When are we going to start criticizing Rafael Stone?

Sounds good in theory - except that Fritata's reputation is caustic around the league. Players and agents will know to steer clear of Houston until Tillman can demonstrate he's not going to take his corporate raiding, asset-stripping playbook to the Rockets (despite mounting evidence to the contrary already).

 

Let’s see what he does this offseason with a full hand. He has a ton of picks and trade assets and a full max cap slot. He can sign harden or another top free agent. Lottery pick, and other picks and potential trade assets like Tate and KPJ to bring in talent

 

I love how stone is so insecure that when someone asked if he was confident in the way the rebuild was going, that he made it about himself and got defensive, saying that the premise of the question was that he didn’t have confidence in himself. Even though it was an evidence based question given that we’ve been circling the drain for 3 years without much to point to in the way of an obvious leap forthcoming. I mean it’s just crazy to suggest that we aren’t exactly where we want to be.

I see an arrogant insecure ass, who won’t self correct until it’s too late. I’ll give him the offseason, but I don’t like the guy. I dont like how he’s running the org. Are we gonna make excuses for him in year 4 if things still don’t look good?

if Jalen doesnt take that next step Stone should be fired no matter what. U can’t blow the #2 pick in a deep draft.

we are one of the worst nba teams I’ve ever seen. Is that necessary for the tank?

 

All this hypersensitive drivel. All of you who look down on the man - what exactly was he supposed to do? Backtrack to Harden wanting out - at that very moment everything changed. Was he supposed to retain Allen and LeVert? For what? To be a 30 win team? With no cap space who was he supposed to sign? With no assets who was he supposed to trade for? Evan Mobley was the guy to turn this franchise around? Scottie Barnes? Jaden Ivey? Keegan Murray? Who exactly did he miss on?

Armchair analysts who want to focus negatively on the young guys we have and not offer an objective take. Jalen Green has flashed enough so far to lead many to believe he can be a scoring champion one day, but somehow Stone should be fired for making that pick? LOL -- Dude gave up 2 firsts for everybody's favorite baby hook master didn't he? Jabari now is being held against him in his first season and that too is ridiculously funny. This fanbase is pathetic to the point where they would rather wallow in self pity than actually come together and offer realistic options for the future. Snap the F out of it already. Go touch some grass for a little while. The birds are still singing. The future is bright for this franchise and it will all be traced back to the "mistakes" Stone made.

 

Raffy: ‘This is not a job anyone can do perfectly’

Before the beginning of the season, I’d imagine there was some level of acknowledgment internally that this team would struggle. But did you envision anything close to this?

I don’t think we bothered to try and figure out what our struggles would look like — we just knew that it would be a struggle, and it has been. The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is the development of our young guys. That’s what continues to give us hope, because we do think that we’ve seen improvement in almost all of them. And there’s a lot of time left in this year for them to really improve again — so that’s our focus. I think beyond just knowing the year was going to be hard, we probably didn’t spend a ton of time trying to figure out exactly how hard it would be.

Despite the record, what about the team’s play for the first two-thirds of the season has encouraged you? Alternatively, what has disappointed you? And what has intrigued you?

It’s not very linear. There was a stretch where we were really competitive — late November, early December — playing really well against good teams, that was good to see. We’ve been consistently a really good rebounding team. That’s good to know about this mix of guys, there’s actually something that they can do. And then a ton of stuff is TBD. We need to be a better shooting team, that’s obvious. Some of that just feels like it’s just confidence, guys knowing when their shots are coming and everything else. Hopefully, that’s one of the things that we see over the last 20 games or so, people starting to figure that out. I think we have a group that on an individual basis can shoot. How do we get that to translate more on the court? One of the things we talked about coming into the year was seeing what it would look like if we played through Alpe (Şengün) and as the seasons progressed, we’re able to see that a little bit. And I think that’s intriguing.

Between yourself, the rest of the front office and ownership, how would you all evaluate yourselves over the first phase of this rebuild, three seasons in? What’s the self-reflection process like?

When we came into it, we didn’t really have talent on the roster. We didn’t have any cap space, we didn’t have any draft picks. We now have been able to recoup our draft picks, we have more cap space this summer than anybody else and I think we have a very talented roster. The process of trying to achieve those three goals, which were for sure our biggest goals, has been challenging, and at times very painful. But I do think we addressed those goals. I think you said it’s part one and I think that’s right, and succeeding in part one doesn’t mean you’ll succeed in part two. We need to translate those things into a team that becomes competitive and hopefully starts winning and winning big over time. And that’s the challenge in front of us starting this summer, but continuing on. It’s not something that is going to happen just in one summer, I don’t believe.

