mis-spoke on the bogut one. haha. it's late, my bad. i could have sworn they got conley tonight though.
well there are 2 sides to it i believe, while I don't believe Morey would have done the deal if he believed that it would hurt the rockets, just to block the spurs. But from what I have read tonight http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Blogging--live--through-the-NBA-Draft--2952/ I think this was a really smart move by Morey, what could be better than picking up talented young players, extra draft picks, and **** blocking your division rivals at the same time
A round of applause for our leader Clutch for working hard as usual throughout the draft. Hopefully we can get interviews from DM and or Dean Cooper by tomorrow.
ESPN http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/draft2008/news/story?id=3462594 : Houston followed by picking Nicolas Batum, 19, of France, while division rival San Antonio took IUPUI point guard George Hill with the 26th pick. New Orleans took Kansas' Darrell Arthur with the 27th pick, but was traded to three other teams before the night was over. His trade was all part of a busy night for the Blazers as they pulled off four total draft-night trades. Arthur, who started his journey on draft night as property of the Blazers, soon found himself on the move. A source told ESPN.com the Rockets traded Batum to the Blazers for the rights to Arthur and Joey Dorsey (No. 33 overall). After Arthur landed with the Rockets, he was later sent to Memphis for the rights to Syracuse freshman Donte Green, the 28th overall pick, and a future second-round pick.
Wow.. I think Morey screwed more than just the Spurs. Basically through some excellent spying activities, he learnt that: Spurs and Blazers wanted Batum. Memphis wanted Arthur. Now, with the 25th pick, he screwed the Spurs by taking Batum and trading him to the Blazers for pick 27 and 33. Next, with pick 27, he turned around and screwed Memphis by picking up Arthur. He then turned around and told Memphis that they could have Arthur, but they have to give up an extra future second rounder (likely a high second rounder too!). After all that, he still ended up with the guy he wanted from the start. Respect! And I think picking Dorsey is a good move to put pressure on Landry and his agent to sign for the LLE quickly - I don't think any team is going to offer anything above that if the Rockets have threatened to match anyway, and the longer they wait, the less options they will have (i.e. Rockets can withdraw the full LLE offer if not signed by certain date, etc). After all, pick 33 was essentially a free pick anyway, so why not use it to get some leverage?
I love the addition of Donte Green, he's really oversized for small forward, he can shoot and rebound and he's quick. As far for the Dorsey guy I don't know, we have so many PF's on the block. Chuck Hayes being dealt?
I liked the way everything worked out. but ... after listening to Morey at the end of the press conference (the very end), I thought he sounded like a scum bag. anyone agree?
let's hope so. but the only way to get rid of him is to include him in muliplayer trade. I have always loved Hayes' effort and heart but he is not good enough to play in this leauge. It is time to move him, we gotta add more firepower
this is exactly how i feel... http://bleacherreport.com/articles/32856-houston-rockets-draft-preview-why-25-cant-stop-the-yao-uch i do like how morey worked the 2 player shebang...
man the more i think about it the more i like Morey's decision he got the player he wanted and extras as well, he also got memphis's future second rounder which i think will be high thirties so it was all win win, awesome job morey again this year
I'm OK with the addition of Donte Green but the pickup of yet another undersized PF in Dorsey left me very unimpressed. He's a merely slightly bigger Chuck Hayes if anything and he brings the same size limitations to that position like Hayes & Landry (one of whom will be gone). I'm curious why Morey didn't target Mario Chalmers who went in the 2nd round to Minny who ended up sending him to Miami. He would have been a good pick for the PG spot and has the experience and the size to play the position that AB will never have. I still have this feeling that more trades are in order.
the chain of events... 25th houston batum 27th portland arthur 28th memphis greene 33rd portland dorsey houston arthur & dorsey portland batum memphis greene houston greene & dorsey portland batum memphis arthur so essentially morey turned our 25th pick into a late 1st & early 2nd. about as good as you can do.
Don't forget that he actually traded Arthur to Memphis for Greene (the guy they wanted all along) and a 2009 2nd rounder. So he turned a 25th pick into: Donte Greene (would have picked at 25, if they couldn't make the trades) Joey Dorsey 2009 2nd rounder (probably early in 2nd round due to memphis sucking) We still had our 54th pick which we choose some shooter from Oregon forgot his name. AWESOME DRAFT!
I love what they did last night. They turned a LATE first rounder into 2 players - one a athletic, long scorer that has a ton of potential and was projected by a lot of people as going in the mid-1st; and another player that will immediately give the Rockets what they don't have - physicality inside. You can't expect either guys to have a big impact this season but Morey got a great, GREAT value.
I thought this was funny. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/21699842@N05/2615372643/" title="Chris Rose by weslinder, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2305/2615372643_c83d750b47.jpg" width="500" height="256" alt="Chris Rose" /></a>
