My thoughts on trading up to near the top of the draft

I like his attitude, but either he backs it up, or he fades...Kwame Brown said the same stuff before the draft.

If the Rockets get him, that is fine with me, but not if we have to give up any young talent.

DD

 

hey actually that reminds me now....

you were talkin up kwame like he was the next wilt chamberlain that year!

you even gave him a special DD nickname, "kwame creme de la creme" :grin:

 

Minny will eventually need to trade Little Ricky. I wonder just how much it would take to pry him away.

.

 

No, no, no, this board already has tons of misconceptions about what I said, no need to bring another one.

DD

 

hahahah, so true

PeAcE

 

AB is probably near his ceiling. I hope his passing ability improves, but I think he is what he is. He had free rain last year to run, run, run and he proved to be awesome with that style. I think we slow it down this season with more half court offense. He should have been an All-Star last season and he'll always have All-Star in him, but I think last season may be the best of his career statistically, especially if he will playing on winning teams.

I don't see the love affair with Budinger. Bad argument....but he is not foreign and he is white. He may have a solid NBA career with 10 points a game, but the Larry Bird comparisons? No.

I'm really liking Jordan Hill. I still can't figure out why the Knicks would basically give us the #8 overall pick. Anyone else think that trade still goes down without Hill included?

 

aaron brooks will the rest will be good role players

 

The knicks had to give us something for taking Jeffries' contract off their hands. We already had a deal in place with Sacramento for Tmac and Landry, we didn't need to get NY involved. I know they also gave us a pick swap in 2011 and a 2012 pick, but those could be very low picks if the knicks sign two max contracts. They had to give us something now, and the only thing they had to offer was Jordan Hill.

Also, no one knew what the 2011 cap would be at the time, so Hill's contract might have prevented NY from having enough cap space for two maxes. They may have thrown him in just to make sure they did.

 

Of course he's correct in saying that Minnesota wasn't going to matter -- his first selection in the draft refuses to play for him!

And that's not true about Europe players. There are several European players who stayed there until their late 20s (Scola) and some who never came over at all (Fran Vazquez). I don't believe that Rubio will never come to the NBA -- but I do believe that the only reason he stayed in Europe was because Minnesota drafted him.

What? Adelman put Brooks and Lowry on the court together for brief stretches at a time -- did you ever recall them starting together? Would you draft Brooks #5 in the draft and then take Lowry #6 right after him just so they could play brief stretches together? No.. nobody in their right mind would. Flynn and Rubio would get destroyed on the defensive end -- that's why you only saw Lowry/Brooks play brief stretches together when we went to small ball.

Flynn was not only a bad pick, he was a terrible pick. Kahn, post-draft, was promising Rubio the starting PG position. I remember reading that part of the reason of why Rubio was hesitant is because he didn't understand why they would draft a PG with the next pick. Kahn then had to assure him he would be the starting PG if he signed. So you're going to roll with a 6 foot shooting guard? If the answer to that question is yes, Kahn's even dumber than I thought. There was NO reason for them to draft another PG after Rubio -- absolutely none. Who had the better chance of playing the SG next to Rubio -- 6' Flynn, 6'7 DeRozan or 6'3 Curry? In hindsight it seems obvious, but even back then it should have been obvious. I think everyone was baffled at Minnesota's selection that draft.

Especially when you consider their needs -- they had a big hole at the PG spot. Wow, Rubio fell to you -- I guess you can fill that now. WHY THE HELL DO YOU TAKE FLYNN WITH THE NEXT PICK!?! Now they have a huge hole on the wing spot that a 6 foot man is just not going to be abile to fill. DeRozan would have been the most logical pick, as then they would have come out of the draft with a new starting PG and starting SG. Instead, they got a PG that went to Europe and a PG that will be sent to the bench if Rubio ever comes back. Great job, Kahn!

He sucks. And so does Minnesota - color me not surprised. And the last fun Kahn fact of the day: he's the man who hired Isiah Thomas in Indy -- the man simply has an eye for talent.

