Exactly, in this day and age a skilled, dominant, complete 7-foot player may happen once in every say.....umm 5 years. And usually he is a top 3 pick. So that means you will have to either get extremely lucky or draft what is the best available. And that's what the Rox did......
Crazy amount of "Centers" still available: Salomon Alabi, Hassan Whiteside, Daniel Orton, Ryan Richards, Jerome Jordan, Tibor Pleiss, Dexter Pittman, Parakhouski, N'Diaye, Raduljica, Zoubek... etc. --RB
Like this dude? Seriously, it appears that most of the tall guys available are stiffs, given how far they have fallen. Just get the BPA.
Well for you to bet somebody will get injured on another team is never a way to plan. You have to plan for your team that a certain somebody doesnt get hurt because if thats case KNOCK ON WOOD then were screwed.
I love the pick. One of my favorite prospects actually. Great kid, had amazing interviews. Can he play? Yes, and he isn't undersized, he is 6'9 with a 7'1" wingspan. He was the BPA honestly, with no Aldrich, it had to be the pick.
Me too, but from all the videos of Whiteside that I watched, that guy has serious skills. For a center, there is not anything he can't do. Face up, back to the basket, great moves, great mechanics, good footwork. I guess the reports that he's very immature off the court are true. If he gets it together at all, I think he's gonna be a great player.
No, that's not what I am hoping for.....And to tell you the truth, I am not expecting anything from Yao....I actually am expecting him to opt-out and end up in NY.
I love how so many on the board say "in Morey we trust!" and the second he does something unexpected, they b**** and moan. I really like the Patterson pick, he was a darkhorse that I thought would be great value at 14. And since we're stockpiling assets, going BPA and not necessarily filling needs, I see it as a good solid pick.
He checked all the boxes for us. We're just ecstatic about this pick.'' Rockets scouting director Gerald Madkins offered this assessment of Patrick Patterson: ''We're extremely excited to add Patrick Patterson to our roster. Truly, truly professional approach to the game. Quality individual. He's going to fit into our locker room. He was the No. 1 guy we were targeting--No. 6 overall. We can't believe it worked out the way it did. We're extremely happy. ''At the combine, he measured really well. I think that's why we were excited leaving the combine after he tested almost true size for a power forward. You know, you can speculate whether that's 6-10, 6-9. But we're very happy. We think he fits in very well with our cast. We're just ecstatic that we got him. ''One of the things we just loved about the kid is that if you look over his career, he's a guy that has been the No. 1 guy and then he has been a guy that can fill a role this year with all those freshmen coming in. They kind of took the hype away from him, and he didn't skip a beat. Just as productive. His approach never changed. Those are the kind of guys we love in our locker room. They have a straight-forward approach. They just show up for work everyday and do the best they can. ''Patrick is a quality defender. He's probably a better team defender right now. I think most young guys coming in the league are going to be that way. We see him as a guy that's going to add a little diversity to the things we can do defensively. This year, he's shown he can play out on the floor a little bit. I think that helps our defense tremendously. ''He's shown his ability to play out on the floor a little more than he has in the past. He's shooting college 3-pointers really well now. His mobility for a power forward is really good. He brings a lot of intangibles that teams love to have, especially winning teams like we think we can be. ''It's important to add quality people to your locker room. Not to take away anything away from his on-the-court ability, but he really fits in with our culture. He has a hard-working professional approach. You really can't measure that. I think we value that more than most teams. I think you guys are going to be really impressed with how well this guy understands and plays the game. ''We considered him the No. 1 guy that we wanted. He checked all the boxes for us: need, size, locker room, just down the line. We're just ecstatic about this pick.'' Link: http://blogs.chron.com/sportsjustice/archives/2010/06/he_was_the_no_1.html
HMM a undersized power forward who can play both end of floor with only 5.3% body fat OR a big tall guy who cannot move well tough choice
Height isn't everything. There have been plenty of 7 footers who were nothing but barely serviceable backup centers. For goodness sake, we have a great example in Chuck Hayes. Of course he's not a great player, but for his size to guard NBA centers, what he's done to compete is nothing short of amazing. Patterson has a great motor and work ethic and is productive. I don't see what's not to like.
Those players you are mentioning are candidates for defense player of the year and first team defense. If patterson is that type of player I will be very happy and will shut up
Hard to say...they are different... defensively i'd say Hill because he's taller, but they are both good defenders, strong, fairly quick laterally, etc.. Offensively they both finish well and can play above the rim some. However, and this is something i dont think anyone mentioned, Patterson actually shot 40% from the college 3 last season. Obviously the NBa 3 is different, but who knows, he may be able to hit it at 33% or so, which isnt bad for a 4. Hill is proably better facing up though, so i'd say it may be a draw offensively... So overall i'd say Hill, especially since he's still has more untapped potential.
also Perkins was in street clothes....Just like when we took the lakers to 7 Yao was in street clothes no doubt we would of won that series if Yao was present
Wow! That's the most recent pic you could find for him in uniform? It has been a while since he has played....
