If there was an NBA expansion draft, which Rockets players would you protect?

Is there a way to make it a poll? I think it would be interesting to see the percentages.

 

Luis Scola
Kevin Martin
Aaron Brooks
Jordan Hill
Chase Budinger
Patrick Patterson
Courtney Lee
Ishmael Smith

 

For the people choosing to protect Ishmael Smith over say.. Yao Ming, do you really think half the league even knows who Ishmael Smith is?

 

If I remember correctly from the last expansion draft, FAs were not eligible to be drafted. Applying that here would essentially protect Yao, Battier, Jefferies, Hayes, and Brooks from the draft.

Protect:

• Luis Scola
• Kevin Martin
• Ish Smith
• Chase Budinger
• Kyle Lowry
• Jordan Hill
• Courtney Lee
• Patrick Patterson

FAs:

• Yao Ming
• Aaron Brooks
• Shane Battier
• Chuck Hayes
• Jared Jeffries

Unprotected:

• Jermaine Taylor
• Brad Miller

Good luck to Las Vegas!

 

Pretty much the same for me.

 

Is that really how the expansion draft works?

 

Yao Ming
Luis Scola
Kevin Martin
Aaron Brooks
Chase Budinger
Jordan Hill
Patrick Patterson

 

Is the goal to pick your best players.

Is this happening mid season or offseason.

If its mid season is there strategy regarding expiring contracts.

 

right now those are the guys I would protect if I could choose only 8

 

As Clutch said, this team needs a 2 for 1 or meyba even 3 for 1 type of deal badly. Too many good players and none great is the reason why this team struggles IMO.

 

I omitted all bad contracts and old guys that an expansion team would never want. I omitted Yao because losing him would give us a huge trade exception that is really attractive to financially strapped teams.

I'm tempted to omit Scola or Martin because of their age and contracts, but they are too valuable and I could see an expansion team going for one of them.

This leaves me with 9 guys I would want to protect. The last cut ended up being JT. It came down to him, Lee, and Ish. JT probably won't get a lot of playing time in the future so I went with him.


Protected
* Luis Scola
* Kevin Martin
* Aaron Brooks
* Chase Budinger
* Jordan Hill
* Courtney Lee
* Ish Smith
* Patrick Patterson

Unprotected
* Yao Ming
* Shane Battier
* Jermaine Taylor
* Chuck Hayes
* Brad Miller
* Jared Jeffries
* Kyle Lowry

 

Fully agree. I think there would be few people at this point who disagree.

 

Bud is a great offensive player but players like him are probably easier to find through the draft then a guy like Chuck who can guard any position.

Chuck's hustle, preparation and professionalism is also something that translates to the locker room and practices and not just on the floor. Assuming that whoever is replacing the player(s) selected in the expansion draft are rookies/d-league players Chuck would be a far greater influence on them. We've seen him already help out the younger guys at the summer league this year he would be the perfect mentor imo.

Thats not something you can find in a lot of players in the NBA Chuck's success in the NBA came purely from hard work and making the most of out of his limited talents and athleticism...you cant pass on natural talent onto other players but you can pass on your work ethic.

 

Trouble is; there doesn't seem to be many #1's available. I really don't like our Melo odds, and I don't think the Hornets would trade CP3 to a divison rival. Iguoldala, although a very good player, has proven he can not be the primary offensive weapon during the post AI era in Philly. We might be able to get Granger if Indiana really likes Paul George, but I'm still not totally convinced he can be a number one option ethier.

 

Weird to see that people would protect Ish Smith over Yao Ming. I guess the money reasons make some sense.

 

Okay I didn't know that, then I my case Patterson will probably picked up. I also think Hill is a better prospect than Patterson but anyways.

I think Hill is better because:
1) He started playing basketball in mid teens I believe and still is good player. So he learned quick and has great basketball instincts IMO*.
2) He has perfect height for PF and as part-time C**
3) Very athletic***
4) Higher ceiling I think****.

* I don't think he learns slow. It's more the opposite I think, because he has improved his midrange jumper and go-to move in the post. And this year he has to play the C position instead of PF. He has played pretty good as a C so far this year.
** Can guard PFs and most C. So he is versatile.
*** Can out run most PF and definitely Cs. Dunks easily. Has a great and fast hop for rebounding and tip off. Can block or alter shots.
**** He can improve a lot in every aspect, he just need PT. The more he play the more consistent he will get. Also his rhythm and timing will improve (better rebounding and blocking)


So thats why I think he should be in this case be protected. To be honest I haven't seen Patterson in action a lot. So he could be better than Hill, I don't know. Hill just needs to focus/concentrate more and also bring it harder during training. Then the organization will change his mind.

BTW Hill needs to get the ball more often... especially after turnovers. He runs faster than Battier maybe Kevin Martin . I have seen him post up alot after turnovers but never gets the ball (I mean really deep in the paint almost under the basket). He needs to get more touches. And please use Hill for you pick and roll plays. I really think he can be the next Stoudemire kind of player.

 

Yoyo, hayes is very easy to find. Let me ask you this, would you rather have hayes or bo outlaw? Hayes is a situational player vs chase who can be a starter or at minimum a rotation player.

 

I can't really understand why any of you would choose either Battier or Ish Smith.

 

Yao
Hill
AB
Scola
Pat
Ish
Chase
Lee

50/50 on Yao but I ended up concluding that the Rockets would become completely irrelevant if Yao was off the team (Like currently).