If you don't want to go all in, don't trade for KD

The Rockets didn't actually have to go all-in just because they traded for KD. They went all-in because of KD PLUS the following

1. Using MLE on DFS instead of a younger player like Ty Jerome, who incidentally just came back from injury and look just as good as before injury. Part of the perk of not being 32yrs old.

2. Spending $60mil on backup centers who have been injured and old at the same time in Adams and Capela.

3. Not treating FVV as a caretaker PG to teach our youngster, but rather just rely on him to be the only PG on the team. And FVV being 30 as a short PG who historically have never aged well.

4. Not trying to find and/or failing to get cheap, young players and therefore rely purely on veterans for depth rather than youngsters with potential. Cam, Nix, Christopher, Garuba, TyTy, KJ Martin, the list goes on of failed low picks/pickups and zero success stories like an Ajay Mitchell or Lu Dort with the Thunder.

There was a road in which the Rockets could've added KD without making the team old. But choices and inability to find talent caused the Rockets to not being able to pivot out of the KD trade.

 

I could have saved you a lot of writing…just say lawyer Sone simply sucks as a GM and has ruined what should have been a super team like OKC by now.

 

There are a couple fallacies that folks around here need to level set on.

1. Getting Giannis doesn't improve the Rockets chances of contending THIS season. The remaining team would be gutted and Giannis isn't even healthy. I think their title chances decrease for this season.

2. Right now, Jabari and Tari are both still on their rookie contracts so they don't get you max value. Also, once FVV and Adams get healthy by this summer, their (perceived) value would go up. The Rockets have A LOT more leverage this summer than they do now.

3. The Rockets are caped right now so pulling of the $50m needed to make this happen won't be interesting for the Bucks.

Not saying it couldn't happen but you have to be strategic about it. If I'm Stone, I'm telling the Bucks that the Rockets can give you the best package deal but you have to wait until the summer.

 

I've still got no big issue with the KD trade. I think the single biggest issue this team has right now is the coaching. I really can't even blame Stone too much for roster construction because I think he's done a decent job with what he's had to work with. Also, before the season when FVV was healthy a lot of people picked this team as a title contender...So I'm not sure how all of a sudden Stone has done an awful job.

It will take some major luck to compensate for Ime's incompetence. Like they'll have to somehow land a generational talent that can be an offensive engine all by themselves like a prime James Harden. Other than that, I don't think Ime has the chops to do what Kerr did in GS when he took the Warriors and built a a dynasty when before he got there they were just an ok team. He brought a system in and put players in the right positions and make players stars in their roles. Ime has no clue how to do that.