The Rockets are already a defensive team. They were top 10 in the league. They were at the bottom of the league in every offensive category. Let’s keep shooting those bricks though….
I do think Clingan’s floor is an excellent defensive drop center with some playmaking ability. But if the rockets are drafting a big at #3 (an expensive rookie-scale contract), he has to do more than protect the rim. He’s got to be switchy if he’s gonna have a limited offensive game to be truly worthy of that high a pick. That throw-back archetype would be a reach at #3. Don’t get me wrong, Clingan would have a role and he’s a good prospect, but if you don’t buy the offense and you don’t buy his ability to switch, I don’t see the value and fit on the rockets relative to alternatives. I’m cooling on Clingan as a target at #3. I’m more open to it if we can trade back.
I think Zach Edey is better than Clingan. He outplayed him in the tournament and showed better in the combine
Trying to warm up to Clingan at 3 but when i watch him play, i get a Lurch from the Adam's Family vibe from him.
I do not put too much weight on College games....Clingan's stock is rising because there are no clear superstars in this draft and there is a trend of playing heavy Defense due to Minnesota, OKC, Orlando, the Rockets and Dallas all playing great Defense this past Season. Purdue used Edey as a superstar but in the NBA most Centers are only utility gadgets......Edey is never going to get close to that much usage in this league. Clingan is used to limited minutes and can slide in.
Having the option of deploying either Adams or Clingan as the team's defensive rim protectors would be something else.
Agreed. For a defense-first big man to be the #3 pick he needs to be along the lines of Bam Adebayo, not like... Jakob Poeltl, which is more Clingan's profile. Clingan on this team gets no meaningful minutes if Adams is healthy, and in the long term his outlook is purely "backup center", like 15-18mpg. In a draft this weak I guess I don't mind getting a bench guy, but he needs to at least play multiple positions so we can get 20+ minutes out of him.
These 3 teams are really good trade partners for us. They all have Jalen Green Insurance type guys: Brogdon, Caruso, and Smart. No. 3 and salary filler outside of core for their Pick and any one of those players would be excellent for us. We then take a project pick like Salaun or Ware.
Poeltl? I honestly didn't watch Poeltl in college, but I have a hard time seeing him close to being as dominant a defender as Clingan in college. That said, Poeltl is a starting NBA player who played quite well in SA. Of the guys talked about as picks at No. 3, I'd expect most of them will have worse careers than Poeltl, and I think Clingan will be better than Poeltl.
The only chance Stone will draft Clingan is if we are 100% trading Sengun. Those two cannot see the floor together even if Sengun starts shooting 35% from the 3. Sucks because Mavs are on the way to the finals and Spurs have Wemby + 4th pick + 8th pick this year. They might overtake us in 1-2 years if they hit on their draft picks. I think many Rockets fans think we haven't drafted a generational franchise player yet and I have my doubts too because Sengun is just a bit too short while Jabari and Green looks like busts for their position (peak at role player). Everyone knows we're going to need to draft a generational player (like Wemby or Luka) to sniff the NBA finals and this entire rebuild, we just haven't accomplished that yet unfortunately because of bad luck or bad drafting in the lottery, you choose. Imo, in our current trajectory, we're going to end up like the Kings. Not good enough to reach the finals but just good enough to be in the running for the playoffs with a potential for WCF appearance.
I don't disagree, and it's not that I necessarily think he's a bad pick on value in this class, but I don't think he's the BPA--at best he's in the same tier as a number of other guys. And with that in mind, we can think about fit a little bit, and I just don't see a good fit on this roster.
I think Stone has shown he doesn't care who is on the roster when he drafts. He is acquiring the best player available. Stone wants a star. If he views Clingan as better than other players available, he will draft Clingan even if it is just to be a low cost high performing backup, but more likely trade chip going forward.
I think at worst, he's in the same tier as the other guys that will be available No. 3 (unless there is just someone Stone just loves) and somewhere in the 25% chance range at being the BPA. I think if he's BPA on Stone's board even at the same tier as other guys, Stone will pick him. I think Stone knows he can't see the future and is just going to pick the best player available. I doubt he'll have prospects rated closely enough together that he would pick someone that isn't the BPA due to his prediction of fit down the road. I know some teams are different, but I think the Rockets use tiers more for wanting to trade up or down (i.e., they don't want to trade down to another tier, and they are unlikely to trade up unless the guy is in a higher tier).