Hindsight is 20/20, but looking back over the last three years, is there anything you would have done differently?

I’m positive there are things we should have done differently. But the real answer is I’m so busy and we’re so focused on trying to move forward — making sure we’re ready for the next challenge — that I haven’t really gone back through any particular trade or anything else and been like, ‘Ooh, I wish I had done X or Y.’ This is not a job anyone can do perfectly. Primarily we’re dealing with human beings who are unpredictable at best. The thing we try and do is structure things to give ourselves margin for error, so that mistakes don’t crush you. One huge deal that you get wrong can set you back years and years and years. And I think that part of the reason we find ourselves in this rebuild are some of the decisions that were made three, four or five years ago. But having said that, I just haven’t gotten back to really do an analysis like that.

As it stands, this team doesn’t have many veterans who can help the young players on the floor between now and the end of the season. Are you OK with that? Did you ever envision a team this young from top to bottom?

I think the answer is, ‘Yes.’ We’re OK with it. Over the course of the three years, we’ve obviously had a number of vets. And we still do. We have one guy who’s not young, Boban. And he’s important to us. Who he is as a person is really good for this group and it’s good for me. It’s good to have really positive good people around. But also you have to play. So I think it’s gonna be good for these guys to get a lot of playing time down the stretch and do the best they can do.

You’ve talked a lot about wanting to win and planning on doing so in the near future. But after having three consecutive seasons like this, how do you pivot? Is it difficult?

I mean no one in our organization likes losing. People who get into this industry, into this field, I think largely it’s because — there are exceptions, obviously — but largely it’s because they’re so competitive, sports is a great avenue for them because you actually win and you actually lose. Over the last few years, never once have any of these teams gone into a game saying, ‘Oh, we’re not going to win.’ It’s never been like that. But putting ourselves in position where hopefully one, the guys currently on the roster get a better sense of what it takes to win. That’s real. And then two, we’re able to supplement them with some people who have experience in doing it and more know-how, and that, that ends up being a good blend. That’s a really exciting prospect for everybody in the organization.

Houston is currently projected to have the most cap space this summer. It’s been quite some time since you have been in that spending position of strength. What is the pre-planning process between now and free agency?

We’ve been planning this out for several years and you can look at all the contracts and have a sense for what might exist. But you can’t factor in extensions or injuries or all these other things that occur. It’s just to continue to do the work and make sure we’re as prepared as possible for free agency when it comes around.

 

I imagine this team will look fairly different this time next year. How do you evaluate the current roster and figure out the players who have staying power, which players can you continue to build around between now and the end of the season?

I think generally we feel good about our talent level. The guys who are playing a lot for us are all very young, as you noted earlier. But they’ve all flashed real signs of talent. We’re excited about where we think they’re going to be next year. And so for the guys who are playing a lot — the NBA has no sure things and there’s no guarantees that anything will happen — we’d be very comfortable with all of them playing a lot next year with some key additions to really help solidify things.

You’ve always maintained confidence in Stephen Silas, had numerous conversations over the past three years and seem to be on the same page. What are those talks like now? More of the same, figuring out the best course of action moving forward?

Yeah, it’s the same. Stephen’s a really smart guy who’s a really good human being and we want the same thing. The thing I try and do during the season is just be as helpful to him as possible. If he’s looking for ideas to give him 50. They might all be bad, but if I give him 50, maybe one is worth really exploring. And just to make sure I’m a resource. These seasons are really hard and really long — I just want to be as good a resource as I can.

What is the ownership’s view of this rebuild? They inherited a team that was a contender on the verge of an NBA Finals. It’s a long way from that now. How have they been with this whole process?

They’ve been amazingly supportive. They understand what the goal is — have since the beginning. And it’s not just our team, there are 29 teams that don’t win. And almost all of them, there are times that are good and there are times that are really bad. But ours has given us every resource we could ever ask for and they’ve been very supportive.

I know improving the roster is a goal of yours, but just how aggressive do you plan to be? We’ve definitely seen how aggressive Houston has been in the past.

We’re gonna be super aggressive. It doesn’t mean that we will be successful. And what we won’t do is chase things that we don’t think are long-term in our best interests. But we’re going to be super aggressive trying to be as good as we can next year, with an eye towards being even better in the future. We’re trying to build a championship team. And we’re going to be very aggressive along that front. What that does not mean is doing what we consider to be dumb things that prioritize next year over the year after, for example. We are trying to keep in mind the firm goal of building a championship team. You’re on the NBA circuit, one thing I think we’ve got is a reputation for being aggressive. So we’re gonna continue that.

