If we were drafting only the current Rocket rotation what order would they go in? My board would look like 1. Ariza 2. Brooks 3. Budinger 4. Landry 5. Scola 6. Lowry 7. Battier 8. Hayes 9. Andersen 10. Taylor 11. Pops 12. Cook
Speaking of drafting........... Do you realize that we have a total of 6 guys on this team that are first round draft picks? Yao Tracy Shane Brooks Lowry Cook Everybody else is either 2nd rounders or undrafted. Ariza (2nd round) Chase (2nd round) Scola (2nd round) Hayes (undrafted) Landry (2nd round) Andersen (2nd round) Pops (undrafted) Taylor (2nd round) Dorsey (2nd round) Is there any other team in the NBA that has over half it's roster invested in 2nd round or undrafted guys?
I just checked one team, but of the 14 players on the Jazz roster, 6 are first rounders and the rest are 2nd rounders and undrafted FAs. I'm thinking 6 first round picks per roster is about the norm. My guess is that the average career length of a first round pick is about 6 years. Yes, you have some long careers (Shaq, Duncan, etc), but you also have some that do not play long or are foreign players who do not play at all. Therefore every team should average 1 first round pick per year (Minny and their under-the-table contracts excluded) on the roster.
1. Brooks 2. Scola 3. Ariza 4. Battier 5. Lowry 6. Landry 7. Budinger 8. Hayes 9. Andersen 10. Pops 11. Taylor 12. Cook
It just goes to show the weakness of "reBuiLd tHru the DraFt" mentality... The Spurs have 9 first round picks out of their 15 rostered players. Some of those are 'late first rounders' (Parker, Mahinmi, Finley, Hill) - and the Spurs certainly didn't draft all of their 'first round picks' who play for them!
My draft order would be: 1. Brooks 2. Battier 3. Budinger 4. Scola 5. Ariza 6. Landry 7. Lowry 8. Hayes 9. Taylor 10. Andersen 11. Pops 12. Dorsey 13. Cook Brooks is #1 because good NBA point guards are hard to find. Battier similarly is #2 because a player of his type is extremely rare in the league. Budinger is #3 because I think he is a future all star and has the highest ceiling of anyone on this roster not named McGrady or Yao.
More important, there are really only 2 guys in the playing rotation who are 1st rounders. Only one of them, Battier, is even a lotto pick.
