Houston Rockets General Manager Rafael Stone talks Steven Adams trade and the state of the team

Houston Rockets General Manager Rafael Stone talks Steven Adams trade and the state of the team

And you obviously made all the calls and so on how did you feel when ever the point came when you knew there would not be a deal for a player to add for this season when you knew it was done at that point um I guess fine you know like it

There was obviously things that we were interested in doing we did make all the phone calls but um by no means were we kind of you know feeling like we had to do something so um you know we were exploring options that we thought made

Sense for us both in the present and the future they and I guess at the end of the day it just makes the most sense to stand back well kind of I mean we also made a big move you know I think you know a week ago or whatever

Now 10 days ago that uh that that we we felt really good about I’d like to ask you about that move what do you feel like you got in stepen Adams for the future yeah I think we I think we got you know a a really highlevel basketball

Player a guy who’s been um a dominant rebounding force in the NBA for the last five six years um one of the best defenders in the NBA and um we obviously feel great with Alin but but I just think now we have two truly you know starter level centers

Uh you know next year um and I think depth is just I mean you’ve seen that with us and every team this this year dep’s just extraordinarily important but on top of that like he he just he he’s he’s a very different player and I think

Will be a good compliment on and off the court for our group and um I I don’t know him well I got a chance to spend a little bit of time with him um and I I do think his personality is also going to be really good for the

Group The offse you guys talk a lot about this team moving into the next pH phase as right now how do you think has so far um I mean know I I guess macro big picture you know good I think I think we’re in every game um we’re not content

You know what I mean like this isn’t like oh it’s been great like you know we’re done no I mean I think we we want more from our young guys we want them to be better um and I think in their comments to you guys for the most part

They they’re echoing that they want themselves to be better and they know that that’s our expectation from them so um but but I do feel like we we’ve obviously made a big jump in terms of being comp comptitive this year that was that that was kind of goal one uh goal

Two is take being competitive to to winning more games we’ve won more too but the point being like you know uh we’ve left a bunch of wins on the table this year and um through all kinds of mistakes and and so you know you you you get better through experience um but we

Do expect and and demand that as our guys get more experience they they learn and they don’t make the same mistakes question jlen Green’s name was was ort portly in some potential deals what have you seen from him just in general this season and as of right now how does he

Kind of fit in potential um plans for this team for the future I mean you know Jaylen uh has been and continues to be on paper a great fit with us he has a skill set that isn’t really replicated on our roster going back to my earlier

Comments my expectation of him uh and and he knows this uh and I think he echoed into postgame comments he my expectation is that the defense which has gotten better is still going to get a lot better that the physicality and the efficiency is all going to get

Better you know he needs to take those steps that’s that’s extraordinarily important um he’s aware of it we’re aware of it and you know um yeah and that that that’s the challenge for him and for us when you’re evaluating the players on your team how much are you

Take to consideration the fact that it’s a new coach it’s a new system second year third players think right there I mean I don’t know we’re like 50 games in so the new coach new system like these guys at this point know what’s expected

Of them so um I I think I think in the first 20 games maybe people were trying to acclimatize themselves but I think now they know they they know what’s going on um in terms of it being their first second third year yeah that’s real

You know uh a guy there there’s a big difference between someone who’s 30 years old and has done something for 10 seasons and somebody who’s 19 years old and know done it for half a season um you know there are some things that are inexcusable lack of effort lack of

Attention whatever but but the but expecting some our players to understand I don’t know the pet move of a guy the way a vet would you know we we know that there’s a learning curve there so I I think it depends very much on the specific circumstance in terms of

Whether you know you’re like I get it push through it or you’re like hey no you got to be there now you that you were surprised that cam Whitmore was still available at 20 what have you seen from him this season that you like I mean we’re excited about cam um I think

You know um he can score the ball um you know uh and he we knew he was we we knew he was the type of athlete he’s shown on the court that was that was pretty obvious um um but yeah I mean I’m I’m excited I think he’s he’s really flashed

