One player that I've been reading about for the past 2 years is Reece Gaines. Briefly, he is a 6'6" PG/SG combo from Louiville who has 4 years college experience and has been pretty good as well. Here is ESPN's report on him http://sports.espn.go.com/nbadraft/d03/tracker/player?playerId=18451 and here is NBADraft.net's report http://www.nbadraft.net/profiles/reecegaines.htm From these descriptions, he sounds like a very good fit for the Rockets. While he definitely doesn't seem like a pure PG ala T.J. Ford, he might be a good enough ball-handler/distributor to relieve Francis of some of his decision-making duties. Gaines' size would allow Francis to play SG on offense but still defend PGs. Furthermore, Gaines doesn't seem like a ballhog either, which means both Francis and Yao will get their shots. However, I've only seen Gaines play once (and have not seen any highlights) and really didn't get any impression (it was the end of a game where the outcome was already determined). So maybe someone here can answer these questions. 1) How good is Gaines shot? He shot .461 (.389 3PT) but is that because he shoots this range consistently or because he's very hot/cold (50+% one game and 30% the next)? Will he be able to hit the NBA 3? 2) What kind of intangibles would he bring? 3) Would he be worth trading for? To be more clear, should the Rockets trade some players to get a pick in the 12-15 range (where Gaines is expected to go)? Thanks
IMO, he is a top 5-10 prospect. However, he I bet he drops to about #20. He is a very good shooter IMO. Most of his shots were taken off the dribble, and he hits a high % of them. He showed me a lot of range by routinely hitting shots from the NBA 3 pt land. He's also really clutch. If he can learn to become a pure distributor, if he were a Rocket, then I'd love to bring him in.
Almost all of the credible sources out there have him pegged with the #15 pick to the Magic. I'd gladly take that over the Chicago camp scrubs we've been bringing in to town. Gaines is a player and has the height that, if you want to play with a small SG, is requisite in your point guard. Don't think the Rockets are interested in that right now, though.
