When are we going to start criticizing Rafael Stone?

Silas is infinitely more problematic than Stone thus far.

 

Sheeesh some of you just like living with high blood pressure and negative juju! You still cant see whats going on? You cant see The Process part 2 going on? SMH have fun with it man this vibe will break you down and take that from an overly optimistic and irrational homer.

 

This post brought tears to my eyes. Perfect in all sentiments. The man should have kept Allen and LeVert and should have gotten rid of Gordon long ago. Gordon is not a veteran leader and just takes up a deserving spot for KMJ. No NBA team should be run without a legitimate point guard and neither KPJ or Nix (and especially Nix) should be getting the time they do at that all important QB type position. Team leadership is a disaster from Fertitta to Stone to Silas. Something needs to be done, but never gets done due to their total incompetence.

 

lol buddy i have already started.. LIKE A YEAR OR 2 AGO OR SOMETHING...

 

Drafted KJ Martin with the 52nd pick.

 

Coming to say something similar. I never stopped, it's the only actual role we play, and we should not ever stop criticizing.

He has 2 lottery picks on his roster. The jury is still out on him, he is more on the grace period an owner gives when tanking.

 

Traded for Sengun. Drafted Eason. Found KJ. Super creative team friendly deal for Porter Jr. Found Jae Sean on the scrap heap. Flipping Covington for Wood and a 1st. Flipping Westbrook for Wall and a 1st. Not super sexy flips, but productive.

What are LeVert and Allen going to do on this team? Take us to the playoffs?? I didnt like trying to retain Oladipo, but thats really the only thing that stands out to me.

Stone took over at the worst possible time. While not great, he's above average so far. He's kicked his feet up and is just waiting for draft day. While it shouldnt take until 2030 to view the results of his construct, it should be given a few more years for the current nucleus + this years high draft pick + hopefully a high level trade/FA for the process to bear fruit.

 

If Green or Jabari don’t become All-stars in 2 yeats

 

amen brother.

 

I think he’s just patient. One more draft and things will be shook up. We have no idea if Stone is allowed to cut bait on Silas, but the plan has always been to start the ascension in 23

 

Mobley has been good but not much improved from last year. He's definitely not "elite" this year by any means. Green has been on his level in many ways this year and is still on a steep upward trajectory.

 

I like Mobley but green has a much higher upside. I believe Mobley still has a moderate level of growth in his game, but the unicorn hyperbole regarding him has always been too optimistic

 

I really can't take anyone seriously when they're still mad about Jarrett Allen. If we had Jarrett Allen, we'd very likely have lost our 1st round pick to OKC that year, meaning no Jalen Green. And if you'd rather pay Jarrett Allen 100 million dollars so that our team can be mediocre when he's healthy than have a potential superstar in Jalen Green, I just don't know what to tell you.

I'd also add that we already have a potential All-Star center in Alperen Sengun and, who knows, we may end up winning the Wembanyama sweepstakes. And who will give a **** about Jarrett friggin' Allen if that happens?

But while I am at it -

He chose Silas for a Harden led team, not a rebuilding team. That didn't work out. Silas had just been the architect of the best offense in the NBA the prior season, so that made sense at the time. Now, whether it has made sense to keep him on in the years since is up for debate.

The KPJ experiment is an objective success even if some of you guys can't see it. He basically picked up a distressed asset in KPJ and turned him into a starter averaging 19, 6 and 6. If you think we can't get decent value for trading KPJ right now, you're blind. He may not be the point guard of the future, but as an asset, he's appreciated substantially. In the situation Stone is in, that's a huge win.

Nix is definitely not a lottery talent. On this, we agree.

He may still get a 1st round pick for Eric Gordon. We'll see.

How in the hell did he extend Tate OVER KJ? He may well extend them both. And speaking of Tate, he plucked up another guy from overseas who has proven himself to be an NBA player. Tate is worth, at minimum, a couple second rounders. Adding valuable assets out of nothing is a great win. And might I add, he is the one who talked cheapskate Tillman into buying the second rounder that enabled him to draft KJ in the first place. Without Stone, we wouldn't even have a Tate or a KJ to argue about.

