Dear Chicken Little, Did you really bring up a player drafted 19 years ago while at the same time blaming Morey? Yes, you did. Did you really bring up Lampe, a guy who I imagine you probably thought was a great draft pick at the time --- for the Knicks? Yes, you did. You should be thrilled, if this draft is as SERIOUSLY deep as you say it is -- we went in with 1 pick, and came out with 3.
Geez..slam Morey before these players even have a chance. They look decent to me as any second rounders and trust me..that's all we had. The summer of trades is not over yet.
If Morey had traded two future second round picks for Oden and Durrant there would still be people on this board whining that he gave too much for them! Some people just have to whine! Wait two years then go to crying..
What's laughable is people ripping a GM for the 26th pick. Go look at the percentage of picks in the 20-30 range that pan out in the first place. Brooks may be short but he can play. He wasn't a 3rd team AA for nothing. Landry averaged 20 points a game at purdue and has the same lunch pail demeanor as Hayes. Now both players may be booming successes or bomb badly, but picking where the Rockets were is a crapshoot especially when you are drafting on so many young players.
But, none of these players "some wanted" at power forward were drafted in the first round. They have serious deficiencies and their strengths just aren't all that special. McRoberts is a great passer. And? He's just not going to be able to do that in the NBA at his position. He is otherwise soft and has no offensive game. What are Glen Davis' positives? He has a surprisingly good mid range jumper and is more nimble than you would expect at his size. The problem is that Davis had to bust his ass to come in at 290, and falls in love with his jumper too much for his position and has sub par lateral movement and lift. It's not like we passed on Charles Barkley and Kevin McHale here, people.
i'm more interested in the trades that he make for veterans right now than who he drafts. This team is not going to be saved by any rookie much less a 26th pick rookie.
Why wouldn't McRoberts be able to pass in the NBA? I never said these guys didn't have serious deficiencies, but to only point them out to make a point is argument IMO. I agree with the poster in that Morey deserves a chance. But I'm not going to bash other players to make our pick look better.
What i think morey is doing is that..well he drafted those guards just to trade them for a pf. I think that he is willing to make a MAJOR trade to acquire just one or 2 players for 3-4,even 5,rockets! Now the only problem is,i cant seem to think of a team short on guards who has a legitimate,or above average pf.
1. This is just the beginning of the offseason. Why are people so pessimistic? It's like a professor giving the final grade in the first week of the semester. And what makes you assume that the GM had not already explored many many potential trade or FA deals BEFORE we even began to warm up to the draft? 2. So people think the media know how to evaluate talents better than GMs, scouts, and coaches. They use player ratings by the media to judge the success of their GM. 3. People still keep saying that we should have drafted a PF even though Morey had repeatedly said that at #26, we were not drafting for needs. Have you stopped and thought that if our GM thought our PF need could be solved by a #26 pick rookie, we would be in deep trouble? Give the GM a chance. See how these players turn out. See what deals are going to be made before pronouncing a "mistake" has been made.
Hey NIKEstrad - I'm opposed to the move, and I don't like the hiring of a guy who has so little NBA experience to be our GM. I don't like his "moneyball" M.I.T. Bullsh*t and so I spoke (and speak) out vociferously against his decisions during the entirety of the draft and his B.S. explanations afterward. However, I have NEVER made a personal attack on someone else on this board unless I was personally insulted first....(as with your petty "Chicken Little" comment) Last Thursday, there were potential Franchise players going as high as the 24 pick.... (25 if you include Almond). And I truly, truly believe that more than more than one of the guys we ignored will become a very solid NBA contributor. Also, yes, I pulled a couple of names out of the (hat/ass) of my memory, one of whom was a ROX draft bust, and the other I was mistaken about our drafting him, but for God's sake, it might as well have been us... However, since your being a bit of an ass yourself, Here's our entire draft history for the past 20 years: (I think it speaks volumes) 2007 NBA 1 26 Aaron Brooks Oregon 2 31 Carl Landry Purdue 2 54 Brad Newley Australia 2006 NBA 1 8 Rudy Gay Connecticut 2 Steve Novak Marquette * (Gay Traded to Memphis for Shane Battier) 2005 NBA 1 24 Luther Head Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 2004 NBA 2 26 Luis Flores Manhattan College 2003 NBA 2 15 Malick Badiane 2002 NBA 1 1 Yao Ming China 1 15 Bostjan Nachbar Croatia (?) 2 9 Tito Maddox California State 2001 NBA 1 13 Richard Jefferson Arizona 1 18 Jason Collins Stanford 1 23 Brandon Armstrong Pepperdine (all 3 picks sent to NJ for rights to Eddie Griffin) 2000 NBA 1 15 Jason Collier Georgia Tech 2 2 Dan Langhi Vanderbilt 1999 NBA 1 22 Kenny Thomas New Mexico 2 15 Tyrone Washington Mississippi State 2 21 Venson Hamilton Nebraska 1998 NBA 1 14 Michael Dickerson Arizona (Traded for Steve Francis) 1 16 Bryce Drew Valparaiso 1 18 Mirsad Turkcan 2 12 Cuttino Mobley Rhode Island (* Passed on Future All Star and Houston Product Rashard Lewis) 1997 NBA 1 24 Rodrick Rhodes Southern California 2 1 Serge Zwikker North Carolina 1996 NBA 2 1 Othella Harrington Georgetown 2 13 Randy Livingston Louisiana State 2 21 Terrell Bell Georgia 1995 NBA 2 12 Erik Meek Duke 1994 NBA 2 26 Albert Burditt Texas 1993 NBA 1 24 Sam Cassell Florida State 2 19 Richard Petruska California 2 23 Marcelo Nicola 1992 NBA 1 11 Robert Horry Alabama 2 14 Popeye Jones Murray State 2 26 Curtis Blair Richmond 1991 NBA 1 20 John Turner Phillips 2 20 Keith Hughes Rutgers 2 24 Zan Tabak 