Tito Maddox, just think of him and Moockie on the same team. Thiose who don't know who Tito is here is a picture. http://www.nbadraft.net/profiles/titomaddox.htm
Seeing how he will go undrafted, we would be able to sign him as a training camp invitee/future cut. I don't see any NBA future in Williams, until he has better ball skills. He's a PF stuck in a SF body. A poor man's Chris Porter.
Chris Owens from UT, was hurt, but plays with a big heart, can play D too, is a PF, might be quick enough to play some SF
Two weeks ago, I was singing the praises of Ryan Humphrey. Now I think he has played himself into the first round perhaps. I agree that we should claim on of those Euro-ballers and bring him over in the next year or two. Those guys represent good value usually.
I'm hoping they snag Chris Owens too. The boy can seriously climb the ladder to bring home a jam or send the ball into the stands off the weakside. He plays D very well too. With his injury, I think he can easily slip to 37. If it wasn't for that, I think he'd be an easy lock for 1st round.
If the Rocks sign Oscar Torres, that would make 11 guaranteed contracts. As aside, if OT was in this year's draft, where would he go? late first round, early second round? OT has already established that he has NBA ready skills, so I do hope they sign him. I think without a doubt the best move would to draft a HSer with the second pick and send them to Europe to develop their pro game. Lenny Cooke and DeAngelo Collins would be good picks. Similarly Jamaal Sampson (one year removed from HS) would be a good pick. If the pick does develop NBA skills, it may be like the Rocks getting a lottery pick several years down the line.
We should definitely go with Lenny Cooke or Lee Benson. I'd love to see the Rocks get Benson. Plus i think he could help right now.
Rod Grizzard hasn't been able to work out for any teams, could he fall that far? Also, If he's available, I think we should take Jamal Sampson. He's a very mobile and athletic center and if Ming doesn't come through, I think Sampson could be very good as a starter in a few years.
One of the great things about Jamal Sampson is his defense. It's rare to find a commitment to defense in a college freshman, especially one who was so highly touted as a high school senior. He's also very coachable -- I could see our big man coaches turning him into another Othella. Plus, he's Ralph Sampson's cousin or nephew or something like that. Unfortunately, for all those reasons (except maybe the Ralph one), he'll be long gone by 37. Another Pac 10 guy who will probably be gone by 37 that would fit in great for us would be Casey Jakes. The big knock on him is that he'd get eaten alive on defense, but that wouldn't be that big of a deal if he were coming off the bench and guarding the other team's backup two guard. He'd give our second unit some serious offensive punch.
If he slips that far, my choice would be Juan Dixon. We need a quality back up for Mobley, good enough to take over if Mobley is injured! Torres has not quit made the grade.
I don't know his name, but I think he was the center for Oregon (or State). You know, the guy who scrimmaged against Yao Ming. He looked unstoppable. By the way, Orthello Harington was also a second round pick. We traded our first rounder for their second rounder. It was like the 27th pick for number 30ish. It seemed goofy to me at the time, but turned out we avoided a guaranteed contract and only gave up one or two places. Jim Peterson, for those of you who go that far back, was also a second rounder. I think there were seven rounds back then.
Chris Owens is a baller, but he has the stigma of being a 6'8" power forward. He probably won't get drafted because of his knee injury last year. If he's fully recovered we should invite him to our summer camp. He brings toughness, rebounding, shot blocking, and inside scoring- all of which this team lacks. I don't think that we should use a pick on a guy who won't be drafted anyway. In the 2nd round, I wouldn't be surprised to see us go after someone like Predrag Savovic or Casey Jacobsen, if he's there. The Langhi experiment was a bust, Walt's gone, so we need a player to fill that reserve shooter role.
His name is Chris Christofferson. He's 7'1". I thought he was pretty good when I saw him against Texas. But many mock drafts have him going with like the last 5 picks. I think hes slow, but other than that I wold have taken him at 53 if we still had it.
If he is avaliable, I would take Juan Dixon with the 37th pick. He would make a great back-up to Cuttino Mobley and he is a very close friend to Francis. Actually, I see the rockets trading to aquire him like they did last year with Terence Morris.
Wait a sec... Just did the Rockets Complete the trade with Toronto for Hakeem by swaping picks with Miami? "Also, the Rockets have officially exercised their option to swap the second round pick they received from Detroit (via Toronto) for Miami's second round pick, #38 overall (though it is really #37 because of Minnesota's first round pick forfeiture)."
IMO, I'd go for a PG with defensive skills, and would have a chance of making Norris expendable. If we think Dixon can be that, and not another short SG, great. If not, take a look at Tito Maddox.
I just don't see the Rockets selecting 3 players in the NBA Draft this year. Here are the options I see for the 2nd round pick. 1) They could trade their 2nd round pick (and their 2nd rounder next year) to a team they think will be crappy next year in hopes of getting a HIGH 2nd round pick next year. The Rockets did this a few years back when they had the 1st pick in the 2nd round and drafted Othella Harrington. I actually think they traded down for that selection but you get what I am saying. The Rockets won't have a 1st round pick next year (Grizzly obilgation) so a HIGH second round pick would be nice. Plus the contact would be very low. 2) They could draft a foreign player with potential in which they don't expect them to be on the team this year. They could spend a season or two overseas developing their game in hopes that when a roster spot opens up on the Rockets they will be ready to contribute. Last year we added Griffin and Morris to the team. This year we will add Ming and the #15 pick. I don't see us having much more room for more rookies. Francis, Moochie Mobley, Torres Rice, Morris, #15pick Taylor, Thomas, Griffin Cato, Ming That's 12 players right there. Suppose on IR we keep Collier and Brown. That about fills it up. I just don't see anyone (unless someone good SOMEHOW drops) that would make any real difference on the team. It just seems like the better move to build the franchise would be to do 1 of the options I listed above. Chris
