Rafael Stone the HEDGE GOD! Why Stone has done a great job rebuilding the Rockets

Well that has to happen, and we will review then, let's hope.

DD

 

They gave Porter the opportunity because he has all NBA level talent - and he is developing just fine. Has improved in most areas - other than turnovers - which need to get better, but he is our best perimeter defender - leads the team in steals - and our most consistent shooter.....

People are sleeping on his improvement because he is stealing shine from players drafted higher than him.....screw draft position best player plays.

DD

 

DD, be fair. People don’t like KPJ because he plays a selfish brand of basketball and has attitude issues. Not because he’s “stealing shine”. I’ll acknowledge that some of the hate is simply because he is miscast as a point guard, which isn’t his fault.

I don’t see a future for KPJ on this team if he’s not coming off the bench given the orgs commitment to developing Jalen. Which is why extending him when we didn’t have to really makes no sense.

good player, but we don’t play winning basketball when he runs the point. He needs to embrace the 6th man role and the org needs to stop subjugating other talent so KPJ can be a starter.

 

As long as Stone keeps SIlas as a coach, he's not a god.

 

So far
We trade Harden, EG and Tucker
for
Eason, Clippers first, 2 first unprotected and 3 swaps.

Meh

 

Winning basketball - blamed on KPJ - come on....what a joke, Jalen doesn't play winning basketball, neither does Jabari.....

The Rockets suck right now, get this group a coach, and see how they all play - KPJ is a fine developing player, who the game has finally slowed down for and is busting out - we should be supporting that.

He has the best handles on the team and is the ONLY player that can get anywhere on the court he wants to- we need that skill.

We need him playing with Green and Sengun and Bari and KMJ as a balanced lineup - and let a REAL coach have a go at coaching them.

DD

 

5 star post

 

I think kpj is clearly an nba caliber player. I don’t know how anyone could think otherwise. The question is will he become a super star or just a good player? So signing him to a friendly contract before he takes his next step in development seems like a smart move to me. If he doesn’t develop further, he’s still on a good contract.

 

That is the point though. Stone miscalculated and has done so a number of times. Oladipo wasn't valued around the league, there was no market for him and there was a market for Levert.

Also, the Sixers were not giving two low picks and Simmons. The Rockets were getting Maxey as well.... who is better than anything the Rockets have gotten in the Harden trade, and I say that as someone that doesn't dislike the Harden deal - it was just kind of obvious.

Also, yes KPJ is a miss. He still has zero trade value around the league because of his checkered past (and present), his poor efficiency and his inability to help a team win.

 

He’s a headache who is not worth it.

 

Forget that. KPJ needs to be off this team.

 

We had to attach our 2nd this year (eg. the 31st pick) to move Caris Levert, so its worse than that.
It was a good trade that he then f'ucked up with the Allen/LeVert/Oladipo moves

 

Stone's doing an above average job and this is coming from the guy that hands out StoneColdStunner.gifs to him every draft night.

On the drafting front, I think he's done a wonderful job--he's picking the BPA with the #2 picks in my opinion and he's drafting quality players with the lower picks.

On the FA front I can't be too critical of him as we're not in a place to sign major free agents during this rebuild though that Theis signing was cringeworthy.

On the trade front, I'd say he's been subpar. His valuation of his own players have been out of whack and he's held onto players longer than he should have. People want to give him flowers for the Gordon trade as it could "potentially" move us up in this summer's draft? Big freaking deal. We could have flipped Gordon for a late first in last year's draft that could have been packaged together to either move up in said draft, parlay into a separate pick in this year's draft, etc.

On the coaching front, he's been abysmal. Sure Silas helps the cause to tank for Wemby or Scoot but you can easily can Silas right now and give one of your promising assistant coaches a shot to improve your young players' morale and/or skillset. If the plan is to tank, nab Wemby or Scoot and THEN can Silas then sure kudos to sticking to the plan. But if I see Silas still roaming the sidelines next season (thereby continuing this loser culture and atmosphere to kill this young core's ability to grow/improve) I'm going to change my mind that Stone knows what he's doing.

 

....nice work pulling all that together but those are just front office tactics designed to support a larger strategy meant to serve a goal to improve wining outcomes for the team. I agree that the tactics seem sound in direction but it's clear the team isn't getting better. I know the strategy is to collect solid and ultimately easily tradeable contracts in the margin(guys with modest floors/ceilings) while bottoming out as a team to bring higher value players or assets into the org but I think the chief problem here is the assets as well as the improvement of the team continues to head in the opposite direction.

Our team is about to set an NBA record for having the worst record in the whole league 3 years in a row, our highest draft picks all have lower asset value than where they were picked(although our picks later in the draft are now valued higher - guys like Sengun and Eason), and we have yet to flip any of these smart contracts into players who raise our floor or ceiling in some meaningful way so as an organization, something isn't working.

That's why I think either Silas has to go OR Stone has to move some of these pieces to help support a more cohesive roster direction. He has largely been accumulating best available in the draft and grabbing value in role players which is great for an org with a bare cupboard, but I think at some point Stone has to be held responsible for turning a few saucers, a knife, two salad forks, and a bowl into a full dinner setting. I think we can all see the talent on the floor individually, but the reality of what they are able to accomplish(and thus their perceived value) is being hindered by what a mess they are on the court and that's a consequence of some combination of poor coaching or bad roster construction. This is where it gets particularly difficult because the strategies employed up until this point have largely been about asset collection which has been at the intersection of chance and opportunity. There isn't a team direction yet....but I think that's where we have to go next and that starts to touch on some of the more abstract nuances of team building and leadership, and roles, and playing within a system that this team clearly lacks.

 

Yeah, I agree with this statement - I do think the clock is ticking for Stone to try to sell high on KPJ if that's possible. You are right - he is a useful player on a decent contract in any case - but if there is still anyone out there who thinks he may make a significant leap(I'm highly skeptical), then we should 100% cash out on that NOW(as soon as the season is over) because the view of what he "could be" likely disappears inside the next year if it already hasn't. I think if Houston drafts Scoot, it will ultimately depress the value of offers for KPJ because teams will see it as a "have to make" move. I was REALLY hoping that would be this trade deadline because I don't see a future for KPJ on this team so I'm puzzled why it wasn't a bigger talking point.

 

30-52 should be the floor next season, with consistent effort and improvement

 

yeah but then you sign harden, the best pg in the gosh dang league

 

Not happening.....don't even really want to talk about it.....he isn't coming back and we don't want him back.

DD