By this analysis, all of these 4's except Fran Vasquez seem to be Rocket clones or ex-Rocket clones. We have no chance at Fran Vasquez. If you give credence to this analysis then it is pretty compelling evidence that we take a swingman with a paltry #24. http://probasketball.about.com/od/nbadraftplayerprofiles/a/playerranking05_4.htm Sure Thing: The requisite size doubts that plague nearly every college power forward will cost Wayne Simien come Draft night, but there isn't a more polished product at the 4 available this year...Simien's ability to score with either hand and his knack for not only getting to the line, but also converting at an 80+% clip should not be taken lightly. Will he need to extend his shooting range, put more time into his average defensive abilities and demonstrate he can stay healthy for a full season? Absolutely, but with so many teams in need of a guy who they can go to in the post for an automatic bucket, it amazes us that this Juwan Howard clone will fall to the end of Round One. Hidden Gem: Speaking of undersized terrors in the paint, Cincinnati's Jason Maxiell plays far bigger than his 6-foot-6 frame belies. He's wide and has a great wingspan, making him a legitimate shot-blocking and offensive rebounding threat in the NBA. Offensively, he's a got a soft touch on his jumper and operates well in the post. Adding a little consistency at the line -- where he's likely to half his points -- will go a long way in determining his success. Should be a dependable player on par with Clarence Weatherspoon. Big Rep, Big Letdown: We've come full circle on Ronny Turiaf, from ardent supporters to ambivalent skeptics. Whether it's fair or not, the downgrade comes from Turiaf's piddling performances in the big spot. Whenever Gonzaga needed Turiaf to come up large, he responded with an off-shooting night or frequent turnovers or a night watching the action while in foul trouble. Turiaf's greatest flaw is his poor decision-making with the ball in his hands, which often nullifies his impressive footwork and agility in the post. And he magnifies his offensive errors by being a negligible presence on the glass. The rebounds he gets are because he's 6'9" in a conference stocked with diminutive players. Bottom line: he looks the part, but his production says otherwise. Sounds a lot like Maurice Taylor. Immediate Impact: No power forward will experience more growing pains (shrinking would actually be more accurate) than Sean May, who'll need to drop some serious weight and improve his conditioning to keep up in the NBA. So why is he our guess to have the greatest impact as a rookie? Primarily because of where he's slotted to go: to good teams in the late lottery-to-mid-First Round looking for an immediate presence in the post. The Lakers, Magic, Bobcats, Timberwolves, Nets and Raptors could a use a big body up front like May, who can score and eat up space inside. And May is too smart and too hard of a worker to shy away from being thrown in the fire. Practically a mirror image of Mike Sweetney. The Best 10 Years from Now?: Faced with so many undersized options, we're tempted to tab Fran Vazquez as the player with the greatest opportunity to succeed. Unlike your typical European prospect, Vazquez has outstanding leaping ability and quickness, and the willingness to really get after it. But he's not exactly shown an impressively varied skill set at this point. One player who has is Connecticut's Charlie Villanueva. Villanueva's bugaboo has always been his wavering intensity minute-to-minute, but things really seemed to click with him late last season. It seemed to dawn on Villanueva that he had the ability to take over games with his inside scoring, shot blocking and surprising passing touch. Those flashes of brilliance, coupled with the always helpful capability of being able to run and jump, make Villanueva the power forward prospect with the highest ceiling. The doubts over whether or not he'll ever be demonstrative enough to realize that potential on a nightly basis brings the name Sam Perkins to mind. Other Comparisons... Fran Vasquez: Tyson Chandler Ike Diogu: Kenny Thomas Erazem Lorbek: Christian Laettner Brandon Bass: Wayman Tisdale Pops Mensah-Bonsu: Lonnie Shelton
I think power forwards need to be proven players - so free agency is the way we should be going .,. as for the draft - I think they will go with the best wing or point available (unless Ike or Wayne falls to #24)
we take the best player available. most likely it will be a SF. JVG doesn't like to play rookies all that much anyway. earning 8 minutes a night behind tmac would be a nice situation for both JVG and the rookie. we can use the MLE, LLE, and a trade to aquire a PF, SG, PG.
OK I've layed off enough. What makes you think JVG doesn't "like playing rookies"? Nachbar? Barrett? Gaines? I'm not sure where this started, but everyone seems to assume it for the truth now days.
absolutely agree... The whole VG doesnt play rookies thing is a myth....he has never said anything publicly about not playing rookies...and his team history doesnt back this myth up. Will one person that actually believes this be able to back it up? Ive asked a couple of times....and noone has ever stepped up and proven me wrong. giddyup, are you telling me that you would play those guys if you had them? AB got the court time he deserved....he wasnt as good as some here felt....Gaines speaks for himself....Boki got the time he deserved....sometimes he made good on it...more often than not...he didnt.
