With the 10th pick in the NBA Draft the Houston Rockets Select...

We should not overpay for Adams. People forget that he missed most of the season and was pretty bad for maybe 10 games after he was activated. He is good at rebounding and interior defense. He is not good at anything else. That’s ok for a back-up center, but not for more than 10m or so a year. Our management of the salary cap is very important. Playing two bigs that can’t shoot is not a strategy that will work more than a few minutes a game and against certain line-ups. Anybody watch the ‘Wolves and Thunder game should understand how far behind we are offensively than those 2 teams. Our roster needs to change significantly this off-season.

 

I think people are kind of sleeping on this guy. He'll still only be 18 on draft day. Wont turn 19 until right before the season starts.

Wouldnt mind him at all, especially if Sengun is involved in a deal. He looks smooth and I think that shot looks good. 25% from three on super low volume, but id buy stock in him being at least 32% at some point. Really good finisher around the rim. Great size, good mobility for being 7'2.

I like him a lot more than Queen.

 

I’m not spending the #10 pick or moving up by adding more assets for an 18 year old 3rd stream center. Just doesn’t make sense for a team that is a player or two away from championship contention. This kid may end up great 3-4 years from now. Remember that Jabari was 18 when drafted with a much greater skill set and much more solid frame.

 

Yep. Trading #10 along with someone(s) and other assets shpuld net us an

 

*should net us an upgrade.

 

I doubt he will be there at 10 Raptors need a center and he has that connection with the GM

 

I don’t even want the pick.

Play Reed and Cam. We have 2 rookies basically on the bench. This 10th pick will have a mansion in McAllen, Tx and never see game time.

 

The only way Maluach falls is that people fall in love with Demin, Fears, Kon, and probably Kasparas. I can't see Queen going before M.

Maluach might drop slightly because there are a few naysayers who think his athletic testing and conditioning were subpar. And they really weren't very good. For example, his 3/4 sprint was 3.5, which is relatively slow, and his standing vertical was only 20," which is pretty limited.

However, M won't turn nineteen until August and would be a steal at #10; I doubt it would take Stone much time to turn in that pick.

I know we need shooting and guard play, but he would bring incredible rim protection and depth, making our already outstanding rebounding team even better. And he gives you another body to guard Victor.

As much as Ime has trouble developing players, with Royal Ivey around, we'd have difficulty messing this one up. They have a history together with the South Sudan national team. If anybody knows him, Ivey does.

The bigger question for Stone is, do we have the nerve to trade a player (like Cam) on draft night to swap up one or two slots to haul in M?

 

Maluach's calling card needs to be low post D and rim protection and rebounding.

Offensively, he needs a reliable corner 3 and the ability to pick and roll.

And Maluach's shot rn may be better than Adams's.

Maluach will start his career as a backup 5 and should work his way to being a starting caliber 5 by the time he hits FA. Is that worth the 10th pick?

 

Still think Coward would be the best fit on this team. Would shore up the SG position and is good insurance for Jalen Green or whoever Jalen Green's replacement is going to be. CMB is the best connector but bad shooter. Fleming seems like a Siakam type. Jabari Smith insurance policy.

 

I saw Kas Juku on Heat Check carefully. I'm starting to believe that he might be the right pick at 10 for Houston.

 

Coward's biggest issue in terms of fitting on this team is that his handles are suspect. And this team really don't need more players who aren't great with the ball in their hands. I think he would be a good pick if the Rockets trade down. But at 10 I would much prefer a good ball handler like Jackucionis of Demin here, assuming the higher tier guards like Tre Johnson are gone already.

 

I understand where you're coming from, but neither Demin or Jakucionis appear to be good shooters. I think we can afford a guy who isn't a great ball handler more easily than we can afford to have more non-shooters on the perimeter. I'm intrigued by both of those guys, especially Demin because I love the idea of a future back court of 6'9 Demin and 6'7 Amen, but the Rockets would have to be really convinced that they can get their shots to come around sooner rather than later to pick them.

 

Tre Johnson looks like just another in the long line of Jalen Green/Bradley Beal/Cam Thomas chucker types. I'm cool with Kasparas even though he's going to be living off of RGV tortas for a year. All of the wing types have a wart that's going to give them issues at first:

1) Kasparas - can't stay in front of anyone (but could be this years Wagner)
2) CMB - can't shoot
3) Coward - small sample size, can't dribble
4) Fleming - can't pass

The list of the 7-2 wingspan wings is a good one. And I like Coward specifically because he fills the biggest position of need right now which is a shooting guard that can defend and actually shoot. Amen/Reed/FVV will be the primary initiators on this team next year. We just need someone that can defend and catch and shoot (and make the court bigger). Jabari/Coward/Reed with Sengun/Amen has almost no holes.

 

I disagree with this. Our ball handling/creation problem isn’t that we don’t have enough ball handlers, it’s that our primary ball handlers aren’t good enough; and the guys without the ball aren’t threatening on the perimeter.

It’s part of the Ime equal opportunity offense thing. Everybody on our team is kind of a mediocre on ball threat and mediocre off ball threat. So we spread out our offensive choices among all mediocre options.

Good offenses tend to be more minmaxed. Elite on ball threats (who have the ball most of the time) and elite off ball threats (who don’t have the ball and just finish plays).

Coward IMO looks he could be the latter, which we also lack.

I don’t think the former (elite on ball perimeter guys) are available in this draft outside the top 2. There are only ~25 of them in the world.

 

The top ball handlers still in the playoffs taken after pick 10 include SGA, Jalen Williams, Brunson, and Halliburton. So clearly these guys are available without a top-2 pick.

 

Coward to me has multiple issues. Only 7 games against high level college competition. Is a senior. and just had a major injury. AND on top of that he's not a good passer. If it was just one of those issues, say he put up those numbers for an entire college season and did some damage in the tournament, I can look past the other stuff. But his total package just feels risky for a 10th pick. Not unless there's a lot more to him than what he's shown on the court and in combine numbers.

 

lol. “Available” as in, you are confident that’s their projection and you’re planning accordingly.

Anything is available at any pick if you mean it as “is it possible this guy could be that”. MVPs get taken in the 2nd round etc. Doesn’t mean Jokic is available at 58.

 

My own view is that the likelihood of Jackucionis or Demin becoming a viable 3pt shooter is much higher than that of Coward developing enough ball handling skills to be a capable guard. Especially due to age and having played more games against high level college competition compared to Coward. I'm not saying they're perfect prospects. None of these guys are after Flagg, just that I can see the upside more with them.