OMR, calm down, man! I've been enjoying your thread, but you should just ignore someone who believes, with some justification, that it could be somewhere else. By getting POed, you are more apt to bring this to a close, IMO. At any rate, you've got me interested in this Sanders cat. I'll be watching to see where he ends up. Thanks for that.
Yeah you are right. That guy has been longtime**** IMO for a while. But you are right. (for the record I never typed any bad words, I just put asterisk so people could use their imagination) Any way I deleted all the bad stuff.
Amazing, isn't it? EDIT: I apologize to the OP -- I didn't realize he was so sensitive. Is the name calling necessary? I can't even tell what you're trying to call me with all the *'s! And the reason I came in here is because the title says, "Could Larry Sanders be on the Rockets Radar" -- not "I hope the Rockets go after Larry Sanders", which is basically what your thread is about. Maybe I'm in the minority, but it's annoying when people have misleading thread titles -- I was expecting to see something mentioning the Rockets interest in him. Instead I got an article about the Memphis Grizzlies. The reason we have the NBA Draft section is so someone won't create one of these threads for every prospect they fall in love with -- but sure, the rules don't apply to you.
Actually the ***'s are just that. I never type dirty words on here anymore or at least almost never. I just leave it to your imagination. I am a grumpy old man. I have always been but I try to tone it down as of late. The fact is you are right... this the wrong forum. But in all fairness I tried to post about Larry Sanders in the draft section and very little response because no where near as many go over there. So I posted here for selfish reasons. I really love this kid for our Rocket team. I started looking for our pick once it became clear the Rockets where lottery bound. I visited the draft sites and checked on all the bigs because I wanted nothing to do with any wings or pg’s. And the more I looked the more I kept an eye on Whiteside, Udoh Monroe and Sanders. I thought the rest wouldn’t have a shot at being available. I thought Vesely and Donetas where too soft and I thought I didn’t want any tweeners(sf/pf Hayward babitt, Aminu). What I really thought the Rockets needed was a defensive specialist with height and beef. A guy like Cousins… not available. Ed Davis, Patterson, and Aminu all looked doubtful to be around. And I was actually glad because I wanted more size or at least shotblocking height. I liked Aldrich but he didn’t look possible at the 14 spot. So of those remaining I liked Udoh, Whiteside, Orton and Alibi. But then I started looking at this Sanders kid. Larry Sanders had this 7’6” wingspan and some height to go with it. So I started watching every game I could of him. He was on espn 2 twice and then he was on espn 360 another 4 or 5 times. I watched every game and some twice. What I saw where moments of brilliance. He ran the court like a wing. He blocked shots and altered everything around the rim. I read his stats and story both very interesting. Did you know he averaged 7 blocks in 40 minutes his rookie year. His sophomore year those numbers dropped because his coach wanted him to be more than just a shotblocker. He beefed up the summer before his junior year season to 230. I watched him shoot all the way out to the college three with beautiful form. He clearly had a decent midrange shot and while he had no real post moves he could use his athleticism to overpower his defender and score. He was clearly the best player by far on his team but yet I always felt his coach was not utilizing him properly. I then went on VCU forum and read that this was a first year coach he was young and green. He had no intention of building a team around Sanders but rather wanted a guard oriented offense that focused on movement and not developing any plays for one player. It was obvious in the games. Very rarely did Sanders number get called out. Most of his offense was in transition, putbacks or the general flow of the offense. This kid Sanders was the best player on the team yet the coach wanted to do it his way with very little focus on him. What I waste. I also read that Sanders and his new coach hardly exchanged words. I don’t know why but it made sense. So IMO I felt you couldn’t judge Sanders on his stats. He was not a featured player like Cousins or Monroe. His offense came on hustle. This kid has a pretty shot. Great mechanics and an instinct to score around the basket what he lacks was experience. But he is a junior and there were freshmen with more skills. That lead me to my next insight. The kid hasn’t been taught. He never played basketball until late in his sophomore year. He was always short and uncoordinated as a kid. He was 6’2” as a sophomore while Cousins was 6’7” in the 7th grade. Sanders was still growing in College. He was still growing into his body his freshmen year and learning. I don’t know how that effects you but clearly starting late in his sophomore year after a growth spurt slowed his development compared to guys like Cousins and Favors. I also found this kid to be a joy to listen too. He seems to be excited about basketball all the time. It’s like he found this new book and wants to learn everything about it.. I watched once after a big win in the CAA tournament when the fans mobbed him and he seemed to love it. Like he was so grateful for their support and they knew it and returned their love. He seems humble but very intelligent. Before he played basketball he loved to paint. But don’t let that confuse you. He is so eager to learn He is the exact opposite of Whiteside. Already I see a more chiseled upper body. He says he is learning to eat better to gain weight. He has a 4.6% body fat far more superior than most other bigs in the draft. He runs the court like a gazelle. He doesn’t have the greatest leaping ability but I read that the Portland coach said he has the frame to build his lower body and that will help his leaping ability. And I am sure that will happen if he comes with the Rockets. Landry increased his vertical by 4 inches one off season and Battier increased his a couple of inches just last year. So I am sure he vertical will increase. I also heard everyone say his frame can easily support more weight and as I said he was 230 last summer and only 222 at the combines. I suspect he will be 230 or better by training camp. What have I not mentioned about this kid. I think he has so much upside for the reason’s I have mentioned above. He is only now finally finished growing. He has not been really coached up till now so he has so much to learn that he doesn’t know. He shows signs of agility. He has poor footwork but no one has taught him how to improve on it. He has great form shooting but he seems to need just more practice to improve. This kid will have a real midrange game in time. Everything I see makes me believe that. He will be a better shotblocker in time and he wasn’t so shabby his junior year. I love the way when he was in the game teams always avoided him. Everything in my gut tells me this kid will be much better than he is now. And after all of that he just seems like a great guy with a great attitude. The combination is rare and that is why I think he is a better value than you pay for that kind of player. I say that because I think Cole Aldrich would be a good safe pick for Houston. You get a solid player who should contribute. I also love Patterson. He has impressed at every level and he is a great kid albeit a bit undersized. I would not be to disappointed if we got either one of them. But I believe Sanders is the kid who could really improve the most and he is not very far behind those guys right now. So shoot me for posting it in the wrong thread. I knew this wasn’t the right place and I knew it could get locked or moved. But I wanted to get a feel what other people thought so I posted it herBut so be it I wanted to get some feedback from some other Rockets fans and that’s exactly what I got. Thanks guys. If gets moved now which it probably will that is fine.
