Trade or FA. Morey has improved the team every single year, so I have no reason to start doubting him at this point. I trust Morey to make the correct moves, but the hardest jump to make is from really good team to elite team. If Llull does sign with us, and we can resign Smith then this will have been a very good offseason. Dekker makes Brewer expendable as far as I'm concerned.
I give it INC. The same grade I give every team in every draft. Seriously if you actually know who's going to be a stud and who's going to be a bust, you are either from the future or is a better talent evaluator than anyone else on the planet.
Rockets reached the WCF and their biggest weakness was at PG. Morey isn't going to address that by drafting a rookie PG with the 18th pick. That's a gamble that has one of the worse payoffs possible, because even if that PG turns out to be decent he is unlikely to contribute in his first year. A more practical decision would be to draft the best talent available so you have good assets to leverage off of in trades, and to bring in a good PG through trade or straight up sign an experienced PG like Llull. This is what Morey has done for years, and it got us James harden. You don't address a championship contender's weakness through draft.
B- We drafted well, but didn't solve our problem at PG, and we over stacking at SF. It will become an A though if we trade Ariza for a PG.
I like Dekker. He is similar athletic to parsons with more strength. He can play the stretch 4 and SF. He is mostly a straight line driver but he is better than Ariza in that area. He needs to shoot 500 threes a day. 33% won't cut it. Once he gets his 3 down he will help significantly. I expect that to happen. Monstatrezz was ranked 22 by Givony. He is an amazing athlete. Not a great ft shooter so that's a problem but at least he has improved to 59%. He plays with non stop energy. He can be a draymond green if he develops a 3 pt shot. A- if we are trading Terrence and Ariza and signing Llull and aquiring LMA. Good start of the off season.
overstacked at SF? We know one has unguarenteed contract, ones a starter , a rookie and another is a FA Trade will happen be sure of it
I give it a B. We got guys who should have been drafted higher then they were- although I would have liked Justin Anderson, but oh well. However, I have to think a trade is coming shortly, because right now we have a deep logjam at the forward spots. I wouldn't be surprised if one of our picks are traded after summer league a la Donte Greene.
How the team addresses the obvious point guard need through trade or otherwise will determine if this draft was a successful one or not. Dekker is a good choice and might eventually prove to be better than Ariza and Parson! Harrell is an exciting player that brings skills reminiscent of what Kenneth Fareid brings. He is certainly an upgrade over T Jones and can be a spark off the bench for the Rockets.
morey drafted with the intent of forcing mchale to come up with a new timeout mantra since 'play harder' won't be as necessary now
I give us an A+ I LOVE the fact that Dekker slipped to us and I think he'll be ready to contribute a lot sooner than some might Think. The fact that we did not draft a PG makes me very optimistic that we can get Llull to come over or even swing a trade for Ty Lawson
Looks like a solid A to me too. Dekker and Harrell both seem to be high value picks relative to where they were picked. With an 18 and a 32, if you get at least one solid bench contributor in a couple of years then you nailed the picks. I think the likelihood is high that at least one of those guys will turn into solid role player on the cheap. ....we can all agree we want our PG prayers answered, but NO PG taken at the 18th pick is going to help us win a championship next year. ....I agree these guys are going to see a lot of D-league action this year. I'm actually surprised more teams don't utilize D-league for rooks. At this age, they are going to pick it up faster by doing it than by watching someone else do it from the bench.
We drafted for depth. We are looking to win now, and we weren't going to find a PG to lead us to a championship next year through the draft. Morey hasn't given up on the Dwight era yet, and nor should he.
Can we please STOP with the pg talk?? We already knew Morey drafts BPA, not for need. We also know they don't play rookies. It was never going to happen. It was just the media hyping it up because that creates more interest for them.
I'm going to go with B-. That Dekker pick threw me for a loop. I knew when Rozier went that early it would confuse the Rockets.
The biggest reason Dekker was picked there was that he's NBA-ready and versatile. I'm not a huge fan of that pick, but I see the rationale behind it, as it gives us a cheap/young substitute for Brewer (and while Brew was quite valuable, his looming extension stands at odds with any big move we want to pull off this summer). Dekker will likely improve his shooting, but I don't ever see him being a great shot-creator (people underrate Parsons in this regard, he was a great handler/passer and very fluid for a 6'9" guy). Dekker could score a bit from inside, mid-range and out, but he wasn't exceptionally good at any of the three. Defensively, he's versatile, and Morey surely took notes on GSW's ability to switch with long guys ranging between 6'6" and 6'10", and Dekker fits that bill. In other words, he should be useful but not spectacular. He's not the answer to any of our problems, but I do expect him to develop into a rotation player who can do many things fairly well. I would've preferred Tyus, but he has his flaws as well, and I fully expect us to address the PG spot via trade or FA, so I won't lose sleep about that. I think Portis would've been a better value at #18, but we're pretty crowded up front. I'm not a huge fan of Grant's so I was happy we didn't pick him. Anderson would've been a smoother fit (he's a defined DTA guy), but he's slightly less versatile than Dekker so I can understand why we chose Dekker over him. So long story short, we were in a place where there weren't a ton of "can't miss" guys, if there were any at all. I wanted Cam Payne, but nobody saw him getting past OKC. Harrell was a steal at #32, and plays with a nastiness/motor that was unparalleled in CBB. It's scary to see how hard he attacks the rim, both in finishing and on the glass. He's obviously limited in certain regards, but his length/strength/athleticism help to make up for his size deficiencies, and he showed flashes of being a capable mid-range shooter after looking like he'd never develop a J prior to that. I always hated the 6'8" PF picks that we made year after year, but we currently have quite a bit of size/length up front with Dwight (6'10", long, strong, explosive), D-Mo (7'0", fluid, mobile), Smith (6'9" long, athletic), and Capela (6'11", long, explosive). Harrell adds a nastiness/physicality (and a DGAF mentality) that we currently don't have on this team. Will he add it this year? I'm not sure, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him contribute if injuries open up minutes. But I do see him being a valuable counterpoint to D-Mo and Capela down the road if we hang onto those guys. Overall: B+
