ROCKETS Last night I went to the Sonics game and came away with few things that might help us in the future. 1. Rudy isn't going anywhere. It would be hard to see Alexander fire the Olympic Coach, but beyond that, I like what Rudy has done with the offense (isolations notwithstanding) 2. Cattino Mobley is not what he's hyped up to be. Yes, I know that a 2 for 15 night is not necessarily a good sample to go on, but I have attended several games this year and have seen him make the same mental errors night in and night out. He's careless with the basketball and a virtual black hole on offense. 3. I will grant this this team lacked an inside prescence last night, but otherwise played about as well as they could. The only change I would have made is that I would have played Shandon in place of Cattino down the stretch, but that's about it. LOTTERY 1. Kenyon Martin WILL NOT be picked in the top three. Pure nonsense. 2. Terrence Morris is the best player out there, but he will likely be off the board by the time we pick. 3. There seem to be more solid big man than small forwards in this draft. If the Rockets want to go small forward they will almost have to draft another two guard and go small. Nonsense 1. The biggest thing I have noticed since being on this board is that most people are numbers oriented. Numbers are great at the college level, but it isn't what scouts look at. Scouts want to project the player to the next level. Kenyon Martin might be a man among boys in college, but he will be going up against the biggest and the best in the NBA. Does he have the skills to play anything other than a power game? 2. The other thing I have noticed on this board is stereotyping. Of course, my personal favorite is the "white men can't jump" hypothesis. Just because a good amount of white guys might be more finesse oriented does not mean that all white guys are that way. IE, not every white guy is Matt Bullard or Matt Maloney. Bryce Drew may not be Allen Iverson, but the guy can do more than shoot. Chris Mihm may not be Hakeem, but the guy is going to be a solid NBA center (read: a lot better than Big Country). Jason Collier might have as big an NBA impact as Raef Lafrenz has in Denver. Does anyone else think we could use a consistent 15 PPG, 9 RPG, 2 BPG at power forward? ------------------ Rockets When? Rockets When?
I like that deal a lot. We give up a future player in Cuttino, but as I have stated before I will take a taller player with equal talent, and McGrady has as much or more talent then Cuttino. My 2 cents, DaDakota
Without even considering Mobley and Massenburg for a moment, I wouldn't even give up our lottery pick for McGrady. I don't have anything against him. He seems to be a fine prospect, but so far he hasn't proven himself. Until he does, he isn't worth trading three bodies for, including a potential high pick.
just because a player is picked high doesn't mean he will be good. see chauncey billups (3), tony battie (5), antonio daniels (4). Terrence Morris is not a can't miss prospect. however, mcgrady is having a very good season. 13.4 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 2.8 apg 45% FG%, 2.0 blocks pg. all that in only 27 minutes per game. plus he's the same age as Morris is but with 3 years of NBA experience. mobley and massenburg are free agents and might leave anyway. this way we'd get McGrady's Bird rights.
High picks sometimes do come up duds. But Rudy T is good at picking them and I have faith in his ability to get value from a lottery pick. If Rudy thinks McGrady is a good pick-up, I'll trust his evaluation of talent there as well. However, I can't imagine McGrady is as good as Mobley AND whoever Rudy gets with a lotto pick.
Oh man...you dissed my Cuttino, Barzilla. OK--he might not be what I "hype" him to be, but, of course, I think he's more dangerous than Darrel Armstrong. Leaving my hype out of it...what hype are you talking about from a second-rounder. I can't name more than 3 people in the last 3 NBA drafts who are overachieving more than Cuttino. Feick (12.2 rb), Cuttino, Griffin Here's some signs from the NBA Cuttino can play: he draws double-teams at the 3pt line *before* even dribbling. He causes the most illegal defenses on the team. This doesn't happen to players who are not displayed prominently on locker room bulletin boards. I did that without numbers just for you. And I remembered Feick to proove I don't stereotype. Good post Barzilla. Here's another stereotype: Foreign guys aren't worth high picks. Add Nowitzki and Ilgauskas to your list. [This message has been edited by heypartner (edited January 05, 2000).]
