The Rockets draft need is simple: BEST AVAILABLE PLAYER at whatever slot they end up picking. The Dallas series made our main weakness very transparent. We simply don't have the athleticism enough to defend teams like Dallas, SA, or Phoenix.
IMHO, there is a big problem with picking the best available athlete. It assumes that there is equal FA quality at the other positions. Clearly, that is not the case in this years' FA market. PF's Stromile Swift, Donyell Marshall, Sharif Abdur-Rahim and Antoine Walker are all unrestricted. Given that big men take longer to develop, I'd say this would be a better year to draft a perimeter player who can break into the rotation (Graham, Fernandez, Garcia, Winston) and use free agency and expiring contracts to shore up the C/PF positions. You can't make that argument every draft, but this year I think you can.
I really think that the top level NBA teams have gone away from the big, burly, plodding power forward (in the mold of Oakley, Thorpe, Brian Grant, etc). They have moved to an athletic mold who can run the court and shoot outside. Look at guys like Marion, Dirk, Rasheed, Garnett, Radmanovich -- they all play for top tier teams. How the heck can you ask Simien, Diogu or Turiaf to guard a guy like that? You've got matchup problems every time you play a good team. Huge quickness deficit. That's why I'm more of a fan of Warrick, although he is undersized, and Channing Frye to a lesser degree. With a big plodding center in Yao, we need an athletic complement.
Exactly. Quickness and footspeed are becoming more important for PFs these days than just being a big "banger".
I believe that we will go with a swingman in the draft. the rockets havn't worked out any bigmen yet. through the FA pool we can find plenty of 4's and 1's. if we use the MLE on filling one of those spots then we can trade ending contracts to fill the other spot.
Couldn't have said it better. Along those same lines, my personal favorite is Joey Graham. He has some similar characteristics to a younger Marion. His true position is probably the three, but he's extremely strong and athletic with excellent body control when he's in the air. I'm not sure if he has NBA three-point range, but he has a terrific mid-range shot and makes most of his free throws. He's the kind of three that can slide over and play the four against the speed teams, and those are the type of players we don't have enough of on this roster. Graham is projected to go around 20, but it wouldn't be a complete shock for him to fall a few more and get to 24.
But this team could use a banger. I agree that most teams have gone to an athletic powerfoward, but most teams don't have Yao Ming. I believe Swift will be just as ineffective with Yao as he is with Pau. Swift needs a center to clear space for him to be effective. I agree with article, the Rockets would be best getting an athletic two or three.
And I am indeed talking about this year only. Not just due to the FA market, but also because the Rockets simply lack young players everywhere. They don't have a glut at any situation. Probably the least needed position on the team is center. But then again, there's absolutey no chance the best player at #24 is a true center anyway.
Folks, Don't be semantical pricks. Saying "he reminds me of a Tayshaun Prince" is accurate, metaphorical English. Stated another way, speaking in that manner refers to a player who is similar to or in the mold of Tayshaun Prince. -P1st, S2nd
Oh hell no - please God no Channing Frye. I don't even know where to start on Channing - I wouldn't even pick him if I was a GM with a top 40 pick. I do not understand what they see in him to rate him that high but I comfortable when I say his NBA career will very likely go the similar path Jake Voskul or at best a poor man's Chris Mihm.
I would say he is more like a Wesley Person or Eddie Jones type player. Joe Johnson is a much more complete player than Garcia will be, but Garcia may be the better shooter.
Hi. I'm the semantical prick. I didn't actually need an explanation of his usage. I understand perfectly well what it means to say "a Tayshaun Prince", however, it wasn't used accurately. An accurate usage of that little bit of sports lingo would be something along the lines of "What the Rockets need is a Tayshaun Prince". In that instance, you're clearly speaking of the player who "is similar to or in the mold of" rather than the specific player. However, what he did was compare a specific player (Francisco Garcia) to another specific player (Tayshaun Prince). The 'a' wasn't needed at all. It was just sports lingo for the sake of sports lingo. Now, is all of this extremely nit picky? Yeah, it is. I know it, and it's fair enough to call me a semantical prick for calling somebody out on it. I don't mind that. The fact of the matter is, it is just something that annoys me. That said, I'm fine with venting on that pet pieve once for the thousand or more times I've seen it and I'm fine with you calling me out for being a semantical prick. I'm sure that's just a pet pieve of yours too.
Fegwu- I feel Channing Frye's career path will be like a fellow Zona alum, Loren Woods. I like Francisco Garcia. He can be an impactive defensive player in JVG's help defensive scheme, has excellent size for a 2, and would burn teams on the many open jumpers. Very good passer and decent rebounder to boot. Also plays with a lot of heart that JVG has been getting into lately (Sura, Barry). I think he's a tailor-made roleplayer for us.
