from the blinebury article in the other thread: From that statement, it seems fairly obvious to me that these players (Taylor, Budinger etc.) were not picked to be Houston Rockets... Yet I haven't seen this discussed at all and all of the talk on this board in various threads seems to be regarding how these guys fit in with our team or what they can bring etc.... Am I missing something here?
that was the most interesting statement of the whole draft imo. the way i understood it was that he forgot a "they" in there, and it should read more like "we had offers, but they decided to go pick the players" meaning that instead of picking who the rockets wanted, they picked who they wanted instead. this would really only apply to memphis at #2 who obviously picked for need (thabeet) instead of picking the guy that the rockets wanted (rubio).
that's what i thought too, i forgot to ask about it though.....it sounds like they were picked to go to minny, at least that's my guess...
I don't think those guys are gonna get Rubio. My guess is he's saying the price became more than they wanted to pay with current players so they went ahead and held tight and took the players they got. Now, he may be able to use one or two of them with a current player, but you have to fill like the chances of getting a deal done is less likely if it doesn't happen in the draft.
I actually heard him speak, watching the press conference that quote came from. It sounded like Morey was saying that we put some good deals on the table to acquire there picks but the other teams decided to keep the players they drafted instead of accepting the package the rockets where offering.
oh, i didn't even consider that possibility. the only two interpretations that came to mind were: A) we had good offers BUT decided to pick who we wanted instead. B) we had good offers so we decided to pick the players. Option B makes much more sense to me as there is no "but" and it jibes with the earlier sentence mentioning being in the heat of negotiations and losing leverage etc...ie: they kind of don't have a choice but to go ahead and get the players the other teams wanted.
Good read. That would explain in part why we spent over $6 mil on 2nd round talent. When I first read that I took it to mean that we made some great offers to other teams, but read another way, "significant offers" sounds like some attractive deals might have been presented to the Rockets. The second round talent might have been filler for the deals.
That is a very good find. The guys were picked were guards, fitting Minny's need. It'd be bad to learn that Minny screwed us like that. It would also be a major no no in the GM etiquette. These guys are paid to lie to their competitors, but they can't turn back when trade discussions reach a certain point.
i noticed Blinebury's typo when i saw the thread about his article earlier today, and figured those that hadn't would be mislead by the typo. in the press conference, Morey said that we made some good offers for the picks, but the teams holding the picks ("they") decided to go ahead and use the picks on players instead of taking our offers. /end of thread
When Minny took Flynn after Rubio I thought that was fishy like it was for another team and the deal may include current players that can't be traded yet. The TV boys talked about them playing together in the same backcourt but Flynn is too small for a 2. If Rubio plays next year I think Flynn will be traded. If Rubio has to sit out a year, I think his rights wil be traded. So, I think there are deals agreed to that aren't announced yet.
You do not spend $6 million dollars on 2nd round picks, that is insane. Most 2nd round picks are out of the league in 2 years. So, it had to be that Les was OVER paying to get assets for Morey to make a move. Minny needs SGs badly.....I think they bought the picks to trade for Rubio. And if Morey got played, then he got badly played. DD
If you don't have any draft picks, you are bumping up against the cap and can make better use of cheaper non- guaranteed contracts ; and happen to have some spare cash you would. DD you keep acting like this was your money. Morey believes he can find value in the second, he did with Landry. Budinger at least is widely believed to have NBA skills, The Spanish kid is a stash project. In the scope of the expenses of an NBA team $6 mill is chump change; less that you would be on the hook for for one first round pick. The only asset The Rockets had to exploit in the draft was cash, so they did.
Not at all Dubious, but if Les is committed to winning now...then wouldn't it be WISER to spend $6 million on an NBA player and go OVER the Lux tax? Unless you are saying that these guys they drafted will really make a difference, in the next 2 years. Then the Rockets would have REALLY wanted them......maybe they did.....maybe they think these guys are really first round material... The only pick I think was OK was the Spanish PG, because they can stash him and see if he develops....other wise the other 2 are prospects at best. We shall see...we shall see. DD
I think Morey was referring to Minny and they decided to keep their players Rubio & Flynn. We must of had a offer of players (trade) that they turned down. Once the trade didn't happen, the Rockets bought picks for our own needs. IMO, our picks were for us, but some could argue that Taylor was picked for another team. He does give us a scorer, especilly if T-Mac doesn't play due to his injury or trade. Minny might think they were slick, but Rubio has thrown them a curve. They may be forced to trade him or lose out on him staying in Europe.
This makes no sense. They had picks in the same range and earlier than the ones the Rockets got. They selected Ellington as a SG when Taylor was out there. They even selected a fourth PG in Nick Calathes only to deal him just like Lawson off to another team. So they have more than enough picks to get everything they wanted out of this draft and more. And I'm sorry to say, but the Rockets just don't have any assets the T-Wolves would want in a potential deal for Rubio. They don't need expiring contracts, they don't need cagey vets like Battier, they just need talent plain and simple. NBAdraft.net gave us an A+. Could it just be that, once again, we were able to pluck diamonds out from the rough? These picks certainly seem like all-or-nothing propositions--either they turn out to be huge steals or we dump them and move on with life. Taylor is either the next von Wafer or the next Kirk Snyder. Budinger is either the next Brent Barry or he's not worthy of playing in the NBA. Llull either has the makeup to be Jose Calderon II or he is the next V-...ahem. Or maybe Morey just likes drafting wings, telling Adelman to run set plays all game in the summer league to give them a "breakout" performance, and then shipping them off when they're at their highest value to someother chump team. But at least we didn't draft Tyler Hansbrough with the 13th pick in the draft only for him to be a "can't miss" 9th man. Thankfully our GM doesn't operate like that.
Stoudemire+Battier+Scola+Artest+Brooks are theright kind of players. or I would rather spend that 6m on getting Rubio. and i don't think they wouldn't say NO tpo that offer.
A future trade of Taylor and/or Budinger is a possibility. Since McGrady won't be able to play in the first half of the season, Rockets include a "promising" rookie wing in the package to tide teams over until he gets back on court. Or at the very least it will make the trade seem less like raising the white flag on the season before it even begins. You'd have a hard time convincing fans to cough up the dough for a season ticket if they believe the team's big off-season move was to get a giant expiring contract for the following season. That probably means, though, a trade won't happen until one of these rookies proves himself in the summer league. As for the $6 million price tag for the second rounders DD, I think Les signs off on it because it's a one-time cash move and so not such a gamble, relatively speaking. It's not complicated as signing a veteran player with the same amount, because such a player likely has a multi-year contract that affects the team's overall salary situation, etc. At least that's how I figure it.
