It's hard for me to to a draft board, as I've watched only a selected group of players and I don't like judging player off youtube highlights. I do have watched a few Kanas games however and I do not like Selby as a NBA prospect. He's a 6'1 SG without intangibles that lives purely on highschool hype. He showed nothing a Kansas. Zero. I know there have been reports about Selby thriving In pre-draft workouts, but I don't put a lot of stock into those reports. Not only is Selby exactly the type of player that excels in workouts, but I don't think those workouts tell you a lot about a player. Also note that you'll never hear anything negative about a player, since the media guys won't get re-invited if they were to speak bad a player, they get invited to watch. I wouldn't mind Darius Morris at #23, depending how's left on the board. I think he's going to be a real solid player. I haven't heard a lot about Tobias Harris, but he's another guy I really like. ESPN projects him as a PF, which I disagree with. To me he's a 3, who was forced to play out of position in Tennessee. I think he's a lottery talent and if he works on his body and fixes the glitch in his shot he'd be a great value pick #14. Guys projected to go in the first round I don't like: Motiejunas, Morris brothers, Nolan Smith, Tyler Honeycutt. At #38 I would be happy with either Jimmy Butler or Bogdanovic. Again though, I didn't get a chance to watch every player projected to go in the first round, so I can't comment on every single player.
Worth trading up for: 1. Kanter 2. Vesely 3. Biyombo 4. Jonas (might be easiest since stock is falling) Realistic picks at #14: 1. Leonard 2. Alec Burks 3. Chris Singleton Realistic picks at #23: 1. Jordan Williams 2. Tyler Honeycutt 3. Lucas Bebe I pick zero defensive liabilities or tiny shooting guards trying to play point guard. Rockets need size and defense.
What i have been doing over the past 2 weeks is watching prospects in the games that they have played recently as of late 2010- early 2011. You have to do a little searching on youtube, but you will find a few. For instance i watched a game the other day between Michigan and Michigan St. to get a better look at Darius Morris's game. Although i saw that Morris was playing as advertised, i was surprised to see another PG outplaying him. This guy has gone unmentioned in the draft because of an injury last season and is currently projected to be undrafted. He was projected to go top 10 in the draft last year before he got hurt with a torn achilles and has been invisible since, but he is back. Kalin Lucas of Michigan St.. Check him out. If he is not chosen by #38, he would be the real steal of the draft there.
Kalin Lucas: <iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/p0OIp-xbuxk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5OHR1aubMos" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Kalin-Lucas-5308/ Consider him as another hidden gem of this draft!
Leonard and Biyombo are being listed as top 10 picks in the latest draft mocks. This draft wont mean much for us unless we manage to acquire a top 10 pick. Right now even Singleton and Noguiera is looking hard to get with 14 and 23. Morey has been unable to trade his way into the top 10 in the few attempts he has had so far. If there was ever a time to start........
I disagree why waste assets to move up in a weak draft unless your geting top 3. I say trade atleast 1 first rounder for a future pick, and wait to move up in next years draft.
Do you see a center in next years draft as good as Kanter or Biyombo? This draft may be week in superstars but not neccesarily week in very good solid players. If Kanter or Biyombo can feel the Rockets hole at the Center position for the next decade then I think you have to try and move up to acquire one of them.
Remember 2010? It is going to be even harder to move up in 2012. I say unload players now and take full advantage of this years draft and not use any of next years picks to do it. My dream scenario would be to unload enough players to come out with 5 picks this year. People keep saying this is a weak draft, but i disagree. There are a lot of good players deep into this draft class. Players like Selby, K. Lucas and even Damian Saunders were considered 1st rounders or even lottery picks last year. For some reason or another they aren't this year. Doesn't mean they will be bad draft picks. Especially if they are picked in the 2nd round or undrafted.
