Picking in the second round is incredibly hard. That said, I'm not in love with either pick, and more done on Zhou of the two, and think the pick was VERY heavily influenced with the China angle. In fact, I'd much rather have picked the guy right after him, a 6'5 SG from France (that also needs seasoning... true). Given its such a crapshoot, it's not all that disappointing. And he clearly has some skills, and it could work. But for all the things that make him unique at his size - the capability to put the ball on the floor, the ability to hit a 3 - he doesn't do those nearly well enough or fluidly enough that you'd actually want him doing it in the NBA, and he doesn't do the "big man" stuff well enough either. Basically he needs a TON of work, and my guess is he'll never be an NBA player. Maybe he'll get a year or two of cleanup minutes. With Clint early on, it was RAW RAW RAW, but you saw it there. He had the athleticism and speed to make an impact just through effort alone. With Zhou, he has SO many areas to improve on. The only thing he has going for him is his age. And I don't think he's coming to the US this year anyway, so other than natural improvement through age, he won't really benefit much over the next 9 months in terms of development.
another wasted pick... just so Les can try to make a few more yen... Add him to the list with Llull, Badiane, and the multitude of wasted picks that never even made it onto the court... smh...
If he were coming over for this training camp, I'd have hopes that he could be a rotation player in a year or two. If the Rockets are allowed any control over his training while he's there for this year, I still retain a bit of hope. Otherwise I think his chances are slim to none. He needs NBA training and experience against quicker, more athletic players. It's sad because I can tell this guy could have really been something had he been in Europe for a couple of years at least getting to know how to operate in a modern offense and not being trained like a 7'2 marathon runner. I see him in his raw form as very very similar to Porzingis except Porzingis comes out of a far superior basketball program and has played with and against much better players on a regular basis and developed by a Reneses who had a hand in several great Spanish players' development. Can he not come over mid season when the CBA ends?
Speaking of the French, Thomas Heurtel looked really decent against the USA. Let's go after him if we're targeting random foreign players.
Offensively he could probably help a bit now but defensively he'll get creamed. Low motor. Needs a lot of work on rebounding, defense awareness, and strength/weight. The rebounding was the most disappointing part. Although, they had Zhou as a roaming defensive player at the top of the key too much. He even was pressuring the ball handler in the back court in some plays. Good thing he was a late 2nd round pick. Too bad they can't bring him over this year. Training wise it'll definitely be a huge step up over CBA.
It's a whatever pick in the second round, I have 0.1 percent hope he would even play meaningful minutes here
Those are some bad numbers lol. But I mean, you can't really score if you don't put up shots. His rebounding numbers are also laughable. Even if he's primarily defending on the perimeter, you'd expect more than 1 rebound to go his way. But the Chinese national team is pretty bad all around. Every olympics, we wonder why China sucks so much at basketball given the amount of people, history, and interest they have in the sport. As a whole, the team is slow, can't shoot, and lacks bball IQ. I mean they lost to Venezuela. I can't even name one dude on the Venezuelan team. This should tell you something about their infrastructure, player development, and coaching. If Qi has any hope of being a worthwhile NBA player, he should seek better coaching and training.
When people were debating on whether missing the playoffs and keeping the pick or making the playoffs was a better option, the knock on keeping the pick was that this was a weak draft and a 1st rounder wouldnt be able to help us this year cause this crop was not a highly rated as last and next years. Now people are pumping up a guy from the mid 2nd round as someone who could help us in a year or two. Guess what? The 1st round pick would've been a less raw player and couldve helped us possibly sooner. And Im willing to bet they couldve signed Gordon and Anderson even if they missed the playoffs.
Picking in the second is not hard at all. The Rockets just never know what they are doing. They always have some kind of goofy assed agenda. Check my draft out in the sig. Easy peasy.
He's a very young, very raw 2nd round pick. He's a project. No need to get bent out of shape over his Olympic performance. I'd rather control this player's rights for years and see if he develops into anything. It's not as if the Rockets spent a first round pick or even a high second round pick on a clear project player.
I think a couple of you are right, his weight issues (lack of) are what make or break his future. That and how his body takes the muscle he adds. KD is lanky, but not Zhou lanky. Zhou should aim for KD's build. Yao did it, this guy can too.
I don't know why folks knock on Shawn Bradley so much. Shawn Bradley was a solid role player http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/bradlsh01.html#per_game::none If Zhou as a late 2nd rd pick turns out to be Shawn Bradley we should be jumping for joy.
