[Chron] Rockets target potential ahead of roster needs in draft

i was being sarcastic. of course we need youth and talent, i was making fun of the guys post saying we have to many young guys

 

ROFL yes but Battier is no Chris Bosh lol.

 

Won't matter if Bosh doesn't want to play for said team.

We will draft based on BPA and that is all. We are not choosing players specifically as trade bait for Bosh, Stoudemire or whoever else the Rockets have their eye on.

 

Trade up, nab Cousins. I'll take Rasheed Wallace 2.0 on this team. For all those clutchfans who noted that this team looks similar to the Detroit title teams of the mid 2000s, here is your pick....and of course Dumars is rumored to be trying to move up to grab Cousins. Morey is a value guy and Cousins has top draft pick talent just like Roy did but other factors are going to make him slip. Just seems like Cousins has the clearest potential. He is huge and was already a productive player in college so it's not a question of will he put it together but to a certain extent he already has. The dangerous upside picks are the guys who didn't have impressive college careers yet they are labeled high upside guys because of their size.

 

Dude, I like both you and Spacemoth as posters here, but your belief that Donte was not hand-picked by the Rockets but was instead picked FOR Sacramento is complete and utter BS.

If that were the case, there is no freakin' way EITHER team would have allowed Donte to play in the Vegas summer league. Also, since neither Ron Artest nor Bobby Jackson were free agents, the Artest trade would have been announced AT the draft. Instead, the Rockets actually SIGNED Greene to a rookie contract, played him in the summer league and eventually had to wait an extra two weeks after making the Artest trade to be able to officially announce it due to the Greene contract signing.

Again, for those not paying attention, let me repeat: DONTE GREENE WAS A ROCKETS PICK. Yeah, I know. The Rockets drafting a one-and-done freshman. Amazing. As the Rockets' GM, Daryl Morey has drafted just as many college freshman in the first round of the NBA Draft as he has sophomores (zero), juniors (zero) and seniors (one, Aaron Brooks), combined.

Just deal with the fact that you can't pigeon-hole Morey as being a guy who "only" does this or "only" does that.

Sorry to lash out, but this crap kinda annoys me.

 

I honestly don't think Morey will settle for BPA or drafting for needs. Why not both? We need a BIG, so pick out the one you want, then move your pick up or down the draft till the guy you want is the BPA.

I think that's what Morey is shooting for, but that requires cooperation with other GMs to find the deal that makes sense. Not guaranteed. I think where Morey differs is that his plan B is never to draft a player to high to meet a need, essentially giving up value. Morey's getting BPA no matter what and worry about how to use that value later.

 

I'm not arguing that Greene wasn't Morey's choice for us but I think he saw him as a player as much as an asset and felt that he had great value. I know he's not dumb enough to pick a player based on another teams needs but he did Trade Batum for him and Dorsey.

I think he say Batum as another asset and used The Spurs as leverage against Portland to give us Greene and Dorsey and (I think) Darrel Aurther.

Just my opinion.

 

On Batum, you're right. That was pure draft maneuvering and manipulating other teams' needs. Similar to how Portland drafted Randy Foye at #7 in 2006, knowing that it was who Minnesota (who had drafted Brandon Roy at #6) REALLY wanted and that the Rockets were prepared to take Foye and make a move for Roy.

However, once draft night was over and then the Rockets actually SIGNED Donte Greene to a contract, it became pretty clear that he was a guy who the Rockets wanted for themselves.

Was he a terrific value pick and a valuable future trade asset? Sure.

But so is Chase Budinger. And so is Aaron Brooks. And so on.

 

Man, we could have used Batum. I know Greene is developing pretty well in Sacramento, but Batum looks like the perfect SF for us. I'm surprised Morey didn't want him as the Rockets, Blazers, and Spurs all seem to be interested in the same guys.

 

Yeah, he's a real Trevor Ariza type.

 

For now although I think Batum's already better. He's smarter, that's for sure.

 

No kidding, he's what we wish Ariza could be at about 1/5th the cost.

 

Feigen hammers his point home in his most recent blog post, too:

Absolutely on point, absolutely true. Aaron Brooks and the spitting image of how Daryl Morey drafts: talent over need.

 

Straight up! Talent almost always outweighs need.

 

First of all, I wouldn't be complaining when that pick eventually paved the way for the Rockets to get out of the first round of the playoffs for the first time in over a decade.

Second, I don't get the relative Batum love vs. Ariza hate. If Batum were put in the same position as Trevor last year, everyone on this board would be screaming that he sucks. Sure, Batum is cheaper (but see above), but Ariza was brought in to be an athletic defensive wing (playing predominantly at small forward) and complementary fourth/fifth starter on a team with a dominant post presence in Yao Ming. Instead, for the vast majority of last season, Ariza was thrust into the role of being a primary scorer. That's not why Morey signed him. In fact, Morey said that Ariza was worth the contract based on his defensive ability alone. His offense should come in the flow of the game while playing in the same lineup as Yao Ming, Kevin Martin, Aaron Brooks and Luis Scola--or possibly even another All-Star addition--rather than him having to force it as a main option.

Bottom line: Hold off on the Ariza hate until he has at least half a season of playing with Yao and Martin.

 

It really shouldn't in this case. Last season proved that we should have taken a big last year. I highly doubt that Morey will make that mistake again.

 

Well said Bima. Agree 100%

 

It did? Which big should we have taken? Not sure who you're thinking we should have taken given our draft position and how you can really evaluate that decision after one year.

 

No complaints there.

I don't hate Ariza, he can be a very valuable piece for us. I realize he was playing a role he wasn't familiar with, but I think he regressed from his last season with the lakers. Fans would love him if he played with the energy he used to. Instead, we saw a lack of effort and bad body language at times. Everyone had to step up last year, so to see him being the most visibly frustrated was offputting.

Look at Lowry. He shoots almost as badly as Ariza from the field and much worse from three. He doesn't get as many steals or blocks and his scoring rate is actually lower. They're the same age. Yet, Lowry's a fan favorite partly because of better decision making, but mostly due to better effort. Ariza was that guy in LA, the one who never moped. That's what I want to see in a rocket uniform.

 

Maybe it's just me, but I actually LIKED seeing Ariza's frustration a little bit. It showed that he cared. The fact is, Trevor Ariza's harshest critic last season was Trevor Ariza.

I think Ariza gave just as much effort as Lowry last year (well, maybe a little less, just because I think Lowry gives more effort than just about any player in the league), it's just that his demeanor is different. He's not as demonstrative as Kyle. Also, of course Kyle's decision making is going to be better. He's a freakin' POINT GUARD.

Btw, I'm not trying to pick on you. The last post was a general shout-out to all the Ariza haters out there.