I thought it was a pretty good night for the Rockets who ended up not losing anything although the pocketbook is a little bit flattened. The night may have indicated the end to Von Wafer in Houston. Wafer had some big time dunks that shifted the tempo in a few games this season which was vital in a conference where the standings changed every night. I don't really recall Wafer doing anything else..defense end, assist, rebounding [1.1apg 0.2 spg] . There were a couple facepalm moments during the playoffs when Van Gundy would mention how he drives the lane and either is going to turnover or shoot, and then proceeds to driving into paint and getting blocked. I imagine with Taylor's build and skills, that he can't do much worse than that by driving the lane. So what he was in conference USA? He dominated it with his scoring while still being defended tightly. It's not like Wafer did much in the ACC with Florida St. or anywhere else except his D-League team the past 6 years up to now. As for Buddinger, I was fortunate to see Arizona live in a very competitive game this past season and Buddinger was an excellent player on the court. I thought he used his size very efficiently, if Jordan Hill hadn't been swallowing up rebounds, then Buddinger easily gets double digit rebounds at the F position for Arizona every night. He is a great open shooter and also a passer, but his lateral defense 1on1 isn't anything special. I guess he has been knocked off for not having a killer instinct or disappearing sometimes... but in the games I've seen at least, he always seems to be moving on the court either creating space for teammates or getting open for himself. Don't know anything about the Spainiard.
Morey didn't disappoint me at all. We got 3 picks when he had none before the draft. Now I can't wait until summer league to check these guys out. If they have a donte green type of summer league stats, expect them to be good trading baits.
20 bucks? Son... you're dealing with DD here... raise up the stakes... petty cash isn't allowed as a bet wager.
Yeah, i'm not familiar with these incoming players but it sounded like Blair would have been worth a gamble despite the question about his health. He could end up making a lot of teams regret passing on him. Still, Taylor and Budinger are very intriguing pickups. Taylor sounds like he could be an offensive burst off the bench a la Wafer, maybe even this season, but Budinger sounds like he could become the more well-rounded player in the long term. But as others have said, given our roster right now, there's little possibility that both will make the team. Perhaps Morey can convince one of them to join fellow rookie Llull and play in Europe for a season?
Getting shooters is good but acquiring Amare would have been the perfect scenario. It addresses the need to get bigger. It would have brought Barbosa also to add firepower to the bench.
Clearly, these draft-day moves are not meant to be the major additions of the off-season. Morey had the opportunity to check out potential contributors without costing the team much, so he took it. I think Morey is far from done this off-season, so we'll just have to be patient.
great draft. we went in with nothing, came out with 3 picks. how can you not like this draft. i give it an A. sure, everyone would want a trade for an all star like what the magic, cleveland and san antonio did. but its probable none of the trade rumors we were hearing made it to the point that it was going to happen. guys here assume too much that teams like what we have to offer. could we have gotten vince carter? sure, but nj might have been asking too much (e.g. brooks + landry + tmac for vc). milwaukee might have asked the same. if you were morey, you wouldnt bite especially if you werent so sure that you'd have the picks at draft night. imagine if morey went ahead with those trades but wasnt able to buy picks. we'd have an SF/SG, but we'd be short a PG and a PF. sure, we could pick some up from the FAs or undrafted, but not the guys you would have gone after given a pick or two. now, we have 3 new assets. morey now has a better look on what to give up to get that all star to push us over the top. he'll be able to study our cap situation, and make a decision on what to do with von wafer and artest. you have taylor. you can probably mould him to replace brooks. taller guy who can score. or trade him + von wafer to minny for rubio. you can then trade brooks + tmac + landry for amare or whoever. or you can have budinger take on brent barry's role or mould him into our matt harpring. lullz you can stash away at the moment. i dont know if itll work, but just imagine rubio / lowry artest / white battier / budinger amare / scola yao / chuck / dorsey
you really can't even begin to think about a grade until the roster has been finalized. As many have said some of theses pick-ups may be future trade pieces. I remain hopeful that we will pick up a center that can play close to 15 minutes a game we have no chance of playoff success unless we can seriously limit Yao's minutes.
