ClutchFans Rockets Draft Thread (Rockets select Luther Head at 24)

the rockets need a good point guard who can penetrate and create opportunities for the rest of his team and be a vocal leader on the court, again i have said this a million times we should draft the point guard from the UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS EL PASO,, fili rivera,, he is one of the best point guards i have seen play over the past two years, his vision on the court is just downright unbelievable, his quickness can get him to the hoop, the only knack on him right now is he must become a better outside shooter ---- this guy broke all sorts of assist records at utep and i wish truly to see him put on a rockets uniform next season..................

 

If he goes undrafted we could invite him to summer camp. But no way they use the #24 pick on him.

 

One guy I like that nobody is talking about is Aaron Miles out of Kansas. He had a great senior year. I'm not saying spend the 24th pick on him, but judging by mock drafts I've seen, he might go undrafted. Maybe the Rox could bring him in as an undrafted free agent.

From http://www.nba.com/draft2005/profiles/AaronMiles.html

Career Highlights: Finished collegiate career as the NCAA’s eighth all-time assist leader with 954. Career assist total also ranks as the all-time best inKansas and Big 12 history. Also ranks second all-time in school history with 264 steals, and 31st in scoring with 1,183 points. Earned Third Team All-Big 12 Conference honors his junior and senior seasons. Named to the Big 12 All-Defensive Team his last three seasons. Recorded double figure assists in 21 career games and posted 12 career double-doubles.

Senior (2004-05): Led the Big 12 in assists (7.3 apg). Became the Big 12’s all-time assist leader after dishing out eight vs. Georgia Tech. Had four games of double-figure assists, with a season-high of 11 vs. Oklahoma State in the Big 12 Tournament. Scored in double figures in 15 games, with a season-high 19 points vs. Pacific. Recorded a double-double of 14 pints and 10 assists vs. Missouri. Matched a career-high with four three-point field goals made on his way to 18 points vs.Kansas State.

 

This draft is very deep so its a bad year not to have a 2nd round pick. The depth also means some notable players could go undrafted and I think player like Aaron Miles would be great if he goes undrafted which I think he will.

 

I am watching the Jordan High School Classic on ESPN2 and that Andray Blatche kid a stud. He has 26 points and 16 rebounds. He is raw but he reminds me alot of Dwight Howard. I would love the Rockets to take him since its unlikely JVG is going play a rookie anyway and let him develop.

 

This draft is all over the place, I've been trying to read up and see who a good guess would be and it's only confusing me more.

I'm going with Wayne Simien.

 

I'm going with a trade with Memphis.

 

Because he is the most athletic player in the draft, and we were one of the most unathletic teams in the league last season.

He really reminds of a mix between Prince, Marion, and Stro. He will have a hard time guarding the big PFs in the league, but then again, they would have a hard time guarding Warrick, especially w/ the attention Yao gets down low.

 

The FAs that we can possibly get will have a huge influence on who we draft. I mean there is no reason to try and get Hakim Warrick if we have Stromile as one of our FA targets. I think Joey Graham, Simien, and Jack are guys that can contribute for us next year. McCants, whom some ppl want to draft, is extreeemely undersized and erratic. Think of him as a shorter Cuttino without the D. Something about this guy reminds me of Isiah Rider, who was good, but not a guy I would want on my team. I dont think Taft will fall to 24 and if he does it should probably raise some red flags about a guy who was supposed to be the #1 or 2 PF in the draft. With H Warrick youve got a tweener who doesnt have the footspeed or ballhandling to play a 3 and can EASILY be shoved around the basket. His long arms and hops are what people seem to be infatuated with, but that is the extent of his game. To finally answer the question I think that we SHOULD take Jack but WILL take ... McCants.

 

WRONG .. most athletic player is most def. Nate Robinson.

You're just naming skinny guys with long arms. What about HWarrick reminds you of Marion??? Warrick cant shoot a lick or handle the ball. Same question with Prince. Warrick will NOT be able to defend an opposing teams best perimeter player and he again cannot nail any kind of jumper. Your comparison with Stro is probably the most accurate except for that Stro is taller and stronger.

 

Well, since Nate Robinson is as tall as my mom, I don't really consider him.

Hmm...Skinny guys w/ long arms, what is Warrick again?

The truth is that all those guys are long and athletic, and they all use that ability to rebound the ball. Warrick cannot shoot, I know this, but you probably didn't know that Marion shot 19% and 25% from 3-pt land his first 2 years.

Warrick can get his hands on a lot of loose balls just by tipping them to himself, a lot like Prince does. He is obvisouly not as mobile as Prince, but he runs the floor a lot like him.

 

In a recent thread titled "Major changes coming", someone mentioned that 2 deals would be made before the draft... Here we are 3 days away from the draft and I haven't heard anything about a possible move being made.

 

Could it be that the deals already have been made but they are waiting to announce them until the appropriate time. I remember Les Alexander saying that the Barkley-Horry/Cassel deal had been completed one entire week before it was announced.

I hope that the future of the team is starting to take shape behind the scenes. Wesley, Surra, and Howard just probably all had their last good seasons; essentially no future season will be as good as the last. It's a bummer to be on the tail end of a nice career.

I'm all for the youth movement in the role players, granted they don't hinder the development of the Yao/McGrady tandem.

 

Antoine Wright

 

He said there will be two trades on Draft Day, unless I missed something later in the thread.

http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=97391

 

Welcome to a message board. I don't understand why so many people took an unsubstantiated, unproven "source" that could barely be called a rumor and ran with it. I've seen so many people reference the trades we're "going to make" on draft day and citing that as reasoning.

