The Rockets Need To Fire Rafael Stone ASAP
The Houston Rockets are rapidly becoming one of the biggest joke franchises in the NBA. Frankly, it started the second Daryl Morey waltzed out the door. Rafael Stone eventually became the replacement for Morey and it didn’t take long for him to put his stamp on the franchise. The only difference is, Stone is making a mockery of the franchise.
It is impossible to defend Stone for the James Harden trade. IMPOSSIBLE. Sure, the Rockets landed plenty of draft capital. Houston owns the Brooklyn Nets’ first-round picks in 2022, 2024, and 2026, as well as a 2022 first-round pick from Cleveland via Milwaukee. They also have the right to swap with Brooklyn in 2021, 2023, 2025, and 2027. The problem is that’s the bare minimum for Harden. All of those picks will likely be late first round picks too given the beast that is this current iteration of the Nets.
Stone made an egregious decision that you shouldn’t be able to come back from. Instead of taking Caris LeVert and Jarrett Allen, Stone made the decision that he was better off with Victor Oladipo. That’s fine to want Oladipo. It’s another to just flat out give Oladipo away for Avery Bradley and Kelly Olynyk. You don’t come back from that one.
Worse yet, Stone somehow defended the return on the trades:
NOPE. Sorry Stone man. You’re dumb. Caris LeVert and Jarrett Allen along with those picks would have been super important building blocks for the future. Instead, Stone man tanked his team into oblivion and lost a billion games in a row. Anybody that gives the headliner of a James Harden trade away for Kelly Olynyk can’t be trusted.
It’s fair to wonder if some of this is on Tilman Fertitta. The new Rockets owner is not liked by everyone. Let’s just put it like that. Is he meddling too much with the cookie jar? Letting Morey walk out the door was probably his first mistake. Nevertheless, it’s abundantly clear the new man in charge for Houston doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing.
