Some people are expecting way too much out of a #24 pick. Had the Rockets been able to trade up and get Green, I would have given them an A. What they got is a good athlete who plays tough defense, takes care of the ball and has potential to be a decent three-point shooter -- all good qualities for a point guard playing with Yao and T-Mac. Head should be a solid rotation player next year with a chance to develop into a dependable starter. I'll give them a B.
Nice job NIKEstrad. This is the No.24 pick and it'll be grade A if we can find a rotation player at this spot. Expectation shouldn't be high. I'm glad the Rockets didn't take a 4 this late, that pick would be wasted the next season cuz the Rockets would bring in yet another FA or traded pf, giving that pick no time to play. Head's pg skills might be a concern on other teams, which caused his stock to drop, but with T-Mac and Yao running the show the playmaking abilities of a pg are de-emphasized here. Stick any shooting guard who can guard the 1s at the pg spot and we can go to war. That's why Sura is playing the pg spot now. Not to mention Head's ball handling is safe and averaged 4 assists as an off guard in college. The Rockets need a pg who can shoot, defend and penetrage a little. If Head is as good as advertised, this is a very reasonable pick that fits the bill. Head brings different things to the table on this team. Not one guard on the Rockets boasts the mix of Head's size, athleticism, shooting touch and all around skills. He fills a gap at a cheap price. Say who would you want to put on Jason Terry? Sura or Head? or on Finley/Stackhouse, Wesley or Head? If what CD and JVG says about Head on defense is true, he is immediate upgrade defensively at the 1 and 2 spot. Throwing in his shooting touch, clutch play and athleticism, why do you guys think he can't turn out to be better than Sura or Wesley? This is a safe pick with upside and potential, Head improved a lot in each of every four years in college. Head won't be a star but it's too early to say right now that he can't be better or as good as Derek Fisher, a champion pg taken also at No.24.
HOUSTON ROCKETS Round 1: Luther Head, PG, Illinois (No. 24) Round 2: Analysis: The Rockets needed a point guard and got, in my estimation, one of the two or three most underrated prospects in the draft at No. 24. Head has the athleticism, jump shot and experience to be a long-term solution for the Rockets at the point. He should have a long career ahead of him. Grade: A
Look, this was obviously the guy we were targeting. You can't expect much from the #24 pick in the draft, but we've done well in this area of the draft (Kenny Thomas, Sam Cassell). If LH can shoot from the 3, if he can play quick-a$$ perimeter D, we got a steal. Keeping in mind that we have expiring contracts and the MLE and our sights set on Stromile Swift (not that we'll get him, but you can bet he'd love to play here, and CD is working to get him on the team) and whomever else, well, we should be sitting pretty when the season starts. A lot prettier than when the season ended, anyway.
Good post, I agree w/ your points. Does he have what it takes to be a PG? Is he too small to be our SG? I like this pick, but probably would have been happier w/ a more clear-cut position player like Simien or Miles.
NIKE - Therein lies the heart of my disappoinment. 1 damned pick from the player I really thought could help this team. I'll eat the crow if it flies my way. Till then, all I can do is hope we have other moves planned to get both athletic and taller. Needless to say, I won't have my feelings hurt if Head is moved as part of an SnT to get both of those physical attributes on the team. Hopefully, other teams' GM's share the majority opinion on this board. In conclusion, the NBA Highway is littered with players too short for their designated oncourt position. We needed a 6'6"+ SG not a 6'3" combo guard. Should have traded down to get CJ.
B because we did about as good as we could do considering who was available when we picked. Teacher:" Billy I gave you a B because you worked hard and did as good as you could do, I didn't give you an A because your just not that smart" I would have giiven us an A if we could have worked a deal to move up (Green?) or maybe even if we could have made a deal to land a good 2nd round pick (Taft?)
Shooting 59% from inside the arc is pretty darn good. Possibly he was the beneficiary of being surrounded by star talent who got him easy shots, but it's still good. At the least it sounds to me like a guy who can get to the bucket, which can't hurt.
I'm not sure I understand the criticism of his shooting. I'm not trying to be contradictory, I just haven't seen much of Head in action. But 41% from behind the arc and 59% from inside the arc seems pretty good to me for a 24th pick. Maybe he just got tons of easy looks fed to him by his teammates, but shouldn't he get looks that are just as good playing with T-Mac and Yao? Even if there's a slight drop off in those %s, which we should expect, it's still not bad for a 24th pick.
