Makes sense. But they’re more of a mid-tier FA destination. LA, MIA, BK, and NY are more attractive landing spots and have been for some time now.
Rockets need a dominant scoring wing. Green has a much higher ceiling than KPJ and they can compliment each other. Beal/Booker/Middleton, if he can be in the mold of these guys, it would be too hard to pass up.
Just seems raw and what’s his actual basketball IQ like...with these kids now and days it just seems like all dunks and step back 3s. Seen people mention a lot of big men bust when referring to Mobley...the same could be said for green and these other “scorers” Zach Levine hasn’t done nothing Beal hasn’t done nothing Lou Williams Jamal Crawford Booker just started getting actual success this year. Swaggy P...Nothing Kelly Oubre...Nothing Just because a player could average 25 doesn’t equate to actual winning. Same hype with Westbrook and all his triple doubles.
The kid is humble and he is hungry. Defense is where he needs to put in much effort. The same argument can be put for Mobley. Rudy Gobert plus.
The more highlights I watch on Green, the more he reminds me of Jordan/Kobe in their young days He is definitely not 6'5, just about 6'4 without shoes
Young guys take time to mature. No one comes into the league and starts winning right away besides maybe LeBron in a weak eastern conference. You’re just looking for the tools at this point. Winning in the nba ain’t easy and there are a ton of other factors than just what any individual player is doing.
Thought I would add this video to the discussion pot. One thing I will say about Jalen Green is this guy can score effortlessly and is only 19 years old. That speed and athleticism is just the cherry on top for an already gifted scorer. I just hope Detroit doesn't steal our guy because I could totally see Green becoming a better NBA player than Cunningham. I'm fine with Green at the no. 2 pick for us, this guy is a monster!
How is his defense. Is it something he can improve? Not someone where the opposite NBA team will hunt?
Athleticism is nice and all that but what you should be looking for is athleticism combined with skilled play + basketball IQ. This is where Green raises red flags. He may (or may not) be able to initially survive on athleticism alone but it becomes a question of how long it'll take him to develop the other two areas. Plus just how long are they prepared to wait for this guy to develop - he's NOT a generational talent like Trey Young or Luka Doncic so he'll be under the microscope from day one and I've seen a lot of supposedly "high upside" players wilt under this pressure. I'm of the opinion that you simply cannot afford to gamble with this pick and Green is definitely a gamble.
Every draft pick is a gamble. If Mobley doesn’t put on weight and turns out to be soft, he won’t be worth the pick either. I personally would rather take that chance on a scorer and look for other ways to shore up defensive big presence.
all the players you mentioned except maybe for Oubre and Swaggy P are solid NBA players with many years in the league. I like how you group Booker and Beal in that group, when they are both allstar/all NBA level players with wins in the playoffs. If Green could be turn out to be a Beal, Booker or Zach, I would thank Jesus. The Big Man busts like Thabeet, Mo Bamba, Maker are actual busts that aren't even in the NBA anymore
Of course Green is a gamble. He might end up like Austin Rivers. It's not like there is a surefire Lebron in this draft waiting to be drafted #2. Even Cade's stardom isn't guaranteed.
These guys are 19-22 (sometimes even older) coming into a league with nothing but scoring ability. He has shown strides but like many others this is the fault in their game that they have to improve on the most. Unless you're a guy like Scottie Barnes or Davion Mitchell, who are known to be top defenders already, you're going to struggle in that aspect. It sounds like he's hungry though, for knowledge and feed his game both physically and mentally..... which is exactly what you want out of a top 3 pick coming out of a draft.
I don't think it is useful to say that because some big men were busts that makes it more likely that Mobley will bust too. Guards and Wings bust all the time. Markelle Fultz? Lonzo Ball? Josh Jackson? Yall remember Kris Dunn? Hezonja? Wiggins? Exum? Otto Porter? MKG? Dion Waiters? Evan Turner? Wesley Johnson? I mean you could make just as long of a list. The fact is, in the top 5, we'd be lucky if 3 guys weren't complete busts, it's more likely that 3 of these guys in the top 5 will be complete busts, regardless of position. I get the desire for Green but we can't have arguments that are like "Look at Thabeet, he was a center and he was a bust." that's irrelevant, not all centers are busts. Thabeet wasn't the prospect that Mobley is. All Thabeet could do was be tall and block shots, that's it. Mobley was much more than that in his NCAA career.
Lavine will reach his prime next year and has never had a team That wasn’t tanking and playing nothing but 22 year olds. Suns traded for CP and suddenly Booker learned how to win? Nah, just the first time the team is actually trying to win. Beal is handicapped by Westbrook and has one of the worst supporting casts in the league. This is all about the franchise. Without competent role players, almost nobody can win. I think the only reason Harden managed to carry the corpses of Corey Brewer and Jason Terry was because Morey and the Rockets were 5 years ahead of the league in terms of maximizing every possesion. I don’t think that this possible today.
