Since 75 hit on it in the thread about Langhi, but it should be painfully obvious by now that all roads to the ring go through Shaqdaddy. If you can't at least slow him down you ain't gonna win. (I love Stevie but if Iverson can't beat Shaq, Stevie can't either). There are 2 Baby Shaqs in this draft and if we have to trade all 3 #1's plus take on someones else's cap problem , we must get one of them. My choice would be Jop,the logical sucessor to Olajuwon's African Warrior legacy.Hakeem could probably be convinced to hang around as the kid's mentor and would be worth more money to the Rockets as a player/coach than they could pay him for just part-time minutes. Hakeem would not be where he is today if Moses Malone had not spent countless hours with him at Fonde. NBA drafts are not about help for next year, They are about who can eventually get your team to the ring. And face it Rockheads we are not getting a ring next year or the next year ,but, we might by June 2004 if the Second Coming of The Dream is on the team. ------------------ Losers always whine about playing their best, winners go home and **** the prom queen" -Sean Connery, "The Rock"
By the way, what ever happened to that 7'3" malcontent dude Rudy had to throw off the team. What was his name? I bet he is sleeping on the biggest cot they've got down at the Star of Hope. ------------------ Losers always whine about playing their best, winners go home and **** the prom queen" -Sean Connery, "The Rock"
Thomas Hamilton. Last I know was he was spotted working for an all you can eat buffet somewhere down westhemier. ------------------ "Break off the block like Maurice Green" --- Steve Francis President of the Moochie Norris fan club.
GP: I'm sticking by my call of Diop going first in the draft. I would love to see the Rockets be the ones to get him. Can we send Cato and keep the #23 pick, though? Maybe we could take Mitch Richmond off their hands? His cap room might be used on Francis in 2003 or so. I'll leave that to the capologists. Is CD's talk of creating mis-matches just more of his misdirection? ------------------ "How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak. Because someday you will have been all of these."
There is no way we will have 4 centers on the active roster. There will be a new sf on the team. ------------------ Fuggetabout it
Who said we would have 4 centers? We can easily play 3 of them since our only "dominant" one is near the end of a stellar career and also is injury prone. The first backup is flaky and injury prone. The second backup can also play the 4 in certain situations because of a reputed jumper. If and when we take a SF, we create a glut there, too. Walt and Langhi are under contract. There's talk of Shandon being retained. Bull is a favorite. A #1 pick would make five shooting forwards when you can generally only play 2-- stretching to 3 because Shandon can play the 2. Which one of (and how) do you get rid of the excess SFs. What is your solution? ------------------ "How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak. Because someday you will have been all of these."
I agree in order for the Rockets to get better and not only make it to the playoffs but advance in the playoffs. They have to get bigger, they rockets need a big body who's not afraid to mix it up and get a lil dirty, whether that be through the draft or free agency. I still wouldn't mind having Richard Jefferson with one of our picks even though we pretty much have a log jam at the 3 position. ------------------
Gene, my sentiments exactly and I didn't just come up with Diop off the top of my head. It was said in an off the cuff comment by someone in the organization. I'm not trying to say I'm in insider because I'm not, but I often am in the company of various individuals in and outside the organization. Diop makes sense for the exact reasons you said. I know he hasn't worked out for the Rockets but believe me, he has been scouted by them. There is no way in my mind that Rudy is going to go into next year with the uncertainty he currently has at the 5 position. Besides the Rockets are not title contenders now and if they really are after Webber, they will have to have a center who can create problems down low defensively. Diop can do that his first year particularly if he's learning under Dream. Cato, Collier are not reliable at this point. Collier according to one individual in the know was never considered the center of the future anyway. Don't be fooled by all the talk that Rudy wants to create mismatches all over the floor. He does to a degree but at certain positions which we currently have with Cat, Steve, and Mo. The same can be said about Webber. This Rocket move will be for the very near future. Diop along with Webber and Mo is a very potent linup up front and it does create mismatches. Sorry for the rant. ------------------
I agree that the Rockets need to go big. Big and defensive. Not only to compbat Shaq, but to erase any defensive lapses by our back court. Also in the west, there are Duncan, Malone, Webber, and Wallace(when he hasn't been tossed.) to worry about as well as shaq. Sure most of those play the 4 spot, but having a big defensive body inside, especially with the zone defense rules will help us out. ------------------
I posted this earlier: I was surfing around the net, just researching the draft when I stumbled upon nbadraft.net. Their Mock draft has us drafting Loren Woods at 13 and Brendan Haywood at the 18. Honestly, I think we could draft a player of higher quality at the 13. However, our need for the SF MIGHT be a little overrated(once again, I say MIGHT). I think that Langhi will contribute more than most people have imagined. I find drafting 2 solid legit 7-footers to be intriguing. Both of these guys would contribute more than Cato(unless he tried the laying down defense technique) and both have shown maturity in college by playing all 4 years. What would you guys think about using all 3 of our picks as following: 13. Loren Woods 7-1 240 C Arizona (Senior) 18. Brendan Haywood 7-0 270 C NC (Senior) 23. Kedrick Brown 6-7 220 SF WeirdCC (So) Not only does this bulk up our lineup. But the combination of Langhi/Brown(pending the exit of Shandon) will contribute at the SF for years to come. With these guys on the roster we can go big or small against any team. ------------------ BILL KENNEDY SUCKS!
This afternoon on 610, Rich and Charlie were doing a mock lotto. They each alternated with a pick and it seemed like a pretty rational draft order. But they had Diop going to the Sonics at #12. Maybe the Rockets would not have to move up that much to get him. I would much rather see the Rockets move up to get a big guy than a sf. ------------------ "If you don't understand it, don't try to understand it." -Carl Everett
I got the feeling last year that Collier was taken to play a big 4 in order to match up with Karl Malone, not to be a starting center. In a zone he could take up a lot of space and deliver some shooting at the other end. I guess this makes Bull expendable. Olajuwon could help Jop hold down the 5 for maybe 2 years. Cato could be insurance. ------------------ Losers always whine about playing their best, winners go home and **** the prom queen" -Sean Connery, "The Rock"
Could the Rockets convince a team that the only reason they want to move Cato is so they can keep Dream and let him finish his career as a Rocket? If they could move Cato and in the process move up enough to draft Diop, this would be a VERY successful draft IMO. ------------------ "If you don't understand it, don't try to understand it." -Carl Everett
It's farely simple. The Rockets will get a big man. However, that is not the only move they will make. They will trade one of their big men, preferably Cato. What will we get back in return? Probably a small forward if we do not draft one. ------------------ Fuggetabout it
