Agreed, and Sengun in particular has a lot of defensive potential on the low block. Let him hit the NBA weight room for a few years, and learn how the refs blow the whistle. (You know we have Chuck Hayes in there working with him too...)
i am good with whatever pick, as long as we fire silas and lucas and hire some fine shooting and defensive minded coaches...
Yeah I agree, but I think the Rockets will give him and his stuff one more year. Last year the team was tanking so it’s difficult to evaluate him.
He doesn’t alter shots well but I’m almost certain that his switching, or capacity therefor, is one of the plusses on that end.
You don’t draft A over B because of defense or lack there of. The Rockets were the worst team in all of basketball two years running, addressing defense should be the last thing on their minds, they need to address TALENT. You can put out five guys who are horrible defenders and still improve the team by leaps and bounds as long as there is more talent. You worry about defense, and offense, and rebounding, and any of the specifics areas of the game once you reach a base level of competitiveness and want to take the next step to become a contender. A level that the Rockets are not at yet. There is NO prospect in the entire draft that would make the Rockets contenders next year, so worrying about a specific area of the game at this point is putting the cart before the horse.
I get the nuance and all these guys need to exude supreme confidence, but this is still cringetopia if true - not sure I believe the quote. Common sense would lead you to believe that he would want to be smart and say he would like to be best rookie and the typical things rookies say, but to say you'll be better than Giannis, Jokic, Embiid (just among bigs) off top is asking for trouble. This guy might get made an example of nightly. Almost feel sorry for him by putting this out there (if true).
Defense is a talent and ignoring that part of the game is stupid. I’m not saying draft solely on correcting our defense, but it is part of the equation.
Agree. BPA - always. Then get FAs that fill in the gaps. In our case, players that you KNOW can play NBA defense. They usually cost less than good offensive players. If we let Gordon and Wood go (like we should) for prospects or picks, then be prepared to have 1 more season of an "exciting team to watch" but with a bad record. Clean the slate, go after a FA or 2 in 2023 to go with another lottery pick player. Then its time to get serious.
Chet may not be there at 3. I’m speaking to the people so concerned about fit of certain players due to their defense. That player might be the best player on this team, certainly second best. You address the other pieces on the team and surround him with defenders.
Talking about defense is literally talking about talent. As is talking about offense. Moreover, I think the entire talent over fit, bpa type notion is a bit misguided as it should depend on team, part in process, etc. Lots of folks say draft bpa over and over, regardless of fit... but the top teams that built through the draft don't really seem to do that. OKC didn't draft PF, PF, PF... they drafted SF, PG, SG, PF (KD, Russ, Harden, Ibaka). GSW drafted a PG, SG and PF that worked. The Suns ultimately ended up with a SG, SF, C and added a PG. Are there some exceptions? sure. The Celtics kind of have duplication, but even then not really. Tatum, Brown, Smart... all kind of play similar, but at different heights and with clear different positions. Barnes duplicated Siakim and OG a bit for sure... but forward would be the one area where I'd say duplication is the most "ok" - cause SF and PF have become so interchangeable in toady's nba. Relative to this conversation... sure, you can draft only 1 side of the ball players for the next 4 years and try and address defense later, but it will be incredibly hard approach, imo. But like's Stone's comments about floor and ceilings, its all a sliding scale. If player X is 10x the offensive player of player y, but half the defender, for sure you still go with player X. Defense is less "individualized" and 10x is much better than 0.5x. The issue with these top 3 bigs is there's not really clear separation; to me, to the extent there is, it is Chet in tier 1 and Paolo/Jabari in tier 2.