Watched Paolo highlights again. I really don’t care who we get if we get Chet or Paolo. They’re both studs imo. Paolo looks like a 3/4 hybrid. If he works on his passing and defense he can be a Lebron lite type player.
Shot blocking is only a small part of defense. Defensive IQ, rotations and awareness are all by far more important.
Banchero is the best NBA prospect to come out in years maybe even since Lebron. He is the prize. He can do it all on both ends of the court from day 1.
Banchero is not even close to the best product in years. Not even the consensus top prospect in this class. And he is nowhere near the defender needed to be an all time prospect. Chet is miles above him as a defender. Not even close there really
I didn’t know he was that highly regarded. If. If the rockets have the worst record they have what a 30% or less chance of getting one. Pairing one with Green would likely change the Rockets for a decade, then… if somehow the Nets flame out also oh man. The Rockets likely need to keep those picks they run all the waaaaay to 2027. Imagine adding two top 10 picks in 2026 & 2027 to a team with 25 year old Green and 24 year old Banchero/Holmgren/Duran etc Could the Rockets next year package their pick the bucks pick and Sengun and Christopher or Garuba and Wood for a top 30ish player?
A guy like Chet who can score buckets simply with his height and length is huge. It's not even a question for me. We need easy buckets and I can look past the fragility. Green will quickly become the number 2, but it doesn't seem like his ego is too fragile for that. There is a ton of risk, but less than the other picks.
That's what they said about Kevin Durant when he entered the league too. Remember he was so frail he couldn't bench 185 even once? But he had the skills and that's worked out just fine. I'd also add that I am a little less concerned about Chet's weight/strength because he won't be playing center. As our roster is currently constructed, I expect they'd slot him in at small forward. The other alternative would be to trade Wood and put him in the power forward spot (as Cleveland has done with Mobley). Which would be fine because gone are the days of the hulking power forwards like Karl Malone, Charles Oakley and Kevin Willis. Modern power forwards are really just wings. In either case, he has the speed and switchability to play the position and he doesn't have to bang with the Embiids, Goberts and Jokics of the world. People have been complaining we have no size for the longest. How does a starting front court of Chet, Wood and Sengun sound?
First, Banchero is not thought of that way. Second, you don’t trade Sengun. He’s shown more than Green by far.
Sengun at C Chet? at PF/SF Tate at SF/PF Green at SG Porter (but the offense is ran through Sengun 50% of the time) Bench: Martin jr Tyus Jones (Speaking it to existence) Christopher Garuba Rookie 10th overall (Rockets acquire 10th pick via Wood trade)
I said early on. I want to see Duren and Chet over the course of the season. I think Duren right now just because he has an NBA body at age 18. Chet is very skinny and that does not play well in the nba. If his frame and metabolism will allow him to add the necessary muscle then I think he is hands down the best prospect.
I will be grateful for any of about 5-6 players in this draft because of upside. Chet has the highest upside, he has the type of upside to carry a team to titles if he is healthy and keeps developing. Banchero has the upside to be a multiple time all star and could match with Green to lead the Rockets deep in the playoffs one day. Duren and Hardy both have all star upside as well........ and the best overall player in this draft may well be Adrian Griffin if he can ever get healthy. Griffin has Grant Hill type ability when healthy.
I'd take Evan Mobley over either Banchero or Holmgren. And I'd have taken Hardy over Green. But that's just my opinion. AJ Griffin will be the Scottie Barnes of 2022 draft. I really want Ousmane Dieng with our end of the first pick.
Shot blocking/shot redirection prowess (while able to avoid fouls) is by no means a small part of defense, especially amongst bigs. And clearly there is more to defense than that, which begs the question: which of those depts you mentioned is Mobley objectively ahead of Chet ? We have already established shot blocking ability goes to Chet.
