I agree we shouldnt bring this up but I will add this sidenote. I remember when Rashard Lewis declared for the draft. A lot of the local stations showed 2-3 minute clips of him. He had a good stroke and was very polished - making 15 foot jumpshots with ease. You could also tell he had a really good build and could bang if necessary but his game wasn't built on freakish athleticism. He was the anti-Darius Miles; He could actually play. After the draft, then Seattle coach Paul Westphal (of Phoenix Suns fame) was amazed at Rashard's maturity level and his advanced game for a HS kid. Back then, teams were very skeptical of drafting HS kids, especially from Texas where HS basketball is not played at a high caliber. It was difficult to gauge the competition level but if you dug a little deeper,you could see the talent. In my opinion, it all worked out in the end because it all led to Yao and blah blah blah. And as good as Rashard is, he will never be a true impact player. He's just not physical enough- a poor man's Rasheed Wallace. However, there is absolutely no excuse why the Rockets passed on him other than bad scouting. You can say all these other teams passed but 1. They didnt have 3 draft choices and 2. He didnt play 15 minutes away. It was a 100% screwup.
They were in the same draft. I was showing you how draft picks slip through people's fingers all the time. I'm not staying away because you still don't "get it." I'll keep pounding knowledge and common sense into your skull until I believe that you have learned something, or until you become lost cause because I'm such a good person.
Maybe it has nothing to do with blundered draft(s). Just that the Rockets organisation is a bad place for developing young talents. Who knows? If Rashard Lewis ended up here, he could've been another EG?
Are you telling me we had a chance for Rashard Lewis? You gotta be kidding me. Man, I don't think that has ever been mentioned in here before. This needs to go on the front page as a sticky. Stat. Aye caramba.
This thread reminds me of the dumb espn guys trashing John Gabriel of the Magic for making so many draft blunders. They just kept saying that the Magic could have had Gilbert Arenas, Tony Parker, Carlos Boozer, or Zach Randolph. It's just stupid to blame someone for crap like that when only maybe 2 or 3 second rounders each year make a significant contribution. For every Rashard Lewis there is a Qyntel Woods.
RL's story is totally different from other drafts, since we were close to inform him we would get him. What a disappointment for him at last since he was preparing to go with rockets...
Jeezus man, go home and drink your haterade. Let the man post what he feels is important. No one is begging to read the thread and then spazz all over the place.
I've got a flavor of haterade for you, it's called "I don't know who you are, nor do I give a damn what you have to say." As for you tigernet, "do you understand the words that are coming out of my key board?" Everybody and their momma knows about the Rashard Lewis story. I'll I'm trying to get through to you is that you aren't posting anything new or original. We've discussed it ad nausseum in here, there have been articles in ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Sporting News, SLAM, etc. Yes, it was a screw up to pass on him, but to b**** about that now when we have Yao Ming is stupid. It's either Rashard or Ming. I'll take the latter. I have a feeling though that if we had taken Rashard, you'd probably be a Sonics fan.
well it seems to be the flavor of the month cuz it's what's in my fridge too. just because it's been said before doesn't preclude you from using constructive criticism.
How many times do people want to discuss the "butterfly effect" as applied to sports drafts? A butterfly flaps its wings in China and the Rockets draft Chievous, which led to two championships and Yao Ming. It's all part of the plan....
