Looks like the rockets will be able to get into the 6th or 7th spot in the draft. I know gay was at a time a top three pick but he seems to have dropped quite a bit. He may be out of the top 5 and the rockets might have a shot at him. I dont know that much about him...I know he has a lot of potential but has issues with consistency and work ethic. Could he help us?
i'd take him. he's very athletic.....but i dont see him fitting into our system. i see him helping out a team that does a lot of running/uptempo basketball
It seems like Tyrus Thomas is like #1pick now from a couple of mock drafts I always thought that from 1-5 it would be about the same ... no sure dominate guy over the others
IMO, drafting Tyrus Thomas before Rudy Gay would be totally stupid. I'm not sold on Gay because I think he's soft but the guy has serious skills and physical ability. In the NBA, Tyrus Thomas would be an undersized PF with very little game. It's a HUGE assumption that he would work hard and improve himself into star caliber player.
My choices are: 1. Rudy Gay - I have followed him for two years now and I am convinced he is going to be a bonafide star in the NBA (a 90% chance imho). Also Uconn has always produced good NBA players - I cannot think of a Uconn player chosen in the 1st round that ended up a bust (in the last 15 years at least). 2. Brandon Roy - A very safe pick. Good size and dependable player. Could play some point if needed (an added bonus). May sometimes get lost in the shuffle because of his oft quite on the court personality but can acquite himself well when called upon. 3. A. Bargnani - I must confess that this is only a default choice. Default because I am not crazy about Tyrus Thomas (likely re-incarnation of Stromile), Tiago Splitter (a lesser Tyson Chandler) and LaMarcus Aldridge (a true center - we already have Yao. Also has consistency issues). Much I have seen of Adrea is Google Video highlight reels. If he is the second coming of a young Arvidas Sabonis then he is a surefire top 3 pick. In all, I will still trade down to get these guys I listed if we happen to win the lottery or finish in the top 3. These are about the highest rated players in my book that will most likely be of great help to the Houston Rockets 2006/07 season and beyond. Rudy Gay will be the most perfect imho. Though we already have stars in Yao and Mac, it cannot to add another at a cheap price especially considering that Yao and Mac's health issues this season. We need more parts but this is not a draft that is deep enough to expect much more that this 3 to help move us forward as soon as possible.
i agree with almost everything you said but i would be happy with aldridge also and also morrison. so you dont think aldridge would be able to play PF?
Aldridge can play PF but most of his offense skills come from low-post play. He wont get too many chances if playing along with Yao. His best position should be C.
Rockets would be foolish to pass on Rudy Gay. Rudy went through what Villanueva went through, deferring to teammates and getting that mistaken with poor work ethic. He has tons of athleticism, can move his feet better than most guards on defense, and can shoot the 3. Why is he riskier than any other player in this draft?
As much as we need a taller SG and a rebounding PF, man, you got to worry that Tmac and Yao may not play enough to get the Rockets into the playoffs in any given year. Aldridge could help at PF and be insurance at C, Gay could be playoff level SF if Tmac goes down.
I agree. I feel that the reputation of Rudy Gay as a person and player is a great example of media "herd" mentality. People who have never watched more than 2-3 of his games assume that he's lazy, soft and doesn't care and then everyone runs with it. There's a lot more to his game than that, both positive and negative. I have friends who go to school with Rudy at Uconn and have watched nearly all their games this year. He's a truly nice kid, one who Calhoun called, "One of the nicest kids I've been able to coach." He doesn't have attitude or laziness problems at all. On the court, people consider him sluggish because he's, at this point, a flawed player who cannot consistently create his own shot. He's got a sweet jumper and tremendous inside play, but needs to improve the dribble. Basically, he's a guy who can do great things in the right spot, but needs to learn how to consistently reach that spot. He seems to get frustrated easily at college because he always has to guard combo guards (due to the plethora of three-guard sets in college). He's 6'9" and guarding and being guarded by guys like 6'3" Randy Foye has been tough for him to adjust to. I think he improves at the NBA level, since he'll play guys his own size. Overall, he reminds of Yao's demeanor, in that I question whether he'll ever be able to be a dominator despite his tremendous physical gifts. People said that about Yao and called him soft as well. Whether Rudy Gay becomes a superstar or just a quality starter will be decided by whether he can make the leap Yao did this season.
Actually, Aldridge got most of his points off of offensive rebounds and putbacks. He really didn't start working out of the low-post until we went into the tourney. The one thing I like about Aldridge (besides the size, rebounding, and blocking) is his mid-range jumper. He's got a really smoot release and it was pretty consistent for the whole season. If he can improve on that, he could be a pretty dangerous player in the league.
Stro is the better athlete (not that Thomas is anywhere close to bad) but Thomas seems to A. not have butterfingers B. have a better jumper with a face-up game on the post as opposed to stro's long jumpers from no-where C. Better passing D. and most importantly passion and heart... He's definitely more likely to capitalize on his upside.
thanks for clearing that up...i only saw tyrus thomas play during the tournament. i didnt see him in the regular season
I only saw Rudy in the tournament, and for most of the games, I wasn't ever sure which player he was- he wasn't doing anything to distinguish himself. On the other hand, Brandon Roy was all over the court and involved in almost every play on both sides for the Huskies.
Khalid Al-Amin pretty much was a bust. Was he a first rounder?!? What about Jake Voskul?!? I know he's a local product and all, but did Phoenix draft him in the first round?
