Mike Scotto: Rockets might use 4th pick as trade bait?

Walker isn't nearly as good a prospect as Walker...... and I say that as someone that loves Walker's defensive upside.

Walker isn't as good as Cam Whitmore either.

 

Who else could the whispers be about other than Stone?

The James Harden rumors seem baffling to me also.
This could make sense if the plan is to merely jack up the price for where Harden does land.

 

This is an excellent read.

I'll just add that the Ben Simmons comparisons are really off.

I remember before Ben Simmons signed with LSU and I heard teammates of Simmons in Australia say that Simmons was a monster, that would he was extremely spoiled, didn't like basketball but just the attention and that he had learned that he could get away with anything.

Then at LSU, he was skipping class and practice. He was 18 years old and actually out of shape while playing major conference basketball.... and that toxic attitude carried over, as LSU wasn't winning with the #1 pick in the draft.

Simmons could have become a functional shooter, but he never strayed from his comfort zone and that included the NBA. Passing and rebounding and defending were very easy for him, and did not take a lot of work - and he excelled at that. Then being injured put him out of his comfort zone and he has never even tried to break free of his comfort zone.

There are very very few guards that never learn to shoot, and some of the ones that never learn to shoot are still very good players. Dwayne Wade is a Hall of Famer and never learned to shoot. Hell, Luka Doncic has actually become a worse mid range shooter since entering the league, isn't good from 3 and is still a franchise player. LeBron James was in the league for 7-8 years before he could shoot.

Guys like John Wall and Jason Kidd couldn't shoot a lick coming into the NBA and were very good at their peak,

There ARE a few guys that came into the league and couldn't shoot, still cannot shoot and it really impacts their game -- RJ Barrett, Davion Mitchell and Jalen Suggs come to mind. However none of those guys are the athletes or passers that Amen Thompson is. Who was a terrible shooter but great athlete entering the league? Deárron Fox comes to mind......... Shai Alexanders? They seem to be doing really well.

A lot of the guys that were great athletes and we think failed because of shooting actually lacked a lot of skills or their athleticism didn't transfer - and it wasn't simply shooting that doomed them - an example is Michael Petreus.

 

There have been some whispers or rumors around the league since Stone has become GM, that the Rockets were looking at bringing in someone else to act as Stone's boss - similar to a President of Basketball Operations. So far nothing has happened, and might not ever happen - but just the rumors isn't good for morale. People on the basketball side of the operations need to feel their jobs are safe.

 

Agreed, the Ben Simmons comparisons are off, Ben Simmons was always a better shooter than Amen.

 

Ben Simmons has mental problems so he is not the same as Amen. I hope we draft Amen but I think Portland take him instead of Brandon.

 

We’re not looking for prospects anymore. We are in phase two and that means getting solid players on this team that don’t need 3 seasons to pan out.

 

A team should be ALWAYS looking for prospects.

 

Morey became President but he had to get out of here.