The Comprehensive 2006 Draft Guide By Nick Prevenas 6/29/06 What just happened? I just finished watching all five hours of ESPN's NBA draft coverage. I feel dizzy. My head hurts. My eyes are bloodshot and I can hardly keep my thoughts straight. This draft made me feel like a college student after his first keg party. I'm not positive, but I think I've been traded to the Portland Trailblazers. Now that I've had a few minutes to catch my breath and try to make sense of this chaos, let's take a look at how the wildest draft in years shook down... ...Before I get too far, I want to mention the single-dumbest draft-day trade of the evening. First, let me mention that I'm not the biggest Rudy Gay fan. He mailed it in far too often during his college career for me to mention him as a top-pick candidate. But he's easily the most talented player in this year's class and worth selecting at No. 8, especially if that slide sparks a never-before-seen burst of inspiration. Fellow UConn prospect Charlie Villanueva excelled last season after taking a beating from the press regarding his spotty motivation, and I sense the same thing will happen to Gay this season, especially when you factor in how the Houston Rockets gave him (and Stromile Swift) away to the Memphis Grizzlies for Shane Battier and...nothing else. With Battier, you know exactly what you're getting - a decent role player. Gay will absolutely turn out to be better than Battier, especially playing in a city like Memphis with no distractions and a genuine No. 1 offensive option in Pau Gasol. People will call this move some of that old fashioned Jerry West magic, but I blame this more on the stupidity of the Rockets' front office than anything else. There's no way trades like this should happen.... ******************************** Let me just say I don't know if it's the worst trade, because while I don't like the trade the Rockets are a better team with Battier than they were last year. My biggest problem is we got rid of the wrong PF. It absolutely should have been JHO but because Jeff Van dummy had Stro in his dog house and has no idea how to develop talent (which is why he prefers starting a washed up JHo over more up and coming talent like Hayes and Stro) Stro goes. The thing that bugs me is Jerry West knows JHO is a washed up piece of excrimiment and Stro has more value and can play better than what he did under Jeff van r****d or he would have went for the salary dumping choice in JHO. Now watch Gay and Stro make the Rockets Regret the trade. Still I think In the end the Rockets are a better team with Battier although it seems they could have and should have done better. And the Grizzlies are definitely the winners in this deal. And in the end the Rockets won't improve enough and Jeff Van Dummy should be fired.
There is a reason Villanueva did not shine in college. UConn is a loaded team every year. There is no reason for you to carry the team by yourself. It is totally understandable. It is true for Gay as well. Now about the JVG "firing", even if he is fired, the whole thing will just appear again as long as Les and CD are here. People should realize by now the problem is the organization. Rox is just a second-class organization that lacks talent in management.
Did you not read what cd had to say, Van gundy did not want Gay and had no intention of playing him. So drafting Gay would not have helped the team. He didn't want Redick to the point of not even showing up for his workout. Whether you like the guy or not at least go to his workout and take a look at him... I mean he was the college player of the year. He did like Roy and the Rockets tried to apease him by moving up but when that didn't happen Battier was Van Gundy's next choice. And getting rid of Stro was just an added bonus because he didn't have to give up his hardest working player in JHO. Van Gundy signed Rybo and Charlie Ward and Barry and trded Mike James for Alston and dumped taylor for Vin Baker and didn't resign Posey and got rid of EG for nothing... etc., etc., ad nauseum. Van Gundy is the problem and hopefully we only have 1 more year of him or less.
So what. We could have waited. We could have dealt him for something else. I'm pretty damn sure there are 5 or 6 teams out there that would make us better offers. You're telling me we couldn't somehow pry Rashard Lewis or Peja away by offering Gay and Swift?
So remind me again why Van Gundy still has any say in player personnel moves? I'm not saying CD isn't part of the problem as well, but the general consensus around here(since the Rockets can't comment on the trade for another 2 weeks) is that Rudy Gay was traded because Van Gundy doesn't wanna play a rookie. That's BS. Part of being a great coach is teaching young players how to compete in this league. If you constantly trade or release younger players in favor of proven veterans(especially the kind whose best days are long behind him), you'll end up being an old, fragile, washed-up, unathletic team like the Rockets have been the last 2 seasons. And now we're doomed to be this way again next season.
This was true in New York - why does it surprise us? Really, I've asked myself the question many times. I didn't spank it last night in annual celebratory draft mode, because I was pretty much befuddled. Jeff Van Gundy, good for philosophical quotes, bad for long-term organization development. He really should have worked at that motivation poster company... (This move signals to me that Les has intentions of selling the franchise, by the way.)
Cough If have been following the trade thread you will see a report where CD categorically said that JVG has a say in player transactions. It is not BS. CD basically said they run every move by him - that it makes no sense not doing so. So lets say CD said he liked Gay, and JVG says no, JVG has more clout especially since CD is leaving after next season. This is JVG all the way. For all the nonsense he said on the radio about not having any say - CD just called that cop out BS.
All this being said, and regardless of who is at fault, What is better ? If JVG is not going to play Gay... ...it was Battier or ...nothing, right? Battier has got to be better than nothing.
Yep - dumb dumb dumb Battier (French-for-cannot-creat-his-own-shot though nice guy) I would have been weary trading with West - who drafted Kobe. Who are the other current lakers he drafted?
Coming out of school Gay looks a lot better than Villanueva and while people questions Gay's effort there were far more doubts about Villanueva. Gay's not going to be the first Uconn lottery pick to not make an impact. Every single Uconn lotto pick has done well in the NBA even in their rookie campaign.
i only looked at the first 30 secs of the rudy gay clips .......my blood started to boil. Then I went to sleep and dreamed of sh*tting on CD , JVG, and Les's face.
I think that when we all settle down, it won't seem like such a dumb move. I DO think that we should have gotten more for what we gave up, like another player/cash/2nd round pick/etc., but we didn't, and there is nothing we can change. Maybe we don't know that whole story. There is a lot of speculation right now, but let's wait it out and see what happens. If by September we have not made any other moves, then I will be right along with you, pitchfork in hand.
In the 2nd link of the Rudy Gay videos...T-Mac would break his back attempting the 360s that Gay threw down
I believe this trade was proposed by some fringe member on a Grizzlies message board somewhere in the vast expanse of the web. Upon panicking at the inability to move up for Roy, Rocket management promptly decided to visit said bbs for ideas. They found a post by some GrizzliesRockz45343 titled "A pimp azz deal?, at which a trade was proposed to send Battier for Gay, in the event the Rockets picked Gay. The Rockets brass immediately said amongst themselves "BRILLIANT!!". And thus it went down... **What the Rocket decision makers failed to see where the 2569 replies to the aforementioned post, basically flaming the unsuspecting poster for proposing an "unrealistic", "idiotic", "moronic" trade, and going so far as stating "the Rockets would be brain dead to do that", "they could get A LOT more than Battier", "why would they trade their two most valuable assets outside of Yao and TMAC for an average player with a suspect contract?". This is not even counting all the posts that ensued after the original poster tried to remedy his original proposal's lack of salary matching by adding Swift to the deal. Then all hell broke loose...**
