Whirlwind isn’t fazing Rockets’ new general manager.
Rockets general manager Rafael Stone and coach Stephen Silas had a conversation about the events that transpired shortly after they were hired.
You know, the not-so-everyday occurrences of a team’s two best players demanding trades, then being traded?
Stone and Silas even managed to chuckle about it all.
“I told Stephen that when I hired him, I didn’t know that all this would unfold the way that it unfolded,” Stone said. “I wanted to make sure that he knew that I didn’t know.
“He said, ‘I didn’t know that when I was being hired (either).’ But he said to me, ‘I would have taken the job anyway.’ I said to him, ‘Me too.’
“Even if you had perfect knowledge of what the future would hold, if you would have done it anyway, then it is what it is … no regrets.”
That they were hardly fazed by the sudden major turn of events is a testament to their readiness to handle their new positions.
The Rockets are in capable hands.
In his opening statement during the news conference in which he and Silas were introduced, Stone said the Rockets presented a unique opportunity for a first-time GM.
“Personally, most importantly, I’m inheriting this team of guys that I really know and really like, led by James (Harden) and Russ
(Westbrook),” Stone said. “Not many people get this opportunity for the first time with these types of guys.”
Stone wasn’t one of those lucky people.
The opportunity to run his own team and make most of the important calls for an organization featuring perennial all-NBA stars in Harden and Westbrook was short-lived.
Harden and Westbrook were determined to leave, so Stone had to quickly rebuild on the fly.
The work he didn’t imagine he would have to do when he took the job has been impressive.
In less than a month, Westbrook was on his way to D.C. in a trade for John Wall. Then 2½ weeks after the season began, Stone sent Harden to Brooklyn in a four-team trade that brought back Victor Oladipo, Dante Exum and four first-round picks.
Monday, Silas was almost giddy that for the first time this season he sent out the same starting lineup for a third straight game. Four of the five starters and five of the seven who scored double-figure points in the romp over Oklahoma City were not with the team last season.
The Rockets have won six games in a row to move from the bottom of the Western Conference to the middle. They have a winning record (10-9) for the first time this season.
They play hard, they play defense — no, seriously — and they seem to be in a much better place emotionally. (Hey, it’s 2021. We acknowledge that feelings matter.)
But rest assured, Stone is hardly going to sit around with the team as is.
Basically, in today’s NBA, if you aren’t trading, you aren’t trying.
“I’m a transactional guy,” Stone said. “That’s my background.
“We should always be looking for the next major deal. You don’t want to leave opportunity on the table. The nature of this business is tough. Being good enough is not good enough. That is something that I think people in other jobs have a hard time relating to.”
Many would not relate to Stone’s being the gym rat he is. Stone says he is “from a basketball family, not a sports family.”
His father, Rafael Stone Sr., played at the University of Washington in the late 1960s but forwent a potential NBA career to become a lawyer.
Stone flipped that by playing Division III ball before attending law school at Stanford. He left a promising legal career for the NBA, mainly because of his love for the sport.
“When it’s played well, I enjoy it at every level,” he said.
He is a basketball junkie, not a basketball nerd. His appreciation for analytics is balanced by a willingness, a joy even, to put in time watching workouts and practices, much like a scout.
“If you watch a guy shoot a thousand shots, you have a much better sense of can he shoot than if you watch him take five shots in a game,” Stone said. “Let me see you play full-court, one-on-one. Let me see you take a thousand stationary jumpers.
“I can figure out (how good a player is) if I can see those two things.”
While he made his first few shots under duress, we will see how good Stone is as a GM over time.
New to the title but not the work, Stone has been very involved in the Rockets’ basketball business for the last 10 years or so.
He started with the Rockets in 2005 as the team’s general counsel after eight years working his way up to a partnership at a prestigious Wall Street law firm and has gone from key contributor in trades and signings to a top line on the organizational power chart.
“He’s everything that we knew he would be,” Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta said. “There was never even a thought process of whether we wanted to hire someone else. We knew that we wouldn’t miss a beat with him and Eli (Wits, executive vice president of basketball operations).
“One thing I can promise you: We will not sit on our hands.”
Stone gets animated when talking about the team goals.
“I’m trying to win a championship . ... I want a ring, man,” Stone said. “I get me a ring, you’re gonna have a hard time finding me for a couple months.”
Don’t buy that.
Stone knows all too well how much can happen in a couple months.