And better an Anthony Bennet than an Andrew Wiggins. At least with Bennet you cut your losses rather than holding on to hope that he'll turn the corner and giving him a max contract before you realize he never will.
It must be so painful to the fans of a club that has the #1 overall pick and chooses someone who is out of the league in a couple of years, much less a franchise cornerstone. I can't imagine. It's not like Portland choosing guys who break down and retire early (Bowie, Roy), this is a team just absolutely making the worst possible choice. The Rox have had the #1 overall pick 5 times and absolutely nailed it 4 out of 5: Elvin Hayes, Ralph, Hakeem, Yao. And the other time, John Lucas (taken #1 in the very weak '76 draft) still ended up having one of the top 5 NBA careers, so he was still a solid choice. Don't f$#k this up, Rafael.
i look at it differently. You have to leave room for busts so in my estimation we need to get two foundational young pieces in the next 3 seasons. That means if we bust on the first one then we have to go two for two which is daunting especially given an inexperienced front office. Getting someone great this summer means we can make a good pitch in FA the following season. That changes everything imo.
When is the last time one star/superstar from the draft has changed the fortunes of a team to any great extent? Those type of talents seem like a once-in-two-decades type players. I mean, Andrew Wiggins was supposed to be a once-in-a-generation talent when he went to Kansas. I think it's going to take more than one or two drafts to change a team's fortunes unless there's a hidden Lebron or MJ somewhere in the draft. Like, who's the player in this draft that's going to change the Rockets' fortunes to that degree? Cade? Who knows, but he isn't as heralded as many players from the past who didn't necessarily turn a franchise around, is he?
Minnesota won again. Rockets have 1 less win. We are back. To best of the worst. Tank keep rolling. Rockets take anybody out of any game if they hit 2 shots in a row and send them to the showers. Any win now would be stupid.
So what do you want. Say offer the 2nd third of fourth in 2021 plus our other 2 picks in 2021 plus our 2022 picks for the NUMBER ONE THIS YEAR? Cade?
It's not the #1, it's the best pick in the top 4. You just have to pick the right one. Yao, Lebron, Dwight, Chris Paul, (06, zero), Durant, Rose/Westbrook(meh), Harden(Griffin?), (2010, Wall?, meh), Kyrie, AD, (13, Bennett? lol), Embiid, Towns/Porzingis, Simmons/Ingram/Brown, Tatum, Luka, Zion/Morant...
Hate to say it but this Tankathon draft simulator has not been kind to us landing the #1 pick.... http://www.tankathon.com/mock_draft Hopefully the Bball Gods side with us on Lottery Night.
Which of those took any team to the Promised Land or was "franchise-changing" as opposed to "damn, he's a pretty good player"? There are a lot of very talented players that put up numbers that aren't turning franchises around. Out of that list, maybe Lebron? AD is an example of a great player that wasn't turning a franchise around. KAT puts up great numbers (when healthy) but the TWolves are a fixture in the lottery. A healthy Embiid maybe. Kyrie? What has he turned around? Westbrook? Meh. Porzingis. Meh. Even Luka hasn't turned the Mavs into some juggernaut. Not sure what you meant by "it's not the #1, it's the best pick in the top 4". The problem usually is no one knows who that is. It's even more of a crapshoot now since there's no guarantee we'll have our pick of the top 4 since we don't have a guarantee of getting the #1 pick (or even of having a top-4 pick).
Even if you have the first pick, it's still a crapshoot getting the best player. Lots of guys are drafted 2-? who turn out to be franchise players.
Down to 12. I see the Thunder have lost 13 in a row now, perhaps seeing that their chance of getting the Rockets 1st round pick is going away they need to be as bad as possible for themselves.