We're cool, dawg. I actually appreciate that you just don't write a few sentences and actually get in depth. I kinda figured you just put it here to gain a bigger audience, I was just a bit peeved that there was no Rockets mention as I thought the title alluded to. Either way, water under the bridge, and go Rockets!
If he can 70% the Rodman type and 130% the extracurriculars... I'd still take him at #14. That said, I think the odds are lower than that.
So basically, after all this stuff about how important timing is... and then say wingspan is the most important!? So are you saying tall stiffs with ridiculous wingspans all can rebound/block? But tall stiffs with ridiculous standing reach can't? Great observation.
I agree with you, OMR. I wanted him to fall to round 2 and steal him there. He's simply a basketball player. A lot of things come natural for him. He's a natural player with a great motor, freakish athleticism, and a quick mind.
Lol :grin: It seems that jump shooter is the resident Ekpe Udoh fanboy and gets pretty defensive when something negative (even if factually correct) is said (or implied) about Udoh. The bottom line remains: When you have the reach - The less timing/quickness/recovering ability you need. (Case in point: Yao Ming) In the NBA, historically, you need both the timing/quickness AND the reach to be elite rebounder/shot blocker. Maybe Udoh will be able to compensate with his timing, maybe not. To stay in topic of Sanders, one thing that he doesn't have is elite jumping ability. He (and also Cousins) has pretty mediocre max vertical reach, at least when comparing to his overall athleticism.
There may be an NBA draft section, but there shouldn't be, because, at least in the period shortly before the draft, these things are very germane to those of us in the GARM. Maybe whoever set up the forums (Clutch?) had the idea that people would go to the NBA section to read such things, but they were mistaken. In the final analysis, it is unrealistic to criticize somebody for posting in the GARM about a player we might want to pick, especially so close to the draft. FWIW, I am not interested in which player we might want to pick; I just want us to move up, and I will trust DM to make a great pick.
Sanders, Alabi, Whiteside could all be wild cards at #14. I trust Morey's assessment on this. I see the possibility of Aldrich landing in the vicinity of our pick though. He would be a steal at #14.
I like Sanders, but I feel that we need to pickup a big that can help us NOW rather than in a year or two. While Sanders may have more upside, I would prefer that we pick Aldrich at 14 because I feel he's more ready. Assuming that Aldrich is still available... We've got a limited window with Yao. We need to put together a team that has the capacity to win it all next season.
Here is an interview after Blazers workout... If you listen to what the assistant coach says you will hear that he thinks if Sanders works on his lower body he will be a better shotblocker than he already is. And that's a serious comment when you consider the kid averaged 3 blocks in 16mins per game as a freshman.. if you extend that out to 40 it is 7 blocks. <table style="border:0px; padding:0px;"><tr><td><font style="font-size:13px; font-family:Verdana; font-weight:bold; font-color:#293546">Trail Blazers predraft workout: Larry Sanders, VCU, and Samardo Samuels, Louisville</font></td></tr><tr><td> <object width="470" height="402" align="middle" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0" id="movie1276839866483"> <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><param name="movie" value="http://tribeca.vidavee.com/advance/vidavee/playerv3/vFlasher_debug.swf/p19=movie1276839866483&d=0B67DF2222223FFEE75ED6EC99B07DB8&"/><param name="quality" value="high"/><param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff"/> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> <param name="wmode" value="transparent" /> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" wmode="transparent" width="470" height="402" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" quality="high" name="movie1276839866483" src="http://tribeca.vidavee.com/advance/vidavee/playerv3/vFlasher_debug.swf/p19=movie1276839866483&d=0B67DF2222223FFEE75ED6EC99B07DB8&" allowFullScreen="true"></embed> </object></td></tr></table>
It is refreshing to get a post where the info does not come from a website link but from own analysis and research. I like it, thanks!
Just like for every insignificant opinion we need a new post. I love the wink... you can call someone a stupid r****ded maggot and then throw a wink at the end and it's all in good fun. Love ya lebeez :grin:
