But if I were ranking them... 1 DMo 2 Tjones 3. Trob 4 smith 5 don't know much about the new Honeycutt (sp) guy but ill rank anyone above Royce white:grin:
Wrong to include Tim Ohlbrecht as he has not even made an NBA roster yet, nevertheless he is still a good project. Better at his starting point overall than Greg Smith was. We'll probably see more of this guy next year but we may even not. D-Mo is already on his way. It's only a matter of time when he takes over the starting spot and plays starter's minutes as he wants this too much, he's demonstrated that he works on his kinks, and demonstrates a professionalism and passion to play. D-Mo just needs the actual, hands-on experience to mature and realize his potential. Some things he can only learn thru OJT. Terrence Jones is the enigma. With his attributes, the coaches should be high on him and he should be getting his chance, getting minutes and playing well. He keeps falling off the radar even in college and I honestly can't put a finger on it why. The Thomas Robinson highlights and hype can really get you excited but I'm not really sold. I'm going all Caveat Emptor here. I'm more of a believer in his value as a tradeable asset than his chances of becoming the answer at 4. Greg Smith is already contributing and has had good stints already. Experience will polish him and he'll eventually be a contributor as a rotation player. We've all heard the good things this season, the good PER, the good game against Dwight Howard and LA, being Ox strong, etc. I'm not giving up on Royce White as most here already have. Not until he absolutely sucks anyway. He's too good to fall off that easily. He's bound to have his own band wagon as soon as his highlights start coming in. All in all, this poll was about 4 rookies, 1 sophomore who's really more of a rookie and a d-league project. Only 2 guys (Greg Smith, D-Mo) are actually being used and getting an opportunity to play and to show what they can do and we are not even sure if the rest will get opportunities as it's still a logjam. We may never even see them pan out as as a Rocket as it's almost a given that most of these guys will be traded. At least this year will be better for the projects as compared to last year as there is no one who really owns the spot at PF. I think it's safe to say that the all rookies could fall into the Greg Smith-PPat-Mook Morris model, all becoming contributors over time. We just don't know yet who's going to stay.
I have little doubt that DMo is going to be a good player, that being said I think he has the "potential" to be a superstar in this league. He has the athletic ability, the body, and it appears he has the intangibles that it takes to be a superstar. Only time will tell, but he appears to have the drive to always want to be a better player that may one day make him a superstar. We can only hope!
Robinson has highest potential, but in the short term he's going to have to work hard to get past DMo. More than the stretch 4, where DMo currently has a clear advantage, the deciding factor will be defensive toughness and effectiveness (defensive IQ, rotations, etc) and PNR effectiveness. Jones needs some time to mature mentally. Too early to predict how he'll pan out, but probably will not be with the Rockets. Smith has been a very pleasant surprise, but has a limited ceiling as a rotation player.
I think D-Mo has the biggest upside as far as potential, but T-Rob is not that far from him just because he has more of an NBA ready body. 1. D-MO 2. T-ROB 3. T-Jones 4. Smith ...
Ohlbrecht close to joining the PF/C/bigman party in Houston That would make 5 ROOKIES (DMO_TRob_Jones_White_Ohlbrecht) and a 2nd yr player who's really like a rook himself. Interesting how you'd play that 3 on 3. DMO vs Ohlbrecht (battle of the Euros) TRob vs GSmith (battle of the Oxen) White vs TJones (battle of versatile skill sets) hehe
Ohlbrecht finally signed. I believe he's the darkhorse in this position battle. He appears to be a nice combination of D-Mo+Greg Smith (euro moves, agility, finesse, range, length) + (ox strong, banger, muscle mass) I love how he likes contact and doesn't play soft like Patricia. I believe he's the greatest threat to D-Mo right now and love how that position battle is going to force everyone to become better and be their best. McHale is going to love this guy. I'm expecting a Tim Ohlbrecht bandwagon in the near future too.
I like big,skilled,athletic guys. From my experience, its easier to get better at other areas than it is to correct the struggle of shooting over bigger players. That's why I see guys like royce white and thomas robinson struggling. Both guys are good foot athletes,but they're not athletic enough or explosive enough to compensate for their size. In colege, both guys excelled because they were stronger than their opponet. In the nba, every big man is strong. That said, I think d-mo and jones have the best attributes to pan out. D-Mo is a fluid,skilled,7ft er and jones is the same except he's 6'9 explosive, and handles like a guard. These 2 guys have a huge ceilings going forward. To me, they have all star type talent.
I believe that all these guys have a chance to pan out in different ways DMo and TRob have the highest ceilings IMO, while Smith and Jones are more likely to become solid bench players. I haven't really seen too much of Jones so I could be wrong about him, but McHale clearly favors Dmo over everybody. Motie has a great work ethic and practices very hard which is why McHale is so high on him No idea about Tim, but he's been pretty successful in the d-league With Royce... I would be surprised if he makes it to the NBA at this point, but if he can get his **** together, his ceiling is higher than all these guys. Its such a shame to see this kind of raw talent be wasted, but it was worth the risk. At the end of the day we have 6 young, exciting prospects, all who haven't gotten significant time in the NBA yet. If even one of these guys can become great it will be worth the rockets time.
talk to me when White is on the senior team When the likes of Timmy gets called up before him that tells a lot about hard work
DMo and it's not close. he has size, already the most skilled bigman on the team and he works his arsenal off.
he could pan out just not necessarily on the Rockets.... good luck in Europe on Dleague teams of other ballclubs