1990 NBA 1 12 Alec Kessler Georgia 1988 NBA 1 16 Derrick Chievous Missouri 1987 NBA 2 12 Doug Lee Purdue 4 13 Joe Niego Lewis 5 12 Andre LaFleur Northeastern 6 15 Fred Jenkins Tennessee 7 13 Clarence Grier Campbell 1986 NBA 1 20 Buck Johnson Alabama 2 19 Dave Feitl UT at El Paso 3 19 Anthony Bowie Oklahoma 4 19 Connor Henry California, Santa Barbara 5 19 Andre Banks Iowa 6 19 Robert Worthy Myers 7 19 Rick Olson Wisconsin 1984 NBA 1 1 Hakeem Olajuwon University of Houston (Added just for the sake of demonstrating how long it's been since the Rockets drafted a genuine Superstar besides Yao) Now out of the more than 50 picks we've made since 1987, I can count a grand total of 10 who've played significant minutes for the ROX and even fewer who were what you might call an "impact player" (Dream, Cassell, Horry, Cuttino, Head, Yao and maybe Dickerson (since we did get SF with him). Some of the others (Othella, Nachbar) have gone on to have decent NBA Careers, but most were out of the league within a few years of being drafted. Yes, most were 2nd round picks, but then again so are Cuttino and Boozer and Agent Zero in Washington.... The Rox Org sucks when it comes to drafts, which is why, more than any other reason the ROX should have bit the frickin bullet and traded up or gotten out of the draft all together in order to get a player that is more than a specialist. I truly doubt that Brooks or Landry will be a starter in 2-3 years.... not for us, and not for anyone else... Oh, and I've got an email address shown on my profile if and when you ever want to take a personal potshot at me. I'm not hard to find and I never avoid an argument or disagreement. Discussion is find, but you're ridiculing me simply because I'm passionate about my feelings and thoughts is an insult to you more than it is to me.....
The past is the past. You can only rate the Rockets draft picks in the Morey era to the years that Morey had an impact. Which means 2006 and 2007. Forget everything beforehand which were the Caroll Dawson years.
Morey is completely unrelated to any draft we've had prior to last year. But you can continue to rant on unrelated topics. Is Morey also responsible for Rudy leaving? The sky is falling act is old. Pure hilarity. Potential franchise players? Sure. Gilbert Arenas went in the 30s, and Michael Redd went even later than that, so I suppose those drafts had potential franchise players going into the 40s. Having a high top end potential doesn't mean that much. Players are generally drafted based on expected value, not top end potential. There will be players who went before us who flame out, and players who went after us who become stars. It happens EVERY year to EVERY team. The fact of the matter is, you and every other draftnick are at best equally adept at analyzing the prospects in this draft as Morey or any other GM. Pure Bayesian odds. Odds are, much worse, considering the amount of resources the team has to look at these players and the amount of experience the GMs have. We tried to move up, and failed. It takes two teams to tango. You can find a draft bust by every team in the NBA in the last 19 years. Using that as an example is silly. How many organizations have won more championships in the last 20 years? Saying the Rockets are failures because a couple guys like Boozer and Arenas bucking the odds and becoming successful in the 2nd round is silly. How do you know what could have been available? Late first rounders and 2nd rounders are not supposed to become starters. Doing so is the exception, not the rule. If your expectation for late first rounders and 2nd rounders ranges from starter to potential franchise player, you may want to reconsider. Not really. I don't consider the inability to separate passion and logic an admirable trait.
Amen. My thoughts exactly. The draft means nothing compared with free agency and trades. Let's see what the big picture plan is before trashing Morey.
Let me expand on my original post. 1) No, I really don't think that McRoberts or Fat Baby were the answer for our team. 2) It's obvious they aren't finished with their offseason moves. My main concern is having to OVERPAY (either by a dumb contract or giving up too much in a trade) to acquire a starting PF now. I don't want to have to give up Shane Battier or Rafer Alston to get a PF. I actually like having James & Alston, and then if they want to groom Brooks for the future behind those guys fine. My first trade canidates would be VSpan, Novak & JL3. Then for the right price Luther Head or Kirk Snyder. But I wouldn't just throw them in any deal. I think they can both succeed in Adelman's system.
Morey - Offseason, pre-draft: B- Solid pickup in Mike James. Though it can't be ignored it was on the third try. Draft: C-. I'm not going to go with the "inconclusive/they haven't played yet" decision. Too many guards on the team. Players like Aaron Brooks historically are of semi-use. Tiago Splitter seemed to be a logical choice. He did address the PF spot with Carl Landry but he's a bit of an unknown. #54 Brad Newley hardly counts but it would have been nice to see another PF drafted there. Offseason, post-draft, free agency: N/A Overall, C. He better come through good the rest of the way. There WILL be moves made, count on that. I agree with the thread subject though that its a bit of a risk to say another team's gonna have a player for you to get, and all you have to do is make an offer.
Melvin Ely Fabricio Oberto Danny Fortson Kelvin Cato Mikki Moore Chris Webber Jamal Sampson Austin Croshere Anderson Varejao Mike Sweetney Some FA's we can sign for MLE or less.
Sorry for thread resurrection. Just want to remind everyone angry over "giving up too much" for Pau (and the cap space to sign Nene) that first impressions of transactions, even strong ones, are not always accurate in hind sight. Thanks for reading.
LOL wow so many misguided insights in this thread... 2007 turned out to be a great draft for us that really strengthened the team later on. PF has turn into a position of extreme strength. But I remember what it was like losing to the Jazz with Juwan, so I can't blame them
