Apparently this is what the Vancouver deal was about, and the Rockets aren't giving up yet. Could the next target be Chicago? From sportstalk.com: The Orlando Magic ruined both the Grizzlies' and the Rockets' day when they waited to exercise their rights to Phoenix's 18th first round pick until after June 1st. League source told sportsTALK yesterday afternoon that the Rockets had worked out a deal with the Grizzlies that would have sent the Rockets'13th, 18th and 22nd pick on to Vancouver for the Grizzlies' sixth pick in the draft. The Rockets target? F.C. Barcelona's Pau Gasol. However, when the Magic waited to exercise the pick, the Grizzlies pulled out of the deal. The Grizzlies had until June 1st to convey a top 18 pick to the Detroit Pistons. With the deadline passed, the Grizzlies decided to hold out for a better deal. According to the source, the Rockets are still attempting to package their three first round picks to get up into the mid to high lottery to ensure a shot at Gasol. ------------------ President of the Mo Taylor and Jason Collier fan club! Draftsource.net-- the premier source for draft info. Profiles, rankings, mock drafts, and more!
Hmm, So Gasol is the main target. I thought Rudy wanted to move up for battier. Is Gasol going to play this year or will he wait 1-2 years before playing in the nba? ------------------ "Break off the block like Maurice Green" --- Steve Francis President of the Moochie Norris fan club.
If Gasol is picked in the top 6, he will play this year. However, rumors are that if he's picked after that, he will have to play in Europe one more year. The NBA only allows teams to spend 350,000 I believe on buyouts. His buyout clause is 2 million, so unless he gets a big contract, it'll be hard to work around the buyout clause. And where would Vancouver have been picking? #6. This hurts more and more every time I think about it... especially with CD now quoted (see Sporting News report) directly implying that the deal was done. ------------------ President of the Mo Taylor and Jason Collier fan club! Draftsource.net-- the premier source for draft info. Profiles, rankings, mock drafts, and more!
But why Gasol? His numbers stink. If you read todays report from NBATALK, they quoted the coach of Dirk, Gasol and Vladimire (?) that Vladimire is the best of the three at this stage. According to NBA TALK, Vladimire lit up the stage yesterday, and blew away all the scouts. They also mentioned that he blew away the Rockets and Sonics in individual workouts. If you had the 6th pick, would you pick Gasol or one of the other top picks?: Bradley, Joe Johson, etc.... ------------------
But why Gasol? His numbers stink. Read some of boville's post in the draft forum to better understand those numbers. They're pretty good considering he just played in 23 minutes per game. And, if I had the 6th pick, I'd definitely take him over Bradley (who won't even be considered that high) and probably over Joe Johnson. Both Johnson and Gasol will be good, but you can't teach height, and sweet shooting 7'1 SF's with athletism, defense, rebounding-- they don't come around every day. ------------------ President of the Mo Taylor and Jason Collier fan club! Draftsource.net-- the premier source for draft info. Profiles, rankings, mock drafts, and more!
I think the key to getting Dirk was to get him young. Dirk was 19 when he went to Dallas, so he was able to learn the NBA game instead of 3 years of Euro ball. Getting Gassol at 21, just had a bday, might allow us to mold him more than other Euro's that have played 5 years in Europe. By the way, I am not knocking Euro ball, fact is its a different kind game. ------------------ "Chucky who? I thought we were talking about basketball?" Charles Barkley
I say screw moving up for Gasol. I'm still afraid of being burned by a European after Mirsad Turksan. To get Battier we would need to have Atlanta's pick (reports say they are high on Battier). But I say try to move up to number 7 and grab Joe Johnson. The Rockets were said to be very impressed with his workout a couple of days ago and can you imagine Stevie, Cat and Johnson running the fast break? ------------------
If Gasol is the target, it's the hope that he'll be the next Dirk, except he'll speak Spanish and so appeal to that Houston demographic (maybe: Spain and Mexico aren't exactly the same, in fact, far from it, but the appeal should still be there). I think it's a smokescreen. You never, ever tell anyone who you really want in the draft (unless you're virtually assured of getting the player you want). ------------------
If the rocks get the 4th pick in the draft you select either Brown or Griffen over Gasol. I like Gasol at the 6th pick and up but 4 is just too high for him. ------------------
I agree, 4 is too high for Gasol. If you pick in the top 4, you're assured of getting one of Griffin, Brown, Curry, or Diop. I don't think the Rockets should pass on any of those guys for Gasol. Athletic, good shooting 7' SF's are nice... but true C's are even rarer. And well, Griffin is simply amazing. ------------------ A few years back on the Senate floor... Phil Gramm: "If Democrats could, they'd tax the air we breathe." Ted Kennedy (jumping up): "By God, why didn't I think of that sooner!" Boston College - NCAA Hockey National Champions 2001
Diop is the only center in that group, and Rudy wouldn't pair Griffin w/ Steve and Cat. One too many passes to Cat and there's an all out fight in the locker room. In the top 4/5, I'd guess Rudy would take: 1) Brown 2) Curry 3) Battier 4) Gasol ------------------ girl you looks good won't you mock that draft up?!
