Allegedly, his agent said that Kobe would only play for the Lakers (and maybe the Nets), though he did not ask for a trade. Arn Tellem used the the word impossibility and it is said the deal to trade Bryant was already in place, before the draft (somehow). The Lakers knew they were about to sign Shaq away from the Magic.
we are hearing a lot said on this board that tanking to #1 pick doesn't mean a game changer type superstar cause player of this type doesn't come very often. it is true. here is a question for all clutch fans. which one has better chance to land a game changer? tanking to #1 pick or staying at #14 and hoping good luck?
To the OP: You conveniently cut off the list of 14th picks at 1990, the article starts in 1988. The 14th picks in 1988, 1989: Dan Majerle (3 all star games) and Tim Hardaway (5xAll-NBA). i would be pretty darn happy if either the 14th or 16th picks turned out that way. Although it does look like most of the better mid-1st lottery picks that were succesful were picked a while ago; maybe teams are getting better at this whole evaluation thing... From reading the original article, my reading is that picks 9-14 have been surprisingly productive. I think the superstar percentage is not as important. We aren't getting a superstar, we want a guy that can be a solid starter and maybe make an AS game or two. The picks that REALLY don't look great are 6,7 and 8 (although 8 to a lesser degree than the other two).
your problem is that you assume tanking --> a #1 overall pick when, as the Bobcats certainly know now, there's no guarantees in the NBA draft lottery. In fact, the past decade or so has been more 'upsets' (although statistically the 'upset' teams as a whole have a larger chance of winning the lottery than the one team with good odds) than terrible teams winning the lottery. Look at a team like New Orleans - they didn't tank, they lost a lot of games because of their total lack of a scorer, due to Gordon being injured 99% of the season. They tried hard anyway, played their 'best' players and just happened to lose a lot of games.
why do you always narrow minded think what other ppl mean when using the word - tanking? so new orleans was not tanking. if we traded all veterans and gave playing time to rookies or young players, would you still think we would have been tanking?
I think there's two main conclusions of the list and the article. 1. Expect on average to get a middle-of-pack Maurice Taylor or Fred Jones from the 14th pick. This goes for the same of 13th pick or 15th pick or other picks in this range. The Rockets haven't shown themselves to be geniuses in the draft and neither has Morey. Don't expect this to be different. 2. If you want better chances at a real impact player in the draft, statistically we should be looking to move up quite a few spots. This should affect how the Rockets use this pick in trades. A bad conclusion is to look at all the drafts 14 and onwards and say there are many stars to be had. There are stars picks 14 and onward - so what? That's like saying you have three lottery tickets and can win a million dollar lottery. That's hope, not statistics - and hoping shouldn't be what a GM does.
In Morey we trust.....LOL. I don't trust the guy with anything other than drafting someone who will be riding pine all season.
Tanking has negative connotations to it and is often confused with rebuilding. Simply put, tanking is not putting your best lineup forward. So be careful when say a team tanking.
Well when just looking at draft picks yes... But when you look at the entire Rockets team and see that we have assets such as Lowry, Martin, Scola, picks, rookies, etc. that 14th pick doesn't look so bad. Especially when you compare what the Bobcats have/can do with the Rockets.
Players available at 14th pick 2000 Michael Redd (44th) 2001 Tony Parker (28th), Zach Randolph (19th), Gilbert Arenas (30th), Gerald Wallace (25th) 2002 Tayshaun Prince (23rd 2002), Carlos Boozer (35th 2002) 2003 David West (18th), Josh Howard (29th), Boris Diaw (21st) 2004 Josh Smith (17th), Al Jefferson (15th), Anderson Varejão (31st) 2005 Danny Granger (17th), Monta Ellis (40th), David Lee (30th) 2006 Rajon Rondo (21st), Paul Millsap (47th), Kyle Lowry (24th) 2007 Marc Gasol (48th), Wilson Chandler (23rd) 2008 Roy Hibbert (17th), Serge Ibaka (24th), JaVale McGee (18th), Nicolas Batum (25th), Goran Dragic (45th) 2009 Ty Lawson (18th) 2010 Patrick Patterson (14th), Avery Bradley (19th) 2011 Kahwi Leonard (15th), Chandler Parsons (38th) Centers Marc Gasol (48th), Roy Hibbert (17th), JaVale McGee (18th), Anderson Varejão (31st) PFs David West (18th), Josh Smith (17th), Serge Ibaka (24th), Paul Millsap (47th), Zach Randolph (19th), Al Jefferson (15th), Carlos Boozer (35th), Patrick Patterson (14th), David Lee (30th), Boris Diaw (21st) SFs Danny Granger (17th), Nicolas Batum (25th), Gerald Wallace (25th), Tayshaun Prince (23rd), Josh Howard (29th), Kahwi Leonard (15th), Chandler Parsons (38th), Wilson Chandler (23rd), Trevor Ariza (44th) SGs Michael Redd (44th), Monta Ellis (40th), Tony Allen (25th), Aaron Afflalo (27th), Avery Bradley (19th), Kevin Martin (26th), Jared Dudley (22nd), Courtney Lee (22nd) PGs Tony Parker (28th), Rajon Rondo (21st), Gilbert Arenas (30th), Kyle Lowry (24th), Goran Dragic (45th), Ty Lawson (18th), Jameer Nelson (20th), George Hill (26th), Iman Shumpert (17th) It really depends on how good a GM can find a diamond in the rough
Solid to pretty good players there, but nobody that you could build around which is what this team needs the most. Doesn't really bode well
I agree that it is kind of unrealistic to draft a superstar at 14th, and it is in the best interest of team to tank for a top-3 pick. However, if we are constrained to draft at 14th or later for whatever reason, we can still build a roster based on the Detroit model. Ex: Marc Gasol (48th), Roy Hibbert (17th), Serge Ibaka (24th) Josh Smith (17th), Paul Millsap (47th), David West (18th) Danny Granger (17th), Nicolas Batum (25th), Kahwi Leonard (15th) Courtney Lee (22nd), Monta Ellis (40th), Tony Allen (25th) Tony Parker (28th), Rajon Rondo (21st), Kyle Lowry (24th) Due to salary cap, we have to package those good players at some point (before end of rookie contracts?) to land some high draft picks, and surround the top prospects with cheap good role players such as Avery Bradley (19th), Chandler Parsons (38th), Iman Shumpert (17th), Patrick Patterson (14th), and Kenneth Faried (22nd). For example, (Kyle Lowry + Josh Smith + Danny Granger) or (JaVale McGee + Nicolas batum + Monta Ellis) should be sufficient to land a 4th pick. We may also be lucky that another team is willing to give us a 6th pick for Gerald Wallace. To me, this is definitely a very difficult (and longer) path because it requires a GM to keep finding diamonds in the mid-first and second rounds for 4-5 consecutive years.
Sigh.....yea we can hope to be the next exception, the Detroit team we have been hoping to become ever since Yao started broken. But there is a reason it has only happened once (at least from what I can remember) What we a probably going to end up with is another undersized power forward and an undersized wing player
