The grizzlies 2001 draft alone blows the rockets out of the water: Pau Gasol Shane Battier. Mike Conley Drew Gooden Hakim Warrick Kyle Lowry OJ Mayo Get real.
Yes, look at all those lottery picks. Most of them absolutely trash. Drew Gooden 2002 pick 4th overall. Amare Stoudamire at 9th and Caron Butler 10th. OJ Mayo, 3rd overall pick, traded for Kevin Love. Another fail Kyle Lowry didn't blossom under Grizzlies so I don't know how you can take credit for that. So let's see how many top picks Grizzlies got from that list. 2 third overall selections, 2 fourth overall selections, 1 6th overall selection. Total number of all-star appearance in that list: 1
You really going to bring up All star appearances? How many years was Yao voted in when he hadn't played one game? How many years has melo been an all star? How many years has kobe been on the defensive player 1st team. Is this a joke?
What's a joke is how you are grasping at straws after making a stupid statement. The Rockets are not the best at the draft but certainly better than Grizzlies. There is absolutely no excuse that the Grizzlies could have, in the last 10 year, two 3rd picks, two 4th picks, one 2nd pick, and end up with only one player who made one all-star appearance. Just in case you want to argue that all-star appearance is meaningless. These picks ended up with Pau Gasol, OJ Mayo, Drew Gooden, Mike Conley and Hasheem Thabeet. None of these guys, besides Gasol, are even remotely close to all-star level players.
luther head gave us a few good years, clutch shots... he lost pt to a new coach nochbar on karl malone... come on man aaron brooks was awesome til ginobli bust his ankle landry, almost 6th man of the year... what would have been if he stayed with us patt, parsons, morris still in development taylor needed more pt novak kept our streak alive we shouldve kept batum, but oh well yao was 1st pick overall and the rest of these guys arent even top 8 i think, maybe rudy gay i dont know. only way to find a star through the draft is to get lucky cus we always around the 15th pick
I just wanted to start this thread to get a discussion going on our draft picks in the past. I wasn't trying to say that they all sucked but look how many of them are still on the team or even in the league. I personally don't think we have a good track record of drafting well.
Erm what do you mean our drafting sucks? Parsons, Patterson, Landry, Brooks were sucky picks? You can only say the drafting sucks if there were superstars who turned out better than the guys you picked. Only draft pick I remember that happening was when we drafted and traded Nicolas Batum. Or are you saying the picks suck because nobody we picked turned into a superstar? I guess by that logic the Spurs suck at drafting too, apart from TD they have no superstar draft in the past 20 years.
Are you implying they have sexual relations? Because everyone knows the trade itself was Dawson's....
please try learning a little bit about the organization before posting http://www.nba.com/rockets/news/Rockets_acquire_Battier_in_tra-184447-822.html Rockets acquire Battier in three-player deal with Memphis Rockets finalize deal that sends Gay and Swift to Grizzlies Rockets general manager Carroll Dawson said Memphis called offering Battier and the deal was too good to pass up. "We were very excited when we heard that Shane was available," Dawson said. "We made the deal without hesitation."
Exactly. Also, saying the Rockets traded "Rudy Gay" is like saying that they traded [Insert Any Player From 2006 NBA Draft Who Turned Out To Be Good]. The GRIZZLIES drafted Rudy Gay, not the Rockets. During the early moments of the draft, the Grizzlies offered Houston Battier and their willingness to eat Swift's contract in exchange for the #8 pick. The Rockets agreed to the trade and asked Memphis who THEY wanted to pick. Their selection was Gay. The Rockets made that pick and then later announced the trade. Had the Grizzlies never offered Battier, the Rockets were going to take Thabo Sefalosha with the #8 pick. Either that, or trade back a few spots to take Sefalosha. JVG admitted as much publicly. Get your history right, people.
Many of those players were specifically drafted for other teams. Had the Rockets been using those pick for themselves they might have been very different players. Eduardo Najera Richard Jefferson Jason Collins Brandon Armstron Luis Flores Rudy Gay Nicalus Batum Nikola Mirotic Those players were never drafted with any intent of the team keeping them. They were draft day trades.
Look at where exactly they were drafted. For a team who has only had two high lotto picks in the past 10 years (one traded and the other being a superstar), I think it is quite solid.
I see what you're saying, but regardless the Rockets still chose to acquire Battier instead of take Gay as their draft pick. Its not like Rudy Gay wasn't on their radar. This is different from passing up on someone that no one expected to be a good player.
It was considered a weak draft (infact it was a weak draft overall), Rudy Gay was considered a top 5 player. IIRC rumors were if Roy wasn't available, then we pull the trigger on the deal (and honestly, I think that is the correct move given the draft pool). Honestly though, Gay is becoming overrated. On this board, people seem to think he is on Kevin Durant's level when the reality is, he is not. All he brings to the table is scoring and nothing else really (and nowhere near Durant's level at that). I understand that PPG is a sexy stat and kids go crazy over it the but the game is so much more. Battier (in his prime) brought so much to the table (you could easily argue more than what Gay would have on that Rockets team). He was the perfect complement on a team which had outstanding offensive options in Yao/TMac. Keep in mind Gay was a raw player at the time and it really didn't make sense to develop players while we were trying to win (and a player like Battier could have helped us win a ship had the team been healthy). I was against the deal at the time but now, I look back at it and think it was the right deal given the circumstances. Keep in mind, we unloaded Swift in that deal too.
