Paolo Banchero is that guy who will play well enough to get a max contract but not really ever move the needle toward contention. He's somewhere in the mold of John Collins meets Julius Randle meets 2nd-half-career Amare Stoudemire. I'll have my fingers crossed that Orlando or Oklahoma City see something in Paolo.
I don’t know where this Mark Williams can defend on the perimeter talk is coming from. Duren? I haven’t seen him do it in game a ton. Both are paint type centers that excel in drop coverage and can use length to stop driving lanes, but putting them on an island on the perimeter? I don’t see it
This essentially means Ivey is a superstar. This idiot is always wrong (and I don't want Ivey but I would reconsider now)
I'd rather get Keegan Murray or Shaedon Sharpe over Ivey, but any one of the top 3 bigs (Chet, Jabari or Paolo) is who we should pick at #3.
Even if he doesn’t have a great season for the Rockets, he is still likely to have good value in a trade on his rookie contract after it. I don't think his attitude and behavior will be like Wood.
Houston would like to trade back with Sacramento, thinking they would draft Banchero......problem is I'm hearing chatter that they (Kings) might draft Ivey as well. People wanting to pair Fox with Ivey......but they drafted Davion Mitchell last season which forced out Haliburton. Rockets are having thoughts about Ivey as well.....pairing with Green despite drafting Josh Christopher last season. Thunder chatter is pairing Ivey with SGA and Giddey. The one that may not be having internal discussions is Magic. Since they have Cole Anthony, Fultz and drafted Suggs last season. But who knows...... There is a reason teams like Ivey......because he does comp to Ja Morant Professional scouts see it. Do i see Orlando or Thunder picking Ivey #1 or #2.....no, but trading down to #4 or #5 is an option. Even if they don't land Ivey....Sharpe is available.
We will still have a high pick plus a good pick from them too. No guarantee of VW. He's not strong enough to be a superstar like KG.
I don't think you can go wrong picking Ivey or Banchero. There's just no real way to know the future for either player and I assume the Rockets do their homework to a degree that no one in the media comes close to. I could see KP3 at the 3 with Ivey are point - what a starting trio that would be.
An excellent post. Presti is a clever man. He can trade SGA for the 4th and grab Ivey, plus take either Jabari or Chet at 2. I hope the Rockets won't trade the 3rd for Sharpe at 5 plus another Pacers player.
I actually kinda agree with you but get to a different conclusion. I think he will deserve a max contract but won’t be the best player on a contender. But I do believe he can be that second guy on a contender. And I would be more than happy to draft a guy like that with the 3d pick (and I do believe Green can be that number 1 guy on a contender…).
I'm pretty sure the Rockets interest in Ivey is just propaganda. I'm not an insider, but I'm pretty sure that the FO sees KPJ and Green as the future backcourt of this team and one of the best 1-2 tandems in the league. My prediction is that KPJ has a better year than Jalen Green, but both excel this upcoming year. Sometimes showing patience and providing a positive framework for young men pays off for both them and the people that provided the support. Every year fans go crazy over a few guys most have only seen play a couple of times. It would be really stupid for the Rockets to expend valuable resources on a guy who plays the same position as their 2 best players and hasn't done anything but looked like one of the 5 best players in a fairly shallow draft.
