I love the passion this guy has playing the game. That was a clutch performance! (whoops! double post)
Too bad he'll never come here. I'm sure his rights will be a throw in in some trade before he ever plays for us. No, I don't have proof, links or backup...I'm just going with the odds. Pugs
the Odds? Morey hasn't traded any of our Overseas picks. We still have the rights to: (minus players who's rights have expired) Axel Hervelle 2005 NBA Draft Originally drafted by the Denver Nuggets with the 52nd pick Lior Eliyahu 2006 NBA Draft Originally drafted by the Orlando Magic with the 44th pick Brad Newley 2007 NBA Draft 54th pick Maarty Leunen 2008 NBA Draft 54th pick Sergio Llull 2009 NBA Draft 34th pick Morey hasn't traded any of them.
As I recall, Morey didn't say that Llull plays PG in Euroleague. But that he sees him as someone who can potentially come in and play PG should we end up trading Lowry or Dragic. When we drafted him, the Rockets spoke of him as someone who could be a "big" PG. Our intention when we a acquired him was to draft a big PG, not an undersized SG.
Yes, they are playing the 4th quarter. 70 points with 4 OTs? They're bad but not that much... This one forces an overtime, it's from last week. Honestly, there are no good news for the Rockets Llull's playing time as SG. And he's playing more than ever at that position. He needed to gain poise, he's certainly not mistake-free as PG, like that "strengths" column of DX says about him. Messina bet on him as SG for this season. Let's hope he plays more PG next season, because it wouldn't be nice for the Rockets to recieve a player who they want as PG but has played as SG his last seasons. We have now a similar player in Goran Dragic, if you think about Llull as an NBA PG. I think Goran is more talented penetrating, passing, Llull the better shooter. Llull has a chance to be more than good defensively, and has the same aggressiveness that Dragic, being even more emotional.
He brought Scola and David Andersen over. Spurs didn't even want to bring Scola over. Hawks didn't want to bring Andersen over. He bought their draft rights, when other teams wouldn't bring them over.
Glad to see Llull doing so well right now. We're going to be able to trade him for something really good.
I don't know how well he will fit in with us,but this video was really encouraging. I think his role will be as a combo guard coming off the bench. I hope he will get better and come to Houston in the near future.
It's possible that he could be included as part of a package if he keeps on improving,maybe even for Rubio. I'm somewhat skeptical about going for Rubio though. He wants things on his terms,and has given the Wolves a cold shoulder which is a negative sign IMO.
Yeah, it's negative, like Magic Johnson asking for a trade and John Elway holding out to play in Denver and Kobe screwing up all his draft workouts except the Lakers. Negative like a fox.
I don't rate Rubio that highly. I would rather go after a somewhat proven player in the NBA with upside.
The Spurs wanted to bring Scola over, but a lack of cap space and PT -- combined with Scola's desire to come to the NBA asap -- made them look to deal him. I'll give you David Andersen, though. Still -- how many international prospects have we drafted vs. came over? I'd say pugs was right -- odds are Sergio Llull doesn't ever wear a Rockets uniform. It doesn't mean we're rooting for that, it just makes sense based on past international draft picks. Although I will say I believe Llull has been rated higher than our previous overseas guys, but who knows what the Rockets will do. It doesn't make sense to bring him over when we have Lowry/Dragic, and both are locked in for the next couple years.
Not exactly. The Spurs--like the Rockets--had their MLE available to sign Scola, so cap space was not an issue. The issue for San Antonio was that Tim Duncan did NOT want to play center, and Scola was exclusively a PF. They didn't want to commit to Scola when they already had Duncan, Fabricio Oberto, Matt Bonner, Francisco Elson and Robert Horry on the roster. So, when Scola was getting ready to sign a long-term deal in Spain (at which point his draft rights would have very little value in trades), the Spurs decided to strike while the iron was hot and use his draft rights to do a small salary dump (Jackie Butler's ~$2.5M salary) and save several million bucks in salary and luxury tax. (The funny thing is, this trade didn't even get the Spurs below the tax threshold! They ended up having to pay a small amount of luxury tax and missed out on the shared tax revenues.)
Spurs wanting to bring Scola over. Agreed, then. It doesn't dispute the fact that Morey wanted to bring international players over, Andersen and Scola. Dragic is not locked in for the next couple years. There is a $2 mil team option for a season, and Dragic drops off roster. There will be zero depth at the PG, after 1 season. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=6155364
This was posted on a different thread the other day. I enjoyed the podcast. I think it has some relevance to this thread also. http://jonahkeri.com/2011/03/10/podcast-30/ This guy Jonah Keri is good. He asks Morey a lot of great questions and they also talk about drafting players from overseas. The topics we cover: 0:30-2:30: The evolution of the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference 2:31-3:40: Getting the best information from Sloan panelists who are motivated not to share proprietary information 3:41-6:57: Coming back from a mediocre season in the NBA 6:58-8:14: Is it possible to draft a superstar in late rounds in the NBA? 8:15-9:14: How did the NBA draft become so efficient over the past decade? 9:15-10:21: The phenomenon of NBA teams hiring smart young statheads going to NBA front offices 10:22-11:52: Why does the owner of an NBA team make such a difference? 11:53-13:12: How do you convince a player to come to a city like Houston? 13:13-16:49: Is the playoff system getting it wrong? 16:50-21:42: International scouting in the NBA 21:43-22:24: How does a GM navigate the uncertainty of the Collective Bargaining Agreement? 22:25-24:19: Are there revelations that reporters can make that other teams don’t already know? 24:20-25:17: Is there any hands-on coaching in the NBA? 25:18-28:08: How much difference can tactics make? 28:09-29:49: Meshing analytics with coaching 29:50-31:42: Players who focus only on basketball and girls 31:43-end: Food Pick of the Week zzpot puff puff
You kind of answered your own point. If they would have used the MLE to sign Scola, they would be subjecting themselves to a big luxury tax bill without further moves. Let's compromise and call it a lack of cap space flexibility. BetterThanEver: do you really expect them to decline Dragic's option? I don't see any reason for them to. It appears that the earliest we'd have a legitimate (read: playing time) roster spot for Llull would be the 2012-2013 season. Yeah, he might come over then -- but I still agree with Pugs that the odds are in favor of him never donning a Rockets uniform.
