Why does everyone in the Media just trash our Culture? but they are saying every time outside of the rockets have better Culture????
Well the team let Harden do whatever he wanted while he was here and then just this past year we had two knuckleheads pretty much doing whatever they wanted with no real consequences. Until the team starts to hold all the players accountable and puts an end to the diva and knucklehead stuff the team will be viewed that way.
Projection of players and transition from youth to NBA can take different paths. It's a matter of perception. I perceive Banchero morphing more into Boozer as others do as well as you notice people saying he has put on about 20 pounds I one year.....you perceive his path as becoming more fleet of foot. Being some kind of SF standout like Tatum. Well see who is right in the long run. I was right right about Jalen Green....and called Zion gaining weight and having leg problems (pre-draft)
It’s pretty easy to read into what Stone is saying that Sengun and Paolo have some similar strengths but also similar weaknesses. So if he wanted to give the impression that we are okay taking Paolo, he didn’t pull that off.
If the Thunder get their guy or top 2 (maybe that is the issue?? They want their top 1) why does it matter what the rockets get? Is it just because they don’t want the team to get better? I’m missing something
Stone really says all the smart and right things. It's so true. That said, if you are at 3, and Banchero is left, I haven't heard many alternatives. Trade down/out? Ok, what minimum do you need? Clutch mentioned to Detroit for 5 plus their unprotected first next year on twitter i think. That's likely as good as you get. It's similar to what Hawks-Mavs did. The Hawks pick the next year ended up being meh - Cam Reddish. Even recognizing (1) Detroit is unlikely to make the playoffs next year (they won 23 games this year, 10 spot won 43... but Cade missed a bunch of games and they did get better at the end of the year AND if they are trading to 3 to get Paolo, yeah his defense might be an issue, but he's "nba ready" and that team can win mid/high 30s games, so they won't be a bottom dweller, just in the lottery and hope to get lucky), and (2) next year's draft is "amazing"!... you have to REALLY REALLY REALLY think Paolo just wont and can't fit and be just as happy with Murray or whomever. Personally, i find the drop off after Ivey to be large. People keep talking up Sharpe and he might be the real deal but i have no clue and he is super redundant, which is theoretically what you'd be trading out of 3 to avoid. And indeed, there is likely to be a player outside the top 3 that ends up being the better rookies/long-term players in this class, but I'm not sure which one. In short, if concerned about the Paolo fit... "YAY!! We got pick #3.... now what?!?!" Nvm that I'm increasingly of the, apparently unique view that Jabari Smith is closer to a REALLY REALLY good role player (bigger version of Mikal Bridges) than a star player.
No that’s exactly how I view Jabari and I think he is perfect in that regard as a player and as a fit with jalen green (it sure seems like J Green is going to be elite from 3) and with rockets because of the assets they still hold in regards to eventually finding a another top 20-25 player down the road for at least 3-4 years that can get his own shot.
Everyone loves Paolo except CF. https://theathletic.com/3323222/2022/05/20/nba-draft-paolo-chet-jabari/ Who should go No. 1 in the NBA Draft? We asked Eric Musselman to rank the top 3 candidates There will be a serious and spirited debate over the next month about what order Gonzaga’s Chet Holmgren, Duke’s Paolo Banchero and Auburn’s Jabari Smith should be picked in the 2022 NBA Draft. Each has a strong case to go No. 1, and none is likely to fall outside the top three with Orlando, then Oklahoma City, then Houston getting the honor of selecting one of the center-sized stars with guard skills. So how do those three stack up against each other? Few are as qualified to answer that question as Arkansas coach Eric Musselman, the former Timberwolves, Magic, Hawks and Grizzlies assistant and Warriors and Kings head coach, whose team faced each of those elite prospects in the span of a month this season. Smith had 20 points and nine rebounds and hit 6 of 16 shots in a loss to the Razorbacks. Holmgren had 11 points and 14 boards and fouled out in 23 minutes during a Sweet 16 loss to Arkansas. Banchero went for 16 points, seven boards and three assists in an Elite Eight win over the Hogs. “I could see a reason to pick all three of them,” Musselman told The Athletic this week. “They’re all legitimate top-three picks. If you’re drafting that high and there’s not much separation, trade the pick. But these guys are all worthy. The amazing thing to me about all three of them is what they can do at their size and age. These are freshmen. We aren’t talking about somebody in their fourth or fifth year who is maxed out. So now it’s what is their work ethic and what kind of organization do they end up with? That’ll determine how these three careers unfold. But they each have the tools you’re looking for at the top of the draft. In the NBA, it’s simple: What super skill do you have that sets you apart from others? If you don’t have one, then you’re just a rotation guy.” Holmgren’s super skill is “shot blocking and length,” Musselman said. Smith’s is “being 6-foot-10 and an elite shot-maker.” Banchero’s is “being 6-10 and excelling in all three phases: off the bounce, mid-post and at the rim.” Bottom line: They all do something so exceptionally that Musselman is confident they will succeed as pros. In 2017, after his Nevada team faced Markelle Fultz at Washington (and won), he was not at all convinced he’d just seen the eventual No. 1 pick. In fact, he was “absolutely shocked” when it went down that way on draft night. “Having coached in the NBA, I