Based on availability in order: Quincy Miller, Jeremy Lamb, John Henson, Arnett Moultrie, Meyers Leonard, Austin Rivers, Tony Wroten....
If we pick at 14 I'm going against best player available and saying Meyers Leonard if he's there. We need real centers on this team. I'd be willing to pick Leonard/Moutrie in the 1st even. Let one of them pan out and Moutrie can be a backup PF, too. I want to like Henson but I'm unsure. Can he play center? If so, he would be a good option as Dmo needs a center who can defend. I doubt Henson will be available at 14, though.
Am I the only one that can't imagine Morey drafting Rivers? I just don't see how he fits into his criteria, based on the Morey draft and evaluation history.
Morey loves those players and coaches with Boston ties....he is turning the Rockets into the Celtics south. DD
Rivers lacks the ability to impact a game without the ball offensively, and is a below average defender as well. He's not a gifted passer and for a guy with advanced shot-creating skills, he is disturbingly dependent on his right hand in 99% of situations. This makes me believe he's more "6th-man scoring spark" than a go-to offensive star. If we're going SG, I'd rather take Lamb (if available) or Ross - as both have better physical tools, defensive impact, and higher ceilings. I may even take Waiters, who has a more complete game, even if he doesn't have as much "star quality".
All of this is a moot point. Rockets win the lottery and take the first pick. :grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin:
I've always wondered, how many players in the league can finish with either their right or left hand? The players I most often see use either hand effectively are Kobe, Nash, and Lebron. Others still go back to using their dominant hand and they are still effective, players like Dragic, Odom, and Rose (he finishes most of his plays with his right) are still good. Should not being able to use your other hand as effectively be criteria for not drafting a player? They certainly can learn if they focus on it, especially at the nba level.
I posted this earlier, but not being able to finish with your left when it is more beneficial for you to certainly is. Rose likes to cut right but he can finish with either hand. As for Odom...he's left-handed and it's his dominant hand, but he can finish with both. When you watch Austin Rivers play, he almost always and I mean ALWAYS reverts back to his right hand. Whether or not he's guarded or if he's wide open, he'll always revert back to his right hand. Here's the earlier post on what I've observed on Austin Rivers; On the subject of Austin Rivers, I think it's always beneficial when a player comes from basketball pedigree, but it doesn't always guarantee success. There are a lot of things to like about Rivers, but there are also a number of things that worry me based on my observations and I've outlined them in the following: Strengths: 1) Quick Release on shot (and a decent jump shooter) 2) Very quick first step 3) Plethora of moves on the offensive end 4) Smart Player (good court awareness and is able to adapt to what the Defense gives him) 5) Good basketball pedigree and fundamentally sound 6) Above-average athlete (good, but nothing special) Weaknesses: 1) Not a good defender 2) Often looks to much for his own shot (gets caught playing 1 on 5) 3) A bit of tweener at the SG position at a generous 6'4" (doesn't really have much court vision so can't really play PG because he's mostly looking to score) 4) For whatever reason almost never goes left and when he cuts left always tries to finish with the right hand (if you've watched him play enough this is definitely something you would observe as a defender) Overall, he has the potential to be a solid NBA player, but there are definitely things that I would try to take a second look at. If anything, his game most resembles a player we already have on our roster (Kevin Martin), except he is younger and hopefully less injury prone. He's a talented player, but there are some some flags and I think the Rockets need to do some more research as to whether or not they want another Kevin Martin-type player.
Glass half full-Annoying positivity to the tankers. Well you look at the guys projected to go 8 through 16 and almost all of those guys would be in the top 8 last year if they would have been in that draft. We are talking about maybe getting a physical specimen like Perry Jones III or Terrence Jones with the 14th pick. Thats pretty solid. I know those guys have been exposed now with an extra year of scouting and were majorly hyped up last year, but that just shows you the amount of depth in this draft. There are going to be busts all over the place in this draft, but you look at the top level targets the Rockets have had in the draft the past three years (Rubio, Cousins, and Valenciunas) and they almost always get it right when they have a guy targeted. This year the Rockets will have a shot at getting a guy who normally would be a top 5 or 6 talent way back at the 14th spot. That should be pretty exciting even though the 14th pick is ... well the 14th pick, we should be getting a much higher caliber player than a Marcus Morris, or Patrick Patterson.
