I don't think ike was a McDonald's AA...not that this little tidbit takes anything away from him as a player. We all know that the McD's AA rosters have theif fair share of scrubs, so being overlooked by them is not a big shocker. He had the best low post game of any college player that I watched this past year. That includes Bogut or Simien or Turiaf. If available, I say jump on him.
i'm not saying that because you're a mcdonald's all american you're automatically great but he was a great hs player and had offers from everywhere. so that's just to let people know what type of talent he is. i feel he gets overlooked too much. but right now it looks like late lottery to mid 1st according to all the draft outlets.
There's a deal rumored between LA and Charlotte: Lakers will give away #10 and Caron Butler for #5 and #13 picks. Lakers will try to acquire Gerald Green with thr #5. If Portland takes Green at #3 as expected, the deal might be off. THe Lakers might also use the #5 to pick Deron (Phil's pick) or Felton (Mitch's pick) and Diogu at #13. Diogu's stock is rising and there's little chance he'll drop to the Rockets unless they trade up. Simien might be available but he's injury prone.
After reading the articles from different websites, i think Ike is the best fit for our team. He is not a 3-point shooter like Rasheed yet, but he does all the dirty work that Juwan can't do, and he does have a very good mid range jumper just like Antonio Mcdyes.
(a repost from the draft section) Don't count the Rockets out of the Semiem Diogu race just yet. Jonathan Feigen says they have the assests to move up if there is a player they love. It seems a lot of teams with stacked rosters and cap issues are willing to trade down and take players they can stash in Europe for a couple of years. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistor.../bk/bkn/3211708 Trade talk coming With NBA scouts and general managers heading to Chicago this week for the annual predraft camp, expect trade speculation to increase dramatically. This always happens when such gossips get together, but this season, there is more to talk about. The draft seems exceptionally deep, roughly between picks 20 and 45, unless too many players withdraw from the draft. Because of that, more teams seem interested in moving down, as in an NFL draft, than in most seasons. Much of the talk will center initially on teams overstocked at the same positions — Memphis, Boston, New York and especially Portland. The Trail Blazers, with the third pick of the draft and with Sebastian Telfair in place at point guard, will likely have to take a forward. But they have the high-priced Darius Miles and hugely talented Travis Outlaw at small forward, with Zach Randolph taking loads of shots at power forward. Memphis has had trouble finding playing time for its past first-rounders. The Celtics loaded up with rookies last season. The Knicks have a roster full of power forwards and ridiculously bloated contracts. The Rockets will be in the middle of conversations because they have a trade exception worth about $2.4 million from the Tracy McGrady trade that will expire June 30. But the Rockets will not feel pressure to make a move with that exception because they will also have a mid-level exception to spend, and the next collective bargaining agreement could require that the mid-level exception be split and used on two players. The Rockets also have trade exceptions worth $1.1 million and $1.3 million.
draft is june 28... its comming up. anyone as excited as i am? there is a good chance we may actually get something worth a damn this year. i think thats exciting in itself since we havent been able to do **** in the draft for awhile now.
No way Ike falls to the Rockets! Unless the Rox move up there is little chance he dons a Rox uniform. Lets hope we get this guy, because he will be a perfect fit. I am an ASU alumni and followed this kid his whole college career. He had to deal with more double teams than any other college player in the nation. Not to mention the rest of his team was god awful. Im crossing my fingers.
I say stay where we are or trade down and then draft Francisco Garcia. We need a veteran PF this coming season who can start ahead of Juwan.
If both Diogu and Simien are rising, then someone is falling. Is it Taft and May? Warrick? Maybe J.Jack? We should start checking these guys out just in case.
it seems taft and splitter are sinking like rocks. taft was destroyed by diogu in a workout late last week. GM's see that he is lazy and plays like it too. splitter is all about the P word. he isn't that good yet, but teams wanting him in the lotto because he can turn into something good. now the word is he has a contract through '08 and the buy out is a b****. if he is drafted he may not be able to play here for a few years. the toronto GM (babcock) said last week that he wanted tiago at #7. this week, he was quoted as saying he thinks splitter is going to pull out of the draft and he will take the BPA.
Ya, Splitter seems he will withdrawl. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/marty_burns/06/06/splitter/index.html Look at this goofy kid "Despite his lanky frame, Martynas Andriuskevicius' stock is bound to rise should prospect Tiago Splitter drop out of the draft."
that dude has a small head and how are they gonna fit his name on a jersey? Andriuskevicius hits the 15 footer
neither splitter or the lithuanian kid are worth a flaming pile of dog crap. both will play a combined 5 years in this league and average 3 ppg & 2 rpg COMBINED. i'm tired of all this european hype. half of these guys haven't even proven themselves on their own teams overseas and they're supposed to be worth a lottery pick?? but i guess there isn't much of an arguement of american kids either considering a back up PF at Duke declares after 3 years of doing nothing so what's really the difference???
The difference is that Duke can beat some NBA teams. So you know what you are getting. Second, this Martynas Andriuskevicius kid just turned 18 so he wouldn't have played any college ball yet anyway. Hell, I'm sure Duke would take him if was going to college instead of the draft. Its all about potential with the youngsters.
No way can a Duke squad can beat even the worst NBA team. That's a foolish statement. If you were to get the best Duke players currently in the NBA than you'd actually have a good squad, but putting even the best college team in the game against the NBA's worst is still in favor of the NBA team.
Come on now, if Duke or any top tier college team became the 31st franchise they could get 10-15 wins. They would have to add some depth. My comparison was that we have a good idea of the talent level in US colleges while in Europe it is still a mystery in many instances.
