Houston Rockets Picks: Traded rights to Nicolas Batum (#19) to Portland for rights to Darrell Arthur (#27) and Joey Dorsey (#33); traded rights to Arthur to Memphis for rights to Donte Greene (#28) and 2009 second-round pick, Maarty Leunen (#54) A There isn’t much not to like here with what Houston did on draft night considering their limited resources. First, they busted up the plans of division rivals San Antonio Spurs by selecting Nicolas Batum (the player they had promised and tried to hide from the rest of the NBA). They likely did not win many fans over a few hours down I-10 with that move, but ended up coming away as winners by picking up Donte Greene, Joey Dorsey, and a 2009 second round pick out of that lone #25 pick. That’s what we call value…particularly Greene, who could have gone 15 spots higher had he not behaved poorly in a workout with the New Jersey Nets (something that reportedly spread quickly around the league). Morey likely loves Dorsey and Leunen’s numbers—their college production is impossible to argue with, even if it seems strange to add a 4th and 5th power forward to the mix now. www.draftexpress.com
This is from the New Jersey grade: They might have been better off taking a chance on Donte Greene here, but one of the reasons he even fell here was due to the fact that he got into an argument with a member of their coaching staff in a private workout...... I wonder what happened?
he's a 19 year old kid from a mean neighborhood. I'm sure if he surrounds himself with the right people then we don't have a thing to worry about. I'm glad we have SF3 here... He could be a sort of a mentor to the baltimore kids.
Do these executives actually watch the college game? Take Donte' Greene, for example. Sure, his stats look good, and I guess those highlights show him hitting threes, but if you ever actually went to a Syracuse game, you'd know the guy was the fourth-best player on the team. I'm a season-ticket holder at Syracuse, and I can tell you for certain that Greene lacks maturity, has poor fundamentals and has a poor understanding of the game. He will never get off the bench for the team that drafts him. -- Walt, Syracuse You may be right. But the inexperience and unfinished nature of the players who enter the draft forces NBA scouts to look beyond the here and now. Two executives have told me that Greene has a terrific shooting stroke that is especially hard to find in someone of his size. That said, he wasn't drafted until No. 28, ultimately landing in Houston, so many teams share in your doubt. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/ian_thomsen/06/27/mailbag/?eref=sircrc
If Greene were going to young team with no veteran leadership then he might be a problem but he is coming to a veteran laden team. I am sure he will do fine with the Rockets.
Yup, 1)Paul Harris 2.Johnny Flynn 3.Donte Green Well I have him as the 3rd best player on that team but I think I'm forgetting someone.
probably devendorf or however you spell it, but he was hurt most of the year. however, greene projects best to the nba game out of those guys
I am not too worried about Greene. Mutombo has taken our rookies under his wing to show them the right way to work, the attitude, even down how to dress when on the bench. Adelman has worked with plenty of knuckleheads, Jason Williams, Ron Artest, and Bonzi Wells.
well eric devendorf would've been the #1 option but he tore his acl early on................ Greene is not a a hot head, and it's Greene with an E people............i watched all the syracuse games since that's my alma matter.........he just doesnt have the mentality or work ethic to be the best he can be.........year 1 i have no doubt you guys will hate him......... he'll get blown by on D all the time, all he'll do is sit outside and shoot 3's when he should be driving and using his size to his advantage.......if you got a 20 page project to do, Donte Greene is right now at the table of conents, meaning you got 18 more pages to go.
I have faith in Adelman, he manages egos as well as anyone. Add in the veteran leadership and Greene has a better chance for success here then most any other place.
Yeah Devendorf is the reason Flynn got more experience. I don't think we will hate Greene though I have faith that he will step it up. Did Devendorf redshirt this year since he was hurt?
there is such a thing as player development and maturation. there is no doubt that donte greene is talented, you cannot deny that. so my take is that he's already this good without putting in any work into his game...what happens once he matures and realizes he can improve? he'll be a monster.
I don't give much credence to what Syracuse fans have to say about him. Since he was a one-and-done-er, fans are going to be liable to rag on his abilities just to be able to say "I told you he should have stayed a few more years". Boeheim also implemented his famous zone D so it was probably difficult to tell how good he could play defense. Maybe the best thing for Donte Green was to get to the NBA quickly; I've read a scouting report or two that speculate that his game might be more suited for the NBA over college.