I would like to make a few changes to my draft board by taking off Malcolm Lee and adding Kalin Lucas to my PG/SG list. Then i would add Tobias Harris to my list as PF. As i mentioned before, he sort of reminds me of a Patrick Patterson type player. I am going with the assumption that we will not be able to trade up. So that would possibly eliminate Kanter and Biyombo. So with that 14th pick, imo, we should choose our project big there and take Nogueira or take Harris if Nogueira is gone. With #23, if i were Morey, i would look to get another big who is likely to contribute right away and take Jordan Williams if he is still available. It is still possible that one or more of my PG/SG choices will be left on the board at #38. Either one of them, including K. Lucas, would be a steal at that point.
This is how I see it pretty much going for right now til the picks are set... 1)Wolves- K.Irving 2)Cavs- D-Will 3)Raps- K.Walker or Kanter 4)Wiz- Kanter or Vesely 5)Sac- B.Knight 6)Jazz- Vesely 7)Pistons- Jonas or Biyombo 8)Cavs- Biyombo or Jonas 9)Cats- Donatas 10)Bucs- Alex B. 11)GSW- K. Leonard 12)Jazz- Jimmer 13)Suns- Marcus Morris BPA maybe leaves us with either the other Morris twin or Thompson. Could see one of the SFs moving up like Singleton or Honeycutt. But I don't see any player falling to our spot, even if the lottery mixes it up some, besides Marcus Morris... which isn't something worth being excited over. Could also see Fredette there but not lasting 1-3 picks after ours. If he's still on the board by the time our pick comes up and none of the those bigs that's listed(besides Morris) is available, I'd say Fredette would be worth the risk at the 14th pick. Hopefully I'm wrong and someone falls to the 14th spot; e.g. Donatas Motiejunas being there like on a couple mock drafts . But calling it now. With the 14th pick this team is gonna draft another PF *facepalm*. And I have a feeling it's gonna be one of the Morris twins .
You are being depressing, H2K. You are probably right, though; nice mock draft. Some mock drafts show Jonas falling to 10 lately. If Rockets can move from 14 to 10 for Jonas, this will be steal of 2011 draft. I have great feeling about this guy. I know all the instant gratification people do not want to wait a year for Jonas, but I do not see why. Rockets are not winning championship next year so who cares.
I am willing to bet, that at BEST one of those two players will still be a solid starter in a decade. Normally Biyombo wouldn't get a sniff in the lottery, but this draft is weak. Kanter has far greater potential, but he hasn't even played in a year.
Would not be surprised to see the Rockets trade their lottery pick if they don't see anyone they like.... someone like GS, LAC or another bottom feeder would bite.
Hey we still have the 23rd and 38th pick so nothing to be depressed about . Actually I'd probably be more anxious when that 23rd pick comes around. There's a good number of solid prospects in that range that should be right there for us. And if we could get our hands on a pick that lands us Jonas, he would be a great pick-up. Would definitely be a happy camper after draft day.
I'm really hoping we find a way to trade up to snag Kanter. I feel he's one of the few prospects in this weak draft with legitimate star potential, but more importantly he'll probably hold more trade value then all but Irving. He's the type of piece we'll need to land Howard.
Kanter is my top choice over anyone else in this draft, including the top 2 picks. Every other draft strategy comes if this one does not work. We actually have an outside chance at getting him other than getting a top three pick in the lottery Tuesday. We may be able to entice the Wolves or the Wizards to trade us their pick. Players i would be willing to trade are Scola, Hill, Williams, Yao(S&T) and Lowryconfused. Throw in the other 2 picks we have this year(#23 and #38) and try to make it work.
There are 4 centers projected in the top 10 this draft. Biyombo, Kanter, Jonas and Donatas. Noguiera could have huge surge as the draft nears too. So he can end up like top 12. Then there are no Centers at all until 2nd round. Some names: - Jordan Williams, Kieth Benson, Greg Smith, Jeremy Tyler and Nikola Vuvevic. I guess one of those guys wouldnt be bad with the 2nd pick. But we really need one from the top 10 (preferably Biymobo) to have any chance of upgrading our roster. It would be disappointing if Morey cant crack a trade for top 10 pick this time. Even if we dont get center than at least Vesley or Kawhi Leonard. Biyombo or Leonard would be able help immediately and gives us something to look forward to as well.