You touched on it a bit earlier, but how difficult is finding the balance between focusing on the now in front of you and looking ahead at potential/hopeful success?

When you’re the general manager of a team, that’s kind of your primary goal — trying to figure out how to build a team that can win a championship. So that’s just kind of it. So no, that’s not a particularly challenging thing for me.

What’s your macro view of the development of players like Jalen Green, Alperen Şengün, Jabari Smith Jr. and Kevin Porter Jr.?

From a macro perspective, I still feel good about all of them. There are certainly specific areas for each of our players where I wish they would have improved quicker, but they’re all improving. And with the guys who were with us last year, they’re all materially better than they were last year. That’s kind of why it’s so important to look at the big picture. It’s pretty easy to nitpick and wish that this area or that area or anything else. But we’re in a competitive field and you’re playing against people who are trying their hardest to make sure you don’t succeed. So you do have to kind of keep that in mind. I will say we’re very, very unsatisfied. So even though from a macro perspective we see the trends going in the right direction, we’re not at all satisfied that we’re there or even close to being there for any of our players. And it’s incumbent upon them and us to push them there for them to get way better. Way better, if our goal is to be a championship team and we want these guys to be a core part of it. This improvement has to continue and continue and continue. And the work ethic has to continue and continue to continue. And we’ve just started.

Injuries are a part of this game and you haven’t been spared in that department, from missing Jae’Sean Tate for the first chunk of the season and dealing with blows to Porter and Green. How do you juxtapose injuries with overall evaluation? Does it make that job more difficult?

The injuries are just a part of the game. And obviously, to the extent that a player is out, we can’t really evaluate them. But that provides opportunities for others, and so, in some respects, it gives those guys a better opportunity. And so then it gives you a better opportunity to see what they have or they don’t have. I think it’s just part of it. So, again, I’d say we probably just don’t dwell on it much at least this time of year. Maybe when we’re recapping and trying to figure out what we have, there may be a guy where we still don’t know, just because he missed so much time. But this time of year, I think it’s much more you just keep going.

You’ve told me before that you enjoy debate, particularly within your brain trust. With that being said, was everyone in agreement on deadline day? Or were there discussions about doing things differently than how they ultimately panned out?

I don’t think there was much debate this time around what we should do. There was a lot of agreement that what we were doing made sense. The debate piece is more likely to occur at the draft where it’s more you’re picking in spot X should you go with this guy or that guy, as opposed to at the trade deadline when it’s more the construct of deals and team building what we’re trying to achieve. Given the context of what we were trying to do, everybody in that group kind of understood.

No two rebuilds are the same, but do you consider this one unique? At least as it pertains to the outside view of what it should or shouldn’t be?

I don’t know. There’s probably unique elements to everybody’s, not even just their rebuild, but to everybody’s process — whatever they’re trying to achieve. There are for sure some aspects of what we’re doing that are unique to us just the same way that there are for others. And things as simple as the draft picks one holds are going to inform directionally all your decision making. Every decision you make should be made not in a vacuum but with your specific situation in mind, which is what we’ve done. That includes our current players, our draft capital or city. All those things impact how you go about trying to build, but I think that’s the case for everybody.

 

Lol at the first answer

"We didn't bother to try to think what our struggles would look like "

Do ya think that might be helpful for development ?

And the " there are gonna be 29 other teams that don't win the title " is definitely a troll move

Lot of pressure on you soon buddy

 

Crazy because all the Junior GMs here would have had this team in the playoffs amirite!!

 

I am so tired of this guy but will give him another year.

Just zero interactions with fans.

 

The Rockets front office did not covet Allen, league sources told Yahoo Sports, preferring the Nets to move Allen to another team and reroute a first-round pick back to Houston instead. The Rockets eventually flipped LeVert, in his own right, to Indiana for Victor Oladipo. And Houston, sources said, did not foresee Allen as an optimal frontcourt fit next to the Rockets’ starting center at the time, Christian Wood. Plus, with Allen set to reach restricted free agency that August, Houston also did not want to invest the type of capital at that position, which Allen eventually commanded, signing a five-year, $100 million deal. There are plenty of executives around the NBA who’ve grown queasy at the rising prices for big men not named Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokić. There are also plenty of executives who would like to have Allen.

