Every year someone drops that is suppose to be a high pick. Almost every year a great player is drafted late in the 1st round or second round. Zack Randolf, Josh Howard, Tony Parker, Anderson Varejão, Kyle Korver, Leandro Barbosa and Gilbert Arenas are examples of players that were drafted at the end of the 1st or in the 2nd round. Who wouldn't want any of those players on our team. Who will be there this year and who should we draft? The players that I think have the best chance of being available to us at 26 are: Morris Almond Nick Fazekas Jarred Dudley Deaquan Cook Rudy Fernandez has an outside shot at being there when we draft. Those are 5 players that intrest me the most out of the players that I think will be there. Morris Almond really has me thinking that he could be the steal of the draft. Physically speaking he is the prototypical guard. 6'6" with a 6'10" wing span and the guy can flat out shoot the ball. He is seen as a shooting specialist but still shoots more free throws per field goal than any other shooting guard in the draft. Here is an interesting link that compares a lot of the different stats from all of the shooting guards coming into the draft from the NCAA. http://www.draftexpress.com/viewarticle.php?a=2101
Anyone familiar with Rice basketball who can explain why Almond is down the list in 3 pointers... wouldn't you expect more of that from a prolific scorer on the perimeter at any level? Is that an issue? Go Almond. Once upon a time the Rockets by-passed Ricky Pierce to take Terry Teagle....
In college Teagle (Baylor) and Pierce (Rice) ran neck and neck for best shooter -- Pierce turned out to be the better pro. Josh McRoberts may be the PF to drop, but I still think we would be better off with Sean Williams. I'd be happy with either Williams or Almond. If we take Almond we still will be in desperate need of a PF.
Man you are NOT supposed to shot 46% from the 3 point line... Almond is a monster...I call him the next Mike Redd.
Dominic McGuire for our PF of the future. He looks like a shawn Marion/AK47 type PF in that he can play SF but he rebounds and blocks shots like a PF.
Quite possible ala Battier.The Rockets are looking for a proven player.This is a deep draft which can help them a bit. They will have to package Head + the 26th to get a more experienced player if Battier is retained IMO. I don't know if this is going to work or not.Let's see what happens.
If available, I would rather have either Rudy Fernandez or Marco Belinelli. Both are long athletic SGs w/range who can handle the point for limited minutes.
Actually, I wonder if we may get a 2nd round pick back in such scenario. Then we may still have a chance to draft a servicable PF.
I would love to land Rudy Fernandez but Belinelli has really gotten bad reviews over in Europe during the latest set of pre draft work outs. Appearently he did not have all that impresive of a year either.
When I saw Belinelli in the Olympics he was a big time chucker. He put up big numbers but he seems like he puts the ball up anytime he touches it even if it's a tough shot.
I never understand this philosophy. It doesn't work. The good teams build their teams through the draft. Also, if you cannot judge talent on a young player that can be adapted a bit and grow into your system, what says you'll be good judging talent in older player that will probably have to redefine themselves to fit into the system. The other thing, is that we have so many holes on this team, and getting a "proven player" means more salary. We need steals, good players for cheap. I doubt that we can get that for trading sura, head, JL3, and/or our draft pick.
I don't like this philosophy either for the reasons you have mentioned above but I'm beginning to feel that the Rockets are going to do it again.
slim to none...I he is...you snag him. He is a big PG with decent shooting skills...but his athleticism is off the charts. He hit some big shots too.
My draft wish list 1. Javaris Crittenton (The new Sam Cassell) 2. Glenn Davis (Monster low post scorer, check him out this summar at Houston ProCity league 3. Morris Almond (We always need a shooter at the 3. Imagine him, Novak, McGrady, Shane and Yao on the floor. Murderers row. Novak get strong quick)