Really really high-end offensive Talent um and a lot of the stuff we’ve asked of him defensively like he’s working on and rebounding he’s working on and so again just like the rest of our group you know it needs to translate it needs to be every game every possession um and so

You know by no means are we like oh that’s great we’re we’re happy um but but but overall yeah we’re excited about Camp’s future kind following up on um phase two and emphasis on winning is the plan this year to be more aggressive in the buyout Market than in previous two or three

Seasons I mean it you know I don’t even remember what we did in the buyout Market the last couple of Seasons we we would add somebody whether in the buyout Market whether in the free agency market whatever we would add somebody that makes sense to us um this year or next year um

But you know that’s that’s going to be kind of a a a group effort I I think I think the primary thing for us is is really having uh is our is our group as is currently constituted playing up to its standards and I think you know I I

Think the last few weeks uh um everybody’s a little bit disappointed we’ve let a few that we had slip through our fingers um and just being just being a little bit better there I think I think the primary goal I know the primary goal for all of us is just our

The guys we’ve got in the building right now to to play as well as they can be and and um you know and we’ll we’ll look at the bio Market if something makes sense you know we might do something but um but primarily we’re focused on the

Guys that that are currently on theost are you all comfortable with Steven’s knee and is he going to be ready to go come camp in the fall yeah I mean we we passed his physical um we we did look at it uh surgery went really well he’s thee

Of schedule on the rehab um so the answer is yes we’re very comfortable and we do expect that he should be ready for Camp we’re not going to rush him if uh you know if something happens and he’s a little late that would be perfectly fine

But as of right now I I do anticipate he’ll be ready I’m actually from the real Grand Valley so I’ve seen a lot of the players play this year your two-way players and such uh talk about how their contributions are you have got people like Samuel Jr going be part of the NBA

Activities this weekend talk about your feelings of these players so far you talking about Jermaine samels yeah um no Jermaine’s great um we you know he hasn’t really had an opportunity with the Rockets outside of preseason um and and some some minutes and some blowouts

But um but he’s he’s taking a big step in his career uh first time g-league Allstar very deserving um he’s been really a great g-league player this year and uh the Vipers are playing really well again um and he’s been a big uh Big Driver behind their success of the talks

That you did have how much of the motivation was either to set yourself up for future Maneuvers moves or with the roster in coming seasons in mind rather than right now I mean we we had discussions center around both that’s the that’s the honest answer to the question um but we certainly weren’t

Going to do something that would that would hurt us on a going forward basis now the moves we were the moves we were most excited about were moves where we thought they could help us in the short term and also the longterm um the moves subsequent to Stephen we were we were

Kind of we were very we were very excited about acquiring Stephen Full Stop um but subsequently like a lot of the ones we we had long discussions about were moves that that would have provided um elements this year maybe that we that we don’t have um as well as

As well as stuff for the future but they didn’t happen and you know and and we’re fine with that like this you know we like our group and uh you know this gives everybody everybody on our current roster an opportunity to shine with Stephen on the books does that make it

More likely that you’re going to operate above the salary cap this summer yeah it does I I think I mean there still are scenarios where we where we could flip down but I I think very very likely would be above the count from your perspective uh the vets that you brought

In over the offseason uh and what ways have you really felt that you’ve helped develop some of the younger guys since they’ve been oh I mean I I think um you know Fred has been kind of an amazing leader for us um on and off the court um

I didn’t didn’t know him as a person until you know he signed with us we you know through the free agency meetings you get to know him a little bit but um uh but but very much everything advertised just great leader probably the toughest person I’ve been around in

The NBA and I’ve been in the NBA for 20 years so that’s a long time now um and that’s it’s saying a lot um and he just an impressive dude um Dylan his kind of just his grind his da his Daily Grind not just in games but in practice in the

Weight room I think is just really a great example for our young guys um um and then you know the rest of our vets uh Jeff and Bon just really good solid human beings everybody enjoys spending time around so I I do think it’s been

