Many variables moving forward sydmill for this Rockets organization. 1) 1st and foremost, in my opinion, is luring Wood/Porter beyond their current contract(s). 2) Do we get that top 4 pick? Determines if I would use both late 1st rd picks. 3) Top 4 pick helps influence Wood/Porter to stay with Houston; but not enough. Free agents will be needed to fill in gaps. As much as I like Nwaba and Sterling Brown, they are part of the reason this team is non competitive this season. Goes beyond "Tanking.". They are expiring contracts that want to put up big numbers as a means of getting paid bigger bucks. They lack enough of one thing or another. Size or shooting 3's consistently, defensive abilities, rebounding, something. 4) Bassey is a perfect fit for Silas system. Yes, he would spend some time in the G-league the first year, but should be a strong rotation player in year two. Silas had Bogan / WCS (no 3-pt shooting)......Dwight Powell (very little 3 pt shooting).....Kleber / Porzngis (3-pt shooting). 5 Bigs while we have two. Wood / Olynyk. And Wood is 216 pounds. Mobley is 218 pounds. I'm not a believer an NBA team can compete with two light weight playing the front court. But worse case scenario I play Mobley at SF. Bassey will eventually give us a Roll-Man, a Screener ( I hate Wood screens and I hate Mobley screens), rebounder, give us hustle pt's, better FT shooter than Mobley, better 3-pt shooter than Mobley, better shot blocker than most, low post presence. Bassey would give us the blend of strength and finesse that I don't see in other centers, with exception to Alprene Segun. Many options depending on how the dominos fall. I just don't wish the Rockets going the route of the 76ers. I wouldn't have drafted M Fultz, Nerlens Noel, Okafor, MCW.........I don't think the Rockets should just draft for the sake of drafting. I saw Terrence Jones, D-Mo, Parsons come and go for one reason or another before helping us become big time. We let Detroit invest in the training of C Wood and now we reap the reward. But that could be temporary if we don't play our cards right. What I'm saying is, there are players that can help that are further along than most of these late 1st rounders. Even internationally. But we don't cut 1st rounders and can't move them to 2-way contracts as easy as people make it out to be. Blocking our progress by keeping projects up the ying-yang.
There might be players with higher potential but I really think Cunningham is a lock to be a significant net positive playing in the NBA within 2 years. I do think Green has the higher NBA ceiling though. For those who have watched a lot of Cunningham’s full games: Could he become RJ Barrett with a jumper? That would definitely be a foundational player imo.
Definitely a losing record but a lot of young talent, it would be the true beginning of the rebuild. All 5 would be easy to root for and create a foundation for when the team can chase a star via free agency or trade, I'm presuming that would be in 2 years when Wall's contract is up.
Having watched Cade a 1/2 dozen or so times this year, he seems to be more of a facilitator and glue guy than future superstar. He is top 3 without a doubt but if a team wants to strike big in the draft with a potential superstar I'd gamble on Mobley or Green. Any of those 3 would be fantastic if we land a top 3 pick and even Suggs or Kuminga at 4 would be a suitable consolation prize.
Tbh I don’t see it with Mobley UNLESS you think he might be a DPOY level defender or KAT-level 3pt shooter. Otherwise he will struggle to create a large enough net impact on the floor. Still, I think Suggs and Kuminga would be great assets. Packaging any of them with Wood for example would put us in the front seat if a real franchise player became available in trade. Highly likely that one of the top 4 picks will disappoint though.
Me personally I don't think this team is as bad as they look. With a decent offseason together they can come back much more balanced unit.
I think this team is bad, but not this bad. I think their offense could be better, but their defense may really be bad. I don't know - maybe it's all the injuries and different lineups causing them to be horrible, but there's definitely something hideous in this team. The lack of playing together in consistent units may really kill their defense (?). It just cracks me up, though, that there's almost always 1 quarter in a game where they just fall apart, but maybe ok the other quarters. With more stability, I hope we can be better. It's hard to judge on this season, so I'll wait -- not like I have a choice but to hope for draft steals and watch standings for possible high draft picks/great swaps in the near-future. lol.
I feel like Giddey could go late lotto once people start watching him seriously. Not as athletic as one might want, but not a slug either. The NBL is a very physical league with a "win now" mentality which favours vets over rookies. Giddey was projected 2nd rd before this season, has won the starting spot, and he is putting up impressive numbers. His numbers compare very favourably to Ball's numbers from last year. Current protections are up to late 1st rd. Watch this space.
I think I prefer Roco Prkacin over Giddey. More upside and better fit for our team. Giddey is not a lottery pick IMO.
Shouldn't baffle anyone. He doesn't fit our timeline. We will lose him for nothing if we aren't proactive in the trade market.
No, you can't Players we draft you control for 7 years and you can develop / grow. This team is not a player away, not two players away, they are literally as far from a championship as you can can be. We are not getting better, we are on a downward trajectory (as we should be). God forbid we lose our pick this year, and then we are the worst team in the league again next year and atleast get a top 6 or 7 pick. We will finally have a foundation piece, right as Wood enters the final year of his deal, having already spent the last two years thinking about how to get to Miami. Ive seen this movie a hundred times. It always ends the same way.
