Why make that investment now and use a draft pick to get that security blanket? If you're saying a late draft pick rarely works out, why not go after Jaygup in year 3 or 4 of Jalen's contract to convince him to stay and for now pick the best player or best fit available. The Bobby Brown's of the world can be pulled from whatever league they are in to come warm the bench if that is their sole purpose is to have a familiar face around. I would not have picked Grimes, even as a fan of UH. I would have taken a longer look at guys like Springer though.
I dont think the pick was JUST to appease Green. I think they see something in JC that can be developed into a useful role on the team. He has good size and athleticism for a G. He was a highly ranked player going into college so it sounds like if not for a sub par year at AZ St, he could have gone higher in the draft. Grimes looks to be the better shooter right now, but JC could be the more overall versatile player on both ends. I'll wait to see what he becomes.
here are some fun facts for you from a Sun Devil. 1. Joshua Christopher is the highest ranked recruit to ever play basketball at ASU (yes over Harden) 2. Joshua Christopher only played 15 games 3. Joshua Christopher's shooting percentage from 3 is not indicative of his talent. He was horrendous to begin the season and got better. 4. Dort was undrafted after leaving following his freshman year. 5. Harden stayed two years. ASU has a pretty solid track record of producing NBA level guards. I think Josh will be a pleasant surprise. I think he was a bit of a reach but if you see someone you want and think he could be taken before you can get back in? Take him. I'm also not biased against UH. I did graduate school there. Grimes is awesome. I probably would have taken Jaden Springer at that position in the draft but the Rockets worked very hard to make their decision. Hopefully their educated guess is the right one.
Russell Westbrook had a 30’ standing and 36’5 max vertical at the combine pretty much what Josh jumped. Grimes also outperformed Westbrook in this regard. I don’t see anything from watching him play to suggest he is nearly as explosive an athlete as Westbrook. It’s more than how high you can jump. You should also note that Grimes went to the combine after his freshman season and jumped 27’5 and 36 both numbers below what Josh jumped after his freshman year.
Kid looks good tbh, and he drives the ball. Has a real good mentally defensively, which puts him above the rest for the back up type Sg's i see in the late first. Rockets looking for a good bench rotational player for the future. If he could turn into the next Courtney Lee type Guard, then it would be great. No wonder the rockets drafted him. If he can keep up that defensive mentality, and great drives to the basket, he would be exactly what rockets need late in games coming off the bench. Let him spend sometime in the D-League to see if he gets better.
Fair points. Grimes did this in high school, though. He's not a Westbrook-type athlete that will grab a rebound, go coast to coast, and dunk on someone's head or cut down the lane and dunk in someone's face, but the athleticism is there when he needs it. He's also deceptively strong and moves his feet well laterally in a defensive position. He's a plus rebounder for his size. Weighing him against Christopher and any individual player drafted after him I'd bet on the length of Grimes NBA career over just about anyone of them head to head (I'd of course take "field" over Grimes, though). As long as the three point shooting wasn't a total fluke last year (possible, but the mechanics look good), he should be in the league for a while with a little upside as a secondary creator. All that said, I'm totally good with taking a swing on Christopher's higher upside and I don't think Grimes will reach a level in the NBA where we feel like we totally blew it by not taking him.
oh I wasn't saying I agree with that strategy but that's what stone and the rockets did. I agree with you here, would've gone for someone with higher upside, but it appears they drafted for chemistry at #24.
If the Rockets were at a different stage of their rebuild they probably would have picked Grimes because he will impact winning more right away. They drafted Christoper with the hope that they get a guy that outplays where he was selected in the draft.
Josh Christopher has upside. His frame and physical attributes are high. He also has a chance to be a positive player on both sides of the ball. If anything he is just more of a risk, than other players.... but he has high upside. The Rockets only really need two of these 4 players to pan out.... if Green becomes an all star and one of the other 3 become top of the rotation players then the Rockets had a great draft. Hell, if Green becomes a franchise player and the other three are out of the league, it was still a good draft.
this is true. top picks (green) have only about a 50/50 shot at being an all star. mid round picks (Al) usually have about a 50/50 shot at becoming a starter, late round picks (garuba/jaygup) with those same odds at being a rotation player. what makes this haul so special from the start is Al was supposed to go mid lotto. he's got all star potential. Garuba was supposed to go late lotto, he's got starter potential. our first 3 picks all played pro last year and have that experience to raise their floors, closing the gap between their floor and ceiling, and making it more likely for them to reach their full potential. if someone from the future told me green is an all nba player, Sengun is an all star and Garuba is a starter an on an all defensive team, I'd believe it mores than if they told me Al and Garuba became bench depth guys and green was the only starter of the bunch. but again all the hype is for the first 3 guys. they knew they killed it in the draft so they were able to take a flyer at 24. they went with the chemistry pick, if he pans out great, if not he would have at least helped rebuild the culture, keep our future star happy and hopefully kept him resigned long term. I'm not saying he wasn't worth drafting for his potential as a basketball player, but i'm saying a large part was due to chemistry.
Rockets have future picks up the wazoo. They can take bets on high risk high reward players vs "safer" choices given their situation. Your stars are young. You have lots of pick. Why not gamble with the last of 4 picks in the first round?
Loved our draft, except for Josh. Really wanted Q, because we needed another shooter and he plays defense hard, oh yeah and he's from this area--the trifecta I thought. However, I hadn't spent much time looking at JC so I held back on criticizing the pick until I did some more research. First, as someone mentioned this kid has personality plus and just seems like a good kid who loves to hoop. I like to listen how these kids talk and what they talk about. He seems to love the game and want to get better. He's also got a ton of confidence, which he'll need. He's rawer than Q, but there's an age and experience difference. His highlights look fine, he reminds me a lot of a taller Donovan Mitchell, which would be fantastic. I'm not sure he's a combo guard at this stage, he looks more like a SG. His decision-making will have to improve quite a bit to run at the 1 on a routine basis. His upside seems higher than Q and paired with KPJ and Green that's got the potential to be a killer backcourt in 2-3 years. I'm happy for Q, he'll get some tough coaching from Tibs and a chance to be in the playoffs next year. It will be fun to monitor how these guys develop and how this thread matures.
Grimes looks like dookie, can’t create space, can’t finish at the rim, mediocre D, inconsistent jumper Christopher’s decision making was poor, he forced shots, but he also showed he has the tools, he has a handle, and he can create space. He just needs to develop his J, and work on playing within his role, within the flow of the offense, g league should do a lot for him
Q is going to be a good role player in this league for a long time. He's actually in a great situation where toughness and hard coaching was already pressed upon by Kelvin so that's something he's already used to. It's going to be fun to track his progress through the years and can definitely help the knicks now when playing alongside rose, kemba, randle but yes Q is someone who you're looking at when you want a guy who can give you some minutes now in meaningful games. JC is an attempt to see what he may be down the road
I've decided Josh's ceiling is pre-injury Ron Harper. This has been another edition of old man remembers old stuff and compares it to modern world.
Grimes is clearly a fringe NBA rotation player. Christopher is going to have a long career in the league, especially as a defensive tempo changer. To me the real argument here is Christopher vs. Bones Hyland
Jalen Green reminds me sometimes of Reggie Miller. I'm hoping he'll be better, but that's a guy who keeps coming to my mind watching him. Wiry, kinda awkward handle, sniper. Moves really well off the ball.
