My old coach use to say that Potential gets coaches fired. What he meant was it doesn't matter if he can run the floor well, jump through the gym, and have all the athelticism in the word. If he never lives up to that so called potential all he'll be is another player on this team who we are waiting on to live up to their potential (kinda like how some of are waiting on TMo, Langhi, and even Francis to some degree to live up to their potential)
Jeffries is EASILY the most versatile player in college IMO. He literally plays the 3-4-5 positions. He is long and skinny, but if you think Griffin is smooth and quiet on the court, watch Jeffries. He's 6'10'', excellent wingspan, smart man defender, excellent help defense, has the ability to hit the 3, and a very nice post game. GREAT handles, and floor vision-occasionally runs the offense from the perimeter, as well as running it through the post. His only problem is he lacks great foot speed, similar to Griffin, but he's more likely a 3 because he has excellent handles, and Griffin does not. I'm not sure how well he'd fit on this team, though. I like Caron Butler, and liked him last year as well. He is STRONG, but with a sweet shot. I like the Ron Artest+offense comparison, though he may need a little time to become one of the top 2 man defenders that Artest is. I wouldn't be dissapointed if we took him. Right now, I think 6 would be a reach, but his stock could soar if he comes out. I'll pass on Wilcox. I think he'll be pretty good, but IMO won't have the size to play center and lacks versatility, and is kind of an absolute 4-you have to be the real good. I feel the same about Boozer, but I think he'll be a career backup. Dunleavy would be a great fit here-he's a heady player, which we definitely need. He's got good size, great range, good floor vision and handles as well. Sure, he's hyped but he's got legit skills.
Bryant, McGrady, Jermaine, Garnett, Lewis. Well why not Juan Dixon? He probably dominated just as much of any of those players you listed, yet he'll be lucky to be a first round draft pick. Well I don't know why some of you are so surprised that he will not deserve to be a high draft pick. Someone please name me a current NCAA player who is more of a physical specimen than Wilcox? No, I'm really asking. I haven't seen one, but maybe you have. That alone gives him an edge going into the NBA, and that's why he's already being listed as one of the top prospects in the draft (if he comes out). He hasn't shown you anything? If he hasn't shown you anything then you haven't watched very many Maryland games. How about the 23 points he scored against Duke to lead all scorers. He's already proven what he can do, he just isn't allowed to do it very often. The Terps have possibly the NCAA's best player and a 4 year letterman in Baxter that Wilcox is playing with. They just don't run too many plays through him. If Eddie was in Wilcox's position at Maryland he wouldn't get to prove himself as much either. But wouldn't that have sucked if the Rockets passed on Eddie because of that? Its pretty silly to pass on a player just because he plays on a good team and doesn't have the same freedom to display his abilities as players who play on crappy teams. And yes, a lot of time its risky to take players based on potential. But if you don't take risks you end up passing on players like Rashard Lewis.
I actually thought he should have been the Rockets #1 focus last offseason (Webber was gonna be a long shot). Let Shandon go and sign ERob to replace him, but unfortunately it didn't work out that way. I'm not sure what we could offer the Bulls now since they don't really have any need for Kenny.
Oakafor (sp?) of UConn might be close to the physical specimen as Wilcox (yeah I know Wilcox went over him but Oakafor is a fresh and has incredible natural reactions nonetheless)--but is even rawer and isn't coming out. Just please stay away from Dunleavy. The guy will be a terrible defensive liability in the pros, have ya'll not seen him get destroyed by college guys like Wilcox, Jeffries and Prince. Granted those are good players, but he couldn't even slow them. Compare that with the lock down single man defense of Gooden on a VERY versatile offensive player in Luke Jackson. Even if Dunleavy he gets a pro caliber offensive game which he has not proven yet--he would only further help the Rockets towards the worst defense in the league. Further, he hasn't even dominated on the college floor yet (did ya'll watch the ND or Indiana games), next year we will see if Dunleavy can. If we picked any of Butler, Jeffries, Gooden, Wilcox or Bordchart I would be very, very happy. We need another long armed player to play defense and bring an interior offensive game (great finisher). Butler least fits the bill, but man I like his game so much he would be hard to pass up. I know less about the other players mentioned.