Speaking of wins, he traded Robert Covington for a pick and then used the cap space to add Christian Wood, who bought us yet another pick. Win.

His draft record is looking impressive thus far. KJ in the second round. Jalen looks like a win (even though I know some are still sad we didn't pick Mobley), trading those picks for Sengun seems to have paid off. Garuba is looking like a very valuable roleplayer with a late round pick. JOSH CHRISTOPHER LOOKS LIKE A PERRENIAL MVP CANDIDATE! Jabari is starting to look impressive. Tari looks like the steal of the century. And we haven't seen enough of Ty Ty to have any real idea about him yet, but that none of them are looking like outright busts is kind of unbelievable.

One final thought on Jarrett Allen. Part of why they didn't want him is because they would need to give him a big contract and they didn't want that additional long term salary. Welp, this offseason we'll have that cap room. So while I don't need to see what he'll do with that cap room to believe he made the right move because it resulted in us keeping our pick and getting Jalen Green, I suspect you may have a different view of it if he pulls something off with that cap space in free agency.

Let's go Rockets!

 

He expressly didn't want to come to Houston though. I think we would've taken him otherwise

 

JA is absolutely a valid point as a mistake. Stop assuming JA is the difference in terms of winning. He's not stopping the rockets from being one of the worst teams especially with that roster when they had the chance to keep him. He isn't some all-nba player that impacts winning to that degree where he can carry a team. that's the only type of player that would curb the rockets chances at that point in time. Majority of folks believe the rockets are tanking. Suddenly JA would lead the rockets to wins and that wouldn't apply

JA is exactly the type of center the Rockets are looking for. And he remains young enough to be part of a rebuilding team. Folks assumed he would break the bank and get a max deal. He didn't and got a great value contract. Allen and Sengun is a very viable fronctourt and would be just fine to build around and moving forward to see how that would develop

He was a RFA and the rockets had plenty of options. They panicked and settled. and being so short sighted, they got a shitty deal

Meanwhile look how they're handling EG. Keeping him for as long as they have and turned down 1st round pick offers. Now look at EG's value now. Someone who clearly is just going through the motions and understandably so and playing 30 mins a night, keeping the rockets younger players capped on the bench or limited in minutes that they otherwise should be playing

 

The Harden trade alone...I think many here aren't factoring in the enormity of it. BTW - In addition to having BKN's
balls for years, we wanted picks and no salary...ergo Allen already priced in to the Cavs.
And, while, I would have preferred Mobley, it's obvious JG is on his way to greatness..Aside from that, Stone's a master Draftsman...albeit a small sample size.. definitely the guy for our rebuild, to my way of thinking.
It seems many underestimate the talent on this team....and, how quickly it was assembled. We're young. Let it grow.

He's gotten the most important part of the rebuild right.

Our draft pick...capspace, and the Nets picks...plenty of Ammo.

Stone knows what he's doing.

- And, he knows who Silas is.

 

Frankly what he has done so far has been easy, hasn't had to make a tough choice.

Drafting is easy, what is hard is taking a crowded roster and CHOOSING correctly whom to build around and keep vs whom to let go so the ones you choose can get more playing time.

Our roster is crowded with decent NBA players who will break out?

Clearly you keep - Green, Smith and Sengun.......

Now whom do you keep around them? You need to get rid of 3 or 4 of the following so the ones you keep can flourish

Ego
KPJ
Bruno
Garuba
Mathews
Nix
Christopher
Tate
Tari
Trevor
KMJ
TyTy

Whom fits the best....right now it would be for me - keepers

KPJ - his skill is higher than his value - but you might get more for him later
Garuba - is a solid role player - no stats all star
Tari - Defense and hustle
KMJ - clearly our best SF
Ty Ty - got to give him a chance

The rest can all be packaged as filler with Ego - let em go....give the time to the 8 above along with whomever is on the roster as a result of the trade.

DD