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Stone defends Rockets’ culture
Rafael Stone, the Houston Rockets’ general manager, has defended the NBA team’s culture, saying that it is a strength that supports hard work and mutual support. Deflecting criticisms of the team’s losing record, which began in the 2018-19 season, Stone said that players and coaches had come and gone since the Rockets reached the playoffs. He also suggested that some negative opinions might be unspecific echoes of complaints from the Rockets’ successful seasons several years ago, when the team’s style of play and team building approach drew disapproval from some media commentators.
‘We have a really good culture’
Stone acknowledged that the Rockets’ play in recent seasons had been worthy of criticism, but added that the team’s work ethic and sense of communal endeavour were not among its weaknesses. “Culture, I would put our team up there with anybody in the NBA,” he said. “We work really hard. People are very supportive of each other. They get along very well. They spent a ton of time together off the court.”
‘Willing to fight with anyone’
Stone also hit out at critics of the team’s culture, saying that some were being “lazy”. “As it relates to the media people who’ve said it, I would say that some of them have been lazy,” he said. “I think a lot of things that were written and said about – teams when I was not the GM. Those teams did things in their own way. I think some people didn’t like the way they did them.” However, Stone denied that the team’s approach needed to be overhauled: “The real answer is I don’t think there’s validity to that.”
