That's true. Morey likes to take calculated risks. The Thabeet trade was another example. We weren't going to make the playoffs. We got a first rounder and the opportunity to take a look at Thabeet for a season. If Thabeet was a player, he would've showed something here. We were going to lose Battier anyway. It cost us a roster spot for a season and Thabeet's $6 million salary.
Taking T-will indeed was a risk and it bit us in the ass, no problem but taking Morris is not a risk and neither is trading for Thabeet. I don't see how you think that is taking a risk. If Morey is serious about taking risks, he will trade Lowry and a pick / two picks for a high pick and take a chance. You'll see, he won't, take the safe route and embarass the Rockets by trading Lowry (now that we don't need him) + Scola for Gasol.
So what have we learned out of this statement from Chad Ford? -Not a whole lot, but If I had to look that deep into it, I would say Im interested on why they would turn down the opportunity to get in the 8 to 12 draft position just simply by packaging their 14 + 16. They did not want to bring two more rookies in that wouldn't be able to get playing time anyways so why not? Must be that they have other deals in the works to get lower or they already have plans for the 16th pick in a separate deal. This will be a very interesting Thursday thats for sure.
You could always trade picks for future picks. Considering how deep this draft is maybe they just go right ahead and select at 14 and 16. The bottom line is that morey has many options and just because he doesn't choose to move up a few spots does not mean he will not make a prudent decision.
This is exactly what i got from it to. either they want picks 2-8, or there is someone already in the league that is young with upside as morey said thursday they want.
It also makes me think that maybe they aren't as high on Zeller and Leonard as people might assume. I find that interesting. If they dont move into that area they might as well kiss them goodbye. I doubt either of them last past New Orleans, Portland, and the Bucks. Obviously they aren't too concerned about securing one of those guys by and are more than willing to take someone else instead.
This draft is so deep due to the lockout last season that it would be dumb to give up any picks, unless it was a 1 for 1. Out of this draft, the top 7 or 8 will be multiple all stars, and 9-18 will probably be all stars at one time or another. Players like Sullinger, who would have been the #1 pick last year, stayed out of the draft due to the lockout. Bad choice by him, as he will no doubt drop, but better for teams drafting 10-18/19/20 as those guys could have been high draft picks last year.
I saw where another poster told you to refrain from posting and I really didn't know why he was on you. I really had not paid much attention to your posts until then, but, I have read your last several posts and I now understand why he told you to quit. To the poster that told you to refrain......I am sorry I doubted you and won't do it again!!!
Because the opportunity was probably 11 or 12 and the guy they want to trade up for won't be there. And if a guy they like is at 12 then there's a decent chance he's there at 14. Really nothing is known right now. All that is known is the Rockets have scouted their behinds off and they have talked trade until they got trades running out their ears. Why hasn't anything happened yet? Because they are waiting on the Dwight situation to unfold. The next 7 days is going to get crazy. We're gonna hear all sorts of stuff, all sorts of players the Rox are interested in (like we haven't already), etc. It's gonna get crazy. But the first thing to watch is what is going to happen to Dwight. That affects the whole league, not just Orlando or us. It affects what practically every team is doing.
So I guess that makes sense why in this case 2 is better than 1. If they think a deal could be had with Orlando then its quite possible that Orlando would prefer bulk in picks rather than one pick that is slightly better in quality. I agree that any deals that are made must, must, must keep them in just as good if not in a better position to aquire Dwight Howard ASAP.
I do agree that T-Will was a risk with a potentially bigger payoff and it's probably the only one that they paid a real price for (lottery-protected first round pick), but I didn't really see Marcus Morris as a risk. He was a junior at a huge basketball program and put up numbers (17.2 ppg, 7.8 boards). He may not work as a small forward, but I think his bust potential (potential to not even be a serviceable player) was and is pretty low... especially when you see Markieff's contributions with Phoenix. I looked at Kawhi Leonard last year as more of a roll of the dice... a sophomore that had some things you knew you had to work on, but physically and athletically he was impressive. It was more about his potential. However I guess when you consider they thought Morris could be a Paul Pierce type, then yeah ... they were aiming high.
We don't know what Orlando prefers really. They've got their new GM on the job. We may be able to draw some clues since we know a little bit about him and where he's from. But we really don't know much at this point. The guy they hired has been active in the league, in an NBA front office. He's got his own draft board and his own plan for how he wants to build the Magic. One of the things I suspect he believes in from working in SA and OKC is you take the best player available, irregardless of position. I would suspect that for sure. But his draft board.....that would take a lot of speculation. My gut says Dwight is going to fold and sign an extension. That's what my gut tells me. Because Dwight knows he won't be traded to Brooklyn and he doesn't want to have to walk to his new team. He wants his money and his city. So if it comes down to staying in Orlando or being traded to Houston or New Orleans, or Portland, I don't think Dwight will go for being traded, at least not without talking to DWill and seeing if DWill is willing to sign there. So, my gut says Dwight is going to fold and sign the extension and act like he's a career Magic.
Then again Paul Pierce didn't develop his all-around game in his rookie season. I think he still may be able to develop into that but he does have a tougher climb to make it to the top of that mountain. Regardless we'll see and if all he becomes is a servicable back-up at least he's good for that, I wouldn't call him that low just yet. About the work outs. That Turk sure does sound a lot like D-Mo lite. A 7 footer with range, some athleticism, and is growing into an NBA type body, plus he's left handed. I guess if we buy into the 2nd round we could take a flyer and allow him to develop overseas.
Well, yeah. I think it depends on how you look at it and what you consider to be a safe pick at #14. Marcus Morris, the tweener, that was never going to be more than a solid bench player was a relatively safe pick, although I don't think Leonard was any more of a risk than Morris. With Leonard you at least knew what position he would play. I, for one, didn't think Marcus Morris could play SF, although I still haven't given up hope that he ends up proving me wrong. To be fair, I didn't think Leonard was anything to get excited about, either. I think Hollinger summed it up pretty well in his player profile for Morris last year:
People have to realize that Morris is only in his 2nd year this year. You cant say what could have been off of one *****ing year. Give the guy 2 more years.