didn’t even think he was a first-round pick, let alone the No. 1 pick,” Musselman said. “But the most interesting thing about this process is how much research the winning teams that draft so well truly do, and on the flip side how little some others do. The only teams who called me about Fultz were the winning teams. Anyone who asked, I could’ve told them that was a mistake. If you cannot help your college team win, there should be a concern — unless it’s a guy like Anthony Edwards, who had no pieces around him but just stood out so much physically — and that’s what I love about these three guys this year. They won at a high, high, high level.” Unlike Fultz, and despite Georgia’s struggles in 2020, Musselman had zero doubt that the Timberwolves made the right call taking Edwards No. 1 that year. “I watched the layup line when we played Georgia and could tell you, ‘This guy is a bona fide starter right out of the gate,’” Musselman said. “That night, we had no answer for Edwards. He was bionic. He was superhuman. The lift on his jump shot, he was getting off the ground like three feet higher than our guys, it felt like, and we couldn’t even contest his shot. We could not bother him. His strength and his athleticism, it was just different than everybody else. That’s what you’re looking for at No. 1. And you can argue all three of the guys this year have it.” But one of them has to come off the board first. So in what order would Musselman go after scouting, game-planning and facing each of them? It’s Banchero, Smith, then Holmgren for him. “If I was in a draft room, that would be my feeling, but every team has got different needs and timelines,” he said. “Somebody might want to draft Chet because they have more of a long-term plan. Somebody might need perimeter shooting and a guy who can space the floor, and Jabari would be that guy. But just playing against the three, Paolo was the hardest for us to deal with.” Which brings us to the scouting reports. Here’s how Musselman views the Big Three, in his order: 1. Paolo Banchero, Duke On offense: “He was the one we just had no answer for. Our scouting report couldn’t take anything away from him. When they needed a basket, it went to him. He got the ball off where we couldn’t double-team or soft-trap him. He makes 3s and just kept improving as a 3-point shooter over the year. He knows how to draw fouls. He’s excellent in the midrange. He’s got a good jab-step, pull-up jump shot. Got a really good turnaround jump shot. Can run the floor. Actually, you know what? I think he might be even more athletic than Jabari. It’s probably about even.” On defense: “We couldn’t get a mismatch because they had so many equal-sized guys and then they went zone, so I did not get a good feel for him as a defender. But we didn’t go at him a lot. We didn’t feel like we had an advantage to post him up at all and didn’t feel like we had an advantage off the bounce to try to go at him or get him in foul trouble. So we really just kind of stayed away from him.” 2. Jabari Smith, Auburn On offense: “He’s so unique with his ability to make shots from so deep and doesn’t need a lot of dribbles to get them off. He can shoot over people. There’s just not a lot of guys his age or size who can shoot transition 3s off the run and catch like he can. It’s a little bit like Klay Thompson, who doesn’t dribble a lot and can be in a dead sprint, catch, plant and stick it. Jabari does that really well, which is a remarkable thing at 6-10. Our plan was just to crowd him, not let him go left at all. We felt like if he got the left-hand, 1-2 dribble, he was virtually unstoppable. He’s really unique, because you don’t often see a right-handed player love to put the ball on the deck with his left hand. We went through all his makes and felt like he was probably the most unique right-hand guy we’ve ever seen.” On defense: “He’s so long, the only thing we tried to do is maybe get a switch where a smaller guy could try to attack off the bounce. Even then, you might have a lateral-quickness advantage with a smaller guy, but Jabari’s reach makes it really hard. I thought he was great at slapping and jabbing at the ball.” 3. Chet Holmgren, Gonzaga On offense: “Tremendous upside with his length, shooting and passing. He’s really intriguing. For us, the game plan was to get up under him out on the perimeter, get as low as we possibly could and try to swallow up any dribbles that he might take. And then in the post, it was to use our low center of gravity and try to be as physical as possible. Any time he sets screens, just be as physical as we could and try to impede his path anywhere that he was on the floor. We wanted our strongest, most physical player on him.” Arkansas assigned 6-foot-6, 225-pound Trey Wade, a journeyman who averaged six points per game at three schools and then got an NFL mini-camp tryout as a tight end, to guard the slender, 7-foot, 195-pound Holmgren. This highlights one major concern about Holmgren at the next level: whether he can hold up physically. On defense: “We said no floaters when we went to the basket. Try to get him in rotations and attack his body physically on our dribble drives. We didn’t want to settle and take midrange shots against him. If he came over from the weak side, our goal was to score inside the restricted area, basically, and to go through his body and try to draw fouls. (Holmgren fouled out for just the third time all season.) No soft layups. It was a relentless attack at the rim if you saw him come from the weak side. We knew he would block a couple shots, but we wanted to be aggressive getting into his body on our last dribble into the shot. Right now, that’s going to be the way you go after him — but there’s just not many guys his size and age who can dribble, pass and shoot as well as he can. Plus, he’s a great shot-blocker with good ability and mobility at that size. There’s a lot to like about that kid, too.”
