http://www.realgm.com/src_goaltending/93/20060605/30_days_30_teams_houston_rockets/ Team Needs: A player who can do a little bit of everything and have a strong output if Tracy McGrady gets injured. Outlook: The Rockets would have likely been a playoff team if they were healthy and as a result get the chance to improve an already strong team. Most Suitable Prospects: Rodney Carney - A freakish athlete with incredible versatility. Carney would be able to provide another threat on offense and some much needed defense. Can play either the 2 or 3 spot and has the ability to drive and create for McGrady or Ming. Would be a solid fit in Houston. JJ Redick - Both Ming and McGrady draw double teams and Redick would be a great player to have waiting on the outside to hit treys. Redick would likely excel in a situation like Houston where he would get solid playing time and the ability to contribute without being the man. Marcus Williams - While it's doubtful that he'll be available, he could be exactly the type of player that this team needs at the point. A player who is comfortable with the ball in his hands, but also comfortable without the ball. If he is unavailable, Randy Foye is another player who suits this description. Best Case Scenario: One of Brandon Roy or Marcus Williams falls to the Rockets, giving them an ideal candidate to be a third star on the team. Worst Case Scenario: The Rockets decide to draft depth or reach on a project.
"Rockets need a player who can do a little bit of everything" They include Redick as a possibility and NOT Brewer?
(posted in another thread, but i think it applies well here, as well) here's my take on jj redick: while, on one hand, he has the absolute purest shot i have seen in long time, i also realize that he has much to change in his game to be a productive nba'er. first, let's realize that he is a shooting guard in a point guard's body. that has to change. meaning he has to work on his point guard skills...while in the nba getting abused by faster, pure point guards. not encouraging. second, let's realize that he has never had to play off of another dominant player. sheldon williams, for all the brutishness he brought to camden, was not an offensive weapon. i wonder how redick will play coming off of another player like, say, tmac or yao? he could be wildly successful coming off of weakside screens and moving without the ball. then again, nba defenses could just deny the 3 and force him to cut to the basket. at least, that's what i would do. one thing i can definitely say is that redick never *likes* to go to the bucket. in fact, he is more likely to step back to 25 or 27 feet and shoot from further out than he is to go to the midrange spots. the scary part? he can make those. given what the nba is moving towards, which is the longer multipositional athletes, i'd have to be absolutely blown away by any player that is a specialist. that is what jj redick is - a specialist. he's not going to play 2 or more positions, so he'd have to be absolutely phenomenal at what he does to warrant being picked. 30ppg in college? yea, that's a phenomenal number, but can that skillset be neutralized by 6'4-6'8" players that are able to use their length to slow him? i think so. now let's talk about the rockets. they have multiple holes to fill. their need for athleticism and just overall talent is staggering. our 1, 2, and 4 spots are manned by career backups. not young guys who haven't found a home yet (think phoenix with diaw, barbosa, bell, etc.). these guys are who they are. our backup 1 (head) has a pretty visual ceiling. more than likely, he maxes out at a scoring sixth man. our backup 2 is who? our 4's? kelvin cato would be an upgrade. that says it all. and if that doesn't say it all, try this on for size: richie frahm, maciej lampe, and ryan bowen are on our team. oh, yea, there a mummy that keeps getting on the court wearing number 55. people say it's dikembe mutombo, but i think they're lying. deke does cookie monster voice overs. he doesn't have to play ball anymore. my point is that with all these holes to fill, we need players that fill multiple needs. specialists need not apply to this team...unless they are absolutely dominant at that specialty. jj redick may prove to be absolutely dominant at his specialty, but it's a risk not worth taking at this juncture. not when the window of opportunity is a tight as tmac's back. we need an effective penetrator who can also stick the open jumper. preferably 6'5 to 6'8". we need a point guard who can, and will, get to the rim and finish well. rafer penetrates well, but is one of the worse finishers in the league. we need a power forward who, ironically, is not a power forward. someone who can play the 3 or the 4, who can stick a jumper and, when mismatched, post up effectively. the commonalities with these players is the ability to: 1) play a fluent, uptempo game 2) stick a jumper consistently 3) "d" up on multiple positions yao is our best player now, but make no mistake, we cannot win playing a slow down, half court game every time downcourt. we have to have players that will seize scoring opportunities off of missed shots. use yao for the sets after made shots. same goes for tmac. redick, unfortunatetly, didn't win the rocket's genetic lotto. if he were a couple inches taller or have a little better dexterity, he'd be great for us. as is, he's fool's gold. on a team with a 6'7" shooting guard who can also serve as a point? great. for us? no. give me carney, brewer, roy or gay. not necessarily in that order, but any of them would work. if you want redick, trade swift or head and the second rounder for a mid first round pick. someone might bite. take redick with that pick. let him battle for 6th man status for our championship years. the #8 pick needs to have a little more to offer than that and i can't stomach passing on the best available talent for a specialist...
