Chris Marcus at Western Kentucky is the Answer at the Center

We need L.Odom and J.Magloire if we want to win the title.

Imagine :

J.Magloire
E.Griffin
L.Odom
C.Mobley
S.Francis

 

Marcus is a project just as Cato is still a project, just as Eddie is still a project (albeit a quickly developping project)..I would prefer to go after someone a little bit later in their development stage like a Magloire or a Nazr Mohammed

 

Magloire is a stiff.


os

 

<B>Cato averages 5 or 6 boards a game and drops when he plays against the better Western Conference big men.
</B>

When exactly is the last time you watched a Rockets game?

 

man532,

The last month Cato has averaged over 10 boards a night. I wish he would be more of a defensive factor, but he is at least getting boards and not asking for the ball (not that he'd get it anyways with his horrid offensive ability). Am I saying I think he's a good center? No, he's still below average (at least until he becomes more of a shotblocking factor than he has been) but who is going to solve our problems in this draft? Marcus has injury question marks not to mention he has nowhere near the talent of a Dunleavy or Woods. Ming is the most talented C and the only guy that could really be an impact type of center from this class, but he hasn't played against big physical players like he will in the NBA. Dunleavy, Williams, and Wagner are the surest things in this draft to have some sort of positive impact. Woods probably has the most talent in the draft based on what scouts have said. It scares me that Marcus is not on either the most likely to have a positive impact list nor is he on the highly talented list. Those 2 things tell me that he's way too risk for where we're picking.

I would love to get a center that can give us 12+ ppg, 10 rpg, and 2.5 bpg but I don't see a guy in this draft that is going to give that to us (outside Ming and even he isn't sure fire).

Plus I wouldn't say we're overloaded at the 3. Griffin is not a 3 and will most definitely be a 4 in this league when he develops some inside offensive ability. Mo can switch between 4 and 5 and Kenny T is definitely a better 4 than 3. Rice is constantly injured and T-Mo is hardly starter quality. The problem is that we have a bunch of guys that can play the 3, but with the exception of Rice (who is always hurt) we don't have anyone that would be a starting 3 on any other team. We need a true SF and let the other guys fill in for when our 3 is not on the floor. Dunleavy and Woods would be the best 2 guys from what I've seen to fill the bill as true SF's.

I can gaurantee you that if Cato keeps doing what he's doing and Griffin develops into the 4 he's capable of then we'll be just fine on the glass. Cato is capable of being a 9-10 rpg player with 2+ bpg and Griffin can be a 9+ rpg guy with 3+ bpg. I would say that's a pretty good combo and we don't look so bad at the 4 and 5 futuristically. However, at the 3 who is the guy that will start in 2 years or so when we're ready to be highly competitive year in and year out? Rice will be gone, Walt will be gone sooner, Kenny isn't a starting 3, Griffin will have transitioned to the 4, Mo will share time between the 4 and 5, and T-Mo is at best a bench player. Getting a 3 that will be our starter in 2 years (if not sooner) should be our #1 priority next year along with deciding whether we keep Mo T or Kenny T (one will be used as trade bait if we need to move up, most likely Kenny since he has played well and doesn't have the injury stigma mixed with the fat contract....plus Mo can backup at C).