I guess I think there is some truth to it. What rookies/youngsters dd he develop with the Knicks? The main point being: we have two superstars and the Rockets jettisoned young players in favor of vets: Andre Barrett (waived in the aftermath of acquiring Barry/Wesley Brandon Knight (waived in favor of Rod Strickland, IIRC) Boki (traded for Wesley-- a guy not likely to be back) Gaines (traded in the Mike James deal) James Posey (in favor of Jimmy Jackson) Except for Mike James, these vets can see the "bottom of the hill" I know it got us into the First Round of the playoffs... but what about the future? If Rocket management knew enough to make a determination that those young guys in no way fit into our long term plans, then I have no argument except as a fan: I like my team to develop their own young talent.
for this point...Ill defer to someone much more knowledgable than I...you may recognize the writing style.. I cant argue that I also like to see talented young players comein and grow with the team....but it just hasnt worked out for us for various reasons... mainly cause we havent gotten any worth keeping longterm, what has AB, Gaines, Knight and Boki done since they left?(and dont get me wrong, I liked Boki...he just wasnt really that good) the only guy in your list that had the talent to keep was Posey...and I honestly dont think VG had anything to do with that call...me memory is fuzzy on the timeline, but wasnt the Posey contract nondecision made before VG took over?
Good to see HP back-- even as an artifact... I think you are probably right about Posey. That was probably decided before JVG was named coach. I think it is a cultural problem with the club that started with the championships won with Hakeem and CBA climbers. Immediately after the second championship, we got rid of our youngsters (Sam and Horry) in favor of more vets... and it has been downhill since then. I guess, realistically, it is easier to sign someone as a FA than to draft just the right guy.
heyp is still around if you know where to look...unfortunately, it isnt here. now...as far as picks/FAs goes... Seems to me that in the years since the dismantling of the Dream/CB club, our picks have consisted of prospects that Rudy liked that didnt work out...and because of our zero extra cap space, we have been unable to afford to throw money at the talented young players in FA. Combine those two factors with their propencity to offer too much money to one hit wonders (maloney, Cato, Mooch) and it becomes obvious that we just havent had the flexibility to get the better FAs out there...that should change soon. We are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel...the only longterm contract that is even close to overpaid is Juwons...and he at least earns most of it when healthy. If we can get rid of those expiring contracts in Mooch, Baker, Spoon....we will be in much better shape to tempt good FAs to come play with our stars.. there isnt anything wrong with keeping some vet role players around(Deke, JB, Sura)...but if we could add one or two good younger players per year...we could have ourselves quite a team in a year or so.. Im actually optimistic, the pairing of VG and CD has made more good deals than bad..lets hope they keep that trend up this offseason..
The fact that JVG hasn't had any talented young prospects to work with (aside from Yao) is certainly a valid argument. However, the flip side of that is in the 7 years Heyp listed, they didn't have number 1 picks in three of those years (presumably because they were traded) and they traded away one of their picks in a draft day deal for Erick Strickland. That's FOUR picks out of SEVEN that were traded away before he even had a chance to find out what he's got. Since he's been here, two first round picks have been traded away. Now we're talking 6 first round picks out of 9 that have been traded away under JVG's reign. I don't know if it's just me, but that seems pretty compelling evidence that JVG doesn't place a whole lot of value on the draft. I could also tell you that someone from the Rockets organization once told me that JVG doesn't like playing rookies - but if I did I either have to give up my source (in which case people will chastize me for possibly getting the source in trouble) or I have to leave him anonymous (in which case people will accuse me of making it all up). So I won't tell you that.
well... in order to properly evaluate what the deal is with those prospective picks, we would have to find out under what circumstances they were traded away. something that I dont have the time to do.... also...how much influence did he have over how Layden used the Knicks picks? they way heyp talks, very little...the way he says it....Lyden picked...then VG had to deal with them. and in regard to the possible statement about rookies from inside the organization.....looking back at what he has had to work with....I can certainly understand why he could possibly not be enthused about having rookies....but until more reliable proof comes of that mindset...Im wiling to give him the benefit of the doubt.
I don't personally care about giving him the benefit of the doubt in that regard. I'm very pleased with JVG as a coach. I would like to see more emphasis placed on the draft and developing young talent, but really that's just because I personally enjoy watching young talent develop. JVG isn't the only coach who won't play rookies. Larry Brown doesn't like to play them either. Both of those guys know a bit more about basketball than I do. So I'm not at all saying that he's wrong to place little importance on the draft - in fact, if that's how he feels, I'll willingly admit he stands a better chance of being right than I do. But damned if it doesn't make for boring draft days. Not to mention it means we've got to pin our hopes on guys like Badiane and Spanoulis.
Guys: Things being what they are these days with two max contracts, we are not going to be able to afford expensive FA's for a good while. If you think we have a lot of cap relief coming soon we don't. We will be shed a bunch of useless heads though. That means we will have to fill the spaces up with relatively cheap rookie contracts. Washed up vets are cheap, but they just don't supply the quality of play we need. So JVG will have to learn to love rookies soon. We need an infusion of young players to get the quality we want for the price we can pay. If we are real good in scouting or very lucky we might be able to pick up a few second/third year players with good skills for cheap.