Heypartner, I guess hype really wasn't the right word to choose. I'm talking about CC circles when I talk about hype. Quite a few people talk about giving him a longterm extension for the max. I'm not on board with that. The comparison to Darrell Armstrong really puzzles me. Armstrong is smarter with the basketball and consistently gets his team more involved. Both are solid defenders, but Armstrong's SPG (sorry to use numbers) are higher. One of the things everyone will have to understand is that I hate isolation basketball. It's just boring to watch, and it seems like it either results in a turnover or two points for Cattino. But that's just one area where I admit bias. Someone could crunch the numbers and "prove" it is more effective and I would still hate it. ------------------ Rockets When? Rockets When?
I tend to usually be very loyal, too much so probably, but I don't even want to think of changing our guard situation, not only out of loyalty. I think we lose a lot if we let Cat go. The way our big men go down let's concentrate on power forward and small forward (center can be further upgraded after Dream retires). Looks like we fans are never happy. We finally have a good backcourt again and people are wanting to trade them??? Not that I think the McGrady deal would be bad although I don't know that much about anyone from the east. I would be sick to lose Cuttino though - I think he is not being hyped but is advanced for his young career and will continue to get better. As long as he and Stevie mesh, why mess with a good thing. We got Clyde Drexler and I was simply ecstatic. When I found out we lost Otis Thorpe to get him, I was so down - like one of those faces painted half black and half white. Weird feeling. I keep wondering what the future would have been had we given the Trail Blazers Robert Horry for Clyde like they wanted. Horry was looking so good at that time though. Oh well.
There's been alot of talk about Morris and the small forwards, but PF/C seems to be the Rockets biggest need right now. Will Massenburg be back? Will Olajuwon be healthy enough? Kenny Thomas seems to work hard, can he improve his game and stop putting up so many 3 pointers? Can Thomas Hamilton get in better physical condition? I find a frountcourt of Mihm and Cato in the future intriguing. Do you guys think he'll be around at the 7th or so pick?
I really do not want another rookie as a starter next year. It would just slow the team's development even further. So here's my trade idea: Mobley + our lottery pick + Tony Massenburg = Tracy McGrady. Of course you'd have to make sure he'd want to re-sign here but at least he'd be assured of a starting SF spot in Houston. The Raptors get a young 2 guard in Mobley who can replace Doug Christie in a few years and they will get a top 13 pick and a chance to land a true point guard like Mateen Cleaves, Khalid El-Amin, Ed Cota, Sconnie Penn or Erick Barkley. The Raptors' own pick will likely be in the late teens or early 20's so those PG's might be gone by then. Rockets 2000-2001 SF: MCGRADY, Williams, Bullard PF: Cato, Rogers, Thomas C: Olajuwon, Hamilton PG: Francis, Drew SG: Anderson, Starks? (free agent) Raptors 2000-2001 SF: Carter, Curry PF: Oakley, Massenburg C: Davis, Willis, Radojevic, PG: LOTTERY PICK, Williams, Bogues SG: Christie, MOBLEY
Can we afford to continue to trade multiple contributors-- in your scenario, that would be Mobley plus the lottery pick-- for impact players? Most of Houston's transactions have done exactly that over the past few years (Pippen to Portland notwithstanding). It doesn't leave us with a great deal of NBA-caliber depth. Not voting up or down on acquiring McGrady. Just wondering if it's wise to continue to trade three-for-one. ------------------ A broken coffeepot in the dishwasher is worth five stitches in the wrist.
Barzilla. oops...you slipped out numbers. Armstrong's numbers aren't higher (career-wise). Cuttino will get back to 40-41% and 34% 3ptrs. I'm making the comparison based on speed and streak shooting. I'll admit; I don't get to see Armstrong enough to know how he draws double-teams. Better comparisons would be Maxwell and Starks, but I was looking for a younger comparison Thanks for admitting to hating ISOs. I like it when people post personal preference disclaimers. I can't argue with that. I like the backcourt ISO more than the frontcourt from the standpoint of fun to watch. Remember, ISOs can't beat college zones; that's why we don't see them much there. But in the NBA, it is a very effective tool for drawing double teams. Cuttino just needs to slice those double teams more and hit cutters down low, rather than shooting 3s off the dribble (ugh!). At games, I see his eyes looking *over* the opponent for his teammates. He'll get better, and it is fun when he hits the cutters! I've seen plenty of fun action from him passing out of the ISO. Definitely more than the boring 3s coming from Barkley's ISO. [This message has been edited by heypartner (edited January 06, 2000).]
