Likely 14th Pick in the 1st Round vs. 1st Round against the Lakers

The lower the pick, the less likely Morey's target is gone. 5 spots lower can mean your player is gone.


Remember when the Rockets had Brandon Roy targeted? They didn't need a top 3 pick at all. They only needed to move up to the 6th spot from the 8thspot, which was a difference of 2 costly wins at the end of the season. JVG screwed it up. Rockets were left with Rudy Gay, who is not nearly as good.

Dropping from the 12th-14th spot, down to the 19th spot can be devastasting. It's can mean the difference of having your potential all-star drafted ahead of you by 2 spots and then trading the pick to another team for a no-stats all-star.

 

Ugh...Screw the weak east..thats a drop of about 5 spots if we make it...could make a difference. Also for those thinking we can upset the Lakers..might as well mark us down as the 2010 champions then and put it on your calendar

 

It really depends on what you expect the Rockets to do this offseason.

I personally feel that the Martin trade was the team's big move, and that it is highly unlikely the will make a huge trade/signing this summer. In that case, the most important thing is to get Kevin Martin (& potentially Jordan Hill & Jared Jeffries) playoff experience. Even if it is a 5 or 6 games series loss to the Lakers, I think it would really help those players next year.

If you believe however that the Rockets are going to make a huge trade, signing this summer (Bosh, Amare, or even crazier) like many of you do, you have to want the lottery pick. You are assured a #14 pick and you never know if that pick will move up to the top #3. That #14 pick is a such a huge trade asset over a #19-21 pick that it is a no brainer.

Since I think the former scenario is more likely i voted appropriately.

 

Rocket's current lottery standing as of 10:14 PM CST

Draft...Team.............GB
1........Nets...............0
2........Timberwolves...6
.
.
.
10......Clippers.........12.5
11/12..Bulls/Hornets..19.5
13......Rockets...........23
14......Memphis..........23.5
.
.
(playoffs)
19.....Trailblazers

The Bulls win narrows the gap between the 11th seed and Rockets to 3.5 games.

If the Rockets switched places with Portland today, they would drop 6 spots to the 19th position. They would fall past not only Memphis and Portland, but also Charlotte, Toronto, Miami, and Milwaukee.

 

You can never have enough playoff experience. This is probably not gonna happen, but I would like to see the Rockets in the playoffs.

 

Playoffs against the Lakers by all means...especially since it's a 7 game series.

There's no better way to see what this team needs or how far we have to go then by playing against the best team in the conference. I mean, not only do the players get experience, but we also see our weaknesses because a team like the Lakers will exploit them over the course of games 3,4, and beyond.

That to me is far more valuable than the difference between an 18th and 14th pick.

Besides, the off-season is really boring.

 

Beat L.A
Beat L.A

 

Face reality - the Rockets are done, stick a fork in 'em. They'd almost have to run the table now to even have a shot at the playoffs, with no guarantees in any event. And for what? To get creamed by the Lakers, probably even swept? Waste of time and energy and dollars. Plus the risk of something bad happening via injury, to one of our remaining key plaers.

Break out the golf clubs and start prep for next season. Six more months until Yao is back in Rocket Red!

 

Playoffs. Need playoff experience for the guys which would be invaluable.

However, if we made it, we would certainly be limping in both figuratively and physically after today.

 

If the Rockets had gotten Brandon Roy, they would have been much closer to a ring.

This year's draft is deep with players, due to a possible lockout/strike after next year's draft. It could be another Brandon Roy situation, where the Rockets try to trade up 2 spots and fail miserably. Unforunately, when Morey misses out on all the potential star players on his draft board, he will be left with another late round above-average roleplayer.

 

The whole premise of them making the playoffs is worth more than them playing the Lakers. Don't get me wrong, I would love to have them play the Lakettes, but the bigger deal is them having the miracle finish to the season that gives them that chance in the 1st place.

 

It gotta be a playoff appearance of course.

I would rather sit in the couch at home watching the Rockets-Lakers series than wait for any good news about the lotto pick, which is no guarantee and who knows what pick we're gonna get?

It'd be interesting to see how it's gonna pan out when facing up against the formidable elite team in Lakers in the first round. Just let us shock the world and upend the Lakers in best-of-seven series, which would be pretty fun to watch if possible. :grin:

 

This. /thread .

 

Give me the playoffs. You never know what can happen once your in the playoffs.

 

Making the playoffs helps the team in so many ways, it more than makes up for the better draft position. It's kind of an abstract concept, but I think the team will be better next year if they make the playoffs than if they get the better pick.

 

Playoff games are absolutely the funnest games to attend. I don't care if the other team will be 10 point favorites. The atmosphere is phenominal. I don't sit down @ a playoff game...much to the chagrin of the people behind me. I would trade that first rounder for a shot at the postseason anyday.

 

Playoffs. David and Goliath part Deux

 

Reality of the situation is that we're 5 games behind the 8th spot with one team ahead of us trying to get to the playoffs as well. we don't have any kind of momentum going into these last few games, we get beat by anybody i.e. Chicago.

I know the playoffs would be fun but I'm just looking at it realistically. I don't mind the lottery pick.

 

the problem is that, even if we want to, we don't get to play lakers this year

 

Playoffs, of course. At the very least you have a team with a record like ours making the playoffs instead of being the typical 1-2 Western Conference teams with superior records than the Eastern Conference's 6-8 seeds sitting it out.