Given current events, I predict this will fall off the page in 6.2 minutes, but thought some of the ClutchFans veterans may appreciate this. This is footage from the actual draft workout of Boki Nachbar... the first time the Rockets ever had him in. The rumor was he shot his way to the selection at #15 in the 2002 NBA Draft ... you can decide. There was no media access to this workout. There's no sound on the video. Rudy T, Larry Smith, Jim Boylen and Dean Cooper (now the VP of Player Personnel) are all there. <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/twn5KA4M3kI&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/twn5KA4M3kI&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object> Thanks to Swoly-D for <a href="/showthread.php?t=143446">helping me find software</a> to convert this video to a Youtube-able format.
I think Rudy wanted Prince... I'm almost positive of that. Still, Boki looked like a good pick. After taking Yao and Boki, the future was so bright for the Rockets -- they were in the lotto after Francis missed 25 games and they scored a gem. Eddie Griffin was the forward of our future... strange looking back. As for Boki, we had that pick because of the Hakeem trade with Toronto. So in retrospect, the Rockets gave up Hakeem Olajuwon, Glen Rice and two first round picks for David Wesley. On name power alone, that's got to be one of the most expensive little man acquisitions ever
This also the last known footage of Gumpy before he fell off of the lottery ladder. Last I heard, he's in jail somewhere and has had his house foreclosed on.
Wow, this is much less impressive than what I'd had in mind. Maybe I skimmed past something, but there weren't that many 3's launched in the video, so basically he hit some mid-range jumpers with little to no defense on him. I can still do that any day, and I stink.
Looking back it so sad about Eddie Griffin. We thought we the rest of the league he would be a serious player. Who knew his inner demons would get the best of him and his future. On a brighter note, who knew Boki would get to New Jersy and play so well. Funny.
Clutch, I thought he shot his way to #15 because of the 3-point drill. I didn't see that in the video posted, but the rumor was he hit a ridiculous amount out of 25 (24 maybe?). Do you remember any of this?
Boki likes NJ for the Slovenian community there. Anyway, the Rockets don't really have the dollars to spend much in free agency. They should sign Brad Newley. Newley's agent is Leon Rose. Morey currently doesn't have any ties with LeBron's agent. A good time to establish a business relationship before 2010
Shot his way to 14? I thought Rudy liked him because of his "slashing" ability. Oh well, I really didn't like the pick. I thought at the time Prince would be a better pick... And for once in my life I was right.
Sadly the Eddie Griffin deal is the one that really screwed us for the future. Looking back at some drafts and that particular deal, we have really struggled with player evaluations it seems until very recently. Makes me question the legacy of Carol Dawson as a GM.
I could make every one of the shots that I saw in the clip. Boki wasn't guarded. Only three shots were "contested": two from the perimeter and one on the left block where Boki posted up on the white guy. Not once on the perimeter shots where Larry Smith set a screen did the guy who was "guarding" Boki fight through, go over or go around the screen, and white guy didn't put a hand up on the shot that Boki took from the low block and banked-in off the glass. After seeing this video, I'd like to see a video of Mirsad Türkcan's workout with the Rockets prior to the 1998 NBA draft in which we took Türkcan with the 18th pick. As I recall, you posted a pre-draft review that talked about Türkcan's other-worldly workout for the Rockets (also attended by Roshown McLeod). Türkcan never played a game for the Rockets and only suited up for 17 games in the NBA - 7 with the Knicks and 10 with the Bucks, all during the 1999-2000 season. He was the Euroleague MVP in 2002 while playing for CSKA. Since the summer of 2006, Türkcan has played for Fenerbahçe Ülker, which is a Turkish team also competing in the Euroleague (http://www.fenerbahceulkerspor.org/takimimiz.asp). Check out Türkcan's stat line for the 2007-2008 season: http://www.euroleague.net/competition/players/showplayer?clubcode=ulk&pcode=AYR Türkcan has started most games (7/11) and and is making 50% of his 2PAs (68 total), but he's only made 22% of his 3PAs (27 total). So Türkcan's not exactly the phenom. Plus, he fights like a girl: (Article) http://sagerssuit.blogspot.com/2006/11/what-did-five-fingers-say-to-face.html (Video) http://youtube.com/watch?v=UrUb5sUUdXI Back to the point, if videos like that of the Boki workout demostrate NBA talent, then why not sign Fred "Free Throw" Newman to a 10-day contract to see if he can improve our free throw shooting late in games. (Article) http://today.caltech.edu/today/story-display.tcl?story_id=18362 (Video) http://youtube.com/watch?v=718ldCsCECk
I'm pretty sure you're right. Everyone knew him as a slasher and dunker, not as a shooter, but then he lit it up from 3 during the work-out and shocked the coaches. We all heard about this, so when he kept clanging shots when he played, no one could understand what happened. Turns out he wasn't as pure a shooter as we were lead to believe.
