Why would we want to prioritise winning at this point? we want good young talent and then hope we can round it out with quality players from high draft picks caused by not winning.
I don't really think Greg Smith plays undersized, he has the athleticism and wingspan to play like a 7 footer basically, even though he's only like 6'10. BUT he needs some serious work on some of his skills before he's ready for NBA rotation minutes.
well, it's always a balancing act. Not everyone's Kobe, people lose confidence. Do you want a rookie to play a bit more minutes in matchups where he gets destroyed because he's not suited for the job. Or would you rather he practices good basketball but plays a bit less. There are positives and negatives either way.
Yes we seriously need one. But there arent any left on the FA market. We will have to trade for one. We havent had a backup C since DeKe retired. I guess management and coaches think we dont need one.
If Asik goes down there's going to be an issue, he's not overly foul prone though, but a few minutes at center against other backups on most nights and the odd im stuck against a bunch of centers (other than Bynum) with next to no offensive game or some other pf's come centers isn't going to ruin him.
I want whatever big the wolves cut either amundson,stiemsma or Chris Johnson all are high energy shot blockers which is what we need for short bursts. Chris Johnson played well for the blazers in te playoffs a while back and amundson was a big energy guy with phoenix
Patrick Patterson will log plenty of minutes as the de facto center in a small lineup for the Rockets this season. FYI, it's not like all five starters come out and five backups come in at the same time. The Rockets can adjust their substitution patterns to have, say, T.Jones come in first for Patterson and then have Patterson come back in for Asik as the backup center. You may also see Motiejunas and/or Jones play some minutes at center. Again, it will be as part of a small-ball lineup, so they will be centers in name only. Smith might see some meaningful time here and there as well. No need to sign a vet center in a year where the Rockets are INTENTIONALLY going young (and accepting the steep learning curve--and potential higher draft pick--that comes with it). How quickly some of us forget that the Rockets had Marcus Camby and Samuel Dalembert in their rotation as recently as the end of last season!
I wouldn't mind Amundson but it sounds like the rockets are intentionally going young, so DMo, Smith and Ppat it is.
Amundson isn't really a center, though. He's listed as bigger, but he's ~6'7 and not particularly strong. A nice energy guy at 4, though.
Its not just about 5 starters and 5 backups coming in and out. If Asik gets injured or gets into foul trouble early you think Pat or D-MO can step in for a stretch of games at the 5? If they are the answer then we might as well be tanking. How long did Dalembert go without a back up? How many games did Camby play for us? Like 15 games? Im sorry I forget.
We are tanking, just because Morey hasn't said that (who does right?) doesn't mean it isn't as obvious as the sun rising in the east.
I think this will have to be the case. It will be hard for Royce to beat out parsons/Delfino/Morris for minutes at the 3 (and he's more of a 4 anyway), and just as hard to beat out Patterson, DMo and Jones at 4. Even though he may eventually end up the most talented and unique player of the bunch. But as a 5, he shores up one of our biggest weaknesses. No, not defense or block shots, but rebounds. It looks as if we have no volume rebounder apart from Asik, to the extent that Brockman may even be a consideration (ok, maybe not).
Morey was asked about this last week on 790. His response was- Lets see what happens the first few months of the season with what the Rockets have. If they are somehow looking like a team thats going to be in the mix for the playoffs, they will address the need by trade. If they aren't going to be in the mix.... yeah, whats the point? You are going to take minutes away from other young bigs that need PT, and waste away assets on a losing season. So it sounds like its a situation where they dont want to use any assets whatsoever if they are going to be a bottom feeder type team in the lotto. Thats exactly how I feel as well. There is no point in helping your team with 30 games if you would only win 25 without a true backup center when you will probably have to give up something like multiple draft picks just to pick one up in trade thats going to be good enough to qualify as a backup center.
^ and I agree with that but hopefully next year if we have multiple picks, even though BPA is normally the smart choice, why not spend our last 1st round pick on a need since those are gambles and growth players anyway.