Anyhow, under JVG, the Rockets have made 2 picks- both in the 2nd round, and both foreigners. That's the only common denominator between Spanoulis and Badiane.

Based on CD's comments, my guess is CD has targeted a college player or two he believes could be a part of the rotation (could be Warrick, Simien, Garcia, or none of the above). Based on history, if the player CD targets is gone, we'll roll the dice on a HSer or Euro player that we can stash away for a year or two.

I have a feeling we go big. This draft is so up in the air. If I had to make a prediction...I'll go with Simien.

 

I agree with you...and I am going to give my sales pitch for him. I have been a Rockets fan since I was born...Definitely b4 i ever went to GT and became a GT fan. AnywaysI watched Jarrett Jack in person for 3 years...He pretty much single handedly let Georgia Tech to the national championship a season ago...His game is very similar to Cassells except he might be a little stronger and has the heart of Elie. He also pushes the ball and speeds up the tempo like Steve Nash...He is a winner...He wants to win and is extremely motivated. I never saw him miss a single class in college..I think the Rockets could definitely use a little more heart....junkyard dog attitude....even if its a rookie. Also, he has experience getting a tall, skinny center to nut it up and push people around. Jarret Jack's attitude brushed off on his entire team and especially their center, Luke Schenser who is similar to Yao Ming in stature and behavior on the court. When Jack started though, he put some motivation and fire into him and caused him to become a strong mean beast too mentally and physically. I played with him a few times during summer school...and even in those games he played hard and was motivated...just how he acts on the court makes the whole team want to play their heart out...Here are some pictures of some of the crazy reactions he's had in the past.

http://i.cnn.net/si/2004/basketball...ey/2004/03/28/kansas.gatech.ap/p1_jack_ap.jpg

http://i.cnn.net/si/2004/basketball...2004/03/21/bostcoll.gatech.ap/p1_jack1_ap.jpg

http://espn-att.starwave.com/media/ncb/2004/0328/photo/a_jack2_frt.jpg

http://media.gatewaync.com/wsj/photos/2004/wake/05bb/gatech/hewitt.jpg

http://images.usatoday.com/sports/_photos/2004/11/04/inside1-jack.jpg

http://www.cjonline.com/photos/galleries/010205_kugtech/images/19.jpg

http://new.nique.net/articleimages/2004-03-19-26-1.jpg

 

Whether there will be a trade on draft day or not, here are the 13 players which experts and analysts (from ESPN, CNNSI, Hoopshype, nbadraft.net, draftcity and so on) think they will fall between 19th to 29th...

(Name Position Height Weight College/Country Age)
Ersan Ilyasova - F 6'9" 235lbs Turkey 18
Francisco Garcia - G/F 6'7" 195lbs Louisville(Jr.) 23
Rashad McCants - G 6'4" 207lbs North Carolina(Jr.) 20
Chris Taft - F 6'10" 260lbs Pittsburgh(So.) 20
Martynas Andriuskevicius - C 7'2" 240lbs Lithuania 19
Johan Petro - C 7'0" 247lbs France 19
Jarrett Jack - G 6'3" 202lbs Geogia Tech(Jr.) 21
Wayne Simien - F 6'9" 255lbs Kansas(Sr.) 22
Julius Hodge - G 6'7" 210lbs North Carolina St.(Sr.) 21
Charlie Villanueva - F 6'11" 240lbs Connecticut(So.) 20
Andrew Bynum - C 7'0" 285lbs St. Joseph HS. 17
Ike Diogu - F 6'8" 250lbs Arizona St.(Jr.) 21
Ryan Gomes - F 6'7" 250lbs Providence(Sr.) 22

Based on the needs of the Rockets (at 1 and 4, or maybe 3 as well), and the criteria that we shouldn't draft HSers and unproven International players, here are my top 5:

1. Jarrett Jack
Stats (college): 15.5 pts 4.8 reb 4.5 ast 1.8 stl .514fg% .442 3-pt% .866ft%
-Choosing Jack as the first choice mainly because of the shortcomings of Simiens (Injury prone issue) and Diogu (too short as a PF in NBA despite his long wingspan). Jack seems to be a safe pick.

2. Wayne Simien
Stats (college): 20.3 pts 11.0 reb 1.4 ast 2.3 TO .552fg% .816ft%
-I don't believe too much in pre-camp workouts, Diogu has outstanding workouts, but so did Nachbar last year. Overall, Simien had a better season than Diogu.

3. Ike Diogu
Stats (college): 22.6 pts 9.8 reb 1.3 ast 3.6 TO 2.3 blk .575fg% .797ft%
-I like Ike's aggresiveness on the court, how can he be lacked of athleticism if he averaged 2.3 blocks a game while standing at only 6'8" (yeah, he got long wingspan, maybe that's the reason).

4. Charlie Villanueva
Stats (college): 13.6 pts 8.3 reb 1.3 ast 1.8 blk .521fg% in 25.8 mpg
-There might be a risk selecting him, but at 24th, it's worth the risk if he's still available.

5. Rashad McCants
Stats (college): 16.0 pts 3.0 reb 2.7 ast .489fg% .423 3-pt% in 25.9 mpg
-He's here just because his team won the national championship...

 

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/3241294

 

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2005/06/26/SPGGBDEQAC1.DTL