Rockets on the radar ... Who'll they pick in the draft? From RON: I know the Rockets' season has been long over, but once a fan, always a fan. With the 24th pick in the draft (if I'm not mistaken, it's our first pick in the first round since Yao) and with the end Chicago pre-draft camp, do you know which college or international players have caught the Rockets eye? What are your thoughts about picking up a quick young point guard like Notre Dame's Chris Thomas? Also do you know why the Rockets (or Yao) insist on having Yao start each half court series with a screen or pick? In my opinion, it pulls him too far from the basket, and wastes valuable time. It either prevents from getting in position for the rebound, or if he does go to the lane, by the time he gets the ball there are only a few seconds left on the clock. I don't remember Hakeem doing that, he just went straight into the lane and each series started with the ball in his hands. RICHARD: Ron, let me get to your second question first. One of the reasons I'm doing this is I have no answer for your first question. Not that I won't take a guess. Yao starts some possessions away from the basket to keep the area around the basket clear and also because he's such a terrific passer. When he gets the ball at the foul line, he has the option of hitting Tracy McGrady cutting to the basket, passing to a wingman or shooting. Hakeem got the ball in the deep post most of the time, but defenses have changed so much since double-teaming and zones basically have been made legal. To tell you the truth, the defensive rules are so complex now that I don't really understand them. And if you watch a couple of games, you'll see the players don't really understand them, either. As for the draft, the Rockets really have a simple goal: to draft someone more like those guys in Phoenix and Dallas. They'd love to get younger and faster at point guard--not that Bobby Sura didn't do a terrific job. Remember they have the rights to Greek guard Vasilis Spanoulis. He could be invited to camp if the Rockets feel he's good enough to push someone for a job. As for the draft, I have an interesting name: Syracuse forward Hakim Warrick. He's the player the Rockets get in the first mock draft I've seen -- by nbadraft.net. He makes sense because he's has such great athletic skills and possibly can play both forward positions.Georgia Tech point guard Jarrett Jack and Oklahoma State forward Joey Graham are two other names to keep in mind. CHRON BLOG
Fan: Richard, who are the Rockets going to take in the draft? Richard Justice: I looked on NBAdraft.net and they said they would take Joe Somebody. So that's probably who they will take. ### Thanks for the insight Richie!
I don't really like to read Justice's take on basketball, he should really stick to baseball. I know it's his blog and he can say whatever he wants but he used NBAdraft.net as one of his sources! I can give a better mock draft than them, they just rank the players in order of talent, they don't take into account team needs or anything like that.
Wow. Richard Justice never ceases to amaze me with his ineptitude. I could have written a much better response than that, and I wouldn't even count myself among the more knowledgeable posters on this forum. He actually cited nbadraft.net. "Sorry pal, but I have no connections inside the Rockets organization whatsoever so I'm going to fall back on stuff you've probably already looked at. Nevermind Hakim Warrick has moved up about 10 spots on the nbadraft.net mock draft since he was listed as the Rockets likely pick."
Richard Justice is a dumbass and should stick w/ writing the entertainment section of the Chronicle. Wait, he would suck at that too!
He should have just replied: "Quit bothering me so I can get back to writing about Clemens and the Astros."
So what did we all learn from this article? If you want to get some indepth analysis on everything Rockets, then join Clutchfans. If you want shallow lip service from someone that's not really paying attention, then read the Chronicle (aside from Feigan who usually does his homework).
More like... "Quit bothering me, so I can continue to tell Drayton how to run his own business, even though I'm not qualified to do so."
I hope he meant that double teaming someone without the ball was illegal. Now it can be done with the new pseudo-zone.
When was double teaming ever illegal? I've been watchng the NBA for 20 years and never heard that before. Please enlighten me.
I'm not a Justice fan. I think he just loves to hear himself talk and get's most of his material from other publications and then takes credit.
What Justice's response points up is how lazy and unknowledgeable many members of the mainstream media really are. It's true in sports just as it's true in politics, entertainment and other news fields. That why there's been such growth in non-traditional media outlets such as talk radio, blogs and internet sites such as our own clutchfans. People want to know the truth, and they know "experts" like Richard Justice can't give it to them.
Double teaming WITHOUT the ball was illegal for a long time. Only in the past 5-6 years when they brought back the zone defense has it been okay guard a guy, and have another guy shade over before he receives the ball.
Thanks. Makes sense now. Always knew zones defenses were illegal till recently. Wish they still were, actually.
