Let's see. In a couple years, Scola, our starting PF will be how old? What...his knee did what last year? How much longer do you think he will be on the team? Who do we have behind Scola? Patterson? His future may be bright, but he still needs time to develop. After that, you have J. Hill, who I'm starting to feel like giving up on all together. I just don't see the harm in getting two player in MaMo and D-Mo that would inject some talent and depth at the position.
Dude its not like the Rockets were able to draft Jonas or Kanter with the 14th pick. They drafted the best player available at the 14th spot instead of just wasting it on a center who can't play. I know we need a center but you should know that drafting a player to fill a position never really pans out and drafting the best player available instead is always a smarter move. For example: The Rockets needed a center so they used their pick to draft a player like Darko instead of Melo because they went ahead and draft to fill a needed position. Tell me is that what you preferred?
Leonard is a bit of a tweener himself in mold of Shawn Marion, except without the extremely elite athleticism. I think he's going to be a specialist as he can't shoot and doesn't have great ballhandling. Morris may not have a high ceiling, but I'll take him as a tweener over Leonard as a "pure" SF.
Nobody said they were superstars. Getting bench players out of a low first rounder and a 2nd round pick certainly deserves more than a C. Besides, did Glen Davis become a superstar while I wasn't looking?
Kawi vs MM, I personally prefer MM because Kawi can't create his own shot and has a broken jumpshot. He's certainly got nice large hands, but his athleticism is just above average, not a freak like Shawn Marion or Al Farouq Aminu last year. I guess if you want your very own defender then Kawi's good but IMHO MM has the better skillset: he has guard-like handles, a low post game and can hit 3s and long jumpers. Really Kawi will be the better defender, but MM will be better at everything else. Also take note that while MM will only have average lateral quickness, he has good defensive intensity so I don't expect him to become a defensive liability at all.
Wait, are you implying that it's okay to get role player with the 25th(?) pick and the 31st pick? That Morey didn't screw up by bypassing the next Dwight Howard or the next Kobe? Also, it's obvious that Chad Ford knows what he's talking about. I picked out a team that drafted at similar positions to the Rockets. Just to give you an idea of what a B+ grade look like. Utah Jazz Grade: B+ Round 1: Morris Almond (25) Round 2: Kyrylo Fesenko (38) Analysis: The Jazz wanted a shooter to stretch the defense, and they got one in Almond, possibly the best shooter in the draft. Almond is also a crafty scorer, but he needs to work on his athleticism. Fesenko is a physical low-post presence who could be a nice complement to Mehmet Okur in the paint someday. Considering where they were picking, the Jazz drafted well.
I completely disagree. If you are just one solid role player away from a ring, sure, you do that. But how often is that the case? Maybe for Miami? For everyone else, you take the guy who you think has the best chance of making it to a star level. Otherwise you end up with a team with a lot of solid players but no stars. Sounds familiar?
Analysis: At some point, I'm going to learn that the harder I grade the Rockets, the more I get burned.
With Morris, Dontes, Patterson, and Scola some is gonna get traded along down the line.....maybe for a C.....
As Morey said over and over and over "Draft on talent ...not need". Think of it this way, 33 other teams in the league don't care what you "need" but every other team is worried about your talent. Draft on talent. Trade on need. (...but if you can trade for talent too, then do it.) It's like what they say in real estate Location Location Location ...or Talent Talent Talent. If you got the right talent, you can make the rest work by other means.
This draft grade is an ignorance. Chad Ford is just grading the draft according to their ESPN scouting report card. If their report is that accurate, Chad Ford would never grade the 2009 Grizzlies draft, Hasheem Thabeet, as an A-. While the true grade will only show after 2 or 3 years. To me, Daryl Morey's report has much more creditability.
I felt that this was a week draft crop anyway. I am not impressed by our gains at the end of the day, but it was not like I was hoping the chips would've fallen differently.
I agree with everything you said - except for how many teams there are in the league. There are definitely only 29 others.
