Ceiling: Taller Tracy McGrady Floor: Taller Gerald Green The huge difference there is the reason he's dropping out of the top 10.
He has the exact same size as Thomas Robinson - see the combine results. He has lower athleticism. 6 might be a little high, but not too much. Everybody 8 and after are real question marks and you could see any one of those guys going within a 10-12 pick range. Lamb has been as low as late teens in some mocks, as high as 8 in this. Henson as a 9. Leonard as a 12? Terrence Jones may not do anything great, but he seems underappreciated. This is a kid who also has Robinson/Sully size, still put up very solid stats, despite being next to 3-4 other lotto picks. He played next to the consensus #1 pick, and he still grabbed 7 boards and blocked 2 shots a game. Of the two Terrence's, Id prefer Terrence Ross, though.
We'll never get off the mediocrity treadmill without taking a chance on someone like him (or whomever the organization perceives as a high risk/reward type). Fits with the team's philosophy of rolling the dice to get a star without hurting future flexibility.
He's a guy the Rockets have to consider, maybe even trade up for. Enough with safe picks and asset hording. It's time to shake things up!
Remember Horry was a college 5 that became the Rockets 3, and eventually a shooting 4 as his career wind down.
Carmelo Anthony (You know, the guy Marcus Morris is compared to, body-wise) Hakim Warrick was the 5, IIRC.
He led UT in rebounding and blocks playing with Damion James and Connor Atchley. But I don't think Durant stuck to the 4. More like a 3/4/5.
If you watched the combine the analysts, Fruchilla, Ford, Penn, were saying that Jones III and his agent were really selling him as a mobile 3 in the mold of a Kevin Durant type, but he is a bonifide PF in the NBA, and will not be a SF. Take what you want from that, but I personally would agree with him. If the team that takes him trys to make him into a 3, you will see a Marcus Morris 2.0 experiment. Meaning, he wont get off the bench. Not saying he will as a 4 either, but in the longterm with a couple of moves down the road he could be a productive player off the bench by the end of the season as a 4. As a 3 your looking at a longterm project.
Austin Rivers and PJIII....those are the only guys we could potentially pick up that can be the players we desperately need. We have filled the 'solid role players' quota....now's the time to roll the dice.
And buy a pick for Royce White....**** it. Something has got to change and worst case scenario is we find a team willing to send us something for them at the deadline. There is always a team looking to offload some salary for a prospect at the deadline.
Rivers - how is he going to make the transition to a third option on the floor from his "if I am on the floor I am going to shoot because I was the best player on a mediocre Duke team"? Confidence is one thing - megalomania is something entirely different. In an interview yesterday he could not supply a weakness in his game that needed work. PJIII - so you either want him to transition to the 3 where Parsons is looking like the future, or you want him to be a 4 where D-Mo has all of his athletic ability and more skills, along with confidence, work ethic and the desire to succeed. Basically D-Mo has a much higher upside. And you forget the 5??? The one position that the Rockets truly need to get young talent???
I'm going to do this a little differently and compare him to a specific player, but more of a type of player. Best Case (highest ceiling): A borderline all-star who is a versatile tweener who can play two positions fairly well, offensively and defensively. Worst Case (the floor): A tweener who is out of the league in seven years and is only a starter for one season. He never finds his game.
The Rockets need talent at every position, outside of SF and maybe PG. Every other position is up for grabs.
