Daryl Morey was the king of drafting under sized power forwards some turned out to be good players but it got boring after a while.
Baby Melo refers to Marcus Morris not Kawhi. Kawhi was projected as a very solid 3nD player kinda like De Andre Hunter
Huh? Kawhi was picked no 15 or just outside the lotto. He isn't exactly Marc Gasol or Jokic he was projected to be picked by the Rockets by almost every mock draft. https://www.nbadraft.net/players/kawhi-leonard/ https://nbadraftroom.com/p/2011-nba-mock-draft/ https://www.lines.com/nba/drafts/2011 I think it's a massive failure if fan sites pick better than you.
If I recall, it was part of an under-the-table deal. Parsons and Dwert had the same agent, and the agent supposedly agreed to steer free agent Howard to us in return for us declining the team option final year of Parsons's contract.
https://nbadraftroom.com/p/2021-nba-mock-draft/ #22: Rockets (from Nets) –Jeremiah Robinson-Earl – Villanova – A talented PF with good ball skills, smooth handles and a soft touch. A bit undersized but multi-talented. Comp: David West
I know but the times back then were different there wasn't a 3nD role defined yet but that's his baseline, upside was Gerald Wallace who was a star player himself.
So if he got picked top 10 you'd say 9 teams passed on him? If he got picked top 5 you'd say 4 teams passed on him? If he got picked top 2 you'd say 1 team passed on him? By that logic nobody ever messes up in the draft except for the guy picking no 1. You are the one being disingenuous here you keep moving the goal posts just so Morey won't look like he ****ed up. Nobody knew he would be a superstar but everybody else knew he was good enough for 14th pick. The fact that Morey passed on the obvious pick and got somebody markedly worse means he ****ed up. It's like when the Hawks and Sacramento passed on Luka did they know he would be an MVP contender in his 2nd year? No. But everybody else knew Luka was BPA at no 2 and that's where he should have gone. Kawhi was already BPA at no 14 as evidenced by all these mocks that's why Morey ****ed up. It's like he was so smart he became dumb he disregarded the obvious pick, got somebody out of left field and ended up with a worse player. It's a franchise damning move if we got Kawhi to pair with James Harden and Dwight Rox would have been OKC 2.0. To add insult to injury he didn't even keep Morris around, dude has been an above average starter in the NBA like PJ Tucker lite, we could def have used him instead of Ryan Anderson on the team all those years.
Are you comparing a consensus top 5 pick with a guy picked outside the lottery. Luka was considered #1 on some boards. You're just being silly now to exaggerate a very weak point.
The logic is the same you are the one being silly here. Luka was being considered no 1 in all the boards well Kawhi was considered no 14 in all the boards. That's why the top 13 teams aren't to be blamed for passing Kawhi (ranked 14 talent) but the Rockets are to be blamed for passing on the no 14 talent cuz they had the 14th pick. Morey passed on the consensus 14th talent, gambled, and failed miserably. That's his fault and accountability since he went against the talent everyone rated correctly if he got the 14th BPA like he was supposed to then he wouldn't have messed up. It's pretty simple. You're trying to deflect and create straw man arguments like I am saying Kawhi is just as good as Luka predraft when clearly I said no such thing. The one with the extremely weak point is you by your logic that if another team passes on the talent you get a pass Atlanta didn't mess up on the Luka because 5 other teams passed on him. Memphis didn't fail when they passed on James Harden because Clippers passed on him. Only the first team in the draft can mess up because nobody else will pass on the best player available. LOL and you are saying I'm the one with the weak argument? lol
I watched a lot of Kawhi Leonard in college and probably knew more about him than anyone else on this board and I can honestly say at the time I was ecstatic that we got Mook. I wanted Marcus over Kawhi but Kawhi over ‘Kief. It was universally accepted that Mook was better than Kawhi at the time. When the Suns took ‘Kief over Mook it was a no brainer. Today we know what a mistake it was but we can’t fault them for making that decision back then.
LOL Even the biggest Morey fan did not expect him to be accurate every time. You are being extreme and you know it. Picking out outliers to validate entire career of work is strawman argument.
There is NO CONSENSUS pick outside the lottery, what kind of weak sauce argument is this??? Outside the lottery is a crapshoot. Now you are just broadcasting your ignorance.
Nah it wasn't universally accepted that Baby melo was better than Kawhi at the time, that's just your opinion a lot of people at the draft including me wanted Kawhi Leonard. https://bleacherreport.com/articles...-draft-projecting-all-1st-and-2nd-round-picks https://walterfootball.com/nbadraft2011mock.php https://basketball.realgm.com/article/214197/2011_NBA_Mock_Draft_Version_40 All of these had Kawhi higher on their boards than Marcus Morris how d hell is that universal? 4 out of 6 in NBA.com had Kawhi Leonard rated higher than Mook Morris. https://www.nba.com/magic/news/cohen_mockdraft_060711.html TLDR Morey should have known better and he ****ed up. It happens.
14th is part of lottery. DUH These mock drafts certainly weren't ignorant they all rated Kawhi higher than Morris. https://bleacherreport.com/articles...-draft-projecting-all-1st-and-2nd-round-picks https://walterfootball.com/nbadraft2011mock.php https://basketball.realgm.com/article/214197/2011_NBA_Mock_Draft_Version_40 https://www.nba.com/magic/news/cohen_mockdraft_060711.html You wanna argue how fansites are better than Morey gimme a break.
I didn't say Morey shouldn't make any mistakes I said not picking Kawhi Leonard was his biggest mistake. How d hell is that extreme? It's not like Kawhi pick was out of left field LOL most mocks had him late lotto are you telling me Morey shouldn't be at fault for being bested by fan mock sites? Gimme a break it's not like I'm blaming him for not picking Jokic Kawhi was the 14th best prospect on the board Morey should have picked him knowing that instead of somebody else. Period end of story. You wanna make excuses take it to the police department WTF. You should explain again how only the 1st team can make a mistake in the draft while other teams are excused if another team makes the same mistake as them.