Every single player in the draft has flaws. The Rockets will definitely have to do more research to find the right guy but as of now Rivers looks like the best option. He cant go left right now but he can develop it. He is a little different than Kevin Martin. Rivers likes to go one on one more often. Kevin Martin is at his best running around picks. Like i said earlier, the Rockets biggest weakness is the droughts they suffer in the 3rd or 4th. Rivers can develop into a great offensive player. If they dont get him then they should go after Terrence Ross.
I think well trade up, I voted other because I'm hoping perry jones drops to us. I could see us taking rivers at 16
Lowry wasn't a good shooter then. Look at him now. Again, i don't mind using our 14th pick on Rivers. It's just an individuals aura, you just can tell they're going to be something special someday. That's what Rivers has now that others don't. All of rookies have flaws. Kobe wasn't impressive in his rookie year was he? He still tends to play 1 on 5 ball up to now. Rivers isn't a Kobe but he's going to be special in the league. You just can tell.
I'm not sure Austin Rivers would be the wisest choice for the Rockets. He has talent, but I'm not that sold on a shot-happy, tweener 2-guard. Those usually don't work out so well for teams. The fact that he always goes back to his right hand is somewhat of a worrisome aspect to his game. From my own experiences of playing ball, it's almost necessary that a guard is able to finish with both hands, especially if you are talking about the NBA level. You won't find many guards at the NBA level that aren't able to finish with either hand. I've watched Rivers play since he was in high school and it's definitely one of his most glaring weaknesses. The reason I state this is because you can look at the footage and you can understand why the stats back up the point I'm trying to make. At the high school level, Rivers was a decent athlete and was able to get away with simply using his right hand to finish on offense end. When he attacks from the right side, he almost always goes to the right to left crossover but for whatever reason always, and I mean ALWAYS refers back to that right hand to finish the shot, even when uncontested. When Rivers attempts to attack from the left side of the floor, his go-to move is the mini jab step to a fall away jumper. He almost NEVER cuts from the left side. Rivers was able to get away with being the type of player he was due to the level of competition and the fact that he was a better athlete then most of the players he went up against. Coming out of high school, Rivers was touted as one of the best, if not THE best SG coming out of HS. There were huge expectations at Duke and to a large degree, he really underperform. Matter of fact, Duke as a baske4tball program this year underperformed or did not meet expectations. While I'm not saying 15 ppg at the college level is a small feat, he definitely wasn't as dominating at the college level as compared to his days in HS, and the reason for this is because a lot of players and teams had figured out how to neutralize Rivers. Also, when matched up against athletes that were either comparable or more athletic, his offensive skill set was greatly diminished. In many games, Rivers was pretty much relegated to being 6'3' jump shooter. Teams would purposely force Rivers to his left because they knew he wasn't used to going to his left and couldn't finish with that hand. In the NBA, you HAVE to be able to finish with either hand. I would say that it is absolutely paramount for a guard (a scoring guard at that) to be able to do that. Combine that with the fact that he is a bit of tweener and not much of defender is somewhat of a big red flag for me. Of course, this is simply my opinion. He could be a decent rotational player, but he certainly isn't going to be the savior the Rockets need.
It's hard to predict who's going to be available at No.14. I'd try everything we can to trade up to the top 7-8 range. There are a few good prospects in this years draft.
for the lazy folks ... http://nbadraftroom2.blogspot.com/p/2012-nba-mock-draft.html (Teague) http://hoopshype.com/draft.htm (Moultrie) http://www.draftexpress.com/nba-mock-draft/2012/ (Marshal) http://nbadraft.net/2012mock_draft (Moultrie) http://www.thehoopsreport.com/draft.aspx (Henson) http://www.hoopsmanifesto.com/artic...s-mock-draft-pre-ncaa-tournament-edition.html (Henson) http://basketball.about.com/od/nbadraft/a/mock-draft-2012.htm (Jones) http://www.hoopsworld.com/nba-draft (Leonard) http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...ojecting-picks-for-entire-first-round/page/15 (Sullinger)