Cleveland held a 2022 first-round pick from Milwaukee, plus the expiring contract of Dante Exum that would satisfy another Rockets mandate: not returning any long-term salary, sources told Yahoo Sports. The Cavaliers saw Allen as the rim protector and rim runner they needed to support Darius Garland and his running mate at the time, Collin Sexton, whom Cleveland eventually included in its package for Mitchell. And Cleveland was eager for the opportunity to re-sign Allen for the coming years, especially at the cost of the Bucks’ selection, which resulted as the No. 24 pick. (Houston would end up trading the selection back to Milwaukee, as part of the 2021 trade deadline deal that sent P.J. Tucker to the Bucks before their title run.) Cleveland and Brooklyn haggled enough to where the Cavaliers sent a 2024 second-rounder back to the Nets in exchange for Allen.

The Cavaliers had their center of the future, and the Rockets proceeded into a rebuild flush with draft capital. The losses piled and piled, enough for Houston to finish with the league’s worst record and inherit a 14% chance at landing the No. 1 pick in that June’s NBA Draft. On lottery night, the Rockets slid down to the No. 2 pick, however, as Detroit’s pingpong balls came out of the machine and landed the Pistons the first selection. Even with Allen in tow, Cleveland’s own rebuild from LeBron James’ 2018 departure was still in full swing, and lady luck left the Cavaliers with the No. 3 pick, one slot behind Houston.

Enter Evan Mobley.

Detroit absolutely considered Mobley — a string bean out of USC who flashed two-way potential scouts weren’t afraid of comparing to the likes of Chris Bosh and even Tim Duncan — for the top pick. Cade Cunningham, the supersized floor general from Oklahoma State was also largely viewed as the top prospect in that year’s class, ever since talent evaluators saw Cunningham play with Team USA’s youth squads. Either way, Cleveland was confident, and even knew, that Houston was going to leave one of Cunningham or Mobley on the table for the Cavaliers’ third pick.

Cleveland had tried to book Jalen Green for a pre-draft visit to Northeast Ohio, but Green’s representatives informed the Cavaliers he was only working out for the Pistons and Rockets, sources said. Green’s camp would not even agree to a Zoom call. And when the Cavaliers contacted the Rockets, Houston was candid. The Rockets were set on their guy. They wanted the uber-athletic combo guard from the G League Ignite. It wasn’t long before rival front offices wrote Green to the Rockets in proverbial Sharpie on the whiteboards in war rooms across the league.

The Cavaliers sighed some relief. There was nothing stopping Houston from selecting Mobley at No. 2 and holding him hostage, although there are few lead decision-makers willing to take such a risk, gambling that a rival team would be willing to pay their ransom. It is certainly not a means of doing business that generates goodwill for future dealmaking in the NBA’s fixed marketplace. Cleveland and Houston did connect for another trade before that 2021 deadline in addition to the Harden four-teamer, in which the Cavaliers sent Kevin Porter Jr. to the Rockets.

Alas, Mobley was there for the Cavaliers at No. 3, joining Allen in the frontcourt that suddenly appeared quite fortified for Garland and whichever combo guard joined him over the coming seasons. That, of course, became Mitchell. And here Cleveland stands, the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference against the fifth-seed New York Knicks, in the postseason games all these superstar trades are designed to impact the most.

 

Contenders need glue guy defenders no doubt about it.

Rebuilding franchises with no hierarchy and direction need to find stars. I think both Houston and Cleveland are thrilled with their picks.

 

Obviously Morey had more nerdy charm but even then you could see flaws and Leslie Alexander accepting mediocrity without Harden.

 

I remember Rodions Kurucs.

 

The title of the article should be "How Rafael Stone and the Rockets Enabled the Cavaliers to Become Contenders"

 

Cleveland already having Garland, Allen, and Sexton just put them in a different situation from the Rockets at that same time. Them taking Mobley would be akin to us taking Jarace Walker this year while Amen Thompson is still on the board. Definitely a defensible move to take a great glue guy when you feel that you already have a good core. The Rockets essentially had nobody to build around when they picked Green.

 

The whole "unicorn" thing with Mobley hasnt really manifested so now guys try to latch onto a DPOY kind of player/argument to keep their ego stoked. Mobley was never going to be a face of the franchise type of guy and Houston needed an identity. Dont get me wrong I think Mobley is a difference maker on defense and a viable post player, but he wont ever be able to carry a team the way Jalen Green can.

 

Stone will be criticized this offseason.

 

Franz Wagner turned out to be great as well, not a big name by far but 19-4-4 without having the green light that Green enjoyed.

He is probably the one that got overlooked by many because one he is German secondly a pale dude.

He reminds me of a taller Cade light.

 

Perfectly stated.