That makes sense. The guy that was a FREE agent a few weeks back is now expendable... I am sure Morey "The Magician" can get a TON back for the DLeague MVP.
this draft is all about future trades. Also, people shouldn't be crying about how much money we spent, the only person it makes a difference to is Les. This doesn't affect the Rockets cap or their flexibility. Getting 3 picks for essentially just a 2nd rounder? I dont see how you can knock that.
The only way to grade it is to also consider our roster and our needs: Center: Yao is down with an injury, there are questions surrounding his prognosis for recovery, he is subject to injury and leaves us with an unknown at the position. We need a very strong back up option for this reason and we don't have one. Dorsey is a question mark. Center is a very big question mark for our roster and we have not as yet been able to address this. Power Forward: Scola is a good starter, he is not a shot blocker though and we do not have enough strength and size to continue to deal with teams like LA that have strong inside presence. Landry is not a strong paint defender and he does not have a strong post game. He is a good finisher when he plays explosive and he has a decent mid range shot. A good bench player, but needs to be more consistent. An improvement at the PF position either with a better back up or a better starter with Scola backing up would really help the front line. Small Forward: Battier has some very good team assets, he is a good defender, tireless hustle and can stroke a 3 pt shot when open. Good glue player who is consistent and smart. Cannot get his own shot but has a high IQ and knows how to space the floor. If Artest resigns he brings toughness, he is strong and can defend larger players, he has good hands also. He doesn't have the hops to be a high rebound guy but he is a good position player on defense although he has lost some quickness. He is an inconsistent jump shooter but he can get a shot when he has to. He is good in the post but is not as effective as he was when he was younger. He is very good off the bench and OK when he has to start at the SG. SG- With Tracy a very big unknown and Artest (unsigned) getting older this has become a big need for the team. Obviously the 2nd round picks demostrate that Morey feels this. Wafer is a poor defender and a good scorer but he seems very immature and inconsistent. This is still a strong need for the team unless one of the 2 rd picks turns out to be an all star player- doubtful. PG- Aaron Brooks has the potential to develop into a Tony Parker type point guard, if he can be more consistent and improve his decision and passing skills he will be a nice starter. Lowery has alot of potential and is a nice change of pace for Brooks. This could develop into a real strength for the team. With a general assessment of the roster I would grade the draft a C- C- means we just took a chance on a couple of 2 rd talents that might surprise and become stars or very good (ala- Scola) but most likely they will become bench players so it will be a wait and see. The real needs have not been addressed and the injury questions leave us very vulnerable as we go forward.
Rhester saved me from writing alot. I don't get the picks. They don't address the team's most critical needs. And I am really tired of reading words and phrases like "undersized" and will probably stay "over-seas". Training camp players are generally a good deal easier and cheaper to come up with.
I think you can make an arguement for putting either LA or Clevelend at 1 or 2. Then a healthy Boston followed by Orlando and a healthy San Antonio. Then a HEALTHY Rockets...
we had nothing. we got three things and didn't give up hardly anything to get them so i would consider it a success.
After reading up a lot on Taylor in particular, I'm not sure if this makes sense the way I'm going to say it, but he didn't go in the 2nd because he's a "project" he went in the 2nd because he's an "unknown" We will no very quickly whether or not we got a big steal with this or not, he is going to come in and show you what he is or is not capable of right away. If he has a bad performance as a rookie, don't expect him to develop much over the years. If he is something special you will see it from day one is what I am getting at. With that said, I'm fairly optimistic we got a bargain. A player that could be something really special, for no extra money against the cap or picks.
Taylor = good pick, should be somewhat like Courtney Lee but better Llull - waste of money, will never see the NBA Budinger - do not like. again a waste of money and future pick, I hope they trade him with a package deal
Ya'll shouldn't judge this draft on these guys being starters next season (that's all i'm seeing in most replys on here). That is not what we were drafting for. We drafted two guys who give us more of what we need on this team, consistent shooting/scoring and one guy who could develop into a really good backup PG with size. These moves also allow us some flexibility in trades should some offers come our way. This draft was part of a plan (that none of us are privvy to). So I am not going to pass judgement just yet. Morey always seems to make, what we fans think of as weird picks, but then a while later we like the guys (Brooks and Landry). So sit tight people, things really kick off July 1st. This was just a primer...
