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Time to recognize the brilliance of Rafael Stone’s 2021 draft

The Houston Rockets, for a better part of a decade, didn't particularly value draft picks. Let me rephrase that statement. They didn't value them for themselves but as a tool to add "win now" type players to a team that featured one of the best players in the league year in and year out in James Harden.

From the time Harden came to the Rocket in 2012 to the time he was traded away in 2021, the Rockets only had two first-round picks in that span. They drafted Clint Capela and Sam Dekker with those two picks.