Just realized he was drafted by the Rockets in 2011. Can anyone remind me where that pick went? He seems like the real deal and would have been a perfect fit for this constructed team - also would be a huge huge upgrade over Papa seeing they have similar contracts. Why'd we let him go?
The Bulls took Cleveland State guard Norris Cole at No. 28 but traded him and the No. 43 pick (UCLA guard Malcolm Lee) to Minnesota for the rights to Mirotic, whom Houston took at No. 23 and had dealt to the Timberwolves. Minnesota agreed to send Cole to the Miami Heat, a person familiar with the situation told the Associated Press. Draft rights traded by Houston, along with Brad Miller and a future first round pick, to Minnesota in exchange for the draft rights to Donatas Motiejunas (#20, 2011), Jonny Flynn and a future second round pick.
Ok, so before we get the whole.... why did Morey draft D-Mo over Mirotic. Keep this in mind. -AT THE TIME.... Mirotic was early into a long term contract with Real Madrid. It was well known that Mirotic was not coming over any time soon. D-Mo on the other hand wanted to come to the NBA right away. D-Mo was also projected as a lottery pick the year before when he pulled out. Mirotic was very much under the radar as far as the NBA goes. D-Mo made more sense for the Rockets because at the time, they needed talent, and they couldn't take a gamble on a player with a 1st round pick that might never come over the states. There is a reason why guys like Sergio Llull, and before with Luis Scola, and Manu Ginobili fall back to the 2nd round. Its because there is a high risk you might waste a good draft pick on a player that never plays for your team. At the time, the Rockets needed talent, but they also needed talent that was going to play for the team. D-Mo was for sure coming over, and he had a bit more data on him at the time as less of an unknown. Morey made the right pick with D-Mo at the time, and even though Mirotic would be wonderful for the Rockets right now, D-Mo still has a chance to be just as good if not better.
Morey drafted DMo because he thought DMo would be the better player. Rockets didn't have some great team that was in desperate need of talent to push them to contender...if so I don't think DMo would have been the choice as he was still raw. I still think it is unsettled who the better player will be.
I don't know. I'd say the Rockets didn't have some great team that DIDN'T need talent. I think they needed talent really, really bad that was actually going to play for them and give their franchise some hope. Keep in mind that the year D-Mo came over afterwards, the Rockets two best players were Omer Asik (coming off a year that he was a backup), and Jeremy Lin. The Rockets very much were needing young talent that was actually going to inject some life into the franchise. Then the Harden trade happened and the rest is history.
If we chose D-Mo over him then give me D-Mo. & footers with legit post game are arguably the hardest thing to find in basketball.
Then why draft a project like DMo to stash? Maybe Mirotic's time was just too long a wait, but I doubt it. DMo, at his age at the time, showed a shot with some post moves. If DMo's shooting had improved with age, there would be no question that DMo would be the better player now. The Rockets were betting on him to become a PF that could play inside or outside while also growing into also being the backup center. Edit: I do think Mirotic's wait did impact his value, but I don't think it was the deciding factor. I suspect the Rockets take all the inputs (traditional scouting, analytics, risk, etc.) and project estimated value in wins for each player for each year. I suspect a win next season is probably worth about 0.90-0.95 wins this season in general circumstances. In rebuilding years, a win next season may actually be worth nearly the same as a prior rebuilding season.
There was more data on D-Mo as an older player who had much more exposure, and there was more backing from D-Mo's camp that he was dead set on coming to the NBA. Was Mirotic's time in Europe projected to be too long? IMO potentially enough to say yes. The contract with Real Madrid was a big deterrent for teams going into the draft along with the fact that he hadn't had the exposure with Addidas camps, team workouts, Nike Hoops Summit, Euro-cup "rising star", etc. that D-Mo had. (I think Mirotic won it the year after) Mirotic was a much less known player on draft night that D-Mo although word was getting out fast that he had potential to be a special player. I still remember the fuzzy youtube footage they had to use on draft night for Mirotic. It really shouldn't be shocking at all to see that Morey went with the player that was able to provide more data. That data obviously showed he was a better fit for what they were trying to build. And yes, the fact that he was being put on a one year deal with Prokom made the path to the NBA much clearer. IMO that was a big reason why Morey chose him over Mirotic even though there was probably some tempting mystique with him that made the decision pretty tough. I'm sure Morey wasn't determining his decision based on the contract alone.
You can argue that we gave up him to get Parsons. Or you can argue that we gave up him to get Dmo. Or, even you can argue that we gave up him to get Johnny f***ing Flynn.
Mirotic had better data than DMo at time of draft. He may not have had the years of data that DMo had, but his season leading up to the draft was in a better league. Rockets most likely had seen him a lot. Data wasn't the problem for Mirotic. Imagine DMo as he is today, but able to shot three pointers. That is why Morey drafted DMo over Mirotic. DMo was viewed as an incredible upside player.
Mirotic seems to have better length than DMo despite being a bit shorter. Therefore he's a better rebounder & shot-blocker. Not to mention he has a great range. A true stretch four. They even play him at SF in limited minutes.
Would love to have Mirotic, but not at the cost of DMo. Chicago claimed that multiple teams offered a 1st round pick for him. I doubt we were one of them, but it wouldn't surprise me.
