miracles in a quarter of a season. The guys are younger than we think, we're just tired of losing. 19-22 years old our core (Green, Sengun, Tari, Jabari, Amen, Cam). Yes if anyone in the entire NBA can afford to give them 1 single season to develop under Ime, it's us. If some kind of magic trade comes up of course you consider everything but this core has potential and it's not yet worth writing them off. Let's see what they look like in the second half of the season, the new habits seemed to impact the Celtics in the second half of the season when Ime was there.
Dear Mr. Stone, I have the honor of representing the membership of Clutchfans to voice our demand. It's time to consider moving Jalen and Sengun before the deadline. And we should trade Jalen Green for Donovan Mitchell. Thank you for your consideration. Sincerely, Easy
These type of posts strike me as extremely unappreciative. Every GM is going to hit & miss in a rebuilding process 3 years in. Let's not forget, when Stone traded Harden 95% of this forum critized him & said he was a idiot for getting only draft picks. 3 years later we're a surprise young team that's competitive every night with a fantastic young coach (that wanted to be here). Bottom line, we're AHEAD of schedule and Stone has already proven his value nobody gives him credit for
I miss Morrayyy how did Stone get this job in the first place? And don't even get me started on if Tillfart Jr. gets the job eventually.
Not going after Harden and instead signing FVV has been an underappreciated move for Stone. Got to give credit where it’s due. FVV has been a stabilizing force. Harden probably wouldn’t have been a good fit with Udoka and eventually would have been trying to force a trade again.
Which insider said Ime makes all the decisions and Stone has zero influence? It's dumb for you to segregate which decisions are made by what since they are all one team. Unless you are an insider yourself and can say which ones Ime wanted and Stone disagreed with. What if Stone was gonna go with Harden and Ime said nah let's go with FVV and Stone agreed? Just cuz Ime was the one who initiated doesn't mean Stone lost all his power or Ime is now at the helm. Although he is the GM it doesn't mean every good idea has to come from Stone's brain duh. They are a brain trust anybody can come up with the moves it's up to Stone to have the final say as the GM. In the same way you are blaming Stone for bad moves you should also give credit to Stone for good moves. Just common sense.
Unappreciative of what exactly? He has had the #2, #3, #4 picks in the last three years. He also had the cap spect to hand out $200,000,000 in contracts this last year. Even with extremely high lottery picks - the Rockets lack a franchise player. As for the Harden trade - yeah those middling picks look so much better than Tyrese Maxey. Stone also hired Silas. Stone has not been terrible - but let’s not act like he has done anything special either, because he hasn’t. He has done some good (Sengun/Eason) and some bad… this idea though that fans are not grateful enough of Stone is silly.
