and why you shouldn't take them seriously: "We feel he can play center, and all our players can play with him in our style of basketball. ... This guy we felt was as good a pick as we were going to find in the draft." -- Rudy Tomjanovich, Rockets add 7-footer / Collier brings skills that mix with returnees, Houston Chronicle, June 29, 2000 "Dan was a guy I didn't think was going to be in the second round. … There's 60 guys at the pre- draft camp and he's a guy who caught my eye quickly with his size and just (being) a very aggressive player." -- Rudy Tomjanovich, Two picks give Rockets reason to believe, Houston Chronicle, June 30, 2000
At least there's a lot of support around the league and media and in general for this pick. Langhi was one of those "where did that come from?" picks... But I still hate you with every fiber of my being for this post.
I still am very comfortable with those comments and those for Morris last year. The problem is we are not giving these folks time to develop. The fact that folks are ready to put Langhi and Collier in the trash just amazes me. I truly believe that if they had gone to Europe two years ago, they would be comng back here now being able to live up to the comments of Rudy T. The shorter your rotation is the worst it gets. That was the beauty of NJ this year. They had a long rotation and as a result ended the season with two rookies and a second year player making big contributions. I am hoping that the team has a long rotation and give everybody including Maddox a chance to not lose his confidence. It seems that Maddox is as good as Tinsley and he will not get much time. As a result his confidence could drop while somebody like Tinsley got the opportunity and made the all rookie team.
What did you guys expect Rudy to say? "Collier is a guy. . . Well he's big, that's a plus. In practice, he will make shots. We just hope is contract isn't long, thank you and good bye." "Langhi is a guy. . . He's skinny and tall, I don't like that. What were we thinking? We could have had Morris Peterson. We could have kept Najera as well. Ok, let me tell you the truth about these guys. They suck, we just traded for them to have future picks which will turn into a better player. They'll be gone before you know it."
Rudy has not been good at developing his players lately, he is better with a veteran team. This is a test for him, the key to being a good coach is to get the best out of what you have, I do not think that Rudy has done a very good job of that, yet. DaDakota
That's an eye opener. I guess we will have to wait and see them on the court before we can make a true judgement on the new guys, because if Rudy can't see it coming there is no way i can.
"as good a pick as we were going to find" I don't see that as being very untrue at 15th in a weak draft considering we also drafted for need. It is something else to have the 15th (and 1st) pick in a deep draft. I'm still sticking to my right to be happy about this draft.
Like Barkley and Hubie Brown said after the draft, you won't find one coach who isn't satisfied with their team's draft.
