(Chron) Rockets planning to draft for Talent not Position...

Morey pretty much gave no meaningful information to Feigan... fed him some general theories on who is available where, but told him the team might to anything and everything at all with the pick.

 

No GM wants to tell anybody what they are going to do.

 

Otherwise someone like Portland will screw you up royally.

 

But if things fall right, the Rockets also could find a player fall just enough from a pool of Colorado State forward/center Jason Smith, Vanderbilt forward Derrick Byars, Georgia Tech forward Thaddeus Young or Spanish guard Rudy Fernandez.

2002
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/special/yao/1470594.html

2005
http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=2005_3882287
http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=2005_3882509

Going by past Chron articles in past drafts I'd guess there's a good chance one of those names will be drafted by the Rockets.

 

We should go BPA as other people have said.

My thoughts:
I think Sean Williams is overrated. As mentioned previously, he can't rebound and we DON'T need that in a PF.

Nubmerwise, Fazekas is a great rebounder and scorer. Is he athletic enough for a fast team? I don't know, maybe too slow.

I like Byars for his D, Almond for his scoring and getting to the line, and Hill for his overall abilities. If we need to go PF, I believe the best ones I find are Hill and Fazekas, probably in that order.

But I have a some darkhorses. First - PG - Zabian Dowdell. I don't place much credit on his Orlando Draft Camp or anything like that, but looking at his stats and play in big games looks huge. FGs 46%, FTs 80%, 3PTRS 38%, 6'3" w/shoes but a 6'10" wingspan! They say he may be the best PG defender in the draft (defends parker, M. Williams, Nash, etc.). He didn't play great in his tourney games, but his numbers against the Dukes and UNCs in his division are really good. Dropped 30 on Miami and 33 on UNC. 6 games this season he reached double digits in FTs, so we know he can get to the rim. He's projected as a PG/SG and I think PGs who can score are the way to go (parker, wade) as opposed to pass-first PGs. If Head and/or Alston is traded then Dowdell can backup PG and SG. I like Pruitt too, but he doesn't score enough. Green is a possiblity as well.

PF - Hill - Has dropped a lot lately. 6'9.5" in shoes. Good scorer and shotblocker. Nubmers look pretty consistent throught the year. Can probably backup the PF and C spots. 64% fg% this year shows he knows how to score.

Lasme - Only one of 3 players to get 4 triple doubles in one season. I know he's damn short, 6'7" in shoes, but has a 7'2" wingspan and a 36" vertical. He's a shorter Sean Williams who rebounds much better, blocks shots about the same, and isn't a head case. Okay, he is short and ancient (25 years old) so I can see wome people going with Williams who is only 20 and has room to improve. But SW is a nutjob and hasn't shown much but potential.

Flexibility and Potential - Marcus Williams and Wilson Chandler, both 20. Williams could be a SG or SF, Chandler a SF or PF. Both have some strengths but a pretty green.

We're not going to get a PF who will start for us this year in the draft, unless Fazekas or Hill really transform. S. Williams just isn't good enough, sorry. We'll trade for a starting-level PF. Draft BPA.

 

I would say, if you are not in the first 10, then you should always pick the best player available...

This is clearly Adelmans message: get me some guys with talent, I'll handle the position placements!

Morey talks about moving up or down, I actually see us giving up maybe Head or someone else to get a draft pick somewhere between 14-19

This is exactly the opposite of JVG's way....and thats what I like about Adelman!

Go Rockets!

 

Good article. Taking the BPA no question is the right thing to do at #26. FA and trades to fill the open positions.

What I find interesting is the talk about trading up if a couple of players fall. Maybe a Thaddeus Young or Javis Crittenton or someone like that.

Is this where we see a package of Luther Head+ our #26 pick to move up?

The Lakers at #19 is interesting. Or Bobcats (their 2nd 1st round pick) at 22.

