The Rockets are not going to fire their GM or their Head Coach. Once you allow the emotion of the immensely disappointing end to the Rockets season subside, (and please take all the time you need) then you understand why they aren’t doing it, even if you think they should fire Rafael Stone and Ime Udoka. As for this writer? I’m in the camp that doesn’t think it’s time to fire them yet, but things sure seem to be heading in the direction where I think they may need to go. For instance, should they turn
right around and trade Kevin Durant for pennies on the dollar, that would signal to me a complete admission that trading for him was a mistake in the first place.
Now, I want to say there is no way they are going to trade Kevin Durant, but I am the same guy who said they would never trade for Kevin Durant and hang their championship hopes on a 37-year-old with a lengthy injury history. That to me is kind of the issue. I hope they know what the plan is, because from where I am sitting, I have no clue. I have stood 10 toes down for Rafael Stone and Ime Udoka over the last three seasons, but in my humble opinion, enough time has passed where it’s time to start asking some questions about the job Rafael Stone has done.
My first question is this… How is it that after having a top four pick for four years in a row, having 10 first round nd picks total, the Rockets managed to get exactly zero consistent shooters, and after trading away Jalen Green and Cam Whitmore, have just one freakishly athletic player in Amen Thompson, who can create their own shot or shots for others. Yes, Alperen Sengun is athletic for his size, however he is not the type of player that will break down any defender and create offense, and if you want to agree to disagree that’s okay… I’ll give Stone two guys… out of 10. Neither of whom is a consistent shooter.
How is it that the Oklahoma City Thunder have shooters all the way down to the ball boy and guy who wipes the sweat off the floor, and the Houston Rockets have none? How is it that they have 11 guys who can create a shot for themselves, and the Houston Rockets have two? Rafael Stone built this team. No one, and I mean NO ONE he has drafted is a consistent shooter. If Reed Sheppard becomes that, then he will have drafted exactly one shooter.
Now, for those of you who will say, “But the ping pong balls never went his way…” Okay, so he couldn’t have drafted Cade Cunningham, but you did get an absolute freak of nature in Jalen Green, and you gave up on him at the age of 23. He couldn’t draft Paolo Banchero… but he could have drafted Jaylen Williams. I’ll give a slight pass on this as Jabari was projected to be a much more consistent shooter in the NBA, but I get my draft analysis from TV and the internet. Rafael Stone gets paid a lot of money to be right. I will give Jabari this complement. He cares and he steps his game up in big moments. That’s the kind of guy you want on your team, but in hindsight, he is not the third best player from that draft class. I’m not going to fault him for drafting Amen Thompson because in my opinion, outside of Wemby, Thompson is the best player from that class. However, Thompson is a guy you put on a team full of shooters and the Rockets had none at the time they drafted him.
So, if you couldn’t draft the shooters then why couldn’t you add them in free-agency? Luke Kennard could have been made a Rocket last offseason. Instead, Stone signed DFS to a three-year deal. A 35-percent career three-point shooter, because he had one efficient shooting season with the Lakers and Nets. Duncan Robinson, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Seth Curry??? Anyone? Rather, we saw the Rockets turn into a stand around and watch KD, because no one else can create a shot, offense. Udoka is not absolved from this conversation, but Raphael Stone is doing the grocery shopping, and like me when my wife sends me to the store, he keeps forgetting stuff.
The Rockets cannot, in my opinion, turn around and make the Kevin Durant trade obsolete by flipping him after one season. I think, they want to get a look at the team with Fred Van Vleet, with a healthy DFS, with a healthy Durant and Steven Adams, but go back and just read what I wrote there. Put the odds on all of that happening. Put the odds on that beating OKC, or even the Lakers. The year to run it back one more time was this past season and Rafael Stone said “NOPE!” So now, what is he going to do? Because the job is still his. He painted himself into this corner and he’s going to have to get himself out of it, quickly.
