I've never really noticed Rashard Lewis before, or cared about him... But OH MY GOD. He put on a clinic in game four of the Spazz/Sonics series. I would really like to sign this guy...Its amazing he slipped to the second round. I think he could be the best second round player in a while. He appears to have more talent that Mobley, whether he taps into it or not is yet to be seen. ------------------ The Chuckwagon came, saw, and threw people through windows!
Its not that amazing. He was a decentHS player entering the NBA draft and most thought he was too immature at the time. He's developed nicely. I hope if this Orlando thing goes down with them getting Cato, we can somehow afford to sign Lewis. That would be too sweet!! ------------------ We're going to miss you Chuck! Thanks for all the memories!
I was hoping we could draft him, I told everyone he would become good. The guy is a hard worker, he work on his game the whole summer and lifted weights to get stronger. He worked his butt off to become better and it is paying off. I wish we could sign him, this guy is going to be something really good. ------------------ President of the Moochie Norris FAN CLUB
What was that about Cato going to Orlando? That's the first I heard of it. Anyway I think he wants to be in Houston cause as we all know he comes from Houston and he liked the team heaps. I wouldn't mind betting he takes a pay cut and becomes a Rocket ------------------ Walt the Wizard Williams. "The aging Terrapin from Maryland"
He should have gone to college for a year or two. He would have been a lottery pick if he had. It just took him a couple of years to develop. ------------------ You can't stop F&Brule, you can only hope to contain him.
Why should he have gone to collee? He's been making money these past two years, and next year he'll probably be making more than the first round draft picks. Generally, I agree with you. But I wouldn't say that for people with a fairly certain basketball future in the pros that it's much of a financial risk. Carlos: I doubt Lewis wants to return too much: he was really offended by Houston's draft day snub. *grumbles about Mirsad Turkcan*. I wish we had Rashard instead of Drew or Turkcan . BTW, wasn't he alittle better than "ok" at the hs level? ------------------ [This message has been edited by haven (edited May 06, 2000).]
Imagine: You announce for the draft as a HS phenom. You make it know that you'd love to play for your hometown Rockets. They have 3 picks in the first round. They pass on you THREE TIMES. You fall to the second round, below your lowest expectations. You are crushed and humiliated. You spend two years proving them wrong. THEN they come back to you and say they'd really love to sign you, now that you've become a no-risk proposition. If I were Lewis, I'd let the Rockets spend the whole offseason begging me to come over. I'd visit Houston, drop hints to the press, and make Rockets management and every fan drool with anticipation. And then I'd re-sign with the club that believed in me when the Rockets didn't.
i agree with you, Will. But lets hope rashard is bigger then that. ------------------ HAKEEM... the best ever!
Will, I don't know what actually went on between Lewis & the Rockets. I do have doubt that the Rockets promised him that they would draft him. I think the Rockets did have every intention to draft him (but made no promises), but the players they prefered to have (Drew, Turkan) were miraculously (in Rocket's eyes) still available. IMHO, the reason why I think the Rockets did not make such a promise is because of their history of taken care of people. They may have made statements that have misled Mr. Lewis, but I don't think it was intentional. We will never know... I think if Lewis have a gripe with Houston, he should also have a gripe with the other ~26 teams that passed him by in the 1st round. Please don't think I have anything against Lewis or that I am on the Rocket's side, I just don't think the Rockets' mgmt are that bad. I really felt bad for the kid. When I saw the tears that came out of his eyes, it actually made me feel really bad inside. At that time, I was hoping for him to prove everyone wrong (including the Rockets). I think being drafted in the 2nd round was one of the best things for him. It motivated him to play hard. If he was drafted by the Rockets last year, he may not have developed into the player that he is today. I don't think Lewis will come back to Houston, at least not this off season. As young as he is, I think he wants to make the maximum that he can get. And there is nothging wrong with that IMO. Another factor is that Payton will be 32 in July. I think Payton can still have 2 more great years and maybe 2 more good years left (he may not want to play that long though). After 2 years, the Sonics team may become Lewis's team. If Lewis comes to Houston, it will never be his team. It will always be Francis team. With that said, I do wish we can get Lewis. I don't know him at all, but he appears to be a nice guy.
Keep in mind that at the time we thought we already had one of the best SF in the league wrapped up. We were also making a run for a championship(or so we thought). In this situation it would be very hard to carry a 19 year old bench player for 2-3 years and then have to try and resign him when his contract was up. I think that the Rockets mgmt knows what it takes to get a player on their team so why waste a couple of years teaching a raw talent. I'm sure that in hindsight they would have taken him a hundrer times over but their are so many ways this could have turned out bad for the Rockets. All in all I think Rudy & CD have done an incredible job evaluating draft talent. ------------------
Oh yes... then why exactly did they draft Turkcan? WHAT A WASTE. I was pretty angry about that pick at the time, even. I could understand Drew-the team needed a point guard, and Drew was definitely a good player, and did well at the draft camps. Dickerson made sense as well-he was an excellent, mature, athletic player. But we didn't have any business encouraging Rashard that much before the draft, and then picking some guy from Turkey who nobody knew anything about. The guy never even *played* with Houston, we couldn't have been that high on him to begin with. Rashard has a legitimate right to be angry with Houston. Let's face it, the Rockets organization acted downright crummy. Does anyone know the reasons for selecting Turkcan? From what I understand, he wasn't even a great player in Europe. ------------------
haven-My best guess, is that the Rockets didn't want 3 guaranteed 1st round contracts on the team. Lots of teams do that so they don't have so many rookies on their team. Or, they want to wait till they can come over later (a la Sabonis). ------------------ Rockets fans wanted at hoopsboards.com Draft Chat, NBA Chat, Team Chat, and more!
