Even the Rockets own James Harden declined, in addition to Eric Gordon. This go-round has been quite different as nearly every star who was invited declined the opportunity. Team USA basketball has always been able to get star players to participate in the past as many view the opportunity to play the game they love for their country as an honor. Here’s to hoping he advances past the next round of roster cuts! Tucker also just survived the most recent round of roster cuts. It's a strategy that gives them cap flexibility, trade value, and countless roster possibilities going forward, but also makes them historically bad right now.Īs with the Rockets in that July of 2012 when everyone thought they were going to be awful, losing is the unfortunate byproduct of a completely rational strategy that can work.PJ Tucker is the only Houston Rocket on the USA Basketball roster. They're losing games because they aggressively shipped off veterans in exchange for young assets and draft picks before the 2013-14 season. The Philadelphia 76ers aren't losing games for the sake of losing games. Tanking is not losing as many games as possible and praying to draft the next LeBron James. Houston is currently 49-22, and a threat to win the West. They wouldn't have had the cap room to give Harden a max extension if they had re-signed Dragic and Lee and kept Dalembert and Scola.īy completely clearing his books and bracing himself for an awful 2012-13 season in summer of 2012, Morey created so much salary cap room that Houston had enough space to sign Dwight Howard after the 2012-13 season, even after giving Harden a max deal. They wouldn't have had Toronto's 1st-rounder if they hadn't traded Lowry. None of this would have been possible if Morey didn't tank. They immediately signed him to a maximum long-term deal worth $80 million over five years. Houston traded Kevin Martin, 1st-round pick Jeremy Lamb, Toronto's 2013 1st-round pick, and two future lottery-protected picks for Harden. Just a few days before the 2012-13 season, Morey turned all those assets he got from destroying his 2011-12 roster into a superstar - James Harden. No one remembers it like this, though, because the Rockets team that was supposed to lose 61 games never made it onto the court. The Rockets made themselves bad in the short term in order to get good in the long term. 500 team in order to acquire a collection of draft picks and young assets that, it just so happens, was predicted to finish last in the NBA. The rebuilding process will inevitably be painful, but the hope is on the other side Houston’s ceiling will be much higher than 45 wins." ![]() While Morey’s strategy is fraught with risk, and might have come too late after three lost seasons, it’s not as if the Rockets broke up a championship contender. "Losing games might not be such a bad thing if it translates into a lottery pick and another opportunity to add elite talent. They replaced those six guys with two young free agent role players - Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik, who were signed with "poison pill" contracts - and a bunch of rookies.īasketball Prospectus wrote a few weeks before the season: Traded Kyle Lowry to Toronto for a future 1st-round pick ![]() ![]() Let Courtney Lee leave in free agency for nothing ![]() Let Goran Dragic leave in free agency for nothing Traded Samuel Dalembert and the 14th pick to Milwaukee for the 12th pick and three bench playersĬut Luis Scola under the amnesty provision Traded Chase Budinger to Minnesota for the 18th-overall pick That summer the Rockets traded away all the pieces that made them a 34-32 team the year before. In the summer of 2012, Basketball Prospectus picked the Rockets to finish dead last in the Western conference with a 21-61 record - which would have been the third-worst season in franchise history. The 2012-13 Houston Rockets are a perfect example of how a smart team can get better through a tanking strategy. The big lie about tanking is that it only works if you get a superstar in the NBA Draft. And poorly-run teams that start from scratch will fail. Smart, well-run teams that start from scratch will succeed. You exchange veteran players for either young players or draft picks - which makes you immediately awful, but gives you incredible flexibility going forward. In practice, tanking is simply the process of starting from scratch.
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