Ironic that that 5 block game may have been the pinnacle of Larry Sander's career. Talk about calling a top. At least he's been consistent the last few games...
He will always be a role player because of this mentality just like shane. He doesn't have the "it" factor and its not like thats something you can go out and buy either.
Theres never a problem with being a team player. Having too many chiefs and not enough indians is a problem.
Our chief right now is just one foot injury away from retirement. Don't you think its time to look for a replacement we can groom?
Look more closely. There is a chief, but he honors the tribal council, by listening to their concerns, then makes the right decision for the tribe. :grin: DD
And is that a problem? Why is it that we have to go for a star player with every pick? This was a 14th selection, last of the lottery. Not top 5. If you have a guy that has a high probability of becoming a solid contributor, you take him. If he turns out to be another Battier then it was a huge win. A guy like Larry Sanders may have more potential of becoming a star player. Maybe 10% compared to 5% for Patterson? The point is it is still very low. Meanwhile the bust potential is also exponential higher IMO. With a 14th pick the risk of missing out is low enough to just take the sure thing.
What's wrong with a role player? What CXbby says is correct, Patterson wasn't some top 3 pick or something. On our championship teams, we only had one superstar. Maybe 1.5 if you cound Drexler. Everyone else was a role player, but they were still awesome... Horry, Elie, Cassell, Kenny, Thorpe, etc
cxbby, Morey said patterson was the 6th rated prospect on their board, right? Now, if i told you the 6th rated prospect would be george lynch or shane battier, what would you say? Let me say this before we go any further, i think patterson will be a solid player in the league for 10 yrs. The rockets were in a position to swing for the fences since the player drafted wont be counted on to play. They have solid in spades, but what they dont have is potential greatness. Now, I'm not saying sanders,whiteside, or those guys have that either, but teams are still willing to give up more via trade for upside vs solid. Solid was rodney mccray,swinging for the fences was clyde. We didnt have this board back then,but mccray was one of those defer types and was very frustrating. Every yr he would he would start great and fizzle. Clyde was taking over for kiki and everyone else in portland. Basketball has as much to do with attitude as it does skill.
Morey and Gersson Rosas also said that they thought the draft was 5 deep with potential All-Stars. They readily admit that Patterson was the "best of the rest" to them.
I am going to have to agree with Leeb here, in a year where the pick is not needed or will probably not play much, why not draft a raw guy with massive upside over another steady eddie? I like Pat Pat, and he may indeed become a great player, and there is certainly no guarantee that any of the high upside guys succeed, but I think after Artest and Ariza, Morey is factoring character into the equation more so than ever before. DD
I am fairly certain they didn't have Derrick Favors as one of those top five. Patrick is what he is... and I will remind whoever said shane at 6 was a stretch... he was selected 8th overall was he not?
I remember reports saying the Rockets were targeting Favors if they were to move up. And Battier turned out better than several of the guys drafted ahead of him. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_NBA_Draft Eddy Curry and Kwame Brown? And the 3 guys behind him are Eddie Griffin, DeSagana Diop, and Rodney White. Not sure people have much to complain about as fars as the Battier selection goes.
