STONE SAYS TEAM ‘ALL-IN’ TO WIN NOW
Rafael Stone was officially named Rockets general manager Oct. 15, hired a coach, Stephen Silas, three weeks later and head into his first draft and free agency as GM in the next two weeks. But first, he sat down to field questions ranging from his unusual path to the job, spending into the luxury tax and if the Rockets can still have a win-now approach.
Q: What would your reaction have been if you had been told when you left Dewey Ballantine (his New York law firm where he had just been made partner) that in 15 years you would be an NBA GM?
A: I probably would have said, “Good,’ That was the goal. That was the thing that was super interesting about the opportunity.
Q: You wouldn’t have been surprised? You were that confident it would happen?
A:
I’ve always been pretty willing to bet on myself. I’ve thankfully been pretty successful. I perceived this as an opportunity to enter into the NBA, figure out if I liked it and if I did like it and did really, really well and had the opportunity to help the Rockets, or if I jumped to another team, helping an organization succeed, and if you’re somebody that proves over, and over and over again that you’re really good, you get more opportunities. I’m not somebody that ever had interest in coaching. For me, the opportunity I was interested in was being a GM. That was the entire reason I took the ( general counsel) position. So, I would probably not have been surprised, but happy.
Q: Your father (V. Rafael Stone) was a basketball player (a star guard at the University of Washington) who went into law. Youwere a lawyer that went into basketball. What does it mean for you in that regard and for him to have you take this position?
A: We played basketball the exact same number of years (Stone played at Williams College.) I would say I was a basketball player who went into law who went back into basketball. He was a better basketball player than me. Let’s make that clear. I had a successful legal career. I was doing really well. I would not have left that to go into football or baseball or anything else. He was really happy for me, but not as ‘my son is fulfilling my dreams.’ My dad was really good. He for sure could have played in the ABA or NBA. He made a conscious choice. I don’t think he ever regretted it. He never pushed me to the NBA. I think he’s very happy for me like any father would be that his son achieved his goal.”
Q: Your first major decision was the hiring of Stephen
Silas. Beyond the qualities you spoke about at the press conference, as you have gotten to know him have you found a shared perspective as you both are in your first jobs in these positions?
A: We have a lot of similarities, educationally, background; we’re basically the same age (Stone is 48, Silas 47.) Even though this is our first opportunity, him as a head coach, me as a GM, respectively, we’re not getting it early in our careers. We’ve been highly positioned within organizations for a long time. It’s cool we’ve experienced stuff from similar perspectives. I’ve enjoyed that there’s no bait-and switch. He emphasized he wanted to be collaborative. I emphasized I wanted to be collaborative.
We’ve been extremely collaborative. That’s great. That’s naturally how I go about things and I think how he goes about things.
Q: You take over at a pivotal time with a new coach but also what seems to be a perilous time. How do you view where the Rockets are with a bit of a fresh start but also with a roster led almost entirely by 30-somethings?
A: The good news is we have really, really good basketball players. I don’t view it as perilous. I view it as a unique opportunity. Very few people come into jobs with a bunch of guys who can play and have been successful and know how to win. I’m getting a talented roster that has already won; not to the level we want but won in a big way. It’s about being very smart to keep the good stuff and be additive. You don’t want to do anything rash. You want to see if there are changes that will help. You don’t want to ad hoc make changes here and there. It’s a really cool opportunity because we’re going to win basketball games. That’s a great place to
start.
Q: Having the bulk of the core signed can be good in that they have done good things together and not good in that you are way over the cap and do not have a lot of flexibility. How do you view trying to upgrade the roster under those circumstances?
A: Every team has its own challenges. In our situation, lots of people want our players. That’s a great place to be. You have tomake sure if you do something, it makes you better. I’m very optimistic the team is going to be very competitive. Whether it is rolling out the same guys and Steve is trying to make tweaks here and there and using mid-level, that’s a way of being very competitive. Maybe there’s a deal or two that can help us. We’re going to be very aggressive.
Q: How does a compressed free agency period this year play into that?
A: I don’t think it’s going to matter, the way we do business, very much. I think you will see things happening in a flurry. Our approach won’t change. It’s hard to know how the rest of the league will react.
Q: The Rockets were very open about the plan to go all-in last season. Do you still operate as a championship contender with a priority on immediate goals? Do you need to be more cautious with future assets, with draft picks?
A: We’re still all-in. Our goal is to win a championship. We’ll do anything we can to get us closer to that goal.
Q: You are over the cap but have a mid-level exception. If it works out, or just in general philosophically, would it be better for this team to use that exception on the best one player you can get or to spread it around with several players to help with depth?
A: It depends entirely on what we think we can do with our minimum exception. We think we can bring in guys that can be very helpful there. That’s a way of getting depth. And, is there a guy we think we can get at midlevel we think is really good value? If that’s the case, we’re just going to do it, period. It’s all about talent. If we think a guy is better than the market thinks he is, we’re going to want to go get that guy. Mid-level is the best tool we have. We’re just going to be aggressive to try to get talent. Last year, we used it for Danuel House. We didn’t use all of it in that situation. It’s largely based on the market.
Q: You spoke at the press conference about the lack of a mandate to avoid the luxury tax. Do you consider it inevitable that this is the year you do spend luxury tax or are there still the sort of maneuverability benefits you described to avoiding it?
A: There are perhaps benefits to avoid it, but we’re planning to be in it. We were planning to be in it two years ago and I think last year. A lot of this is just what happens circumstantially there. There was a deal we for sure would have done last year at the trade deadline that would have had us well, well over the tax line. A team called and we said ‘yes.’ They chose not to do it. It’s not the cash-based decision people think it is. It is more the framework for how you build
your roster. That’s still where we are. We’re certainly planning to be in the luxury tax this year. If a great deal appears and we end up shedding salary, we’d do that deal and then probably try to re-spend the salary. There’s no pressure whatsoever to not be in, but real pressure to win.
Q: Before we get to free agency, many teams will be drafting players. Is it a goal or even a priority to find your way into the draft as well?
A: We certainly wouldn’t mind getting into the draft, particularly if somebody becomes available we think will help us win now. We’re still in the win-now more than the develop four or five years from now mode. There are guys in the draft I think can play right away. We’ve had teams tell us they would be open to (a trade.) I think we probably can get draft picks if the right guy is there.
Q: With the departures of Daryl Morey and Monte McNair and the passing of B. J. Johnson do you feel shorthanded as you begin your tenure and will making additional hires be on the table?
A: We have a super strong team. I’m really lucky we have really, really talented people here I know well and I trust. We for sure over the course of the year add people. But I’m very lucky. I have Eli (Witus). I have Fan-Hall (Koung.) I have Jimmy (Paulis.) Ed (Pinkney.) Chuck (Hayes.) Marko (Radovanovic). Jason (Roman.) Travis (Stockbridge.) So, we’re really prepared to go into free agency and the draft.
Q: How have you enjoyed being general manager so far?
A: I’m much busier because I now have all these things like talking to (media) and doing the press conference and we had to hire a coach. I’m busier doing the parts of the job that didn’t exist. The core of my job is exactly the same. It doesn’t feel very different, just having to manage my time dealing with media, doing the coaching search while preparing for the draft and free agency.
Q: Do you consider it a benefit of being general manager that people will learn how to pronounce your name (Rahfell)?
A: I guess everybody slightly cares that their name is pronounced right. But the only way people will know how to pronounce my name is if I achieve some level of fame and I’m not interested in that.