So, it looks like Houston's draft board looked something like: Valanciunas Biyombo The Morris Twins with everyone picked between 8th and 12th (Knight, Kemba, Jimmer, Klay T and Burks) below these guys. Not sure where Motiejunas fits in, but probably somewhere below the Morris Twins (or maybe they like him better but think he'll be available for longer). Of course, we don't know about where Irving, Kanter and the other top guys are, but this we know.
I don't see anything from Dick Justice about Biedrins. The link on page 3 of this thread leads to nothing. Anything from Feignen? Not that either of them know anything compared to Clutch...
it sounds like flynn was just acknowledging that kyle/dragic have seniority and are the team's 1&2. also, that he'll have to prove himself to earn his spot.
How about he actually gets something done for once? What's the point of accumulating all these "assets" if you can't accomplish anything with them? This is a results oriented business...almost isn't good enough. In relation to Biedrins, if he can stay healthy, his contract is what it should be for an athletic big that brings what he brings (i.e. elite rebounding and above average defending and shot blocking). He's also a good finisher around the basket and extremely active and runs the court well. I wouldn't mind having him on the Rockets even with the contract and injury history and all.
When I read this type of impatience, I can only think that you would be extremely satisfied with what Morey produced last night based off of what was available. I think we as fans lose sight of the fact that we do not know all the details and have to, to some degree, have blind trust in our organizations leadership. Believe me when I say, I share your frustration. However, that is why you are a legitimate fan of the Houston Rockets and not a T-Shirt or Bandwagon fan. Patience my friend.
You would have a point if teams were moving up with less assets than we have available. But that isn't the case. The activity ahead of us occured with better players (like Jackson and Maggette) and higher picks. As far as the draft goes, this is the area where he has consisently gotten stuff done. Prior to last season he didn't have a lotto pick (I'm not putting the Battier trade under his watch) yet we still got quality players like Brooks, Landry and Budinger. Guys drafted in the areas where we got those guys are usually busts. It appears that he hit on his only lotto pick with Patterson. I can't think of many GM's with a better draft record with no high picks.
<!-- http://twitter.com/richardjustice/statuses/84266740116242432 --> <style type='text/css'>.bbpBox84266740116242432 {background:url(http://a0.twimg.com/images/themes/theme1/bg.png) #C0DEED;padding:20px;} p.bbpTweet{background:#fff;padding:10px 12px 10px 12px;margin:0;min-height:48px;color:#000;font-size:18px !important;line-height:22px;-moz-border-radius:5px;-webkit-border-radius:5px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata{display:block;width:100%;clear:both;margin-top:8px;padding-top:12px;height:40px;border-top:1px solid #fff;border-top:1px solid #e6e6e6} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author{line-height:19px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author img{float:left;margin:0 7px 0 0px;width:38px;height:38px} p.bbpTweet a:hover{text-decoration:underline}p.bbpTweet span.timestamp{font-size:12px;display:block}</style> <div class='bbpBox84266740116242432'><p class='bbpTweet'>Rockets came close to trading for Golden State C Andris Biedrins last night and will continue discussions in the days ahead.<span class='timestamp'><a title='Fri Jun 24 14:28:51 +0000 2011' href='http://twitter.com/richardjustice/statuses/84266740116242432'>less than a minute ago</a> via <a href="http://ubersocial.com" rel="nofollow">UberSocial</a> <a href='http://twitter.com/intent/favorite?tweet_id=84266740116242432'><img src='http://si0.twimg.com/images/dev/cms/intents/icons/favorite.png' /> Favorite</a> <a href='http://twitter.com/intent/retweet?tweet_id=84266740116242432'><img src='http://si0.twimg.com/images/dev/cms/intents/icons/retweet.png' /> Retweet</a> <a href='http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?in_reply_to=84266740116242432'><img src='http://si0.twimg.com/images/dev/cms/intents/icons/reply.png' /> Reply</a></span><span class='metadata'><span class='author'><a href='http://twitter.com/richardjustice'><img src='http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/701726180/rjmug_normal.jpg' /></a><strong><a href='http://twitter.com/richardjustice'>Richard Justice</a></strong><br/>richardjustice</span></span></p></div> <!-- end of tweet -->
Morey said they had a chance to trade up for #8 and would have taken one of the Morris twins there. Feigen reported they tried to moved up for Biyombo, meaning it was: #? Valanciunas (I'm guessing they had him #1 or #2) #? Biyombo #8 & #9 (maybe even higher) Morris twins (not sure if they actually prefered Marcus)
So wait, we targeted the other Morris twin too? Why would we want him? He is clearly not a sf compared to his brother. Did we really get the better Morris twin?
Probably not completely they probably had 2 draft boards 1 draft board of players they want if they had the #1 pick and could choose anyone and ways to make it happen via trade 1 draft board of players they want and feel may be available at #14 i am guessing the Morris twins were probably in the top 5-6 of draft board 1 and probably at the top of draft board 2 so in some ways it was good luck that they fell a bit but i doubt the rockets go so lucky that they were able to get "their guy" at #14 all along.
In my mind Morey has done a lot. The team lost both of it's franchise player and because of Morey's drafting and trading they are nowhere close to being near the bottom of the NBA and at the same time not close to being contenders. But I realize Rome wasn't built in a day. You can't judge Morey on what HASN'T happened, you or I don't know if the other team pulled out of a deal or what. You can grade him on the deals that WERE made, and by the most part he has won most of those deals.
I think DM's world was rocked when he saw the 06-07 Warriors. One big tough pg,and a serviceable center that can defend and rebound then the rest of the players being all strong/fast/tall wing players that can switch on defense interchangeably. Almost all of players have fit this mold.
Simply different draft boards. For example, other teams found PPat too old and preferred younger, cooler prospects. Rockets didn't care. Hence, Rockets had him at 6 and other lottery teams had him below 13. Note that Morey's board isn't unique though. It seems to be quite similar to other stat geek GMs' boards. That's why we seem to compete with Portland many times for the same player. And why Rich Cho took Biyombo at 7 when we wanted him at 8.
I think Biyombo may have been a smoke screen and that we really wanted Tristan. No real info to back this up, just my hunch. We worked out Tristan and he became a hot prospect right before the draft. The whole "we would've traded for 8 to get Morris" line doesn't really ring true, either. And, Spurs think Kawhi>Motiejunas. They would've had Indy pick Motie at 15 if they wanted him more. So we'll be able to compare those two over the years and see if we made the better pick.
