We passed him because we were taking risks on what could be great talent. 6'8" unathletic PF doesn't really flash potential talent as much as our other picks
It's very possible that his argument is accurate and has merit. The Rockets are trying to develop the rookies with out the typical rookie growing pains by sending them to the D-league. They might already be contributing at a better level than Pat or Mook if they were being developed in real game time situations as part of the Rockets rotation but how many games would it have cost the Rockets had they gone this rout?
That's a good point. So why did we draft Royce then?!?!?! To get this back on topic: you can't take a gamble on everyone! We had to choose between several guys who had 'red flags' (which are the reasons they dropped in the draft). Jones had a 'questionable motor' White had 'mental issues' Sullinger had 'fat issues, heart issues' Jones III had 'issue issues' the list goes on. You can only pick so many of these guys who were highly touted but dropped in the draft for a variety of reasons. We were lucky enough to have 2 picks, and so were able to pick 2 guys. To be honest, I desperately wanted TJones and Sullinger, and honestly thought only one of them would be available at our 12 pick (or 10 pick as it turned out). But I'm not upset that we only got one of them. If we could all draft with the advantage of hindsight, it'd be a heckuva lot easier wouldn't it???
Playing style, fit, and place on the roster matter, too. Even if this team drafted Sullinger, whose to say he wouldn't be spending the season riding the pine or in the DL? He wouldn't be the stretch 4 McHale wants on the floor. One thing Sullinger has going for him is the no-tweeter thing. He is plenty strong to play with the big boys, unlike DMo, who should be in the weight room right now.
True. Sullinger is more of a 4/5 with a post game than a 'stretch 4' with a jumpshot. I'm not saying that he would be starting (or even playing) for the Rockets, but with the advantage of hindsight, perhaps we might have taken on his red flags rather than those of the tweeter?
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="de"><p>Celtics rookie Jared Sullinger will miss the rest of the season with a back injury, league sources tell Y! Sports. He will need surgery.</p>— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA/status/297441092629057536">1. Februar 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> Sucks for Sullinger, obviously. Still Spoiler
We didn't have Harden prior to the draft, so while getting Sullinger might have given you a good player, he has 0 star power potential so getting him would be pointless. Also, Sullinger had a disk/some kind of health problem that caused his stock to drop. A low ceiling guy with high bust potential and who has health problems...yeah I'm sorry but without hindsight I take the PF who has mental problems but who could dribble and pass like a guard.
