Seeing as our roster will be pretty full after we draft Ming, do you see us trading away the #15 and our 2nd rounder as a certainty? Maybe package a player with the picks for a defensive specialist?? Thoughts, comments....
What about the SF we need so badly? Nachbar. Bring him over in a year or two if necessary, but why not tab him now?
Well, I'm not quite sure how full are roster will be, but it sounds like we might have to trade the 15th to avoid paying the luxury tax. But really, I think we only have nine players that are definitely going to be on the roster next year, and probably Terrence Morris. But that still leaves at least two or three positions to fill. I think these are the only guys that should be completely safe as far as being on the roster at the beginning of the season. C: Ming, Cato PF: Taylor, Griffin, Thomas SF: Rice SG: Mobley PG: Francis, Moochie The Rockets to seriously do something about the small forward postion, especially since rice will most likely not even play 75% of the season after suffering an injury. They also could use a backup to Mobley at SG. They might just keep Torres, but there could be better options.
The #15 should be a talented player. There's ALWAYS room for talent. The only exception is if the nab Stoudamire and keep him on the 'IR' to let him soak up the NBA scene and practice against our big bodies.
DCKid...from what I understand, the luxury tax may not kick in this year (or next for that matter)...i dont really know for sure though. Either way, if Les can't afford the luxury tax of a rookie scale contract, he should sell the team.
That's what I was thinking. No time to be cheap! There's a good chance the Rockets will have around the 15th pick next season, but this draft is so deep they could get a higher quality player at 15 this season than they could next season. I hope they use it!
Memphis has rejection priviledge on our pick this year if we offer it to them. This is a very very very very deep draft. we can get a Peja type at 15. Next year's draft looks far weaker, so we should go for it this year knowing that we are moving into a new arena and need all the help we can get!!!
I think we should use the pick this year, while the talent in the draft is deep. Then use the next couple years to mature and jell as a team. We have a lot of YOUNG talent on this team. It's a good time to be a Rocket fan, better times on the horizon.
I hope Francis reads this. The Rockets are making moves patiently and Francis needs to understand that has a good chance of working. It makes a lot of sense for the powers at be to look at trading No. 15, No. 37 and MT or something like that to move up to nab a Jefferies or Butler (who in my dreams slips to No. 9). That may slow our growth temporarily but not significantly. We need a Mario Elie role player that can do a little of everything. If we could put KT's work ethic into the body of a SF, that would be perfect. The Rox have designed a good plan that, with luck, may work out. 1. Rockets traded Jefferson and Jason Collins for Griffin. Jefferson and Collins (who was pretty impressive against Shaq and should become a good power player in the East) are both more NBA ready than Griffin. But Griffin will be (likely) be a better player in 2 years. Is there anyone who does not think that Jefferson and Collins would have started for the Rockets last year? But Jefferson and Collins are exactly the type of players that we can't afford to have if the goal is, and it should be, to win rings. They are good enough to make us a first round playoff loser and to keep us from truly high draft picks. 2. Rockets let Hakeem go so that Francis and Mobley could develop into leaders. Is there anyone that doubts that the Rox would have won more games with Hakeem? 3. Rockets are now trying to get Yao Ming. The easy route would be to trade for Odom, Jamison or trade down for Dunleavy. Odom and Jamison would command high salaries that would again guarantee a decade of mediocrity. The timetable for Ming's development should track Griffin's pretty well. 4. Francis and Mobley need to know how to play and win in the 4th quarter. Those guys play with serious heart, especially Francis and his migranes. Let no one question their desire to win. But they need to know that the Rox have been losing tight games because we have no interior presence on defense or offense. Francis and Mobley (i) need to improve their own play and poise in crunch time and (ii) need to understand that they need some freakin help. Getting help inside will help them improve their own play.
Exactly, it's not like the rockets are going to be 20 million over the cap like the blazers. Les should be able to afford going over the cap a little bit especially with all the extra revenue that is going to be generateed by Ming.
TMo is signed for next year. You also forgot Collier who I think has one more guaranteed year on his contract. The Rocks will have to draft or sign a FA to backup Mobley. Oscar Torres may be a good choice here, since he plays D and does not embarrass himself on O. The Rockets have the MCE, so they may be alble to get an upgrade on Torres. Whoever is Mobley's backup will only see limited minutes. If the Rocks do sign a MCE FA, they will not likely get value for the money due to the limited minutes. Signing Torres for less or drafting a backup may make more $$$ sense. The only problem I have with drafting a 2 is that drafted players are such unknown quantities. In general, I am very skeptical of the Euro guards mentioned as possible picks at #15. The speed of the NBA guard play may be too much for the Euro players (or may make the transition more difficult). Another consideration is that the #15 pick will get guaranteed $$$ for three years. Yet another consideration is that the expectation for the #15 pick in most drafts is that the player will become a solid NBA starter. Mobley will limit the pick's development and long term opportunity. In the end, Torres may be the best option for Mobley's backup, since he will sign cheap and will not demand minutes from Mobley. TMo, Collier, and OT will potentially round out the Rocks 12 man roster. Collier is a prime candidate for being waived (or IR) since he is a jumping shooting center and Yoa makes him redundant. What to do with the #15 pick? The consensus is that the Rocks need an upgrade at the 3. I am not so sure. Last year, the Rocks played the following returning players at the 3: Rice, TMo, Cat, OT, KT, and EG These players seemed to cover the 3 position adequately last year and should be able to next year as well. TMo was drafted last year as the Rock's future 3. I like what I saw of TMo but I am not sure he will be ever become a solid NBA starter. But the Rocks could live with TMo's O limitations since the 3 will be the fifth option on O, behind Steve, Eddie, Cat and Ming. I see the following options for the #15 pick: 1. Offer it to Memphis now. 2. Offer it to Memphis on draft day, if the players the Rockets want are off the board. Memphis could always refuse, but there is a chance that someone they want is there for the taking. 3. Draft a SF. 4. Draft a high potential player like Woods (2/3) or Stoudemire (4/5). Rudy likes multi-poistion players and may not be able to pass on their potential. 5. Trade down to the #20-25 pick for Chris Jefferies, who is a defensive 3 and whose O game needs a little work to be NBA ready. This is especially attractive if CJ can also play some limited minutes at the 2. This kind of trade may also pull in a late first round draft pick in next year's draft that we could dump on Memphis next year What to do with the #37 pick? This is fairly high pick in the second round. The Rocks might be able to find another diamond in the ruff with this pick. The only problem is that the roster might be really full at this point, especially if the Rocks do not trade the #15 pick and at this point have two first round picks with guaranteed contracts. Whoever the Rocks draft here will likely not make the team and spend next year playing ball in Europe or in the NBA development league. What may make the most sense is to draft a high potential player who needs time to development their NBA game. This type of player would be better served playing starter minutes in Europe anyway. HSers Jones and Collins fit the bill, as well as Jamal Sampson.
