Washington #1 pick- Kwam Brown Nets #1 pick- Kenyon Martin Bulls- #1 pick - Elton Brand Clips - #1 Michael Olowakandi All 4 of these teams got the #1 pick the last 5 years and none of them had an impact like Yao is haveing with Houston. He is a true #1 pick and we are very fortunate to get the pick last year and not the previous 2 years where Kwame and Kenyon was picked. I wonder where would we be this year if we didn't get Yao. I dare not to think about it.
If James turns out to be a stud next season and Yao doesn't live up to our ridiculous expectation of improvement, will there be a "If only we have the #1 pick this year" thread this time next year?
First of all, Brand and Martin ain't too shabby at all. Second, lets judge it after all the above players have 10 years under their belt. But hey, of course I am glad we have Yao and I hope he will be the one that stores some rings under his belt after 10 years. Hopefully in a rox-uniform.
Martin's solid but he just flat out didn't have the potential as any other No. 1 picks in the 1st place. He would never be a No. 1 pick in any other draft. His draft class was one of the worst ever. Kandi's a bust because his potential was there in the 1st place. It's just his lazy attitude preventing him from being great. Brand's also solid but I still understand how he would be chosen ahead of Francis. Kwame Brown still has a chance of becoming some special though.
Judging from the rest of the post and your tone, I take it from this particular quote to mean that you still DON'T understand how he would be chosen ahead of Francis; well here's some reasons why... Francis is an undersized shooting guard who does not other other compensate for his lack of size; Brand, though undersized at power forward, makes for it with his unbelievable work ethic around the basket... GMs always value big men over small guard... wing players who can penetrate are a dime a dozen... truly legitimate low-post players are an absolute commodity... Francis is, at the very best, a mediocre defender; Brand, by all accounts, is one of the top 3 power forwards at the defensive end... Basketball intelligence; Brand knows how to rotate on defense, share the ball on offense, and does not need to have a ball in his hands to dominate the game; Francis still lacks in those areas... Maturity: Brand turned pro to improve his family's financial situation, using his first paycheck to buy his mom a new house; Francis, as we all remember from draft night, pouted and threw a pissy fit when he was drafted by Vancouver, a city he had never even visited and did not even give a chance to make an impression on him
How about Steve leading his team to a winning record and just short of the playoffs his second season. What has Brand's teams done? Yeah that proves Brand was such a better pick.
we have to thank for SF'S lucky hand. i guess he always bring a rabbit feet? sf and yao look good together....
I agree with the post. A stud center only comes along every five to ten years. Probably every five years before the 90s, every ten years since.
I think Chicago, like most teams, would have been better off with Francis. Luckily they didn't and took Brand so we could screw the Grizzlies out of Francis. Still, Brand is a fine player and hard to fault a team too much for picking him #1. After Yao and probably Gasol and Francis, Brand would be the player with the 4th most value to come out in the last 4 years. Amare could push him to 5th, but not yet.
I think last year's draft and this upcoming draft will be abberations because Yao Ming is definitely a legitimate stud center, and I believe that Darko Milicic will also be a legitimate stud center (depending on which team drafts him, and how they want to play him). Milicic would be the #1 pick this year if it weren't for the LeBron James hype machine (I'm not ragging on LeBron, just not too keen on the hype). If Milicic makes himself available for workouts, pre-draft camp in Chicago, and just about every other opportunity to showcase his skills, he could rival James as the #1 pick. (Depending on which team wins the lottery).
I'm not knocking Chicago for drafting Brand first, if anything, they were stupid to trade him, but that guys posts on why Brand was chosen was just a disquised bashing of Francis, and considering Francis has had more success in the league than Brand it was totally uncalled for. As far as Steve throwing a hissy, the guy let it be known he didn't want to go to Vancuver, and they were stupid for the pick. John Elway did the same thing to the Colts and no one ever mentions that.
I don't think I was bashing Francis as so much as pointing out some reasons why Chicago would have picked Brand over Francis... The post I was responded to implied that choosing Brand over Francis was somehow incomprehensible... I guess via the same logic, you could say that it was somehow incomprehensible that the Rockets selected Hakeem Olajuwon over Michael Jordan... You could certainly make the argument that selecting Francis would have been a better idea for the Bulls, or that selecting Jordan would have been a better idea for the Rockets... But by the same token, it's a bit far-fetched, not to mentioned wholly inaccurate, to say that selecting Brand over Francis, or Olajuwon over Jordan was incomprehensible....
Not a Francise hater, but I would rank Brand higher than Francise now unless Francise starts playing SG.
I understand your point, Brand was definitly considered more mature back then. Choujie, who has led their teams to more wins since they came into the league. Franchise actually has a 45 win season under his belt. Brand is a nice player, and he puts up good numbers, but Steve actually has better results then he has.
Well, I don't consider short of playoffs something to be proud of. One thing I noticed is that people keep bringing up the fact Rockets won 45 games 2 years ago to conclude that Steve is so great that Rockets should make playoff even without Yao. The reality is: NBA is changing, zone defense is allowed, a lot teams are maturing and improving. Toronto went to East conference Final doesn't mean they'd be better next year. And the number of wins is not the only way to compare players,otherwise Devean George who was drafted in the same year should be the best. I compare players by they way they are playing, including defense and decision making, not only stats. From the games I've been watching, I'd rank Brand as a PF higher than Steve as a PG.
