Charlie Villanueva declaring for draft; Can he help Rockets?

I am glad he is in the draft because that will mean 1 more PF will probably fall to us, but he would not be a favorite pick as a Rocket. Give me a worker and team oriented guy even if they have a little less upside (Warrick, Diagu). Him in the draft increases our chances to pick a future contributing PF.

 

I like his game, I remember him playing on Lebrons high school all-star team. He could contribute right away for some NBA teams but I don't think he will fall anywhere near our pick. Unless we trade up, he could be our new Eddie! 6'11" 240 pounds 20 years old, can play the 3 or 4, yeah he's not droppin' to our pick. Lottery team bound.

 

I can't make my mind up about this guy. He played on the same high school team as Luol Deng (now of the Bulls of course) and looked pretty damn good. The big knock on him has always been his work ethic and it was said many times at high school that if he had the same desire that Luol had then he would be unstoppable. On paper he looks good at 6'11" and 240 and consistently gets you a double double but at times looks woefully slow and unaggressive. I wouldn't be surprised if he stayed in college for his stock to fall even further hence him declaring now while he still has a chance at the 1st round. I would not be at all surprised to see him low 1st round where our pick is and could be worth a shot. Its not like we ever draft anyone good anyway.

As an aside, what is up with that guy's (lack of) eyebrows?

 

I don't think JVG would take a chance on someone with a questionable work ethic.

 

This guy looks like a classic tweener to me.

Or shall we say Lamar Odom?

 

Where are his eyebrows?

 

Maybe he went to Whoopi's barber?

 

Thought this should be mentioned: He's a terrible, terrible defender. A gifted rebounder, but nonetheless a terrible defender. He's been getting masked by playing alongside Emeka Okafor and Josh Boone his whole career.

 

He has a disease that prevents him from growing hair. Luckily for him, humans no longer depend on hair for survival.

On his play: he's not a lazy player. He's been a team player all year and his coach always encourages him to shoot more. To the person who said he was slow: Are you crazy? He's probably the fastest 6'11" player in the country, he runs the floor like a guard. One of the best fast break players in the nation. His range doesn't extend to the NBA line, but it's pretty good. He can score on the low post or facing up off the dribble. His defense is suspect, but his offensive game would be very useful.

Consider this: After the UNC game, he averaged close to 20 points and 11 rebounds the rest of the way.

 

Overrated headcase. Another skinny, tall kid who has bad fundamentals and good athleticism. How many of them are out there? You can pick up an experienced player with these same assets for a little bit of nothing. Can't play defense, and won't be a good rebounder because of his lack of girth on the NBA level.


Take Turiaf.

 

I'm not that impressed with Villanueva. Of the Big East games that I've seen, the BC and Pitt teams outmuscled him and Boone.

Besides Villanueva and Josh Boone are two ugly dudes.

 

The point I was making is that sometimes he can't be bothered to move his feet, ie on defense, leading to him making silly fouls and being ineffective as a defender. In the open floor, sure, he's great, especially when he gets himself in shape.

 

If he falls to our position we would have to take him. He's just too tremendous of a talent to pass up on. Somebody before mentioned Lamar Odom---Villanueva has a lot of the same qualities & abilities as Odom. I really see a similar version of Odom.

No, Villanueva isn't a good defender. But do you really think a guy that plans to survive on a team with a defensive coach wouldn't be basically forced to improve in that area? Good NBA defensive is something that comes with time. Show patience along with good coaching, the guy will develop. Afterall, we wouldn't be drafting the guy to become an immediate starter or anything even remotely close. Nothing wrong with having a project player.

And no, he's not a thug or psycho madman just looking for ways to waste his talent (Eddie Griffin).