If we keep the #8 and none of the top prospects fall to us, the conversation should start and end with Ronnie Brewer. At the very least, Rodney Carney.
I have read a lot of draft analysis written by the members on this board which are more informative than this one.
I can't see us NOT taking a swingman in the draft at #8. there are no FA SG's that fit here and will play for the MLE. trading for a 3rd scorer is dificult because we don't have valuable trade assets. the draft is the only way we will land an athletic scoring SG this summer. no way do we draft a PG in marcus williams. i think the order is: roy - brewer - carney - redick. roy won't fall to us but the 3 others will be there. it all bepends on how thier workout went.
the only issue i have w/taking a swingman is they will be a project...and our current window of opportunity is closing soon, and will that project be ready in time? badiane is a perfect example...in theory, hed be an amazing addition as a PF to help out yao, but does anyone know if he will ever make it over? im not saying those people listed fall anywhere near that category, but we need someone who will be able to contribute in fairly short order...not as a starter, but definitely off the bench. and aside from the obvious choice of roy (who i truly wish would be available to us), the only nearly-ready talent (oh hush, i know its a stretch) would be reddick. dont get me wrong, carney and brewer are fantastic athletes, but wasnt swift? its just you know what youre getting w/reddick and he may even be able to learn a few more tricks, but the risk/reward ratio is much higher w/an athletic swingman pick. just thought id interject.
unfortunately our 27 yr old star has a 37 yr old back...i think its been bandied about enough on this board that tmacs condition will only get worse over the course of 80+ games...based on that, hes probably only got 2-3 all-star years left in him. and the yao-tmac pairing is lightening in a bottle, thats why i say we need picks that will maximize that while not completely jeopardizing our future post-tmac
You say taking a swingman will be a project but then use Badiane, a power forward, as an example of this? On the contrary, I think we're very lucky in that the athletic swingman position is the easiest to fill/develop in the NBA. Big men in the draft are either too thin or too raw and are projects. We have our big man. Point guards take time to develop. I think Rafer is adequate. Swingmen with low expectations don't have to adjust as much. Plug them in and let them be athletic and do whatever it is athletes do. Run around and create havoc. That's all we need.
Sadly, our window is closing. McGrady doesn't have more than 2 or 3 years left in the tank. It's very apparent just comparing his movement from last year to his Orlando years. Guy used to be a monster.
all i meant using the badiane example was the grand theories of projects based on "athleticism". in theory, a project like badiane sounds great as a compliment to yao down low. just like the size of carney is tantalizing as a multi-position defender. but i will say that maybe a more appropriate example (for swingmen) would be darius miles. and i respectfully disagree about swingman w/low expectations running around creating chaos. enter exhibit A) ryan bowen.
Dallas definitely benefitted by adding athletes like Josh Howard and Devin Harris through the draft. Imagine how that team would have been if those guys weren't on their roster. You seem to be saying it's too much of a risk to draft a player who has potential to be great, so let's go get a one-dimensional player. This team won't go anywhere drafting a guy like Reddick. If the goal is to win 50+ games and hope to get a favorable seeding where we don't have to run into the Mavs, Spurs, or Suns until the second round, then drafting a specialist with the 8th pick is fine. Maybe we can get by the Clippers or Nuggets!! This is probably the last chance the Rockets have to draft this high. They really need to nail this pick and draft a starter that can upgrade this team's athleticism. Yes, he has to be able to more than just dunk. A guy like Brewer, who can pass, penetrate, defend his own man and disrupt the passing lanes would be my ideal player to draft at 8. The kid played 3 years of college ball so I would think he's more mature than someone like Darius Miles who came right out of high school and received a fat contract. Carney's more of a risk, but from what I've read, he does have good range and form on his outside shot (better than Miles has today).
i should probably have put my comments in their original context. the original point i was trying to make is that the rockets need help in several areas, and the sooner the better. so we are basically faced w/two sets of choices: we can draft someone who can help fairly quickly or we can draft someone who has better talent but more potential than anything and would probably not contribute for another year. and thats where the reddick v. brewer/carney comes in. dont get me wrong, id be happy w/picking brewer (over carney) but i understand he may not have the immediate impact reddick could. and understand the context of "immediate impact" would probably be a jon barry-role where he comes off the bench as a long-range specialist. comparing the two, brewer definitely is the better defender and athlete but most scouting reports say he needs to work on his shot whereas no one can question reddicks shot. so its a matter of picking your poison and how quickly its going to work
Sorry! But he was our best player till Yao Ming came back from his surgery. Now Mc Grady has to prove that he can still play the NBA Game, if he can and is our best, it will be great for our Team.
Yao has to prove he can maintain his post-all star play for a whole season. Hopefully, both are healthy and at their best.
