Paul George...if I could track my old post, I can recall being somewhat hammered about my proposed trades for this guy . I saw his potential for stardom beforehand. Harden was another....but many could see his potential, given his body of work in OKC. He reminded me of a Ginolbli.
I was pretty confident batum was gonna be a great bench player for the rockets but we traded him. I was pissed and ya had to watch him play d and knock down the 3s these playoffs. Damnit
Damn. Detroit could've had Melo, Wade, or Bosh with Chauncy, Rip, Prince, Sheed, and Big Ben. I thought Hasheem Thabeet would at very least, even after his failure at Memphis, be a Dikembe Mutumbo light four Houston. 25 MPG, 7-8 rebounds, a few blocked shots, and a defensive presence. What a let down. Terrence Williams. I'll never understand why he never developed. Harold "Baby Jordan" Miner. Shawn Respert. Big Country. Tony Battie. Oops I did it backwards. I think Terrence Jones will make a few All-Star teams. He had decent range at the University of Kentucky and I think he'll be 100 3-pointer per year kinda guy in his career. We've already scene glimpses of his ball-handling ability. He was overlooked obviously by Anthony Davis and Michael-KiddGilcrist on the UK championship team. I think MKG will end up a bust.
Maybe we can squeeze Giannis Antetokounmpo from Milwaukee. He reminds me of Batum. I think he'll be a solid NBA player.
I was 13 at the time when Kobe was drafted. I hoped he would become the next Jordan. Buying his basketball cards as a young one made me a lot of money. Hate the Lakers but still have respect for Kobe's skills.
I've been following the draft hardcore from the 02 draft because the Rockets had the first pick and also from Bill Simmons awesome and hilarious Idiot's Guide to the NBA Draft. Anyway I'll pick two players I though would be good from each year (one right and one wrong). I'll stop at 2009 because I the last few years I haven't paid as much attention as I used to (don't get to watch as mant college games or read about players in the draft as much). 2002: Right- Tayshaun Prince - I happened to catch a Kentucky game where he was shooting amazingly. Thought he'd be a great scorer in the NBA. Oddly now better known for his defense. Wrong - Mike Dunleavy - This is who I thought the Rockets should pick (I can't slap my forehead hard enough). 2003: Right - Dwayne Wade - I thought he was the third best player in the draft (behind Melo and Lebron in that order) Wrong. T.J. Ford - saw a lot of Ford playing for Texas and thought he was amazing. Career derailed by injury but was never as good as I thought he would be. 2004: Right - Delonte West - I thought at St. Joseph he was overshadowed by Jameer Nelson and would be a better pro then him (okay I was wrong on that) his career hasn't been great but for a guy who I think was expected to go in the second round (snuck into the bottom of the first) he's been better than expected Wrong - Emaka Okafor - thought he should go first overall over Howard. I though Howard was too much Kwame Brown and worried me. 2005: Right - Jarrett Jack - looked like a great floor leader for 2004 Gtech leading them to the tile game. Liked Nate Robinson too, but not as much as Jack. Wrong - a lot here. The worst was Wayne Simien, just thought he'd be at least a good starter. 2006: Right Brandon Roy - Devastated the Rockets couldn't get him Wrong Kevin Pittsnoggle - I thought he was going to be what Kevin Love turned out to be. 2007 Right - Durant over Oden - I figured Oden to be a 18 and 10 guy with great defense, but I really felt Durant had transcendent potential. Wrong - Acie Law - He hit big shots in college (which I value highly) and I figured it gave him the make up to be a good pro. Yikes. 2008 Right - Chalmers. Hit the shot to send the NCAA title game to OT. Figured he must have huge cajones. He's been better than somebody usually picked at his spot. Wrong - I was more wrong on not liking either the UCLA guys, but this is who I thought would be good so I'll say Joey Dorsey, I thought would be better. 2009: Right - Dejuan Blair Picked mid second round. Of course a he would have certainly been picked higher if not for his knee issues. Wrong - There was nobody I was high on that turned out bad, because frankly I wasn't high on many that year.
Rashard Lewis WTF were the Rockets thinking with three first round picks not taking the hometown kid crying in he green room. But we got Mirsad Turckan!
I was wrong on Beasley, DJ Augustin, Hassan Whiteside (who I wanted the Rockets to get), Evan Turner, Hansborough, and Enes Kanter. Right about Jimmer not really panning out.
Right- KD- too physically unique. in basketball all about height and length and your ability to score/defend Paul George- Cant believe he went past 5. Kyrie Irving- stud since high school Derrick Williams - not impressed Greg Oden - he looked older than his age. IMO hyped like a MF. Michael Beasley - chucker never thought he'd be a star MIchael Olamakandi Thabeet - called that bust a mile away Leonard - was so mad we passed on him Wrong- Damien Lilliard - Thought he was overrated. Steph Curry - He looked soft and thought he'd be a role player. He's now a star Anythony Davis - thought he wouldn't be as good as he would be Wes Johnson Acie Law IV - thought he was going to be a NBA starter one day
I thought KD would end up being better than Oden. He seemed to have more basketball talent. I was high on Dame Lillard.... The Euros are always the hardest to figure out. the 2005 draft, I thought the UNC guys got too much run, and would wind up sucking, which they did.
Guessed Right: Lebron James (McDonald's High School All American Game) Carmelo Anthony (Syracuse) Blake Griffin (OK St/NBA Summer League) Kevin Durant (college) Dwayne Wade (college) Anthony Morrow (NBA summer league -knew he would be a solid rotation player) JaVale McGee (NBA summer league) DeMarcus Cousins (college/NBA summer league) Jason Kidd (college) Big Baby Davis (college) Udonis Haslem (college) Chandler Parsons (NBA summer league) Jeremy Lin (NBA summer league) Lamar Odom (college) Russell Westbrook, Reggie Miller, Aaron Afflalo, Darren Collison, Matt Barnes (Go Bruins!) Roy Hibbert (I know he's playing like crap, but I thought he would be a decent center in the league from his G-Town days). Elton Brand Steve Nash Chauncey Billups Tayshaun Prince Rasheed Wallace Guessed Wrong: Hasheem Thabeet (thought he would be serviceable) Sean Livingston (injury - but he looks reborn in Brooklyn) Dion Waiters (thought he would be a bust) Trey Burke/Tim Hardaway Jr (I undervalued Michigan) JJ Redick (didn't think he would be able to stay in the league) There are others but it's getting late.
Paul George - Honestly, I'm kind of disappointed with his offensive game so far. With his ball-handling skills, or lack thereof, he'll never have a consistent shot. Dwyane Wade - He had greatness written all over him in Marquette. Lebron James - We all knew this. Chris Bosh - Most people knew this, too. Charlie Villanueva - Kind of mediocre now that we've seen what we got. Hassan Whiteside - Not living up to where we thought he would be (where is he now?). Even Turner - He's not bad, but I thought that he'd be better. It seems that his speed just isn't up to the NBA level. To my eye, he seems to have a hard time getting separation and he also seems a bit smallish to play the post; even for a guard. Kevin Durant - I knew that he would be great and that he should've been the first pick (best player available should always be the mindset to me; especially if the player is special enough [Kevin Durant surely is that]). Terrence Jones - He hasn't disappointed at all. I knew that he'd be good and not great, but his defense is honestly a bit worse than I thought. Perry Jones III - I believed that this guy possibly had greatness in him, and he perhaps does, but no one in the league seems to see that in him, and there's little reason to believe that they get it wrong all the time.
