Folk here really play too much 2K and can't recognize defense is just as important as offense. Maybe it's all those years we made the finals without great defense....wait.
Potentially? A few breakout games and a lot of frustrating games. A lot of highlight reels. Hell, we got 27 points from Khyri Thomas. I have already expressed that I think it disgusting to pay these 19 year olds 9-10 million a season to be groomed to potentially bounce.
Houston Rockets were 32nd in Defense and 24th in offense in ppg. You have to ask yourself "What is it that you want?" Evan Mobley is a little behind on his offensive game. He will be a spot shooter and lob threat mainly until he can refine his moves and prove his body can take the abuse of post play in the NBA, but he can be a factor on help defense and switching onto smaller ball handlers on the perimeter, his motor has come into question by some - what will you gain? Then you factor in fit with Wood and how those two will share the ball in the frontcourt. Wood didnt really strike me as a team guy last year honestly. He's going to want to showcase and get his - looking ahead to his next team and I think that will also hinder the development of Mobley by a year or two. With Jalen Green he will give you around 15-17 points a night as a rookie and plugs right into the current nucleus and timeline with no friction. He will compete on defense, but will need some good coaching and instruction on how to be a non liability in the NBA in that area. Has all the tools to be a good defender. Reportedly lives in the gym and is constantly working on his game. What do you gain by adding a scorer onto the 24th offense? If you can get 15 points from Green and all else is static then that would put you among the best offenses in the NBA in terms of ppg scoring. Toronto has been the outlier in the "defenses win championships" anecdote in 2019 as most of the other teams while "good" on D had superior offenses to their opponents in the Finals over the last decade or so. I think the rebuild will take longer waiting on Mobley to reach his apex. I think Green will get there first. I dont "hate" Mobley and can live with the pick BTW as he can definitely improve just think he's a bit further away - its more of a project than Green, and hopefully his body matures some more and fills out. "not enough sand in his pants" is a real thing in the NBA for big guys.
Lol and whats the next AD going to do? Lead us to 1st round losses before leaving us to join up with the next LeBron? I'd rather have booker and build from there. There'd be more of a chance that the future AD would join our future Booker led team. Even Zion already about to bolt. Forget modern bigs. They come with success if you're lucky enough to have a star perimeter player already or suck enough to get one and usually you only suck enough if that big gets hurt- otherwise you're on a mediocrity treadmill until your AD leaves. + We can and should get a big next year. 1 more tank year and were set. I think people are jumping the gun wanting to compete this year. Although I don't necessarily mean tank to tank, but play all your youth and let them learn the tough way which would likely result in a top 5 pick either way. That means get rid of all vets except some locker room presence. Thst means full time KPj at point plus letting green run point when KPj sits. Lots of turnovers. Bad defense. Bad shot selection and efficiency. Enter Banchero or Holmgren. Now you got your big and things get easier for our perimeter stars and we now have the recipe for modern NBA success.
Issue is you do not need to use a 2nd pick or any Top 5 pick on Defense. Hasheem Thabeet's D has not brought anything. You do not even have your blue print of a team together. Wood might get traded, who knows who else. Just go with the 2 way dude. The more I think about them, the more I dislike them, might just pick one of them now.
What's the rush on a rebuild? We have our picks until 2023. You take the upside over everything. We're trying to win Championships in the future not just make the play in. We are going to see what the Rockets long term plan is with this draft and I won't be mad if they pick Green over Mobley but I will be mad if fans turn on Mobley because of twitter and Youtube hype.
You guys don't get it. Even if the next Hakeem was there. The next Hakeem playing on God awful teams like he did post Sampson through his physical prime? That Hakeem today 100% leaves us. The real Hakeem nearly did. What we did through those years and those championship runs are 1 in a million. Thats never going to happen again. Theres even good analytical youtubers discovering the 95 Rockets have the #1 most difficult championship ever earned and statistically least likely odds as well-(far worse than this Suns team)and 94 is top 5. We have a history of bigs and dream of the next one but Yao and Dwight showed us the NBA is changing. Pairing Harden with CP solidified that and watching Book with CP proves it wasn't a fluke. Your odds of being the team that signs or trades for the disgruntled and frustrated big that can't win on his own are greatly increased if you have the perimeter star that the big wants to play with b/c the game becomes easier for both. We have the chance to have TWO perimeter superstars. Every big will want to play with them if they develop into what they're projected to- so even if I want to tank for banchero or holgren, I'd still feel safe a big will want to come here eventually if we got our perimeter stars.
The safer pick probably comes down to the psychology, which player has the burning desire to be the best, will do the work and exert the effort in game. The evaluation probably comes down to interviews with coaches, trainers and workout partners. From what I heard, and we outsiders never actually know what was said and what is planted hype, Green has the greater motivation.
