They you are discussing a kid that is struggling to get to 220 lbs operating in the power positions in the NBA. Good luck. He needs to add around 40 lbs to his frame and I don't know what would happen to his athleticism or quickness if he did. But without the added weight, he's gonna get pushed and rooted out into the second row of the bleachers in the NBA. Best case for Henson right now is he's a developmental big. It's gonna be a couple seasons before he is able to give you anything substantial. I just don't feel that fits what Les and Morey are trying to do. However, if I am reading Morey and the situation right, I think we are going to draft and trade players to bring in players that would be attractive to Orlando in a trade. So perhaps, if Orlando really likes Henson and they want to rebuild with youth, then maybe we take him and trade him to them?
There's no way we draft a player because the Magic like them unless a deal with the Magic is already in place. No chance. Sure you could say, yeah, but what about if all things are equal and we know the Magic are really high on that one guy we're considering ourselves, but truth be told all things are never equal.
I agree. What is most realistic however is us making trades and picks that are for players that Orlando or perhaps someone else would want. That's why I'm not too concerned with who we are picking. I really seriously doubt we are keeping them. I'd love to have Lillard. But there's really no place for him and he has much more value in trade than he does coming off the bench for us. The only way I could see us drafting and keeping Lillard is if we traded Lowry and also signed and traded Dragic. I suppose that is a possibility if we got Dwight and were trying to entice NJ to trade us DWill before he opted out and we still had a pick left to get Lillard. But that's another long longshot. That's why I really don't see Drummond being a possibility for us long term. He's going to take several years to develop.....if he is not a flop (which I happen to believe he is a flop). He's not going to be a primary rotation player out of the box. The only way we draft Drummond, in my opinion, is to push him to Orlando or somewhere else in a trade. We are trying to trade our way into contender status. You have to remember that. We are not trying to develop youngsters for the future. Now, we may have drafted and developed guys like Patterson and now we've got another first year guy (Morris) that we are trying to develop, but that was out of necessity because the big trade wasn't there for us. If the big trade eludes again this offseason, then we will most likely draft the BPA and make trades with our talent and youngsters to better position us for making the big trade in the future, not to develop and build a winner with the players we pick. In the course of all that, we're gonna win games and develop youngsters like Patterson, Landry, Parsons, Morris, Budinger, etc. But it's not our ultimate goal. Les and Morey are trying to trade their way to the top. So the end game is, we are going to take: 1. The player we feel is the best player on the board irregardless of position. or 2. The player that we feel like has the best immediate trade value potential to help us acquire a superstar.
Asik is a hustle player that at times is a foul magnet. If you trade for him you need to realize that he will probably never give you consistent starter minutes. Also he is an absolute zero on offense.
I know "2", in your line of thinking, is a certain center who'll get us on TV for the season, even though he has a bad back and a worse attitude and would cost us every worthwhile chip we have (hence our "interest" in players like Alonzo Gee [blarf!]; who'd be left after we trade for said center?) I do agree with you in general, although I'd hope for a different All Star, one who might stick around and cost less in terms of "assets". Problem is, I don't know who that'd be. Bosh? Gasol?
It's a throw-all-your-chips in move. What we would be banking on is enticing Dwight to extend. He would have to walk away from a lot of money not to extend. So, the odds are good that if we could get his buddy (DWill) here, he would at least extend or re-sign. And if we don't, well, we don't. We can still move him at the deadline if we want to or we can dare him to walk and go the lottery route for a rebuild. There is no reason not to chuck a whole bunch of eggs in the Dwight basket for this team.
What if the offer was for the max allowed under the CBA, $9.74 mil/yr? Anyhow, I agree with you draft night deal is unlikely. A later S&T may still be possible, involving either rookie or a vet player.
He came into UNC at 183, he's leaving at 220. I'm sure he is either 20 or 21 meaning he is not done growing. I would venture to think he can put on another 15-20 pounds by the time he turns 25. So by the time he enters his prime he will be 6'10'' or 6'11'' and 230-240 lbs. I think that is plenty big enough to play PF in todays NBA. Also he is a good enough presence in the paint defensively and can run the floor well enough that he can still contribute while he's growing.
Even if Drummond only had a 50/50 chance to be a star, I'd make that trade every single day and twice on Sunday.
1. Trade Lowry, Patterson and pick 14 to Sacramento for pick 5. 2. Draft Drummond at 5. 3. Trade Drummond, Martin, Morris, and Dalembert to Orlando for Dwight. 4. We would then have enough salary cap space to sign DWill to a max deal while retaining the cap hold for Courtney Lee. 5. Sign or match on Lee. 6. Sign Camby to the $2.5 million "room exception." DWill/ Lee/Pick 16 Parsons/CBud Scola/DMo Howard/Camby/Smith Fill in the rest of the roster with minimum salaried players.
We should trade away Lowry, Scola, & Martin. And anyone else for that matter. Definitely just stock up on young great draft picks and suck for a while until we hit a superstar in the lottery to build around because I don't think DH is coming to Houston.
Yeah I'm pretty sure Dwight wants to play With Courtney Lee as the starting shooting guard again. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/T3ari8OjYhA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I confess that had entered my mind when watching him lay up some shots in that video that you would think a guy like him would dunk, but I haven't heard that athleticism is a huge concern... in fact I think it's been a positive. I think the second play here strikes me as pretty athletic. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rJJbPjtoLz0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Ability to add weight does seem like a concern... but unlike Drummond and PJIII, there don't seem to be motor or hoops IQ questions. He has the potential to be a very good shotblocker and rebounder. I will be curious to see how he tests out athletically at the combine. I do think that's a good argument... I'm not convinced the Rockets are going to take a guy who will take some time to develop, but then again -- they did pursue Ricky Rubio and Jonas Valanciunas pretty hard, and both of those guys came with Euro wait times. Rockets are a "have your cake and eat it too" team.... don't seem willing to sacrifice "now" at all but are trying to build for the future with that stipulation in mind (sucks, but that's what it has been so far).
This paragraph is utterly depressing as a Rockets fan. Because it's 100% true. We probably WILL draft someone we hope another team will want. It is, afterall, the Rockets way (hello Rudy Gay). It's like we're trying to bait and switch our way to a championship instead of just getting a young talented team together and letting them grow and develop organically. We are perpetually making moves to set up more potential moves in the future. Houston Rockets = NBA clearing house
Yeah that's great. Let him be skinny for a few years so we can suck and get more draft picks. Without Scola, Lowry, and Martin, this team can truly finally suck and be a perennial lottery team. Imagine if we had taken this tack 3 years ago how much further along we could be today? We should not sign any FA to anything longer than a one year deal.
It's been well documented that Dwight and Lee are still tight. I doubt one missed shot from a rookie season would impact on whether Dwight would want to play with Lee.