Okay here are Gasols numbers: 00-01 Spain FG% .580 3P% .340 FT% 56.0 RPG% 5.1 APG% 0.7 PPG% 11.0 Here are Langhi's (last college year) FG% 47.7 3P% 40.3 FT% 87.1 RPG 6.0 APG 0.8 PPG 22.1 Why do we want another player built like Langhi? I think with playing time langhi will run circles around Gasol. Eventhough Langhi did not shoot well that the last few games of the season, remember he sat on the bench the whole year and was probably a bit rusty when his name was called. Try sitting on the bench all year, and then try to hit the jumpers in crunch time. I think he is going to be an awesome small forward in the Rockets Future. ------------------
The Rockets NEVER pick who they say they are going to pick. They leak info before the draft and then they go a completely different diretion. I have not met one person who has correctly figured out what the Rockets were going to do BEFORE the draft. We can all speculate, and read the chronicle etc, but there will be absolutely NO real information about who the Rockets are interested in.... DaDakota ------------------ If you like RTS games, check out this one. www.frontierwars.com coming soon to a PC near you.
Achebe: I thought Curry was being projected as a PF/C? Besides, if a top tier C isn't available, a PF is just fine with me . I really don't see a problem with playing two PF-type players, especially if one of them has an excellent post game. Is there really THAT much of a difference these days? I know that Griffin has attitude problems... but he was fabulous. When's the last time a freshman SF led the NCAA in blocks? Has it ever happened? The guy plays like a natural, and has the rare combination of athleticism and shooting ability (well, not lights out, but he can hit his jumpers). I think Griffin's the ONLY absolutely certain thing in this draft, and that includes Battier. I could see Battier end up being a journeyman who averages 7ppg throughout his career. Griffin has "superstar" written all over him. ------------------ A few years back on the Senate floor... Phil Gramm: "If Democrats could, they'd tax the air we breathe." Ted Kennedy (jumping up): "By God, why didn't I think of that sooner!" Boston College - NCAA Hockey National Champions 2001
I think that Gasol is a VERY bad idea. I am not going to say something stupid, like he sucks, because I haven't seen him play, but I defeintely see a trend of way to manyintl players not being that good. He can't be worth it. if another team picks him up and he is great then so be it, I would rather take the chance on a High School kid than an intl player. ------------------
UofTorange: It seems to me that foreign placers have a pretty good success ratio. Yeah, Mirsad Turckan sucked... ... but what about Shrempf, Mutombo, Hakeem, Sabonis, and Nowitski? They're great. The jury's still out on Zhi-zhi, but it seems like all of the foreign players picked high in the draft have worked out well. ------------------ A few years back on the Senate floor... Phil Gramm: "If Democrats could, they'd tax the air we breathe." Ted Kennedy (jumping up): "By God, why didn't I think of that sooner!" Boston College - NCAA Hockey National Champions 2001
"I say screw moving up for Gasol. I'm still afraid of being burned by a European after Mirsad Turksan. To get Battier we would need to have Atlanta's pick (reports say they are high on Battier). But I say try to move up to number 7 and grab Joe Johnson. The Rockets were said to be very impressed with his workout a couple of days ago and can you imagine Stevie, Cat and Johnson running the fast break? " ------------------ If we move up to 7 then we should go for Rodney White. While Johnson will be good, White will be even better and he can play both forward positions. He is as a good of an athlete as Johnson and he is 6'9". -Ranger11 ------------------
About Langhi: Langhi looks lost out there, but what can you expect? He barely plays at all. Plus, it's a tough adjustment to 1.) Go from an offense built around you, to an offense where your main job is to stand around waiting for Steve and Cuttino to create. 2.) Go from playin heavy minutes, to not even scrub minutes. It screws up your rhythm. 3.) As a result of not playin at all, when you do go in the game, you want to do something spectacular or too much, perhaps to get yourself some more minutes. I just don't buy the argument that Langhi is just a stupid basketball player. How can you be around basketball all your life, and still be a stupid basketball player? Even if for some reason he just does turn out to be "stupid", then he can learn. Maybe 1 season isnt enough for him, especially 1 season of not playing at all. And don't a lot of people, including Clutch (according to his recaps), think that Mobley is a little stupid in basketball smarts? And look at what a successful player he has turned out to be. ------------------ PrEsident of The Danforth Langhford FAN CLUB... He IS our future All-Star Small Forward [This message has been edited by alaskansnowman (edited June 08, 2001).]
I don't really consider players who played college ball in the United States to be foreign players. I guess I should have clarified to mean foreign players that are drafted from foreign teams. I wish I had a list of the last five years or so to see if my argument actually holds water. ------------------