hp - I was just trying to get some general agreement here before someone threatened to e-mail Larry Coon.
Gater, I was overreading, again. I knew the clause aelliott referrenced, and argued that about Webber non-stop last year and frequently this year, but recently let Clause (b) above it confuse me. Oh well, don't second guess an argument that's worked for a year is the lesson of the day.
Forget Olowakandi, he is not a significant upgrade from Cato. Odom and Olowokandi are not worth the number one IMO. Take Ming or JWill with the number one. Odom: cross fingers and hope he makes it to FA, then go after him, if Rockets really really must have him. If Steve MUST be traded, then wait until next year and trade him for the no. 1 overall, then take ..... LeBron James.
Gator/HP, Sorry about that! For some reason I was thinking Kandi was still in his last contract year. Brain glitch!
Achebe: I am devastated that you are giving Lynus props when I have said the same thing he said countless times! [size=1/2] just messing with both of you...Lynus, you need to post in my heavy metal CD thread [/size] Odom and Kandi are not worthy of the #1 pick...Elton Brand and Odom are plus the Clippers pick at #8 and their pick for next season. However, I would rather pass on Odom and take my chances with what we have or get Rashard Lewis.
Small forwards like Odom come a dime a dozen in the NBA these days. I think there's six small forwards in this draft that could potentially be as good as Odom. But 7-5 centers with basketball talent are not a dime a dozen. If we draft Ming this year, it will be pretty easy to acquire another small forward this season or the next. It will be close to impossible to acquire a quality center with the Ming's potential in the next couple of seasons.
I felt kinda dirty laughing at that. In any case, if we do get Cottonkandi and Rudy begins to espouse how he loves the way he moves and shoots. I'll begin to think Rudy T's full of ****... I've seen this guy play Clippers games. He's a freakin' black hole. He has some nice numbers in boards, but he's a seven footer for crying out loud. This guy think's he's hot stuff when his moves are limitted to four or five posting patterns. Not a guy you want shooting at teh end of the game. Admittedly, he did score 25 points against the Spurs, but it took a lot of shots to get there. And frankly, I don't think he'll be as aggressive once his contract situation is resolved. He'll probably shoot more because he thinks he's the only post up option on this team...
Players like Odom are not a dime a dozen. Dunleavy can pass but not as well and is slower; Dunleavy does have a better shot, but do you really want Dunleavy? Butler can defend but won't run the show like Odom. Q-Woods will need time to develop. Tski, er, Tski, what's-his-name might be special in a few years, but that's in a few years. Odom can play now, and play well on this team. It's just a matter of what else we can extract for the #1 pick. I like Rashard but forget him, good-bye. Besides, I don't want to help Seattle. At least we know the Clips will eventually screw things up by trying to low-ball their players.
Yes Odom can pass the ball better than most small forwards (and can turn the ball over better than any small forward) , but my point was that good small forwards are all over the NBA. I'm not as convinced as you are that Odom is such an incredible playmaker. Yes, he gets quite a few assists for a <b>small forward</b>, but he should not be confused for a <b>point guard</b>. At best, he is not much better of a playmaker than Steve Francis. He gets more turnovers per assist than Steve, so why do some of you think he would be such an upgrade? With the Rockets being one of the worst outside shooting teams in the league and one of the worst defensive teams in the league, I think getting a solid shooting or defensive specialist at the 3 is even more important than getting a so-called "point forward." And Odom's defense isn't all that special and his outside shooting is definitely not very special. There are plenty of sharp shooting small forwards out there that could help the Rockets at the 3. However, there are not many 7 foot plus big man with skills that can help the Rockets fill the center position. I just never understood how Odom averaging 5-6 assists per game while getting over 3-4 turnovers per game makes him some incredible playmaker. He really hasn't proven anything yet in the NBA. Besides, playing on a crappy team like the Clippers makes your stats look a lot better than if you were on a good team...just ask Maurice Taylor about that.
About the same time that I start to get excited about Odom, I am reminded that Odom, MoT and Kandi-man were 15-67 a few seasons ago.
