Nice. You're not counting Kobe because he technically was drafted by Charlotte even though they picked him on the Lakers request and immediately sent him to Los Angeles for Divac?
Ehh, I'm not sure about that. I don't think were as bad as the kings or timberwolves. But were not better than Phx or Portland either. I get that everyone feels great that were currently winning, but at times like these fans seen to overrate their team(or underrate when their losing). Just like we did when we got off to a very bad start. Now if we look at the last 16 games, the rockets have gone 11-5 Golden State w @Charlotte L Oklahoma City W @Dallas L LA Lakers W @Memphis W @Chicago L Detroit W @Milwaukee L Cleveland W Sacramento W @Oklahoma City L Memphis W @Sacramento W @Golden State W @LA Clipps W The only two notable wins came against the Thunder and Lakers and both victories were somewhat stained. With both wins coming at home and the Lakers coming off of a back to back, with Gasol playing heavy minutes the previous night. And with the Thunder lets me just say that Battier scored the same amount as points as the NBA leading scorer and I doubt that ever happens again ...
topfive's analysis only proves one thing: superstars are rare, which we know already. The fact remain, and this is what the OP points out: It is more likely to draft a superstar than to trade for or sign one.
I have no doubt in my mind if we continue what we are doing we will be able to trade for a top pick every year. This year weren't we close to trading for Favors or Cousins? How about last year we were chasing the 3rd pick for Rubio? I believe it will be even easier to trade for an 8th or 9th pick in the draft with the assets we have. You can get franchise players with the 8th or 9th. See Pierce, T-Mac. We don't have to tank.
Oh right. I forgot about his naval obligations. Still, going back to 1983, the Spurs were a subpar team then, and it did take a record of 28-54 in 87 to get David Robinson to change their fortunes.
This. The same modus operantis has not produced a team that made a team run in the playoffs. Even stars such as Howard who have not won a chip yet, have at least tasted deep playoffs run. As I said before, there are no guarantees in the draft, but if you have a high draft pick(s) for several years, it gives you a chance to draft the next Wade, Lebron, Rose, etc...
Then we shall draft one with a draft pick from a different team. Btw, is everyone forgetting Jordan Hill and Terrence Williams? They were lottery picks.
But they weren't Morey's lottery picks. If a team doesn't believe their GM can pick the right players when given high-end lottery draft picks to work with for several consecutive seasons, they should probably think of replacing their GM instead of blaming the lottery system.
Acquiring high upside late lottery guys whose teams have practically given up on them is a bit different than drafting a top five pick.
Bottom-line is they were lottery picks, with as much potential as anyone in their draft class (until after 5 years in the NBA then we'll see if they're stars or not)
I agree with the OPs analysis completely, if not his conclusions. In fact, the exceptions he cites don't even hurt his argument. We are not LA/Chi/Bos/NYK/MIA. Those markets can attract free agents where we (and every other team) cannot. So citing any of those teams as examples of getting a superstar without drafting them is not a path we can take. That being said, even if the odds are against us, I would rather go to war every year with the roster we have than tank on the slim hope of drafting a superstar. Maybe we can attract a FA like we did with T-Mac or like how Boston got KG (why isn't he on the superstar list btw?). Maybe there is a FA who doesn't want a superfriend and is just looking for a solid roster to be the alpha dog on. And also, other than the Spurs/Rockets, no team outside of those major markets has won a ring via the tanking/drafting a superstar route.
Really? They have as much potential as Derrick Rose and Blake Griffin? C'mon, man. Besides, if you go back to my list of teams to win the championship over the past 25 years the only players who didn't play at a very high level their rookie year were Kobe Bryant (straight out of high school), Tony Parker (19 and coming from Europe) and Chauncey Billups. The majority of those guys were superstars from day one. Seldom does one develop a superstar.
How is it any different? Some players can strive better when they're on a different team... it doesn't take anything from their talent and potential. Gilbert Arenas, Joe Johnson, Steve Nash, Pau Gasol, Ron Artest, Devin Harris, Azubuike. Another man's scraps is another man's treasure.
Tracy McGrady... And while he isn't a superstar, he did develop pretty damn well: Kyle Lowry There's also Gerald Wallace, Chauncey Billups, Baron Davis who averaged 5 points in his rookie year
To our eyes, sure. But you'd have to think a good GM and his staff are much more discerning about these players' potential. Just because we can only tell whether these players are stars or not after five years doesn't mean that a GM shouldn't be able to. That's why they're paid the big bucks. Unless Morey is just a middle-of-the-pack GM, his chances of finding the real diamonds from the many zirconias should increase as our draft pick does.
First, it's different because they weren't necessarily the guys we would have drafted (they just became available), secondly it's different because the draft is already risky. But the guys drafted that teams quickly give up on? That's even riskier. And of the guys you listed, only Steve Nash, Pau Gasol and Joe Johnson are stars. But you're really scraping the bottom of the barrel to throw Azubuike on the list. And if you were naming players chosen late that became stars, you also forgot Carlos Boozer, Manu Ginobili and Luis Scola. But that's irrelevant. If you think it's hard to draft a star player in the lottery, it's considerably more difficult to do so in the late first round or second round. It's possible, certainly, but incredibly difficult. And besides, choosing in the lottery doesn't forfeit our right to a second round pick to mine for gold like that. In fact, it just means we get one of the first second round picks too! I don't even understand this post. You're responding to a post I made in which I discuss the MVP's of the Finals? I'm pretty sure Tracy McGrady never even made it to the second round of the playoffs as an active player. And Gerald Wallace, Baron Davis and Kyle Lowry haven't either. If you're responding to what I said at the end - seldom does on develop superstars - then you only listed one player who was ever considered a superstar. And I said seldom, not never. So you didn't even refute me.
