Morey traded Scola, who was drafted at 55th position. Shortly after he became the starter, we went on a 22 game record breaking winning streak.
I am surprised no one on the first page noticed this. I think the OP alluded to the fact that these are the guys that DM are responsible for bringing in, assuming somehow he strikes a deal for Amare. This shows the fine depth that DM has assembled to go behind Yao, Battier, Artest and Tmac(if not traded). That's great work in the little time he's been in charge. Can't wait to see how this draft class plays out but I hear good things about Taylor.
Exception, not the rule. Plus, Scola was a 2nd rounder for a reason. He didn't play in the NBA for a full 5 seasons after getting drafted. Typically, players that aren't expected to leave their Euro clubs don't get drafted highly. I don't remember what Scola's scouting report was like back then, but if it were known that he was coming over immediately he would have been drafted higher, perhaps even in the first round. So to me, trading for a guy who was once a 2nd round pick isn't as impressive drafting a guy in the 2nd round an having him pan out. It's easy to pick 2nd rounders 5 years after the draft. Anybody can pick diamonds in the rough when they've shown themselves to be diamonds. It's a little harder to do when they're still pieces of coal. You could go out and trade for Boozer or Redd or Arenas or Mo Williams 5 years after they were drafted and had proven that they could be starters, but it wouldn't change the fact that very few legit starters come out of the 2nd round. You get one, maybe two a year. Just because they exist doesn't mean you should expect it to happen very often. Just because Yao is a legit NBA starter doesn't mean you should expect many players from China to be legit NBA starters too. You're using Scola as an example, but he's just an example. You show me where enough 2nd rounders become starters that we should start having those expectations for them and then you'll have a case. Otherwise, you're just showing an aberration. How many 2nd rounders in the past 5 drafts (not including this most recent one) have become steady starters? I can only think of 3. Marc Gasol, Monta Ellis, and Chris Duhon (maybe only because he's on the Knicks). Maybe add in Varejao. So that's 4 players out of roughly 150 2nd round picks (2.6 %) that have become starters? And we're supposed to believe that the Rockets chose 2 in the same draft? Right.
This has to be tha dummest realistic starting line up someone has ever suggested!..thank god ur not the coach..or ne thing important related to the team!
There are more than those 4. Marc Gasol, Monta Ellis, Chirs Duhon, Anderson Varejao, Trevor Ariza, Ryan Gomes, C.J. Miles, Ramon Sessions, Mario Chalmers, and its looking like Milsap will be joining them soon. But I agree that its hard to get a starter out of the second round and I think Utah, GS, Miami, and the Spurs are the only ones that consistently had multiple second rounders in their starting lineups last yr. I'd be shocked if we end up with 2 from this draft.
You are comparing choosing Scola as a rookie with 5 year nba veterans? College experience doesn't count, but international experience counts as proven NBA experience? The knock on Scola was that international players need at least 1-2 years to adjust to the NBA. Even though we got Scola, people were still dogging Morey to get a starting caliber PF, that year. He was criticized for being too much of a numbers guy. $ball didn't see that we needed veteran help. They said 2 secound round draft picks can't man the PF position in their rookie season. Morey was 2 for 3. Scola and Landry panned out. Newley ain't sniffing the NBA.
i think out of all the 2nd rounders, jermaine taylor and budinger have the best chances to stick with the team and actually be rotation players. great job morey.
I'm talking about choosing a 27 year old Scola vs. a 22 year old Scola. Scola accomplished a lot in Spain and Argentina in the 5 years after the Spurs drafted him. He was much more of a known commodity, or as much as anybody playing in Europe can be. He was a "rookie" in name only. Morey wasn't 2 for 3. If you're talking about drafting solid players (which is a different matter) he was 1 for 2. If you're talking about drafting starters, he was 0 for 2. Then he traded for a 27 year old international player who had made big strides in the 5 years since he was drafted by another team. Not the same thing. And you're still trying to use Scola as an example to why we should expect 2nd rounders to be starters. Show me a significant trend where more often than not, 2nd rounders become legit starters. Don't just show me a handful of players or, in the case of your argument, just Scola. The fact still is you can't run a basketball team expecting every 2nd rounder you draft to become a solid contributor, let alone a starter. If they were expected to be starters, they wouldn't have slipped to the 2nd round. Maybe you strike gold every once in awhile but if you sit around thinking that the guy you drafted 40th overall is going to be the future of your franchise, before he's even played an NBA minute no less, your team is in serious trouble. And thinking that 2 from the same draft are going to pan out is insane.
With the economy being questionable in todays world. I don't wanna give up China's money.. I'd like to keep Yao forever!! He gets us the the funding we need to be rather than a team like the hornets thunder etc.
Im showing the players that Morey was responsible for. I put Amare in there because he seems to want Amare pretty bad. The team he is assembling is pretty diesel considering how much we are paying for their services.
if morey can pick multiple starters from the second round, why bother trading for amare? We should trade our guys away for second round picks. I bet we can get like 5 at least for tmac
