Houston's rebuild gambled on losses, yielding future stars but potentially stunting crucial early development for its top prospects.
After taking over for Daryl Morey, Rafael Stone’s first major move would come on December 2nd, 2020. A puzzling point guard swap for John Wall, but maybe not as puzzling as bringing in Westbrook and getting rid of anybody over 6’7.
After all, this was a new front office, so maybe there was a new vision. Next came the big one, the franchise icon, James Harden getting traded. Less than a month into the season, the future hall of fame guard was on his way to play for the Nets.
The Rockets then traded for KPJ on January 21st, as the disgruntled guard found himself a solid role with the mashup of players that Houston was calling a team.
Kevin Porter Jr. scored 50 in an upset win against Milwaukee at the end of April, which was a nice surprise for a guy who was essentially kicked out of Cleveland for behavioral issues.
Regardless, their fall from grace armed Houston with the 2nd overall pick, obviously selecting Jalen Green. A nice prospect that could play alongside John Wall, who had multiple All-Star years with former 3rd overall pick, Bradley Beal.
Rather than starting the veteran facilitator to help develop their new draft pick, the Rockets just handed that role to KPJ and told John Wall he wouldn’t be playing. True to their word, the former star didn’t log a single minute in the 2021-2022 season.
I had real problems with this at the time, as Porter Jr. had a history of issues in Cleveland. It seemed like Houston was just catering to him, so as to not upset him, rather than doing what’s best for him and the team. Even if tanking was deemed to be best for the team.
Wall played in 40 games the prior season, and they still had the worst record in the league. Three games worse than Detroit, who ended up with Cade Cunningham. In the process of a rebuild, the Rockets still wanted to tank even harder.
And that’s exactly what they did. From 17 wins in a shortened 72 game season, to 20 and 22 wins in 82 game seasons, the tank was on. It was such a mess that Porter Jr. actually left an NBA game at halftime, simply quitting on his team, per ESPN.
The good news is all of those awful seasons brought in the guys we love today: 2021 gave us Şengün and Jalen Green (now Kevin Durant), 2022 brought in Jabari and Tari, and 2023 gave us a twin. Can you say Amen?
The bad news is the lasting effects it could have on everyone involved.
Poor Stephen Silas might never get another head coaching job in the NBA again, when no one honestly got to see him coach. He was meant to be losing and the team cut bait as soon as they were ready to try winning games again.
While JG was on a successful Rockets team last season, he still sometimes felt like the odd man out. Case in point, he literally got traded. It’s still yet to be seen what his career will look like, but I don’t think tanking for his first seasons could’ve helped. Hopefully health gets on his side in Phoenix.
Kevin Porter Jr. has still only bounced around on smaller contracts, which might’ve been his fate regardless, but not everyone can score 50 points. With more structure and actual coaching, perhaps he could’ve actually been a star. But when you let a guy run around and do whatever he wants on the court, I just don’t think it’s very helpful.
At the end of the day, they never got the top draft pick, and the best player Houston has drafted in this rebuild wasn’t even in the lottery. 2x All-Star, Alperen Şengün was drafted 16th overall.
This was one of the most successful and quickest rebuilds in recent history, but there’s still a list of victims along the way. While tanking got them a lot of talent, I’d argue a bulk of their success first came from veteran additions like Kevin Durant, Fred VanVleet, Steven Adams, Dillon Brooks, Jeff Green, and Ime Udoka.