His measurables are almost identical to Cole Aldrich. Some people are calling him a great athlete, but his vertical was only 28 inches with a 9-4 reach. Those numbers are carbon copies of Aldrich. He's weaker, played a lower level of competition, and is not as fundamentally sound. I would much prefer Aldrich, but he probably won't be available. Sanders might be an interesting prospect. He needs to get a lot stronger and better fundamentals.
He sounds good in his interviews so I wouldn't be surprised if we took him. There are A LOT of potential star bigs in this draft so not much to speculate about other than to wait.
Big men from small conference rarely succeed in NBA. Players like Larry Sanders and Hassan Whiteside play against weak competition and put up great stats, but will have a hard time adjusting at the NBA level. Look at the past draft, Kandi Man, Patrick O’Bryant, Araujo, Jason Smith, and Javale McGee are all first-round draft picks, and none of them is worth the money.
Scary drafting a small college guy, but he is certainly worth a look... I would love to pair Jordan Hill with a future C...
Aldrich's rebounding and shot blocking, combined with his ability to run the floor seem like a nice fit for a team looking to contend next season. If we are looking beyond next season, Sanders may have a higher ceiling. However, I am hoping we use this pick to get an NBA ready center for next season who can run split the minutes with Yao. That is why I would go with Aldrich or a wing player if we get that backup center via free agency. I love the Chuck Wagon but he should only be used for certain defensive match ups. If Yao was not coming back I would draft potential but we need to 'go all in' in the 2010-2011 season...who knows how long we will have the Great Wall!
This guy seems like a Rocket-type player, a hard-worker, level-headed, and a high-energy and active player when on the court. He's similar to Carl Landry in those respects. And he provides shot-blocking, which is what the Rockets really needs. He also seems really raw right now, but the Rockets are one of the best teams in developing players, as long as a player is willing to work. I would pick this guy over Whiteside.
I like Sanders and VCU does a reasonable job of producing rotation type guys for the NBA, but this draft might be the hardest ever to predict, considering that everybody and their cousin is declaring b/c of the new CBA. Personally i'd take Sanders over Whiteside, as the the Swift and Griffin moves are just too fresh for me to want a guy like Whiteside, even with his 5.4 blks per game. Honestly, I think Jerome Jordan in the second round would be far better than either at far better price. My real first option would be trade up to the 4-8 range for Monroe, who I think is a perfect fit for us. If we have to stay with #14--of the players who will probably be available--I like Patterson, who will definately get Bradley/Henry type who can at he least play a Tony Allen type role for us. With the draft as loaded with bigs as it is, there's no need to reach...I mean really, is there that much a difference between Whiteside/Sanders and Jordan/Pittman/Alabi? If Les is willing to pony up the dough, we could have our pick of the latter--what with late 1st rounders being up for sale--without really sacrifcing any "ceiling".
Kinda tired of the undersized center thing. It's been worn out. We need a legit center (or two) out of this draft.
Rockets will not pick at 14, I can tell you that much. We will either get a proven player from another team as part of a trade, or we will move up much higher in the draft, or much lower...
Yes, it would be so nice to have a legit backup center. Damn Mutombo, he wasn't even 50 yet, and he had to go and retire!
Sanders is nice. I personally wouldn't take him over Whiteside or Aldrich if they were somehow still on the board but I would maybe take him over Udoh if him and Sanders were both available at the 14th pick. But if we can't move up a lot higher in the draft, I hope we try to maximize our assets and trade down, maybe for the 21st and 26th pick, and pick up Alabi with the 21st and use the 26th pick on a guard. Alabi is real intriguing. Seems like a very coach-able guy that our staff could mold into a possible Mutombo like player. He already has something you can't teach and that's his 7'1" 251lb frame with some good athleticism and a 7'5" wingspan to go along. He has all the tools to be a great defensive post present and he showed he could shoot the ball some too. Last year I thing he shot like 80% from the line on a team that was ranked as one of the top defensive teams in the NCAA(mainly cause of him) while being injuried that season.
I'd like to pair Hill with a legit center, aka 7 footer. We should try to get 2nd rounders, maybe we can draft like 2 or 3 centers and hopefully one will turn out great. The other ones will be trading chips. And with the 14th, pick up Heir Georgeness.
Being 7 ft tall isn't the important number, standing reach is. There are only 2 7 footers in the entire draft (Alabi and Jordan) But there are 9 guys with the proper standing reach for a 7 footer. Any of these guys have the raw length to play center in the NBA. (I'm just talking about length not size or skill set) Soloman Alabi 9-5 Hassan Whiteside 9-5 Demarcus Cousins 9-5 Jerome Jordan 9-5 Larry Sanders 9-4 Cole Aldrich 9-3.5 Dexter Pittman 9-3 Daniel Orton 9-2.5 Derrick Favors 9-2
I'm buying into Sanders. Mostly I think his rise up the charts just gives DM what he uses best ... options. The more desirable players available the more valuable the 14th pick becomes. A team up above us might trade down thinking they would be happy with him @14 and a team below might feel like they have to move up to get him ahead of Milwaukee.
