I understand that the draft lottery is on Wednesday and that Orlando has the best shot of landing the number one pick. Given all the trade speculation and the Rocket's off-season needs, what results on Wednesday would most benefit the Rockets, ie. if the Clippers were to land the number one and draft Okafor would they be more likely to move Brand, etc. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
OK, let's put it this way: How would you like to see Wednesday's results turn out and why? (keeping the Rockets in mind, of course)
Clippers, Bulls, and Blazers Clippers and Bulls because they always find a way to screw things up and they both have big men so they would probably want to make a trade and Portland has maintained that they are gonna build around Zach, so if they indeed draft a big it will force some player movement. This pushes Orlando down to #5. Let the good times roll.
Its a common preception that whoever gets the #1 pick will either choose Dwight Howard or Okafor. They said they liked telfair at their projected draft position which is 5th, but imo thats a lil to high for an undersized highschool pg. I could see the clippers trading down to get him.
i didn't really get impressed by what little i've seen of telfair... what is he supposed to be able to do?
I would prefer the draft lotto to fall like this: #1 Bulls: This would make Tyson even more expendable. They have spare parts I would like to get in return for SF. Some combo of Tyson(or #1) + Kirk (or reasonably resigned JC) + AD or JYD for SF and a contract(depending on how much $$$ they are trying to throw onto us) would work for me. Still, chicago would have to be interested in SF for it to work, and I'm not confident that they are. #2 Wizards: SF is a hometown boy. He would love to go back, and he would be a draw for the Wiz. They have Kwame, I doubt they want to tutor two hs pfs. They also have some nice spare parts I would like in a SF deal. Kwame(or #2) + Arenas for SF. Any of a resigned Etan Thomas, Stackhouse, Hughes, that backup ex terps pg, or that sf they drafted a couple years ago wouldn't be bad sprinkled into the deal somewhere. #3 Clippers: They drafted a C last year, and they have pretty big money invested in Maggoty. Their biggest need is a pg. Hopefully they take Livingston off the board which is good because I don't like what I've read about him. He has height, he can distribute, but he is a huge prospect that could be a huge bust. Not speedy, a stick, and needs to develop a jumper. #4 Bobcats: Well, they are locked in here, but if what Doc Rocket said was true, I would like the rox to be in position to draft Deng or Gordon. #5 Magic: It'd be nice for them to end up down here since it would increase the odds of them not finding ammo to convince Tmac to stay. worst way for it to fall imo would be: #1 Jazz #2 Phoeniix #3 Atlanta GS, Philly, Cleveland and Seattle aren't much better, esp if they get into the top 2.
I dunno about that... Trading away Francis to have Crawford or Arenas to start at that point? Sure you get other quality players and / or draft picks, but these aren't trades that will definitively improve our team.
Arenas is the last choice I want as PG. Coming from a warriors fan he is a worst combo guard then SF. He is as immature as they come. Whenevr somebody critisizes him that he shoots too much he doesnt shoot an entire game and just passes, which usually leads to a loss. He did this once last year in GS when jamison critisized him and this year when Kwame critisized him. Crawford is worst then SF also, takes many questionable shots and shoots a very low percentage. I would keep SF over both of those guards. If we could get heinrich that would be great, but I doubt the bulls will part with him.
imo, Crawford and Arenas aren't that huge of a dropoff from SF, esp for a center oriented team. The teams biggest need is pf, but you aren't going to be able to deal Francis for a star pf. Francis for just a **potential** star/bust pf(Chandler, Kwame, Gooden, rookie) isn't enough for the rox. Toss in a decent point and some extras, or a lot of salary dumping, and that's a good enough deal I think. TMac would be better, but I don't think you can just hinge all your hopes on him coming here. So while the rox could be a little worse from the trades, they would also have the potential to be a lot better, maybe even contenders. This present incarnation of the rox team doesn't have contender potential, unless Yao becomes the best player in the league, and in that case, SF wouldn't be needed anyway.
This would be a terrible deal. A #2 pick would be nice, but I would puke if I saw Kwame in a Rockets uni. He has a bad attitude, doesn't seem to give a crap about winning, can't score, doesn't block, rebounds decently. If you think don't really like SF, you will hate Arenas. SF is a better rebounder and gets more assists. Even though SF had a terrible shooting year, he still had a better FG% than Arenas. Gilbert Arenas=4.11 TOs/per game.
Arenas + JVG = oh, wow. Sparks and a half. Gilbert would be more sour grape than sweet wine for this Rox team.
