And Perry Jones appears to have the most upside, and rebuilding teams should always value upside over "NBA ready" players. We don't need anymore of those guys, we already have enough role players for two rosters.
I'd like to draft Irving first then Perry Jones. Also, I know his stock is falling but I'm not buying it...Harrison Barnes FTW.
Irving has the highest upside. It's now a guard-driven league. All those skinny boys like Jones and Barnes are going to take at least 2-3 years to develop. If not Irving then my vote goes to Sullinger.
Since i know we won't get anywhere close to a #1 pick, for a big man, i would take a chance on Lucas Noguiera. Nene 2.0?
size, athleticism, skill athleticism, skill skill Is how I'd rank it. We need size, period, but not if that size is a stiff.
I go to Duke (I'm not a biased super pro Duke fan, I just attend the school.. but that's another story) and I got to watch Kyrie Irving play in person. He is honestly amazing and I think he should be far and away the #1 pick.
Nah if this was Who should be drafted #1 (pretty much skill based or based on a team like Cle w/ no position really locked down), Kyrie or Sullivan is EASY #1. Since it is Rockets players like Perry Jones factors into play and Sullivan factors out because Rockets have too many PF, and no great SF (Battier is old, Budinger is well Budinger). Just sayin
To all those 'Tank' talkers, what a joke. 1) who are we tanking for? There isn't even a consensus no 1 among clutch fans, no guarantee if we tank that we'd get no1, 2, 3, 4 or even the 5th pick. 2) how many seasons do we tank waiting for the reincarnation of Hakeem, Moses, Duncan, Shaq, LeBron or some franchise player to come to us in the draft? 5 years? 10 years? 3) which player in the next 3 drafts would instantly take us back to 50 win seasons? or even be good enough to lead us back to the finals? 4) which player in the next 3 drafts will be good enough to put up 20 pts - 10 rbs or ast on a good team? 5) wouldn't it make more sense to tinker instead of tank? Add to our core of Martin & Scola then do a NY and go all out for Dwight & Paul, & maybe even , dare I say it, Melo when they become available? 6) do you think losing on purpose ( or sorry Playing not to win - ie: tank) is just wrong? For losers? Plan A with no B? Who will want to play for a franchise that advocates losing , accepts losing & allows losing games to try to win the draft lottery? Pathetic. Truly pathetic. I feel ill to think that ya'll actually wear the Rockets colours and call yourselves true fans. Losing breeds that losing culture. And with no sure thing coming any time soon, you'd be losing for losings sake. 7) do you tankers believe that with the right move/s this season we could make a run at the title?
First, you don't need a consensus #1 pick to make a trade. Second, if the Rocks are 1 player away, they can trade a high lottery pick to get that 1 player and win the ring. Celtics did exactly that with the #5 pick Jeff Green for 7 x All-star Ray Allen on the Sonics/Thunder. Jeff Green was in no way, shape or form a consensus #1 pick. Celtics went on to win a ring with Garnett, Pierce and Allen. Then, the Rockets can win it all, next year. The Clippers traded the #2 pick, Tyson Chandler, for Elton Brand in 2001. Neither team had a consensus #1 pick to trade, but they did have high lottery picks(top 7 of 14 lottery picks).
So basically you agree with no 5) tinker not tank? Sorry, I should have said 'tanking / blow it up / trade Martin & Scola' people. If we're looking at the Celtics model, adding 2 all star vets to this roster, ( or 90% of rosters for that matter) would, should & could put us back in contention. If we could add a center and upgrade at the 3 we'd be back on track. IMO
I would be with the Celtics, blow it up. Tank it, trade Scola and Martin for an all-star, and trade our high draft pick for another all-star like the Celtics.
we won't get number 1, i doubt Adelman knows how to tank even if he was encouraged to tank by mgmt. if curry was entering the draft, i'm def picking him and trading every single player on the current roster that do not complement him
You can't have it both ways. Having Scola and Martin on our payroll would take us out of the Dwight & CP3 free agency bonanza. If you "do a NY", you're trading away Scola & Martin to clear cap room -- which, of course, is tanking (trading your best players for expiring contracts/picks).
