Despite building a championship-caliber roster anchored by Kevin Durant and emerging stars, Houston's general manager remains underrated. Discover why Rafael Stone’s savvy financial maneuvering deserves national recognition.
Did ESPN rank Rafael Stone too low at No. 13?
ESPN just ranked the Houston Rockets fourth in its Future Power Rankings, which project each team’s success over the next three seasons. That sounds like a huge vote of confidence until you look at how Houston got there.
The Rockets ranked ninth in players, sixth in draft assets, 13th in money and 13th in management. ESPN still described the roster as an “enviable mix of high-upside youth and proven veterans” while calling Houston “one of the NBA’s best front offices in terms of financial management.”
So how does one of the league’s best front offices land 13th in management? I’m not arguing Rafael Stone belongs ahead of every executive in basketball. Oklahoma City and Boston have earned the benefit of the doubt. Still, 13th feels low for the person who took Houston from a painful rebuild to a roster built around Kevin Durant, Amen Thompson, Alperen Şengün, Jabari Smith Jr., Tari Eason and Reed Sheppard.
Stone also kept that group together without handing a maximum contract to everybody who asked. Şengün, Smith and Eason all signed long-term deals below the max. Durant accepted a two-year, $90 million extension, less than the roughly $120 million he was eligible to receive. Thompson’s five-year, $208 million extension was the largest commitment, and he’s also the young player Houston appears most willing to build around.
And Houston did win 52 games last season. The playoff exit was disappointing, especially after adding Durant, but one underwhelming postseason shouldn’t erase the larger roster-building job.
ESPN’s own scoring makes the management ranking harder to defend. Players account for 60-percent of the formula, while management accounts for 11.67-percent. Houston’s ninth-place player score carried far more weight than its sixth-place draft score, yet the Rockets still finished fourth overall.
ESPN clearly likes the roster. I just don’t understand how the person responsible for so many of those decisions lands 13th. Front-office rankings should include coaching hires, trades, contracts, draft decisions and the flexibility to recover when a move goes wrong. Stone hired Ime Udoka, held onto valuable draft capital and added veterans without clearing out Houston’s young core. Those decisions deserve more credit than 13th.
He added Marcus Smart and Bogdan Bogdanović this summer on affordable short-term contracts instead of chasing another expensive name. There have been misses, of course.
Every executive has them, and Stone still has more to prove. The Durant era will ultimately be judged in May and June, and another early playoff exit would make 13th much easier to understand. I still think his résumé deserves better than this.
If Houston makes a real playoff run, Stone will finally get his credit. I, for one, don’t think we need to wait until then to admit ESPN ranked him too low.
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