I'm still surprised that there's so much enthusiasm for drafting a guy out of high school. I guess I think Head will measure well if that's the benchmark. We're looking for a title run next year and not a few years from now. When's the last time a high school player drafted late in the 1st round, or in the 2nd round, made any kind of meaningful contribution in the first few years? Rashard Lewis does come to mind, but the percentages are heavily against it. I think gambling on high schoolers late in the draft makes sense for two types of teams: teams that already have a championship rotation like Detroit or San Antonio and can afford to bring a guy along slowly, and teams that aren't in danger of contending anytime soon and are just re-building for the future, so they might as well gamble. Most of these high school players getting drafted now, even if they're good, won't hit their stride until right about the time that they get close to being free agents; so the team that drafted him rarely gets to reap the value, during those early years, of having seen that potential beforehand. In that case, the only benefit is building up enough goodwill with the guy for taking a chance on him that he wants to stay with you, even if there's a bidding war for his later-apparent talent. Look at it this way: the only team I can think of in recent memory that has won a championship with a meaningful contribution from a guy they drafted right out of high school is the L.A. Lakers. But that's a special case, because they had Shaq, and Kobe is a special player, and Kobe was taken in the lottery. Is there ANY team that's ever been to the Finals with a meaningful contribution from a high schooler that they drafted after the top 15? I just think it's very rare that a pick in the 20s will uncover a hidden gem right out of high school that can help you get to the Finals before you're forced to pay up for his services to keep hm in town, in which case you could probably do that regardless of who drafted him and had him while he was developing.
I would have liked to have seen the Rox trade their pick for GS's 2 2nd rounders (maybe throw in a future 2nd) and pick up Ukic and Taft or Blatche. Head may work out fine, but was probably a reach at 24 and is mostly being talked about as a career backup. If we are not getting a starter then we might as well draft on potential, because we saw last season that you can get backup guards like Mike James in mid season. I was underwhelmed and vote D.
Anybody reading these sports sites and who thinks they are smarter then the coaches and scouts who are paid to summize talent should step away from the bong for a minute. These guys are pros at their trade, granted its not a perfect world but if you look at the mock drafts by sports writers and arm chair point guards they were way the heck off on most guys.... Thats all I've got to say about that...
You make some good points - I've also always been skeptical of getting too excited over combine numbers in the NBA, or any other sport for that matter. I'm thinking Tim Duncan, Larry Bird, and John Stockton would not have posted impressive combine numbers. Or Karl Malone, for that matter, who's never had much lift. That said, a couple of things that give me hope re Luther Head: First, his stats from the field suggest he's a more accurate shooter than Anderson. Kind of hard to read too much into that, I know, but it's better than if he had worse percentages. And I like the fact that he kept improving each year, which means he's either getting naturally better or he's working on his game (or it's a pure accident, which is also possible). Second, the one thing that the combine can't measure is heart and ability to come through in big games and clutch situations. On that measure, I get the sense that Head is pretty Heady. (sorry, I haven't made many puns yet and wanted to join the fun.) He seems to play well in critical situations and has shown signs of a competitive fire. Coming on the bench, we really need energy and intensity, and I'm hopeful that he brings that.
The big complaint is that he needs to be 8 inches taller and 90 pounds heavier. He is just not what we needed. My unhappiness with this "Richard" Head acquisition will vanish if we achieve great PF, SF and PG acquisitions before the season starts. If we must wait 24 months before Luther is a contributor, then I wish we had taken C.J. Miles or Andray Blatche, both of whom have down the road up...up...upside.
Oh yeah, I'd love it if he had more size, and I think it's certainly a fair criticism that he doesn't meet our key needs at the PF and PG spots. I just was responding specific to the suggestion that he was a weak shooter, and whether his good percentages are just the product of easy looks. 41% from the 3 point line and 59% from inside the arc is just not indicative of poor shooting, so I'm concerned if the rap on him is that he only puts up good percentages because his teammates made him more accurate than he really is. I have never actually watched Head play for an entire 40 minutes, so I just don't know if those percentages overrepresent his ability. I agree with the idea that this is not good if it's the only move that the Rockets make going into next season. I'm persuaded that it's not, and that more is yet to come. No time like the present, right? I can't say I regret drafting Head, a college senior who has played well in big games, over a high schooler (not yet anyway!). I am admittedly a bit overly obsessed with statistics at times, but I just don't like the fact that 0% of high schoolers taken late in the first round have ever helped the team that drafted them get to the Finals. I just think that the 0% reflects how hard it really is to find some underappreciated prep school gem at the 24th pick, and also how hard it is to keep him long enough for him to make a difference -- particularly when so much money is spent nowadays scrutinizing these guys from the time they start kindergarten. At least with Head, I think the odds that he can provide some good help off the bench this coming season are much higher.
Most of these so called GM's are not all that much smarter than us. If they were how they are getting so many dud players like Dan Langhi and jason collier. I could have told you these guys were going to suck. And for every good pick a GM makes they make 2 or 3 duds. I think we have a right to complain, but if they end up being right well they get paid millions of dollars so I hope they are right.
