Neither of those guys were quality players anymore at that point... Morey knew which way the wind was blowing.
Draft failures happen more often because guys can't find minutes to develop or demonstrate their skills... as happens when you're two or three quality players deep in front of them.
lol no. A good rookie player will show his worth in practice and gain chances to prove themselves with playing time, and more often than not, they come through. See: Luis Scola, Aaron Brooks, Carl Landry, Chase Budinger, Jordan Hill.. all of these players started from DNP-CD or the bench and eventually beat players who were ahead of them in the depth chart for playing time. Most recent example, Hill has taken over Jeffries, Andersen, and even some of Hayes' minutes.
Jarvis Varnado.... late 1st round- early 2nd round http://www.nbadraft.net/players/jarvis-varnado The best shot blocker in the country 4.7 BPG
If he "knew" then I don't think he wastes money signing Francis. You said they drafted him because of a position need....and technically they didn't "need" another point guard. That's why everyone including sports writers and broadcasters...and fans were puzzled at the fact they the Rockets decided to draft a point guard. He drafted him for a number of reasons....including the fact that a number of teams wanted him.
Jordan Hill is the perfect example. He couldn't find minutes in New York behind David Lee, Al Harrington, etc, and was in the process of being declared a bust simply because nobody would give him PT to develop and prove himself. Heck even half the people on this forum were calling him a bust before Adelman finally gave him some PT. Now we know he's not, because Adelman was dissatisfied with the play of Jeffries and space opened up for him in the rotation.
Every coach has a different approach to player development, Adelman is more willing to give rookies' a chance, I am sure D'Antoni would've played Hill next season if he hadn't been traded. Walsh did NOt want to give Hill up. Why did the Kings draft Tyreke Evans when they already had a glut at PG/SG with Beno, Martin, Garcia, and Greene? Are you telling me you would've passed on Tyreke if you were the Kings? All I know is, if there was a Tyreke Evans available at our draft position, I would take him even though we already have Lowry, Brooks, Martin, Budinger.
Morey was quoted saying he was going to draft the best player available, and that's what he did....and from that draft, with the position that we had in the draft, that's what we have.
The Kings are 23-46. Maybe they would have a better record if they had filled a positional need instead of drafting a ballhog combo guard.
Lets see...they needed a true big man..if they drafted that in the 2009 draft, they would have the extremely raw Thabeet who wouldn't have contributed until recently. Their record would be even worse.
http://www.nba.com/draft2009/ Please tell me who you think would have given the Kings a chance to have a better record out of this draft. You're talking about possibly the ROY
who have been losing their minutes to Landry the Mandry, a player who was drafted in the 2nd round. Try again.
Thabeet is, actually, another good example of a promising player who isn't getting minutes because his team is too loaded up with bigs like Marc Gasol. His per 36 minutes rates are actually pretty good, especially for a rookie--9 points, 10 rebounds, 4 blocked shots--but he's only getting 11 minutes per game so he hasn't had the chance to prove himself or develop. Such a waste.
No matter how you spin it, Evans > Thabeet and Memphis would've been better off drafting Evans. Yes, Thabeet is a promising player - keyword promising - who's started to show signs of contributing JUST NOW, 65 games into the season - while better players like Evans have been beasting all year.
You don't average 10 rebounds, 9 points, and 4 blocks per 36 minutes over the course of the entire season if you've only just now shown signs of contributing. Tyreke is averaging 19/5/5 per 36 which isn't that much more productive than Thabeet in my opinion... a big shotblocking presence is worth a lot.
Anyways, I firmly believe teams should always draft the best available player and that they will shine through, regardless of the circumstance.
yo draft for talent when it's a lebron type of player...if there's no one that's a lock to be a success int he league then you draft for need if you have a significant hole in the lineup. If you dont then you take the best player anyway... PG- we're set with brooks/lowry SG- Martin gets the bulk of the mins so we should be ok with taylor/lowry/bud/ariza sharing some oft he back up mins for this spot SF- We're set with ariza/battier/bud PF- Scola is a true starter, Hill is a solid back up. We're set. C- Yao. He'll get the bulk of the minutes, but we wont know if his foot alignment problem was succesfully solved until in the future. His backups are not solid. that being said, we draft our biggest need, which is backup center. you take the best center available unless there's a player on the board who's sure to be a unique talent.