As a new member of Clutchcity( But a longtime reader)...I'd like to say hey. I too am a tanker and im hoping for the Rocks to pick Drew Gooden. The misconception on this board is that you guys think that Nbadraft.net has Rocks picking Jared Jeffries for the 6th pick. NbaDraft.net does not make pick projections...they only list the current order of picks and the prospect ranking. For example...jared jefferies is acutally the 6th best prospect in the nation according to NbaDraft.net, not the Rockets pick. Thanks for hearing me out...and Go ROCKS!!...O..wait...NO LOSE ROCKS!!
Well, it looks like there isn't gonna be a true difference maker (for a rookie) in the draft this year. Other than Woods, would anyone in the draft (JW, Wagner, Butler, etc) provide us with a significant upgrade at any position? Value this pick, of course, but it should be said that the fate on this team will be the improvement of Cat, Steve, and Mot/Kenny. Also, Rudy has to be willing to play Eddie. Without him, we don't have many multi-dimensional players on the court. Repeat, do not look forward to the lottery next year. WE can't keep the pick unless we get the #1.
Kewl post. I am also a tanker. I agree with what you say about there might be someone better than Jeffries at the 6 spot ... but I kinda doubt it. He probly would be the next sf to go after Woods, and we do need a sf. I would like to get Gooden as well. IF for nothing else than trade bait at least.
Hopefully this pitiful plan to tank does not backfire and come back to bite the Rocks in the azz if that ping pong ball does not appear until the 13th spot.
I'm no expert on the lottery, but I thought only the first 3 picks were chosen by the lotto balls and the rest were sorted from worst record to best record. I know it used to be that way, was it changed recently or what?
I'm no expert, but I will share my thoughts. If Ming is available either via trade or with our pick, whatever it may be, you take him on one condition. You want to win a championship someday. If you just want to be good but don't care whether or not you win it all, pick someone safer. Me personally, I take Ming, I overpay in trade for Ming if I have to and I do so without qualms. Now, if we ended up with Jeffries, I could probably live with that as he is a very good player. Wilcox, if I really thought he could play C, I could live with him too. Stoudamire, I want nothing to do with. Assuming we can't move up and we end up 6th, would you be willing to move down a few spots? If so, how many? There are three guys in particular I take if somehow they fall to me in the second round, although at least two of them don't have a chance in my opinion to fall that far. Marcus, Stoudamire and Juan Dixon. Marcus and Stoud in my opinion should go somewhere between 12-16 so I don't want anything to do with them with our first pick, but if they should fall, I would jump on them in a second. Dixon on the other hand may not even be drafted due to his tweener status, but I love this guy's work ethic and he is very talented so if he is around and the other two aren't, I pick him despite it not being a position of need.
Explain to me why we need a sf? I think the coaching saff plans to start KT there and hae EG and MoT battle i out for PF.
We need a SF because KT is not a small forward, he is an undersized power forward. He makes an ideal backup at both SF and PF, but doesn't have the skills to be a true starter at either position. Also, he is exceptional trade bait right now due to his excellent performance this year and very low salary. So he may not be long for this team. Center is our biggest need because ideally with his skills, Cato would be a backup C/PF providing about 20 min a game. I would love to see us get ming and have ming at C, cato at C/PF, griffin at PF/SF, Taylor at PF/SF. TMo at SF, Mobley at SG, Francis at PG long term. I would much rather see us with these players running a tall ball lineup rather than a small ball lineup. Much more effective esp if everyone can run the floor well.
Yeah, but I wonder how effective Kenny will be at small forward. He won't have the same quickness advantage on offense that he has over the power forwards, and he might not be able to keep up with them on the defensive end. My <i>Dream Team</i> next season would be: C: Cato/Wilcox PF: Taylor/Griffin SF: Lewis/Rice/Morris SG: Mobley/Torres PF: Francis/Norris or some alternative lineups would be to replace Wilcox with Ming, and replace Lewis with Eddie Robinson or Odom.
