With the 5th pick the Houston Rockets select?

I fail to see how moving up from the 5th pick will make that much of an impact. That Euro player is going to be a top 5 pick. So the top 5 are Ming, Williams, Woods, Gooden(or Wilcox) and Tskitishvili. Why would we need to move up? I'd be happy with ANY of those guys with the top pick, altough I'm leaning toward Woods and Tskitishvili.

 

Without a doubt if he is available you have to go with Drew Gooden. He was the best big man in the nation this year. I have had the pleasure to watch him a few times this year. He is more polished than Tim Duncan was at the same point in his career. If he is not availble then you got to go with Wilcox.

 

I say take Qyntel Woods with the#5 pick. From what I've heard, he's pretty much a can't miss prospect. If he's on the board at #5, we take him and fill in the huge hole at SF. Since he's a good ball handler, we wouldn't have to rely as much on the 3-guard lineup as we did last year.

Only problem is how the hell will Rudy get him involved. Rudy T is a dull and unimaginative coach who will probably turn him into a bad spot-up 3-pt shooter.

Drew Gooden would be an awesome addition, but I think that it would be hard to give him minutes since Griffin will likely play 30-35 per game next year, and Mo Taylor will get around 20-25 until he gets into game shape. If he were in the East, then Gooden could play center, but he's clearly a PF in the West.

Even if we win the lotto, the Chinese Govt. may not allow Yao Ming to play in Houston. Hell, he didn't even consider a private workout with us. It will take him years to get acclimated to the NBA's physical play. Guys like Duncan, Sheed, Webber, Vlade, and even Outlaw will punish him in the paint.

Give Memphis the #15 pick this year. We'll be picking #7 or #8 in the lotto again next year.

 

If that turns out to be the top 5, then DuJuan Wagner would drop to us, who the Clippers covet, then we could trade him to LAC for Odom, swap the 12/15 picks, take Hilario/Stoudamire/Marcus with the other pick.

Then, if Cleveland would trade us Diop for Kenny Thomas, we'd have a much improved team:

Cato/Diop/Hillario (or Stoudamire or Marcus)
Taylor/Griffin/(TMo)
Odom/Rice/TMo
Mobely/Torres
Francis/Norris/Brown
(let Collier, Langhi, Willis, and the Wiz go)

That would be my optimum scenario for this off-season, unless we could get Lewis, somehow, instead of Odom, but I just don't see the pieces falling in place for that.

... playoffs next year ... and more valuable building blocks ... that certainly would make it worth dropping to the upper lottery this year ... which I think the Rockets have done a masterful job of accomplishing, without it being too obvious... I seriously don't think we'd have ever competed for the championship in the future, without going to the upper lottery this year ... now, let's just hope injuries don't permanently destroy the rebuilding process.

 

Interesting scenario. I can't see Cleveland giving up on Diop after just one year though, since KT doesn't do a whole lot for them. Are the Rockets scouting Wagner? Could we take him and use him? Should be interesting if the top 4 goes: Ming, Williams, Gooden, and Woods. Wagner would clearly be the best available.

Getting Odom would be alot to ask from the Clips. They're rumored to be offering Odom and the #12 for Andre Miller. I think the best we could hope for is to trade the #5 to LAC for the #8 and #12 picks. Then give the #15 to Memphis.

At #8 we take Caron Butler
At #12 we take Chris Marcus (apparently Rockets mgmt has fallen in love with this guy.)

 

Please tell me where you saw that the front office has fallen in love with Chris Marcus. Just looking at the guy's picture on nbadraft.net makes me not want to draft him. I've never seen the guy play but from what I've read I can't imagine him being any better than Collier. He could be Mirsad Turksan part 2.

 

Baqui where did you hear this?

 

This is the same thing the Rockets say every year about a player they don't want. Search the frontpage archives, you'll find it.


If we take Marcus anywhere in the top 19 picks, that would be stupid. If we pick him before 20, it better be to trade him.


Comparison: Bryant "Big Country" Reeves

How could this guy possibly fit in with our "trying to run n gun" system?


I think we should pick Wagner. Then in a 3-way, send Odom to us, Wagner and #12 and #15 to Cleveland, Miller to Clippers.

Thoughts?

 

I like how you're thinking. If we through Collier in with this deal (not a problem), it would be a salary match. Maybe Cleveland would do this if they are scared Diop has feet similar to the Z man. KT would be an upgrade for them at the 4.

 

I take that back. RealGM declined this trade. In the words of Rosanna Dana Dana . . . never mind.

 

You have to rebound to run,defend to run, and have a pg that wants to run. We have neither so if Marcus, who says and knows he's a center which is what we need, then take him. I'd prefer Odom and see if we can manuver and get Marcus later in the draft.

 

lol, not obvious? the only thing that could've made it more obvious is if we handed out fliers at each game that said "tank you for coming", put a big sign outside each game that said "tank in progress", and let Tmo take 20 shots a game. the masterful part was keeping league attention off of us enough that no one took much notice. i'm certain if stern ever knew of the tmo, moochie, jc, langhi, and torres lineup we sported a few times, he woulda stepped in and said enough is enough. although after seeing the nugs starting lineup i think they did an even more masterful job.

 

I like Caron Butler the best in this draft. He reminds me too much of Paul Pierce He is exactly what this team needs.

 

If the Rockets get lucky and Drew Gooden is still available at #5, then I'd draft and keep him. I'd then give the #15 to Memphis. I know everybody thinks we have a log jam at the PF, but I don't. I'm seriously worried about Mo Taylors ability to come back and play at the same level. KT is our most marketable trade bait, so I'm not counting on him being back.

If Gooden is gone by #5 (as I suspect he will be), we draft either Wilcox or Wagner for the Clippers at #5. The Clippers then give us their #8 (from Atlanta assuming no rouge ping pong balls) and #12. We draft Caron Butler at #8 and either Borchardt, Marcus, Ely, Haislip or Stoudemire at # 12. We then give the #15 to the Grizzlies. I also like this scenario alot!

Count me among the crowd who wants no part of Lamar "the weed" Odom. He already has two strikes and now a wrist injury (no doubt caused by excessive time spent holding a bong). Just what we need, another dope smoking injury waiting to happen from the Clippers. I further think that Rashard Lewis will be WAY too expensive. I don't want the big dog, because he plays no perimeter defense. THUS I'LL BE REALLY HAPPY WITH EITHER OF THE ABOVE TWO DRAFT SCENARIOS FOR THE ROCKETS.