My guess is, if the Rockets "trade up" it is not for a guy like Almond or Williams. They probably hope they land on #26. If the Rockets trade up, it would be for someone like Young or Crittenton, guys that probably should realistically be lottery picks, but are bumped down because of a deep draft.

Also, if the Rockets want to get into the 2nd round, remember that Portland has FOUR 2nd round picks. They won't use all of those. That would be a team I would target. And Portand has 2 of those second rounders in the top 45.

Draft night should be very interesesting. Do we trade up, trade down, trade into the 2nd round?

 

Big fan of Byars.

 

Give me Josh McRoberts. He is a good rebounder and he is 6'10 with handles and a outside shot and he likes to flush it around the basket. He has the size the stroke and everything we need to play Adelmans style of basketball. Would really look good when Yao and Tracy are doubled.

 

How much you wanna bet they do NOT take a PG with the pick even if one is the "best player available"? Every GM in every sport says they will not draft for position but will take the best player. A couple of the comments by Morey were interesting but this article wasn't much of anything. But at least the Chron has something on the Rockets.

 

the rockets have needs at almost every position save SF anyway, and even that is dicey with mcgrady's health and battier's tradeability.

 

I tend to agree. Here's a pre-draft depth chart based soley on 13 players with 2007-08 contracts...

PG -Mike James // Rafer Alston // JLIII // VSpan // (Sura)
SG - TMac // Bonzi // Head // Snyder
SF - Battier // Justin Reed
PF - Steve Novak
C - Yao

Obviously, the Rockets' management has a much better idea what kind of trade scenarios have been presented to them. And who MLE FA targets might be. But they are going to have a balancing act to perform even with Hayes and Deke re-signed.

 

GATER, no question the roster balance is out of whack. But honestly, if for some reason a guy like Acie Law or Crittenton is available, I don't think they would pass them up. All that would mean is they would make more trades to balance out the roster. We have already heard guys like Cook and Singleton brought up. And Varejo even though he is RFA.

I really feel like Morey is looking at the draft as an investment. Get the best guy with the best skills and leave it to Adelman to find a place for that player either this season or next.

And then whatever roster inbalance the Rockets have, they just make some trades to balance it out.

 

i'm sticking to my feeling that the pick will be traded in a package with one or two smaller contracts (luther, billy, snyder, sura).

 

If the Rockets trade up (using #26+Head) they could look at teams like Golden State (#18), Lakers (#19), Heat (#20), Philly (#21, their second 1st round pick of the night) or Charlotte (#22, their second 1st round pick of the night). I think #18 might be as high as they can get as the teams before that probably don't want to move out.

If Luther Head is the player to get squeezed on minutes, they could move up for a player that is falling that they want to invest in.

 

I agree with you.It probably won't be a PG.

 

Deuce -
I don't have a problem with your basis logic. However, I'll/we'll be very surprised if Acie Law and Javaris Crittenton will last to 26.

The problem I have is with Morey's already stated logic...they don't expect 26 to contribute this season. That's a Morey direct quote. If you are not going to play someone, that's a big waste of a draft pick when you have a roster of one trick ponies (spot up, standstill, can't create shooters).

Big men take longer to develop. Draft big, draft athletic and give them PT. Drafting duplicity and burying them on the bench is insane IMHO.

 

My 2 cents is the Rockets will probably take a big, hopefully one that can play both PF & C. A 3/4 or 2/3 swingman is also possible, which is where the "best player available" talk may apply. But lets face it, if they choose a PG most of us will gag and rightfully so. This is why V-Span may as well go back to Greece. With Mike James, Rafer, (maybe) Luther, Tracy, Shane and (sometimes) Bonzi playing backcourt minutes, he won't get much time at either position unless his game takes a quantum leap. The MJ/Juwan trade really unbalanced our roster but Morey has lots of time to fix that.

Either we will trade for a big before the draft or I guarantee you the Rockets will draft a big whether they trade up or not.