 

if NY wanted to sign 2 max guys, they should have kept the picks and hill,and used them in a sign and trade for bosh, then sign lebron

by giving us their assets to clear space, they ruined any chance of sign and trade unless david lee approves going to the other city, and,why would 2 max contracts sign with NY after NY gutted itself in the first place?

if bosh signs with houston and not NY using ny's assets it will be like 94 all over again when we defeated knicks

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=tsn-darylmoreyandtherock

I know the regular season ended roughly 47 months ago, but try, if you can, to remember the bizarre season of the Houston Rockets. With Yao Ming out for the year, the campaign started as a living basketball experiment in which Daryl Morey and Rick Adelman would try to get a team without a clear star to the playoffs. It worked for a while, but injuries and the difficulties of a full season pushed them into the lottery. Never fear, though, because Morey also traded for Kevin Martin, the kind of efficient scorer who can team with Yao to make Houston a high-level playoff team.

As usual, Morey isn’t resting on that deal heading into the draft. He wants to make this team better, and he’s willing to do it by trading into the top 10. From The Houston Chronicle:

The Rockets’ draft-night track record under general manager Daryl Morey has been to ignore the roster and perceived needs and consider only prospects’ potential. And the Rockets always look to — and usually do — change their draft position.

Morey has said there is a 50 percent chance the Rockets will not pick with their own selection, No. 14. They have not drafted anyone with their own pick since Aaron Brooks(notes) in 2007, Morey’s first selection as Rockets GM, and they have been working to move up into the top third of the first round this season.

I am typically a fan of drafting for talent over need, but I’m not sure this is an instance in which it’s the best idea. This draft starts to drop off around No. 7 or No. 9, depending on your opinion. All top-10 picks are not created equal, and there actually might not be that much difference between a guy the Rockets can get at No. 9 and the player they can select at their current No. 14.

Morey is obviously a well-regarded talent scout, and if there’s a player he really wants then far be it from me to tell him not to move up. But it’s a serious risk, especially with Yao coming back next season and likely needing some semblance of stability as he returns to the lineup. This team has changed a lot in the past season, and it might not be worth trading even more key players for someone who might not even be ready to contribute right away.

I know that the Morey school of personnel decisions is founded upon near-constant activity in order to look for all possible edges over the other team, but sometimes it’s just not ideal.

 

Cousins looks hungry as hell.

 

Going from a stats and efficiency point of view, I would think that Morey will try to move up to get D. Cousins or move down for E. Williams. Cousins was the highest pro potential player by Hollinger and Williams was one of the most efficient scorers mainly due to the fact that he attempted the most free-throws per possession in all the NCAA.

I wonder if one of Morey's keys to winning a championship will be to assemble a team that basically lives on the line.

Yao-"best offensive weapon in the NBA when teams are in the penalty"
Martin- 9th getting to the line
Lowry- one of the highest FTA/48min
targets Bosh- 6th in FTA last year

just a side note, but LA shot 37 vs Bos 17 freethrows in game 7.

if he tries to make a deal for A. Randolph and supposedly takes the "unwanted" contract of Maggette, then we'll really know his tactics :grin:

 

Actually, I think it was the picks that Morey really wanted most. While those picks could certainly end up being mid-first rounders, the likelihood is that they will be mid-lottery picks (think 6-9 range).

As for Hill, as much as I hope that he blossoms into a great player, I seriously doubt that Morey AT THE TIME viewed him, individually, as a linchpin to the trade. The inclusion of Jordan Hill was more a factor of (a) New York having to clear cap room at all costs and (b) the Knicks simply not having anything better in their stable, as far as acquirable talent was concerned. Morey even admitted that he did not have Hill as highly rated in last year's draft as he was picked (Morey noted that he had Hill ranked in "the 10-20 range" - read: likely somewhere a handful of spots ahead of Jermaine Taylor on the Rockets' draft board).

Luckily, it appears that Jordan is not the bust that many Knicks' fans were making him out to be. But him being th #8 overall pick last year was not the determining factor in Morey trading with the Knicks. It was significantly more about those picks and the allure of POSSIBLY being able to draft a future star. THAT is what Morey is going to sell to teams like Toronto (and maybe Cleveland???) this summer.

This. I've been saying this all along. Oh, how I so hope it goes down this way!

 

Ya, I think the same way as you - they are trying to move up to get Cousins and if not they will probably move down. I would do cart wheels around my living room if we got Cousins. I feel the same way about him as I did about Jennings last year - undervalued player based on some highly subjective reports.

Obviously we are trying to be a team that lives in the penalty - they have said this much....smart strategy that will no doubt translate into wins but I wonder how it helps us be a true championship contender.