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

furthermore, here on clutchfans, there is the obvious home-town love for our players and anyone locally.......such as making comments that in 3 years, durant will be better than lebron and is already better than dwade/kobe/chris paul......puh-rease....

 

What I am asking is if the deal explicitly involved Budinger for a pick where you could be expected to take Cousins or Favors- you would pass it up?

 

In B4 Robbing Peter to pay Paul

 

The new rule is: Big men are having minimal impact to the game.

 

I like what you have to say here, LongTimeFan.

Budinger just played his first season, as a role player, with a lot of responsibilities falling to other players on the team (Brooks & Lowry for playmaking and decision-making, Battier & Ariza for defense), and did exceptionally well. The fact that he was still available in the second round of the draft was absolutely dumb luck for the Rockets.

Nobody ran isolation plays for Brooks in his first season, either. Brooks spent a little time in the D-league as a rookie, too.

Budinger doesn't lack the skills to be an all-star player. He does seem to lack the mentality. The same way Aaron Brooks seemed to lack it when he was a rookie. Given the responsibility full-time as a starting point guard, Aaron Brooks acquitted himself admirably. But he's had time to mature, and had the opportunity to play with other players who made his job easier.

I honestly don't see anything short of Budinger himself stopping him from approaching an all-star level player, honestly, LongTimeFan.

Elite status is something else, which a lot of us here tend to confuse with all-star level play. Aaron Brooks played like an all-star, given his responsibility and his production. But he was pretty easy to handle for most teams because he didn't have a lot of consistent help. There were even times where Brooks wasn't even a factor in games for the Rockets when they absolutely needed him to be.

You don't stop elite players. You maybe marginalize their impact on the game, but you very rarely, if ever, keep them under wraps. An elite player dictates how the game will be played. All-star players are consistent. There's a big difference.

But I do agree with you that it's still too early to tell what either Aaron Brooks, Chase Budinger, Jordan Hill or any of the other young Rockets are going to be. They may be as good as they're going to get, or they may have some more room to grow.

Regardless, I think the thing to consider is that, as far as players goes, the Rockets have sorely lacked this many of them (for whatever the ultimate fates of any of them may be) for far too long.

 

:grin: :grin:

 

That's a fair assessment. I just don't think Budinger has the mentality to become an all-star type player -- which would qualify under your Budinger stopping himself from being that player. I don't think that mentality is something you can learn.. I think you either have it or you don't.

The difference with Brooks is simply he never got a shot during his rookie year. I don't think it's fair to say Brooks lacked that mentality because in reality, we had no idea. He came into training camp behind Rafer, Mike James and Steve Francis -- and ended up with the backup PG spot for half the year. We traded for Bobby Jackson because Adelman didn't want to rely on a rookie in playoff situations and it brought some stability to our second unit. I think Brooks' rookie year grade should be an incomplete -- he spent time in the D-League, time in the rotation and time on the bench. Whereas Budinger spent the entire year in the rotation -- partly because of his ability, partly because we were a lottery-bound team filled with injuries.

Either way, I think most of us have a lot better grasp on Budinger's game than we did Brooks' after one year. The real test will be next year to see how much Budinger has improved or what he's added to his game. Obviously his defense needs work, but you don't stand pat in the NBA -- you always need to be working on your game and adding new elements to it. Brooks has taken giant strides.. but that's not a guarantee Budinger will do the same. Part of the reason for Brooks' development is simply his speed.. nobody can keep up with him when he turns on the jets. Budinger doesn't have this luxury, so he'll have to look to different areas of his game to improve on.

 

The Pacers are really pushing hard to get a PG. Maybe they will be looking to move the 10th pick for a deal.

 

Unless you're talking about Brooks, we can't trade Lowry for it. A) Lowry alone is not worth the 10th pick; B) Lowry is a RFA and can only be SnT; C) we can't even begin to discuss SnT options until July 1st, after the draft -- and even then we need Lowry's consent.

If you're talking about trading Brooks for the 10th pick.. hell no.

 

Knowing Morey, you really have to think he's trying to move into the #5 to #2 range. He's positioned himself very well with all the assets the rockets have aquired over the last year.

 

Oh yeah, i would love to move that high in the draft. These other scenarios that i mention would be second to that.

 

yes and no....... it's true that the NBA isn't dominated by big men anymore.....but you can't tell me that if the nba was still producing big men, then they wouldn't be the more coveted individual. If shaq came out today, he would still be hands down the #1 draft pick for the last 20 years. if yao was in the draft today, he would be the #1 pick. if dwight howard was in this draft, he would be the #1. etc. and i'm not viewing it from a hindsight of careers finished. with the ceiling of where they CAN be.

As stated earlier, you have to look at a player from more than just a statistical view. I bring into contention Shawn Bradley. Generally considered a poster-baby right? I don't think he was "worthy" of the #2 pick BUT 10-14 points per game, 7-8 rebounds, and 3-4 blocks. Dude average 3-4 blocks per game, he literally changed the game defensively. Oden's ceiling is still higher than what shawn bradley brought and is a game changer. With the injuries, you can't just see that coming really. some players just have ****ty lucky.....ask yao and tmac.

 

This draft is really deep. And the Rockets haven't ever done really bad with lottery picks. We've hit more than missed.

 

Basically with a draft this much quality you definitely want to get a high end guy because there's a good chance he could be a franchise or all star caliber player. In a weak draft I say see how what falls too you. But in a deep draft like this and if you know you want and you got pieces too make it work why not take those chances.

This year is a good year to take advantage of a deep draft like this becasue of so many teams financial situations and deep free agency infatuation.

Id say this best draft since the lebron draft

 

Look at what The Sonics did with some of their recent high lottery picks. Durant, Green, and Westbrook. All top talent picked through the draft in the last three years.

If we can move up and get a possible franchise or all star player I'm all for it. One nice pick could put us over the top. We have a lot of talent on this team. So why not take advantage of this deep draft and this down year(because we will not be lottery next year, it was a fluke it happened this year) and try to draft one of the best in the draft i don't care what position.

I really good rook can do major damage on a team like this with all these young vets. Could you imagine having a player like tyreke evans, or stephen curry caliber on this team.

Morey believes in chemistry so he wont trade anyone that would mess with what we got going on but, I could see him trade those picks from new york and maybe one player like Jermaine to move up.

Morey is frugal and plays hardball as showcased at last years trade deadline when he picked up martin. He will not be clowned it will either be fair trade or one sided traded favoring Morey and the Rockets.

 

With 7-8 days left, teams are starting to play hardball(N. Orleans putting up Collins and Okafor, Denver putting up Law). I think Morey should start to flex a little. After all, he still has more ammo.

 

Than who? What do you think no could get for collison right now? I bet you better than the rockets can get for anything they got

 

You won't even have to go as far back as the Sonics. Look at how the Timberwolves had 4 first rd picks last year and 3 this year. Khan is a draft genius. This is what i feel Morey should shoot for this year. Try to get 3 first rd picks with 2 being in the lottery.

 

I wasn't referring to us getting the 11th pick, i was just stating that at this time so close to the draft alot of jestering is going on in the league as far as teams trying to move up. The Rockets have good assets to try and move up. So much so that we should be able to move up in the 2-6 range come draft day. IMO.