This year, there's more than a handful of nice players that will be squeezed into the 2nd round. You can mine more than a couple diamonds in the second half of the first round this year. There's no point in more of the same with the current roster. It's time for Martin , Scola, and Dalembert to move on. Keep Lee, try to keep Dragon. Bring in fresh blood and try to strike gold in the front court. They aren't coming from FA.
Even if Martin, Scola, and Dalembert all leave we still don't have the minutes to develop 4-5 draft picks + guys we already have like Morris, Motiejunas, Llull. I want to trade up or acquire upgrades at the 2-5, I don't want a bunch of maybe could turn into something players. Any draft pick we get needs to be an immediate contributing rotation player
My 2 cents: Orl, L @Atl, L Cavs, L* @Indy, L @Orl, L Chi, L @Chi, L @Mil, L* Was, W Mia, L Bos. L @NJ, W @Cle, W @Atl, L LAC, L @Cha, W I can see the Knicks going 4-12, or at best 6-10 to finish the season.(*indicates possible victory) With a 25-25 record they would finish 29-37 or 31-35 in 9th or 10th spot.... Pick 6 or 7 here we come!
Please keep preaching this. There are guys here who would rather package our picks to get so-so stars. This pick and that pick for Josh Smith? Are you kidding me?! This draft will have 3-5 Smiths in the late 1st early second rds. I personally think that Kyle O'quinn(6'10, 240) from Norfolk St is one of Morey's favorites. It looks like he will be undrafted. I say, let the picks fall where they may and let Morey work his draft magic with more than one 1st round pick. By trading three players that are sort of redundant for 2-3 more picks is not a problem at this time. They already have players to replace them. It has taken him a while, but Morey has us in a very good position. Either we continue on with this idiotic star chasing mess( which i suppose he could still do successfully)or stockpile picks to use in a stacked draft. I am for the latter.
Also, just think how painfully obvious my point would become if this team, without two of it's top players, makes the playoffs? I'm saying it now.
Milwaukee's Schedule Knicks are 25-25 and Bucks at 22-27...not sure Bucks have the heart to take the 8th spot from the Knicks. If they go 8-9 which may be a stretch in itself then they would be 30-36. The Knicks would only need to go 5-11 making sure one of those wins is against the Bucks if they have a better conference record. If they lose to Bucks then 6-10 which is feasible for the Knicks. Atl L @Cle L Mem L @Was W Cle W Cha W Por L OKC L NYK W @Det W Ind W @Was L @Ind L NJN W Tor W Phi L @Bos L
yeah I'd rather resign Dragic and trade Llull at this point. To me, the devil you know is better than the devil you don't. Dragic is developing into one of the better PGs in the league. The idea of stashing Euros only works if you bring them over and play them, or trade them for something useful. I think Morey should focus on the latter at this point. You'd like to think a package of Llull, Martin, and draft picks could get us something special.
We say Moneyball/Moreyball a little too much around here, but this is a clear cut situation where you should go down that road. -Martin's shown us what we already knew - you can't build around him as your best player. He's an excellent sidekick that needs to play next to a franchise player. He's not going to get any better, and it's hard to see him staying in a Rockets uniform after next year, no matter what. Move him, give his job to Lee at just a tiny bit more than half the money. -Camby and Dalembert can't be considered anything more than place holders. They combine to make an eye popping $16M this year. Dalembert has his moments, but goes AWOL often and can't protect the rim or glass on a night-to-night basis. Give him the $1.5M to walk away and see if Camby is willing to stay "home" at a far more reasonable number ($3-$4M). -Lull is not coming over this summer. Monty is, but it's still premature to lock him into the rotation. ...And then there's the picks. To put it simply, the 3 picks we have (limited) rights to are going to be at their highest value this year. This draft is deep. 1998, 1996 deep, if not deeper. Once you're past pick 5 or 6, I would argue that the value your getting at each position is going to be higher than it's been at that same position in the last 10-15 years. -The pick we hand over to the Nets is more valuable this year than it will be next year, especially if we end up the #15 (top value) pick. -The pick from Dallas will always be 21-30, and they are right at 20 today. We double down if we snag it at top value (21) in a draft like this one. -Use the picks - lock them in at highest possible value. Worst case scenario, we have a cache of rookie contract guys to dangle in a blockbuster trade. Best case scenario, at least one of them pans out as the ever elusive star we desperately need. -If you want a single franchise player stud, you'd have to cash everything in for Robinson or Kidd-Gilchrist (and still get rejected). Go for it, but teams aren't going to be interested. -There is no FA franchise guy coming to Houston. Deron Williams is going to straight to Dallas. No one else is changing our fortunes. -Josh Smith is very good, but he's no franchise player, and he hasn't exactly made the Hawks discernibly better than the Rockets over the years. They benefit from the East as much as anything. He's not turning us into contenders anymore than Andre Iguodala would have. Too many of the guys out there are ready to play now. Now. Lose Dragic? Plug in Kendall Marshall Ship out Martin? Look at Jeremy Lamb or Fournier Rolling Dice on a center? Zeller, Leonard, Melo, or Moultrie Trying to hit the jackpot at 3? Jones III, Miller, Harkness, Royce White, etc
Yes. But Motiejunas is definitely coming over while Llul IMO is probably going to come as we move Lowry. Which would empty our Euro cupboard to be refilled in this draft. If the Rockets can't move up in the draft, and end up with 3 picks, I honestly wouldn't mind drafting two players who aren't coming over with 2 of them. Even if they are somewhat of a reach. Just as long as they have tremendous upside and would actually enjoy developing their game overseas rather than the D-League.
Who are the Rockets reaching for though? This draft is said to be deep but I don't recall it being deep with international talent. http://www.draftexpress.com/nba-mock-draft/2012/ Only 1 player projected in the 1st round. Other draft sites don't even have one international player going in the first round. I don't think American talent drafted in the 1st round is going to play overseas for 1 or 2 years. Has this ever happened?
Take the american player 9/10 I think many fans here have this bad taste from Jordan Hill, Johnny Flynn, and Terrence Williams. Many are forgetting that these players were considered bust by their former teams, before Morey acquired them
It's the norm for international prospects to gain buzz late in the process once they come over and do workouts. Just like the tournament brings forward "no name" guys from smaller schools. Almost all of the major first round Euros last year were "who?" guys until late May/early June (for 95% of folks) It's not that teams/scouts didn't know about them...it's that the media and fans don't know about them earlier.
I see this as being the after effect of the 2011 draft which was had a flood of international talent taken up in a fury because of the lockout. There were alot of players that wouldnt have even been considered if it wasnt for the Lockout. The lockout had GM's really placing high value on international talent because if they lost a full season, their prospects would be able to benefit with international play, and not be sitting on their butts playing Madden or 2k12.