Comparing Banchero to Boozer is like comparing Jalen Green to Bradley Beal. I dont put a ton of stock into tourney results, but between the 3 prospects, only one bailed their team out when it was "time to go get us a bucket". The other two kinda wilted.
Yeah...people have really cooled hard on him when we were supposed to be tanking for this very same player years ago lol. If he's there at 3, take him and figure things out. People are overthinking things. Paolo's been an elite prospect all of his life for a reason, if you have a chance to get a player like this at 19 you take him and figure things out. Sure, he could be a bust, everyone has bust potential, but I guarantee you the guys taken after him have even more bust potential than he does.
FWIW, that Gonzaga/Arkansas game was atrociously officiated against Holmgren. That was the only game I caught Chet playing in the tourney but man the refs were blind that night.
Right, we don't have to keep him for the entire life of his career If the team's defense is so bad 3-6 years into this thing but he's putting up big numbers, that makes him or Green or whoever easy to trade. You have to get the guy you think will succeed in the NBA the most and I think Paolo despite his flaws will come in here and compete for ROTY. Team defense is going to suck, you hope you can coach the team up and that he can get better as time goes on, but if not, trade him away and move on.
Banchero had the luxury of AJ Griffin shooting 45% from 3. Wendell Moore shooting 41% from 3 and a dominant lob threat near the rim in Mark Williams. Judging players also need to be seen in context with one another. Open lanes vs no lanes. Are you being fair or truthful to yourself? Were all players equal with the same teammates and coaching? Interchange Patrick Baldwin with Banchero at Milwaukee. Patrick Baldwin looks amazing next to Wendell Moore and AJ Griffin and Mark Williams... and Banchero struggles in Milwaukee with no lanes. All of a sudden looks like Boozer.
https://theathletic.com/3323699/2022/05/20/houston-rockets-draft-combine/ At this stage in the offseason, it’s unclear how the Rockets will proceed with the No. 3 pick – which is understandable. The draft lottery took place less than 48 hours ago. There will be lots of debate among Houston’s decision makers over the coming days and weeks as they weigh the pros, cons and potential fits of each top prospect. But after spending a week in Chicago, I can say, with absolute certainty, that Duke’s Paolo Banchero has the makings of a star. His on-court persona is well known. He possesses a nice blend of size, ballhandling, playmaking and scoring prowess, all of which help explain why he’s heralded as a top option. But there’s a certain aura to him that you tend to see in budding young stars. When Banchero enters a room, he instantly draws everyone’s attention. Players like Gonzaga’s Chet Holmgren and Auburn’s Jabari Smith Jr. also have that effect to some degree, but Banchero’s presence feels important. It’s similar to that of Jalen Green during his rookie season. At some point, the Rockets want to be an attractive option for free agents. Something about Banchero screams “it” factor, and that, in combination with Green, could assist Houston’s push for outside help in the coming years. The Rockets have a decent feel for Banchero’s game and will be able to paint a clearer picture as their evaluation deepens. The draft is often a crapshoot, and it’s possible one of Holmgren or Smith will remain on the board when Houston is on the clock. But if they’re not, Banchero should be close to a no-brainer.
I hope ORL and OKC feel same way about Chet. But if both Chet and Jabari gone at #3, the pick has to be Paolo. Fit be damned.
