How did that Korean centre go against Yao in the Asian Championships. I've only seen a photo of him online and it was a BAD photo.
wouldnt that mean we would still have a first round pick since we are gonna give the pick we get from Chicago to Utah?
this would mean, that if ther rockets somehow manage it to miss the playoffs again, we would keep our 1st-rounder.... but i´m quite sure the 1st-round picks is gone --> not protected
So we gave them this years pick if not in the lottery and another potential first round pick from Chicago(or 2 second rounders). Holy crap. 2 first round picks. That is ..............crazy
Why is it crazy? Let's totally forget the fact that the Rockets have a nearly $7m trade exception until training camp 2004. Do you honestly think the difference between the Rockets and the Lakers, Spurs, Kings, Mavs and TWolves is a #20 pick next summer? Have you seen the list of franchise players available with a 20 + pick next summer? Here's a few: LaMarcus Aldridge 6-11 225 PF Dallas, TX HSSr. Uros Slokar 6-11 230 PF (Slovenia) 1983 Sergei Monya 6-7 220 SG/SF (Russia) 1983_ Vladimir Veremeenko 6-10 235 SF/PF (Belarus) 1984 Matt Freije 6-9 230 SF Vanderbilt Sr.__ Luke Jackson 6-7 215 SF Oregon Sr. Darius Rice 6-10 215 SF Miami Sr. Marcelo Huertas 6-3 185 PG (Brazil) 1983_ Viktor Khryapa 6-8 205 SF (Russia) 1982 Robert Swift 7-1 245 C Bakersfield, CA HSSr. Jamie Lloreda 6-9 246 PF LSU Sr._ With the possible exception of Darius Rice who's stock will probably rise, that's a pretty poor collection. Now if one think one of these blockbusters is the difference between the Rockets and the WC elite, you'll pardon me if I think that's...well, crazy.
I'd rather have the except. for a free agent veteran that can contribute and fit NOW and I'm sure the coach would too.... The first rounders are not going to contribute like that. They really need a good fit at the 3, I don't know who is coming up but an Eddie Jones type or slightly taller would be a fit.
Wrong. You can't trade your first round pick in two successive seasons. Last years' first round pick was traded years ago for Francis. Not exactly correct. The "Stepian Rule" says that you can't be without a first round pick in consecutive two future drafts. What that means is: - Future drafts are one's that haven't happened yet. That means that prior to last year's draft we couldn't trade our '04 first rounder because that would have caused us to not have first round picks in consecutive future drafts. As soon as the last draft was completed, that draft was no longer a future draft, so we were allowed to trade our '04 first rounder. The fact that a trade happened two years earlier doesn't change the rule. The only thing that matters is that you can't end up with two consecutive future drafts. - The rule also isn't specific to our own first rounders. It just says that you can't have consecutive future drafts without a first round pick. So, if we already owned another teams first round pick in one of the next couple of seasons, then we would be free to trade our next two first round picks.
Zach Randolph was the 19th player picked in 2001. And yes, his inside scoring and rebounding would make a huge difference on this team.
And the number of Randolph's @ #19 is available in each draft with what frequency? Here's the #17-21's for recent drafts: 2003 Phoenix Zarko Cabarkapa Denver Sani Becirovic New Orleans David West Utah Aleksandar Pavlovic New Orleans James Lang Boston Dahntay Jones Indiana James Jones Atlanta Boris Diaw 2002 Washington (NO) Juan Dixon Orlando Curtis Borchardt Utah Jamal Sampson Utah Ryan Humphrey Toronto (via Sea, NY) Kareem Rush Portland Qyntel Woods 2001 Toronto Michael Bradley Houston Jason Collins Portland Zach Randolph Cleveland Brendan Haywood Boston Joseph Forte 2000 Seattle Desmond Mason LA Clippers (from Tor) Quentin Richardson. Charlotte Jamaal Magloire Philadalphia Craig Claxton Toronto (Minn via Den) Morris Peterson An obvious trend toward weaker drafts especially at the PF position. I'll take the TE.
Hmmm...let me give a non-sports related analogy for this one: Gater is telling you that buying a lottery ticket isn't the way to solve your financial troubles. You're reply is that a guy in California just won $40M in the lottery and that would make a huge difference in your finances. Gater is taking the realistic approach based on probability and you're quoting exceptions. If that's all your going to do, then hey, Brad Miller would help us alot also. He wasn't even drafted, so maybe we should just trade all of our picks from now on. There's exceptions to everything, but you can't count on them happening at a particular time. If you do, then you're going to fail many, many more times than you succeed. I believe that Gater is just trying to say that there's better options than hoping for a long shot.
Just more proof oh how horrible that trade was and that Less is more worried about the salary cap then the wins and losses.
It's not a 1 in 15 million shot. Not counting 2002-2003 because they haven't had time to develop (although 2002 looks very weak): 1999: Andrei Kirilenko Manu Ginobili Kenny Thomas 2000 Jamaal Magloire Desmond Mason Michael Redd 2001 Zach Randolph Tony Parker All of these guys are under 25, vastly improving, and will either be borderline allstars or even be high impact players. And they were all picked 19 and below. With the influx of foreign players the draft is much deeper than in the mid 90's. Does that mean you'll have a 100% chance hit ratio? No. However, professional scouts will hit on a sleeper if given enough opportunities. It all depends on who we sign using the trade exception. If we get a young developing player with a huge upside, it's worth it. If we get more Jim Jackson/Eric Piatkowski type retreads, than we gave up a first round pick for very little.
My reply was to the Rice trade.... Also, That's the real point. The trade exception for a veteran that can help right away versus another project, like Nachbar...
GATER, I don't think the question is what frequency are key players found in late first round picks but the fact that we are missing out on an additional chance. we will likely not find a starter but it is not a stretch that we could get a role player and every so often you can find a Cat, NVE, Rashard, Maglorie, Randolph, Parker, Arenas, etc... You are right that there is not a very good chance but there is a chance and we have just thrown away a 2 maybe 3 chances at a player in this years draft. You can mention all the names that don't excite you that you wish but ever draft produces at least one late 1st rounder or second rounder that makes an impact or becomes a valuable role player. While you can say that in all likely hood the picks were useless the fact is that we will never know. Rice had an expiring contract that in all likely hood could have been moved for a good player by the trade deadline to a team that was looking to reduce its salary. The problem is that the Rockets are a team that has an owner trying to reduce salary not a team trying to improve. The trade exception is extreamly restrictive in how you can use it and will add salary to our team with out taking any away so I really can't see Less allowing CD to use it. Why would he give up a 1st and two 2nd round picks for a player that they never had any intentions of playing anyway? Answer, to trim salary cap and nothing else.
Nachbar was just a swing and a miss. Even if you included 2003, Phoenix is very excited about Zarko Cabarkapa, Atlanta loves Boris Diaw and Josh Howard looks to be a stud. All 3 of those could develop into solid, even allstar type caliber players. Adding a veteran who will be over the hill by the time Yao becomes dominant is not exactly the best strategy.
Exactly why giving up the pick didnt mean much to the Rockets. They are in the situation now where youth isnt the answer. The answer is finding veteran role players to mix in with Francis and Yao. Chances are with the TE we got via the Rice trade that we can parlay that into someone that will help the team much more than the #20 pick or so that GATER is referring to. GATER, I totally agree!