It’s the the Vets have brought a lot to uh to our locker room and I think uh and and yeah we’re very happy that that uh that they’re here were looking um a couple weeks ago e told us that some of the things that he would like to see

Added to the team was a big man the center he went out and added one but wanted a shooter how hard is that to fulfill those type of needs when he say this is what we would like to have yeah you guys I think you guys all

Misinterpreted that I think what he said was I think what he meant was there are areas where we can improve and these are the areas we can improve going out and getting them via free agency is one one way we can improve it the other way is

Guys on our on our team develop into that and given the age of our guys we do expect some of them to develop into that um in terms of like what we were looking for uh on the trade market we were completely aligned like we actually

Agreed on every single deal that that I asked him about like the ones I you know the ones I thought could be possible that I didn’t particularly like he didn’t like either the ones I thought that could be possible that I was excited about he was excited about we’re

I think we’re very much in the same place in terms of what we see with this team how um how certain elements would impact acted negatively or positively um and so yeah anyway so that’s my answer you brought up jayen are you happy with no he brought

Uped what You’ seen not just him but from Al and the guys that have been in the organization for a couple years yeah I mean they’re growing so in that in that sense yeah we’re pleased but I want to be clear we’re demanding you know growth growth is EXP Ed and demanded

Here and so um yes like we’re happy with them and different guys have taken different leaps at different times and in different ways on different sides of the ball and everything else but our our expectation is that they’re all kind of should be getting better between here

And the end of the year should be getting better between the end of the year and next season and that growth needs to be continual like it’s not we’re not in a place where we feel like oh this guy is here like with none of

Our young guys are we like that and we I I the good news for me is I I don’t think they think they’re there either um I think they all know they have growth um that the growth is expected of them iess would you say that they have met

Your expectations of they that they would be 50 something games into this season um I don’t I the real answer to your question is I don’t I don’t think about it in those terms um it’s it’s not I don’t map out oh this guy should be here

On defense and here in rebounding and here on offense it’s just to amorphous I would say they all my expectation is that they would all grow and improve they have um at various times I’ve been like wow that guy got better quicker oh why is this guy not getting better

Quicker but again it’s not linear so with every single one of our players I’ve had those thoughts going both ways um but um yeah but but but none of them are finished products and none of them are ultimately where we need them to be

In order for us to be as good as we want to be and so you know that’s kind of how I think about it how would you evaluate yourself up to this Midway point if this season myself yeah I I that’s an odd question um yeah I think I

Think are you are you at like I want to actually answer your question are you asking about like just the season or you asking about the last three years ask as the Houston Rockets general manager how would you evaluate yourself up to the midpoint of this season I mean I’m

Trying to when where’s your start point from the beginning of the season from the beginning of the Season we’re head into the allar break believe it or not there’s not a ton for me to do from the beginning of the season to the allstar break so what I would say is that like

Starting at the end of last season I’ll help you with your question starting at the end of last season to this season I think I’ve had a big impact on the team and and I think the off season is when I have that that is my time to put my

Imprint on this team uh from that perspective yeah I I I’m happy with the choices we made I think for the most part um we’ve gotten we we’ve gotten what we wanted I think the additions of Fred and Dylan were necessary and really important I like I like that we brought

Bam back I like that we have Jeff um I love the hire of eme um yeah I I think and and then and then I think we did really well drafting Cam and a men so I think we had a very successful off season which set us up to make the right

Steps for this season but I would say for myself similar to our young guys it’s not good enough and so they need to improve um our front office not just me all of us our coaching staff all of us we we’ve got to we’ve got to continue on

The grind and make sure that the choices we make um uh the at the trade deadline the ones we just made the ones we make between now and the season the ones make in the off season that they all set us up to have the best possible chance to

Win a championship in the short term mean not meaning like a year or two but meaning you know not 20 years either right and and and that’s very much our goal and my goal great thank you

Houston Rockets general manager Rafael Stone talks about Steven Adams’s trade, young player development, the trade deadline, and the state of the team.
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