top 3 front office is as real as their top 5 offense is as real as their top 5 3pt shooting is as real as being the 3rd best team in west is as real as top 3 front office.
Yeah if Stone is getting credit for Morey's 2 WCFs and overall success in the Harden years, then this wouldn't be a front office ranking. But even if we are going to dig up older history, the Rockets should be way behind the likes of Denver or Lakers or Warriors, who are still successful today, and won the title in recent years.
They're #3 because "the Rockets by far the NBA's toughest negotiators"? this is funny "Sengun took less than max"? but he got a player option in the last year, I think it's fair for both parties. also it shows the FO lack of confidence in Alpy. Alpy might ends up making more money in his career because of this player option. "DFS got "ONLY" two guaranteed seasons"? he came here because his original team the Lakers doesn't want to give him more years. and considering his injury (known before the signing), contract, and performance so far, he might have a negative value at this moment. "Clint Capela took a pay cut and a role reduction to come to Houston"? with Adams out of the season, CC is now the primary backup center on the team yet he's still only getting his 11min. avg. a night. maybe it's just his regression that caused his role reduction? "JSJ's deal descends after the first year, making it a bit easier to trade if needed"? Funny, is this even a compliments? is that mean you know he sucks and needed to be traded? who wouldn't like their payroll front loaded if possible? and I bet Bari turns into a negative value as soon as his new deal kicks in next season. ok fine, Rockets FO the best, should be #1 ok Stone fanatics?
Yes good point. I don’t know what the criteria should be. But if it is only on current success you should just sort the team by current records. Which is pointless of course. So somewhere in the middle of that.
this ranking sounds like a setup Rockets 3rd best FO? On what planet? In what universe? nah, this is bait
IMO just start from the GM's career. To me Stone's career has been the following Starting the rebuild - I give him A+. One can quibble about details but the Harden trade at the time and in retrospect was max value. Other stuff are fairly inconsequential Tanking Years - This is the bulk of Stone's tenure so far so to me weigh the most. I give him a B- here, which in my days would be average for those who think I'm crapping on him. Other than one major whiff with Jalen and one major win with Sengun, he's basically meh the rest of the way. Jabari and Amen were both consensus for where they were drafted and they aren't bad but also didn't become stars to this point. Stone has done nothing inspired like trading up/down for Jalen Williams or Jalen Johnson the way he did with Sengun. Also no late-draft or 2-way contract finds like Austin Reaves or Herb Jones. Handling of vets like Eric Gordon I don't particularly care about. But KPJ fiasco was 100% on Stone. Overall it's not great but not disaster. If Stone had made one additional Sengun-type move or drafted Barnes/Mobley/Wagner with the Jalen pick, I would've given him an A here and maybe even defend a #3 GM ranking. 2023 - I give him an B+ here. I was for the FVV signing at the time even if in hindsight Harden was clearly the better player. But FVV for that particular contract IMO was correct outside the Harden factor. Brooks was a great signing then and now. Lopez snafu is something he should be dinged for, due to how much they had to give up to offload and re-allocate all that money that became worthless when he returned to the Bucks. Other signings like Uncle Jeff and Landale were meh and ultimately be fairly meaningless. 2024 - Not much to grade on but probably B. Jalen signing became negative or at best neutral value. Sengun was a great contract at the time, but now looking less like a bargain. Reed was and still is too early to grade as a draft pick. He didn't explore other things which is a hallmark of his tenure. Don't really try to find the diamonds in the rough and overall unsuccessful at unearthing anyone like Beverley or Parsons type of hidden gems. 2025 - To this point an absolute F. DFS signing was a disaster. FVV untradable contract is a disaster. Adams/Capela signings have been mostly underwater. No PG on a team that looks to be contender if only they had a decent starting level PG is atrocious. In summary, Stone has shown to be very successful at striving for mediocrity and achieving that mediocrity. But he one time he strived for greatness, he has failed to this point. Perhaps the Rockets will stun me and win a title this year or something, in which case I'd happily re-grade Stone. But until then Stone's body of work is that of a mid-level GM. You can argue he may be 10th if you're a fan, or 20th if you are a hater, but he shouldn't be in top or bottom 10 really.
We have a contract lawyer and a nepo-baby running our organization. They opted for Oladipo instead of other prospects or draft capital and then tried to extend him. They tried to build around KPJ. They busted on our highest draft pick since Yao and then paid him $36 mil per. They traded out of the best draft this decade. This is not going to end well for us.
