I think Tillman doesn't care about what we care about. He only cares about money and if he's making it then he's fine. And because of this, we're stuck with Stone and Ime for at least two more seasons. It looks to me like KD and Ime are intertwined. So I don't see us trading him. Again, he and Ime (and Stone) stick around for two more seasons and they try to make it work. It probably won't work. Trading Sengun would be a big deal. How does our offense run without our second best offensive player? As others have said, Sengun works best when he sets up others but the Rockets have moved away from that for some reason (probably Ime). Trade Sengun for a young up and comer and a great 2026 pick, I could see doing that.
Best bet if Atlanta will go for it: NAW, Okongwu, NOP 26 FRP. We may have to throw in a 27 pick to sweeten the pot.
I agree conceptually with OP. I would say the best way to do this is to package Sengun/FVV/DFS/Adams/Capela and Tari if necessary this summer in a deal for a top 4 pick in the draft. Yes, even if it's the 4th pick. Kingston Flemings would be a nice addition to this core even with the concerns about shooting. Then with whatever cap space opens up fill in the blanks with vets on descending value multiyear contracts. Retool, stay competitive, keep KD for however long he wants to be here, and keep swinging for the fences in the draft. Look at OKC: they got their ship, they've got emerging young prospects, and they're still loaded with draft capital. Give Ime another year, but maybe install an offensive coordinator.
If we don't get rid of Ime, it's not going to matter. Besides that, I like your thinking Aruba, but just don't see the org going that direction. Unfortunately, we're probably going to get older. Realistically, I see them trading Sengun for a major piece and keeping KD. KD would fetch a helluva lot...still.
Even with Fred and Adams, I’d still blow this team up if the real goal is titles (I suspect it’s not). As far as player development, this current Front Office seems to struggle with that.
Ime's hilariously awful contract will keep him here no matter how bad he is, they aren't just eating that much money.
Why dont we just go all in and try to win a chip before kd retires... then we can have a gap year in 2029 and draft mohamed dabone. And still have reed and amen on the team...
It's not a bad thought, but I wouldn't be surprised if Atlanta isn't interested due to their defense already being mediocre. Probably one of the closest things to being a fit out there, but I don't know if I see it happening. I haven't been able to think of a slam dunk deal for both teams if we're trading Sengun.
I see little hope instead of no hope. It is unknown when the Rockets will get a Top 10 player. If one subscribes to the no hope without a Top 10 player strategy, I see 3 paths to acquire that player: 1) If by trade, having a team ready for one at all times to compete for a title seems imperative. 2) If by draft, the Rockets need to gut the team as the current picks have little hope of acquiring a Top 10 player with the Rockets as a good team. 3 If by "internal development," trying to win now isn't an impediment to this strategy, and likely helps development and decision-making regarding the types of players who work with the young talent. Free agency likely is not an option for the foreseeable future unless the Rockets choose Option 2. I think the Rockets' views are they have a little hope for next season, a decent-sized hope for a trade at some point, little hope in their current draft capital producing a Top 10 talent, and a little hope in internal development. As such, I expect the Rockets to keep a wait-and-see approach, and likely don't go all-in except for a Top 10 player.
Doesn't matter. That core is still nowhere close to Spurs/OKC. We botched this rebuild. It is what it is.
?? The Clippers wanted to do that trade. That's not what "regrettable attrition" means in this sense. I don't mean "in hindsight". Sorry if I was unclear, it's a corporate term of art. It means when a company or a team loses someone they aren't choosing to lose; it's out of their control. That used to happen a lot with superstars in their absolute prime in the NBA. LeBron twice, KD twice, Kawhi twice, CP3 and AD leaving New Orleans, Dwight Howard leaving Orlando, Paul George leaving Indiana, Shaq leaving Orlando. I could go on and on. All time great players in their absolute prime leaving and the team having no choice in the matter. It was frequent in the 2010s environment. It doesn't happen anymore in the NBA. Subsequent CBA's and organizational/cultural changes have almost entirely removed this possibility, as owners wanted. Giannis is the closest example, and he notably still hasn't left Milwaukee, and turns 32 this year + is certainly no longer in his prime health-wise. So if a team's plan is "we'll acquire a 'best player on a championship team' in their prime externally and not have to develop them ourselves from a young age / draft", they are playing an obsolete game. The only thing they'll have access to externally is another team's sloppy seconds.
The whole idea is we need to start adding to the core again with draft picks/high-ceiling players. Take a step back and return to building organically until we can, hopefully, match teams like those. We also don't know the future regarding OKC and San Antonio. Sometimes players turn out to be busts or not nearly as good as expected. Sometimes they have career-ending, or at least career-altering injuries. (Actually a pretty high likelihood for Wemby.) Sometimes a team just has to punt a season because they had too many injury problems, and that opens a window for lesser teams to steal a championship. Then there's cap issues to navigate. I can 100% guarantee that San Antonio and OKC won't be able to keep their entire core groups together once they all need to be paid. It will be about who they let go and whether they make the right choices.
Not to nitpick - but really the Thunder were in rebuild mode after Durant left in 2016 to go to the Warriors. They then entered 'proactive asset acquisition' rebuild mode, and traded Ibaka for Ilyasova and Paul George [Oladipo and #11Sabonis were part of the Ibaka trade, and then flipped for George] The flipped players for talent or picks to see what worked and give themselves a runway It wasn't until 2019 that they struck gold. Flipping George for 5 firsts + more, including a young talent (SGA) and in the same month farming out Westbrook for (ultimately) 1 first and 1 swaps (swap / first did not convey in 2021 or 2024) They kept tanking and flipping the edges while finding solids to build around. They made LOTS of mistakes in that time, but thanks to their 2019 goldrush, they had ample assets to keep farming forward and finding new talent to explore. I totally agree with you on getting "the guy" to build around (sux that we were the bounce of the lotto balls away on 2 occasions!). I just figure that since we haven't got the guy, we should farm the edges and play on luck again. Eg, imagine we flip Alpy and the 2027 pick swap back to the Nets in exchange for three future firsts (from other teams that the Nets own - kick the can way down the road), Claxton plus one of their PGs from the 2025 draft. We could try and contend in 2026/7 - still a decent roster to roll with. Or we could send Durant to a team to help them jump the bump and become a true contender (of course, in exchange for talent and assets). None of that solves our 'lack of the guy' dilemma, but it stacks our future chances, and we can see what happens with who we currently have/ and what opportunities might fall into our laps.
I’d still call the SGA loss “regrettable attrition”, just maybe not in the composite form. The Harden deal from OKC is the same. They just picked the wrong player to move on from.
Blame our head coach. Durant, 37 years old, is 3rd in the entire league in minutes played per game. Ahead of him? 23 year old old Amen Thompson and, at the top, 25 year old Tyrese Maxey. That Udoka has been playing KD those kinds of minutes is just nuts. KD’s running on fumes.
