Stop it, Dude is 6"8.75" w/o shoes and no hops. He will get murdered in the L by everyone 4 and 5. Say NO to Cole.
His 6'9 w/o shoes, and 6'11 in shoes(similar to D.Howard)... with a 7-5 wingspan, and 9'3.5 standing reach all of those are solid measurements for a center. With that said I'm not a big fan of his... I would consider trading down if his the best available... :grin: --RB
I think what makes the Rox unique is that apart from C position we have no no other need, all of the player slots are manned by above-average guys. This makes writing a "draft need" article difficult because the possibilities are endless. How do you makes the moves that will result in an upgrade of the overall talent of the team? I think that's the question that needs to be answered. Personally I'd rather stand pat or move up just a little bit in the draft. One of those bigs might fall to us and we can have a team that will revolve around Yao, KM and Scola now, and Brooks, Hill, C-bud and our C in the future.
We actually need a 3rd PG more than an SG because all we got at the moment are Brooks and Lowry. As we saw last season when Lowry got hurt, the d-league call ups weren't enough. If Brooks gets hurt we need a better player to step in as well. Llull isn't coming next year so after a backup C we need a 3rd PG more than an SG.
Short of Cousins and Favors that video shows the best bigs in this draft and Cole looks as good as any of them and better than several. If given the chance I don't know if I would take Aldrich or Udoh because Udoh does have more potential imo. My problem with the word potential is that it works equaly with the word star and the word BUST. I don't like Whiteside due to the knucklehead factor and that is (Knucklehead + $$Millions) = (3 x Bust Potential). Udoh is from the town I live in and everything I've heard about him is that he is a solid kid with good people around him so I feel good that desire to be great and his physical abilities are all that limit him. Aldrich is similiar but with different physical abilities. I think Aldrich imo will be a bigger Nick Collins and contribute right away. I think Udoh can be a poor mans Camby but I don't know if his offensive game will ever get much better and he is a bit light to be effective defensively right away so he may be a season or so out before he is ready to contribute. Waiting a season for a 23 year old to develop puts Aldrich ahead of Udoh imo.
You won't have to wait a season for Udoh, he can come in get minutes right away. His offensive rebounding and shotblocking could make him part of a second unit by mid season and the kid is a great passer. Also that 11'5.5 no step standing jump lets you know why he's such a good offensive rebounder. I like Aldrich also, but don't see him getting any minutes for awhile, have you seen the form on his jumper.
I doubt Udoh's shot blocking will translate to the NBA due to his lack of reach. Plus the only front court position available is the back-up center position and Udoh is undersized to play that position. So no thank's on another undersized player. IMO if it comes down to Aldrich and Udoh being the best big's available, I would look to draft a wing player instead (George, Henry or Bradley), and get a big later in the draft(Sanders, Alabi, Orton, Richards, & Jordan) to help with back up center position. --RB
I will trust Morey on this, if he picks one of those wings over Udoh or Aldrich he probably has the data to back up that decision but I believe that Aldrich is one of the safest picks in this draft. Morey has gained my trust by not making mistakes, he is not the type of guy that gambles a lot and hits one every now and then. FYI I don't put Bradley into the list of posibilities at 14, a 6-3 shooting guard that had marginal success in college... no thanks. I would definitely pick James Anderson before Bradley, Anderson is a CONSISTANTLY great shooter has size, length and rebounding ability that are all better than Bradley. Anderson is also a far better defender who would take the opposing team's top outside player if OSU was having trouble with a player.
Are you basing Udoh as being undersized because of his standing reach 8'10? The kid has a 7'4.5 wingspan and broke the Big 12 record in shotblocking against real competiton. Thats no fluke. Aldrich is a quarter inch taller with a longer standing reach and with a jumpshot that will not translate in the NBA unless corrected. Udoh can check both 4s and 5s due to his athletism. Don't get me wrong, I would be happy if the rockets were to pick Aldrich, but I would take Udoh over him all day long, he has a much more well rounded game and could help the rockets by mid season.
we have a lot of "assets". i'm not so sure these are the players that morey wants to stick with. if Yao can't stay healthy, it changes a lot of how we want to play. we no longer have a dominant post player, so we will want to run more. if we Yao can stay healthy, the players we have now compliment him well IMO. it all depends on Yao. first thing first, we need to find another legitimate post player, either through the draft or FA.
New Jersey Nets Team Needs : SG, SF, PF Picks : #3 , #27, #31 Golden State Warriors Team Needs : SF, PF, C Picks : #6 , #34 Los Angeles Clippers Team Needs : SF, PG Picks : #8 , #54 Sacramento Kings Team Needs : PG , C Picks : #5 , #33 Philadelphia 76ers Team Needs : SG , C Picks : #2 Minnesota Timberwolves Team Needs : SG, SF Picks : #4, #16, #23 , #45, #56
Udoh sorta reminds me of an Eddie Griffin with less talent but a workman's mindset. I like him a lot for a pick outside the top ten. After watching Big Baby dominate the Lakers I'm starting to think theres atleast a niche out there for Aldrich if he can play physically. That being said, his athleticism combined with his super-slow release would make me think the kid has awhile before he can actually contribute much in the NBA. I'd rather have Orton at that point in the draft. Kid moves well, but will likely be a foul machine in the early going. He's a project as well but has significantly better upside, I see some Kendrick Perkins comparison but Orton looks a lot smoother despite not being very developed.
Not really. The "assets" as you call them work pretty well without Yao Ming,a s Brooks, Martin, Scola and Ariza can all play smallball. The only reason we ended up in the lottery is because Andersen performed 10X worse than expected. I was expecting Scola at the center position, and I got a softy instead. Had Andersen turned out to be something decent who could defend properly (nevermind the rebounding), we would have been set.
Thanks for the fix. I was going to post to question as to how the writer was able to conclude that Yao, if healthy, is the second best center when he smokes Howard, the presumed best center, whenever they meet.
Great observation as usual Blaze. The way this team is assembled, they won't have to get one of the top centers in the draft. We just need a center who is a presence in the paint. A mve to get Pekovic would be a good one. Then i would draft another big in the late first or early second. We could also use a combo PG/SG like Torrance, Vasquez. A combo SG/SF like Henry, Hobson or Landesburg would also be great.
Its kinda hard to call a guy the best at his position when he had a career threatening injury and hasn't played organized basketball in approx. 1 year.
