http://www.sportsline.com/u/ce/feature/0,1518,5249732_54,00.html I like this because it actually looks at the teams and decides their draft selection, not just ranking ala NbaDraft.net. It has the Rockets taking Drew Gooden at #6 then Nicolas Thskdlfsdfsdflj whatever it is at #15. That, in my opinion would be a great draft. I know we need a small forward, but Gooden is a great player and if Griffin fills out and becomes our future five, and Gooden our four with Tshivavilli (I can't spell that!) at the three plus Francis and Mobley, we have a great squad defensively and offensively. 4 of 5 have 3 point range, Gooden can hit the mid range jumper and he and Griffin would kill the Glass and Block like crazy!
I've been avoiding my work by looking at a number of mock drafts. I've figured out where people are ranked, on average. I found what drafts I could from Sherlock's list. Making a list, I included everyone who was seeded 15th or higher at least once. Putting them in order by median, average, then highest seeding, the list looks like: Yao Ming Jay Williams Mike Dunleavy Drew Gooden Qyntel Woods 5 Dajuan Wagner Chris Wilcox Caron Butler Curtis Borchardt N. Tskitishvili Jared Jeffries Nene Hilario Amare Stoudamire Chris Marcus Kareem Rush 15 Marcus Haislip Melvin Ely Frank Williams Bostjan Nachbar Tito Maddox I'm pretty happy with the depth here.
Gooden is 6'10" and 230 lbs. He could play both forward positions. I saw him play in Austin several months ago, and the guy was unstoppable. Very polished post moves, and a tenacious rebounder, he's the perfect compliment to Maurice Taylor. Gooden can play facing up or with his back to the basket. After 3 years at KU, and playing against Big XII competition, he's probably the most "NBA ready" player in this draft. I would be thrilled if he's still there when we pick. Denver and Memphis are both pretty high on him though, which makes it unlikely. One interesting thing I've noticed, though is DaJuan Wagner's stock has dropped a little bit recently.
Boo!!! I don't want Gooden. I don't think he would be as good of a small forward as Butler or Woods, so if we drafted him as a small forward I think it would be a huge mistake. If we're drafting him as a power forward, well that just doesn't make any sense seeing as we already have three of them. That would give us four power forwards who are either soft, skinny, or short. That's getting kind of redundant. How tenacious can Gooden really be? Wilcox handled him pretty easily in the NCAAs.
Gooden is a straight pimp in the post. Attention mouth breathers, we don't have three power forwards. Thomas' game is much better suited for the three. Taylor is garbage. Griffin hasn't showed anything that would make me think he could hold his own. Anyway I would love to see the Rockets draft Gooden and play him at Center. I know all you "people" thimk he's to small but compared to Cato I'd hitch my wagon to that horse.
If neither Dunleavy or Butler are available by the 5th pick I think that the Rockets will pass up on Woods,and probably try to pick a PF like Gooden or Wilcox and try to package them with KT in order to get Marion from the Suns,although I don't know if that will work out cap wise. On the other hand if they really want Tskitshvili they will probably move down the draft to around 8 to get him,and try to get Marcus if he is still available at the 15th spot.
I would take Drew Gooden he has lateral quickness to guard small forward and the muscle to guard the big forward. Take Gooden with the 5th pick and with the 15th take Marcus if he is available if not grab Dan Gazuric potential to good if CD, Mr.Mean could what with him. Last year we could have got Alvin Jones in the second for nothing
At power forward Kenny is quicker than anyone he goes against, which is how he gets many of his baskets. At small forward he'll be slower than most and he doesn't have a good enough outside shot to bring defenders far out on the wing. I think Kenny's offensive production severely drops if he permanently moves to small forward. You may think Taylor is trash, but he's trash we paid 50 million dollars for, so he's not going to be sitting the bench. Griffin is just young. Gooden couldn't even hold his own against Chris Wilcox in college, much less NBA players. By the way, I'd take Wilcox over Gooden in a second.
