2011 With the 38th Overall Pick:

The Houston Rockets were able to get Chandler Parsons AKA (A myriad of names that pertain to his devilish good looks). He also goes by a lot of other names such as Glue, our 3rd star, Jeremy Lin's BF, etc. A do it all forward that has pumped faked his way into many of our hearts. Currently averaging 17.3 PPG (.522 FG% and .395 3PT%), 3.8 APG, and 5.3 RPG, he has done a lot to help the Rockets to their 20-11 record.

The reason for my post today is to challenge the notion that Chandler Parsons is simply a product from the "Houston Rockets' offensive system." After all, being selected 38th overall in the 2nd round, talent should come too far and too few. So it got me thinking, is it possible to even pick any possible talent from picking so late?

Thanks to http://www.nba.com/draft2008/36-40.html, I was able to do some digging to see all the other late draft picks from 36-40 and identify any notable names that are currently contributing to their respective NBA team. From 2009-2013, I had to use Wikipedia.

Marc Jackson 1997 2 38 Temple Golden State Warriors
Eduardo Najera 2000 2 38 Oklahoma Houston Rockets
Mehmet Okur 2001 2 38 Turkey Detroit Pistons
Steve Blake 2003 2 38 Maryland Washington Wizards
Chris Duhon 2004 2 38 Duke Chicago Bulls
Travis Diener 2005 2 38 Marquette Orlando Magic
Kyrylo Fesenko 2007 2 38 Ukraine Philadelphia 76ers (to Utah)
Kyle Weaver 2008 2 38 Wash. St. Charlotte Bobcats
Jon Brockman 2009 2 38 Washington Portland Trailblazers
Andy Rautins 2010 2 38 Syracuse New York Knicks
(Yours truly) 2011
Quincy Miller 2012 2 38 Baylor Denver Nuggets
Nate Wolters 2013 2 38 S. Dakota St. Washington Wizards

Of these picks, the only players that are still currently in the NBA are Steve Blake (33), Chris Duhon (31), CP25 and Nate Wolters(22). Of these players, Parsons is the only one posting a PER above the 15 mark. Albeit, the latter two are past their prime, the last being a rookie and all of them being PGs. This goes to show how slim the odds were for Daryl Morey to pick an NBA ready forward, readily available to contribute to the rebuilding Houston Rockets.

That's it? Two sub-average PGs? (I will leave Wolters out since he's still a rookie) Is it really possible that any other of these players would have been able to do what CP25 is doing given his current situation? I don't think so. Between the 13 years that I've posted, there were 12 other players in Parson's situation, and not one of them are where he currently is (by that, I mean a major cog to a growing Western Conference team).

So, I honestly believe that Chandler Parsons was truly a gem, a remarkable talent, and a player that any team would love to have. He is simply not a product of the Houston Rockets, but rather a slowly but shining star that will thrive in the league to come. Let's just hope that he remains a Rocket.

(If this is considered an unnecessary thread, or there is a better location to move this to, please do so or lock and I apologize and advance for not taking the time to look for it.)

 

Strangely enough, my paragraph on Marc Jackson and Mehmet Okur to comment on how talented players could be found was not included. I apologize again for not checking before I posted. But these are two notable players who were able to contribute and would have been a point to show that while scarce, talent was prevalent with an All-Star (In Me-Mo) being available.

 

Monta Ellis at 40, but I realize that I did severely limited the pool for my search but I thought I could have driven the point home. Although, thank you for providing concrete proof that there are more gems and solid talent to be had, while many ended up out of the NBA into the Euro-leagues.