Why not rush? I'd rather not tank again or pretend like we are competitive in moral victories. The right pick will get it done faster than the other. IF both guys end up winning rings, wouldn't you rather celebrate sooner?
There is literally no reason to win next year. None. Trying to compete for the play in would be absolutely foolish. I'm glad the Rockets won't fall for that trap so I'm not so worried about it. I expect a calculated top to bottom rebuild from stone and not some piece-mail attempt to go after mediocrity.
Also look how many bigs on today's top teams came from late lottery or even later. Thats where its safe for a big.
Jalen Green without a doubt. Worst case scenario, Green is an 18PPG scorer on mildly efficient numbers. Something like Zach LaVine pre 20/21. Best case, he's the leading scorer in the NBA, an MVP candidate Evan Mobley worst case he's a good defender with above average passing skills. Something like Marvin Bagley impact (without the injuries Bagley is way better than we give him credit and I'd love him on this team). Best case, he's a DPOY candidate who can score 20 a game with 5 assists and 7 rebounds. I don't think either have huge bust potential but there is a factor that I can't get out of my mind and that's injury. There is something to be said about big men and injuries. If you go down the list of bigs in the NBA you'll find that only Jokic out of the top 5 has avoided major injuries. Embiid, AD have both had serious season ending type injuries. Bam and Rudy have both missed extensive time with knee injuries. I had a thought exercise where I wanted to see why Sam Bowie was so bad and why he went over Michael Jordan because I'm a bit younger than that. Watching footage of him in college, it's easy to see why a team could be enamored with a 7 footer who could run coast to coast and do stuff others at his height could never do. If he had stayed healthy, there's a chance he's seen as a reasonable pick even with Jordan after him. No one could have expected Jordan to be Jordan. Greg Oden was a consensus first pick and his career was plagued with injuries. Dwight was constantly injured in his prime and Shaq was constantly injured as well.Hakeem is the one historically great center that had little to no injury issues early in his prime. It's unfair to assume that Jalen Green will be consistently healthy and Evan Mobley the opposite but odds are in favor of Green's health over Mobley as history has shown. If Mobley is injury prone like almost every big before him, we will be wondering what could have been. There is a chance Mobley is never injured and that doesn't matter, but if he is, hindsight will act like it was obvious.
Even the Yao vs Amare debate ended up a toss up of injuries. We just got unlucky with TMac getting his body ruined by the wrong trainer. When he was lean and natural in year 1, he was amazing. Thats also why I'm hesitant to draft Mobley and make him get bigger and stronger. Not everyone is built like the Admiral or Giannis. To add that much lean mass to their once skinny frames and not lose a step and stay relatively healthy. Skinny lean Mobley will likely be his best, but thats a PF that gets pushed around by thr bigger bigs. You'd run Mobley out there like the Spurs did with Duncan but Timmy was never a pushover
Even T-Mac was the size of a big man. He'd be a 4 in today's NBA at 6-8. Durant is 7 foot. Both suffered serious injuries during their prime. It's hard to predict injuries but big men are just more likely to suffer lingering issue historically. Steph Curry suffered injuries to his ankles so bad he had to basically rebuild them. There is a randomness sometimes but if Mobley is injured, tons of people will act like it was expected. That makes it hard for me to take a big in the top 2 of the draft. Especially when the risk is a scorer that could be as prolific as Jalen could be. Mobley is much more likely to be scrutinized for being the pick than Green. I personally won't fault either but that's not how the world works.
Although I’m very torn, I’ve been leaning Mobley because he seems like a more unique prospect. There is a Green type scoring guard prospect in nearly every draft (next year it’s Hardy). I know some of those SG prospects will bust and some will be stars, so it is still important to pick the right guy. That said, it is crazy to break the tie by saying that we grab Mobley now if it is very close between him and Green, and we get an SG in ‘22 or ‘23? I think Green has a chance to be special, but I also think raw scoring guard prospects come around a lot more frequently at the top of a draft than extremely agile big men with great defense, good finishing, and the makings of a jump shot. If this is a multi year process where we will hopefully have a few top picks, lets get Mobley now to start developing him and grab guards later.
The safer pick is Mobley, he comes in day 1 as the best defender on the team and a guy capable of helping facilitate the offense. If he develops his offensive skills he already possesses and puts on 20 pounds or so, he's an all NBA caliber player. Green comes in as the best at nothing on the team and the worst defender on the team. He'll get you some flashy highlights, but it'll probably be at least a few years before his offense makes up for his defense enough to where he's a winning piece of a team.