There is definetly something to be said for the coaching of Roy Williams. I would love to have a guy with great fundamentals come in here. It would almost be like getting a veteran, with the youth of the draft these days.
If the Rockets don't do everything in their power to make the playoffs next yr, they will basically be loading up the grizzlies. Now that west is the personell man, you don't want to give him any more ammunition. You will not see a Stromile Swift being drafted. Whats scary about the Grizzlies is they have a player already we can't match up with in Gasol, they also get a high pick this yr and some solid players coming back from injuries. Battier and Gasol are good whether you play them 2-3 or 3-4, which sets them up to be good very quick. I hope we make a move for a player or the players we choose are impact players next yr.
DC Child Peep this, in case you didn't know in the course of a game matchups can change at any given time. This is not like when you and the fellas from work play three on three and you pick a guy to guard. Kenny creates match up problems for opposing defenses, he can drive past bigger guys and post up smaller ones. You people are crazy to think that just because Taylor is overpaid that he will win a job. If Rudy has any since he will play the most deserving player. Stop trying to trade Kenny he has more heart than anyone on the team.
I don't understand why everyone was so high on him, anyway. He didn't exactly dominate at Memphis where the "Next Allen Iverson" was supposed to. Plus, he sure is stocky. Well, B-Davis is too, but I still think Wagner could drop 6-8 pick.
Let's get rid of some of them. The forwards worth keeping are Kenny Thomas and Eddie Griffin. The Brazilian dude "Nene" would be an upgrade. He is a banger.
Why does everyone keep saying this? Taylor is coming off a major injury, Kenny T is a tweener 3/4 and Griffin is not ready for full time duty at the 4. If we have such a glut at PF why is our frontcourt considerd on of the worst in the NBA? We need big talented players. I dont care if they play the 3/4/5.
Kenny Thomas would be perfect in the East, but he's not big enough to handle the Webbers, Duncans, and Malones of the West. He'll always be valuable off the bench. As for Mo Taylor, sure we gave him $48 million, but we also gave Cato $42 million. Neither player has played up to his potential, and they've shown no signs of doing so in the future. If anything, they've taken steps back. So you're just going to hand Mo Taylor minutes since he gets paid like a champion? Tariq Abdul Wahad is paid like a champ ($43 mill), and he's only seen garbage time for the Mavs. Likewise for Avery Johnson, who's not even on their playoff roster. And I'm not even going to bring up guys like Yogi Stewart, Greg Ostertag, and Jim McIlvaine. You have to play your best guys. If Gooden is our best guy, then Taylor is sh*t out of luck. That's the way it is. We already lost out on Webber because of Rox management's faith in Mo. And he rewards us by going 70 lbs overweight. And this is your PF of the future? Let's not make the same mistake again.
This "just because he's getting paid doesn't mean he should play" argument is, I dunno, let's say not right... Are you telling me that Mo Taylor won't play 20 minutes? Kenny won't play 12 minutes at PF only? Griffin won't want 16 minutes at PF? None of those players will be happy with those minutes, yet, there won't be any more time than that. You may not like Mo Taylor, but that doesn't mean he's a bad player. We DO have too many PF's. I'd hate to see Kenny playing SF. Don't tell me he's better than Rice, because, first of all, Management is trying to trade Rice, and are trying to get someone else. If we go into the seaosn with KT as our SF, then we have failed to improve on our team. Also, I would be just as happy to get rid of Mo T. But it's not happening. He's a good player, many believe better than KT, and deserves his minutes. KT is unfortunately in a bad situation.
My opinion is that you pick the best player available. It doesn't matter what position they play. Ultimately, a true basketball player will help your team. No one ever said you have to field a center that is a classic center. Draft Gooden and play him at center, so what. If he's a baller, he'll figure it out. Charles was a 6'5" PF, so what. More than that, he was a player.
