Yep, Witus was also telling Stone to acquire heavily protected draft picks in the Wood and Wall trades so that he could then use them with a little additional draft pick asset management to swindle OKC out of the pick that became Sengun.
Um, yeah. That’s how basketball works. When your franchise player leaves, you’re bad for a while. Learn some history.
It’s clear that some in here bashed Stone prematurely and now are desperately looking for scapegoats rather than manning up to their mistake.
The Rockets might never be a championship contender with this core. Odds are good this team never wins a Championship with this core or what pieces of this core are traded for. I just find it odd that the Rockets have completely been revamped in Stone's 3 years, have a roster this good, the team has incredible salary flexibility, and the GM gets no credit. I think the Rockets still need one top flight player. Maybe that is a trade. Maybe that is internal development. Maybe it never happens and Stone goes down a failure. It just boggles my mind that Stone has put the Rockets in position to have luck happen as he's got the Rockets prepared if an opportunity happens.
I'm not an insider so I don't really differentiate between Stone and Whitus. We don't have a look at their conversations to see who made whom. People keep wanting to put Stone and Whitus against each other but the two got extensions at the same time. They are more of a packaged deal or a combo meal. If Stone had flopped Whitus would likely have been fired as well.
The GM gets a lot of the credit that's why he got extended. If you look twitter vast majority of posters are saying it was a deserved extension and Rox FO did a great job with the rebuild. Only here in CF does the GM take all the blame if the team is bad but none of the credit when the team does well.
I'm excited that Eli "The Brain" Witus has been retained long term. I can't imagine the disaster this franchise would be without him.
It just seems like Stone is disliked by the majority of the Rockets fan base. My twitter feed seems fine with it for non-Rocket fans. Rocket fans...at least the vocal ones, don't seem to like him. I'm still on the fence on whether he can get the Rockets to another level (even if that is just Ime developing players he drafted). I find myself always defending him when I think he's gotten the Rockets into a position that has a lot of potential for good, but also bad. So far, he's kept his deals very flexible such that even if they blow up in his face, they aren't a long term hindrance. I think the Rockets are at the point that he's going to be put in a situation to make decisions that could lock the Rockets into a really good or really bad position soon.
I’m fine with this as long as Stone doesn’t go full blown insane again and try trading Jalen and picks back to the Nets for Bridges
They've done a great job...so far. We didn't get where we are by accident. Would I have done a few things diffrent...yes, but we're positioned, perfectly..for now. - Folks don't talk enough about what they pulled off, under considerably less than ideal circumstances with the Harden trade....It sets us up, if capitalized properly as a true contender for many years. - The tanking plan, while brutal at times, was excuted magnificently. Silas, KPJ, Jarrett Allen...all part of the cost of doing business. - The resulting picks overall, look scary good, so much talent - While, I would have taken Mobley over Green...the rest is so outstanding as to overshadow whatever difference here. Even if Green were to be dealt now, he's played some value back in. I'd say he's worth at least a #6 - 7 in value towards a target. and, I only bring JG up, because he's the only one I would deal at this point... Trading up for Alperen@16.. He's obviously not only going to be a longtime All Star, but also a perennial top 5 player. The same can pretty much be said for Amen, whatever "position" he's playing. Monitoring Cam's fall and scooping him up @20 ..committing Grand Larceny... While some may not see him as much of a sure thing...Let me tell you, the ONLY thing getting in the way of this Manchild and superstardom is injury. He's healthy, and it's on. Cam should average an efficient 28+ before it's said and done. (and he can do more than score) As to Jabari, I have no doubts...way more than a role player.. a guy that's a leader on D, shoot mid 40's or so from Downtown, pound the boards...plays within himself...under control for the most part. But, I expect a jump across the board. As he physically matures, taking over games on both ends. - Moving quickly and decisively on Ime - Enough said. Right guy, right time. - FVV & Brooks have helped instill a culture & stabilize this team. Eventually those contracts can be used with assets for studs.(FVV@ 50 /yr w/assets in the next move for a star?) While there was a considerably greater margin of error in this last phase, the next one doesn't afford us that. The consolidation of players/assets...of which we have plenty...serious ammo...into a bonafide perennial contender is a tricky notion. So far, these two have us rolling. What they do next with the BKN picks (trade and picks), along with another move will tell much of the tale. These guys are amazing evaluators of talent, but I also trust them with thse next moves. The proof is in the pudding.
IMO Stone already got thru the critical phase the first of which was Harden trade, second is stocking the team with good young players, third is hiring the right coach in Udoka and 4rth is signing of good vets. If any of those went wrong it could have set back the rebuild by multiple years and we would look more like the Pistons or Nets. The Harden trade, we could have been stuck with Ben Simmons RN and would have prob gone "all in" to be a mediocre team like what the Nets have done. Drafting good young players, Rox tanked for 3 yrs and got a core 6. People who act like that's normal need to get a clue how long rebuilds generally take in the NBA. Third is Ime. He has his flaws but compare him to Doc Rivers, Darvin Ham or Monty Williams and you know he could be much worse. Dude has done a great job as a first year coach of a former loser team and turned it all around. Fourth are the vets. FVV, Brooks, Jeff, Adams and Landale while Stone didn't exactly hit a hone run like a Derrick White or a Naz Reid, he made pretty decent use of our capspace unlike say Morey using it all on Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon. These vets made the team competitive and also helped in the development of the young players who will ultimately be the ones to make the team a contender. Next season IMo is more of a chill year for the FO. They need to use that year to evaluate the core six and see if these are enough to get us over the hump or trades are in order. If there is a disgruntled young superstar then maybe the Rox should see if they can get that guy, they are one of the few teams who can afford to give a King's ransom and still have young studs to build around.
Let's be real here... the extension is to keep him from leaving after having success. There is no gm contract in the league an ownership group wouldn't eat to fire a gm trending in the wrong direction. The most expensive gm in the league is Pat Riley and he's getting less than Steven Adams is to not play this year.
They tore down and rebuilt the roster in only 3 years and they've got a talented young core, a ton of assets, and a great coaching staff. I'd say that warrants an extension.
Extending Stone is a horrible horrible horrible move. HE SUCKS AT EVERYTHING except drafting consensus players at the top of the draft. You cant give him any credit for Jalen, Amen, Jabari, Cam, Alpi when 95% of this forum would have made those moves. He needs to be graded on the tougher parts of the job like getting more value than you give in trades, free agent signings and extensions, and later round drafting. He has been ABYSMAL here. -the Jarret Allen trade -the Oladipo extension offer (2y $55M...thank god he declined) -the Theis signing -the JC/Garuba picks and then paying to offload -the prioritization of KPJ at the cost of JG and Alpi's development. When it comes to the hard parts of the job, he's been atrocious. I don't expect him to hit 100% but Morey was top 5 at all the hard things. This is absolutely pathetic.
that's the easiest part of being a GM. Any one of us could do that part. You don't reward someone for doing the bare minimum.
