http://www.sloansportsconference.co...of Interior Defense Analytics for the NBA.pdf Why didn't the rockets draft this guy. I know a lot of people on this board wanted him. He is pretty much the best or second best rim defender in the league. For comparison Asik is 33rd. Maybe we can offer Trob and TJones for him. Heck I might even think about offering Asik for him, and to think we picked Ppat instead. I don't know why the authors take a shot at David Lee, but he is a terrible defender. But if you look through the tables you see how many shots Sanders has defended and how well he defends them. Roy Hibert is also a great defender despite his struggles this year. Also note how many shots TD has defended, it pretty insane at his age how good he is.
Is it cause David lee sucks or his team can't play defense at all and therefore everyone has easy lanes to attack him?
Said something along the lines of 'we thought he had good potential but weren't sure how long it would take him to develop and didn't know if he could turn the corner'. No reason to be mad about passing on him. Rockets were still very clearly in win now mode thinking Yao would make it back and Patterson was a good pick at 14.
I take issue with any stat that says that Andrea Bargnani can even be confused with someone who is competent at defense.
He's always been one of the worst defenders in the league, possibly the worst. Also, Golden State is one of the top defensive teams this season.
Old Man Rocks shall forever be remembered for Larry Sanders. He made a convincing case also, not just a we should take this player take that player or that player post. I know it's usually pointless to compare two guys based on body type or height/reach alone, but look at DraftExpress notes on Larry Sanders vs Hassan Whiteside. http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Larry-Sanders-5148/ http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Hassan-Whiteside-5660/ Whiteside is still one year younger than Sanders. He's bulked up in the last couple of years. Big man takes longer to develop. Sanders really only turned the corner this year, his 3rd year in the league. He'll only be on the rookie scale for one more year, and someone will pay him more than Asik after next season. We really need to take a risk on someone like Whiteside being able to turn the corner. The 14th roster spot (15th is reserved for Royce White) is well worth the risk.
So, we are just repeating what was in the Larry Sanders thread that Kwame providing the link to above (which is still listed on the front page) http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=232364 This is nearly identical to the 2nd post in Kwama's thread made by none other than Clutch. http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showpost.php?p=7546359&postcount=2
