Its coming. We are going to end up with a top 10 pick in the draft (likely somewhere into the 7-9 range.) We own the first or second (can't remember exactly which one) pick in the second round. A valuable pick because they dont get nearly the contract the players get in the first round, but its still early enough to get a quality player. Finally we can bring V-Span(Vassilis Spanoulis) over from Greece. Thats 3 possible rookies next year with 2 (1st round pick and Vassilis Spanoulis) possibly getting into the main rotation. This is not counting free agency, Assuming we keep Bogans and Hayes, that gives us the group of players of Bogans, Head, Hayes, and these 3 as the 6 players on the roster that came into the league after Yao. I know people are going to say that Van Gundy doesn't play rookies, but he played Head, and has continued to give him minutes. I know people will say it was the injuries and maybe its true, but V-Span has been getting heavy minutes in pro leagues in Europe and i think the roster will dictate that they get minutes because there will be little other options for adding quality players to the roster. Barring a trade that possibly involves the draft pick, this is most likely what will happen. If CD decides to blow it up, get rid of Gundy, and rebuild again around Yao and Tmac then this could all go away cause the 2 picks they have in the draft will have decent value (for a rockets team) A new GM or coach is going to negate everything i say, but i doubt either happens.
All this talk about bringing V-Span over has got me all excited. I just hope he has some skills otherwise it'll be another dissapointment to deal with.
You are darn right we need youth and talent. Simply put, if we continue to rely on Howard and Wesley to start for us, we are doomed for sure. This year's draft better pan out. VSpan better ball! If not, we are simply wasting Yao/Tmac's careers. Of course, Tmac needs to stay healthy first.
if they don't draft a PF/C player like Shelden Williams or Tyus Thomas,they should draft Redick or an athletic swingman if they don't trust Swift anymore. It all depends if they still want Swift.Pure shooters like Redick are pretty rare these days.
I am not with you. Howard need to come off bench because he could not provide what Yao need and his offense can be used coming off bench. But Wesley can have a starting position. He defenses and shoots a decent percentage. Part of the reason of the struggling of recent is Wesley not playing. Of course I want a better talent to start the 2 guard, but when you have two max contract, your expectatioon from other roster spot can not set too high. There are simply not many 2 guards who shoot well and defense and take MLE to come to Rox.
which is all the more reason why this draft is so crucial, this will probably be our best position for the rest of Yao and Tmacs careers, we need to be able to draft someone who is a player with our top 10 pick. our other guys have to come through cause there will be no free agent boom, and more than likely no major trade.
To have a youth movement, you have to obtain young players who don't suck. Right now, we've got...ermm...I guess maybe Yao and McGrady could still be considered young...maybe? Luther Head sucks. Oh, don't get me wrong-I can see that he has certain skills and potential. But if he played for, say, the Spurs...he'd be getting 10 mins a game right now or less. Keith Bogans plays some decent defense. Other than that, we've got nobody. Spanoulis? Call me when he does something in the NBA. Our draft pick is even more speculative. Right now, we're a team with two superstars who should be entering their respective primes about now--and absolutely nothing else. Let's not pretend that our current roster sucks because it's young. Nope - it just sucks.
We'll see about Spanoulis, this was from my previous post about Spanoulis. I heard Worrell say that CD was going over to Europe to decide one way or another on the guy. My first time seeing the guy and only caught the end of the game, saw two offensive plays, he tried to create, looks like a lefty, drove the lane using a left handed dribble both times, couldn't finish either time because a defender got there and he had to pass out. Looks like an average athlete, looks about as fast as Andres Nacioni of the Bulls so I don't think he is going to be a lock down defender against the speed of NBA PG/SGs. Didn't try one perimeter shot so can't say about his outside shooting but from the short time watching him, his tendency is to create rather than take a perimeter shot. He didn't light my fire so my first impression is what is everyone talking about when some on this board say "dump Wesley and make Spanoulis our SG". JJ Redick would be controversial but I think if he has a motor like Rip Hamilton, a non-stop move without the ball type of SG it might overcome his lack of athleticism and defense.
I agree, I think JJ Redick is our pick (unless we can somehow get a Rudy Gay or Rodney Carney, Brandon Roy might be too small/slow). We bring one of the best shooters in NCAA history to one of the worst shooting teams in the league. T-Mac may never play the 2 again at this point, not with his health issues. JJ's potential upside is a combo of Rip Hamilton and Rex Chapman IMO and is an unconscious FT shooter as well...
I think you are completely wrong. I think we are going to continue to lose games and drop into the top 10 in the draft (probably the 7 spot) I think there are better prospects that dont have the drawbacks that JJ has. I think a Prospect like Brandon Roy or Rodney Carney have higher upsides because their size and ability to play defense. Both can easily play the 2 spot. There could be a Joakim Noah available or Sheldon Williams, Josh McRoberts, or Andrea Bargnani if you want a big man. The top 3 will more than likely be Gay, Morrison and Aldridge. After that i named 6 players that will more than likely be taken about Reddick, that takes you to the 9 pick which is well in the range of where will will be drafting.
Spanouliis is a Point Guard!!!! He would be brought over to be our starting Point Guard. This won't happen if he isnt a great playmaker, we already have too many poor Shooting Guards. If the Rockets dont take dramatic steps to improve then expect another season of the same- injuries - poor play and Les CD & JVG loosing face and money.
OK, first of all, everything regarding the draft is pure speculation at this point. Unless of course, you know Les, CD or JVG. You're also not taking into consideration what FAs we will be targeting/signing with the MLE and Vet's Min., us possibly trading up or down in the draft or where the lotto balls will fall for us. You're also assuming we're going to practically lose out...possible. Where someone is actually selected in the draft is COMPLETELY overated. When the Raptors took Charlie V with their early pick it was highly critizied, even by me. Didn't work out too bad for them in hindsight, all things considered... Even by your rationale that there are 9 better players for us in this draft than Redick, I hope for your sake that we don't in fact draft at 10 because you're going to be really disapointed with who we might pick up... BTW, and if JJ happens to win a national championship, and maybe an MVP along the way, he's going to go a lot earlier than 10 IMO...
realisticly V-Span would be the backup behind Rafer and with his size and different game it would be a nice change of pace, better than Brunson or whoever we have had back there.
Right now, you have to go all the way to Toronto/Orlando (#5, 6 pick) to find someone with significantly more losses than us. Of course, our 6-game losing streak did feeature a whopping 4 games against Dallas and SA. Suffice it to say, it will be easier going the rest of the way. I see us going 0.500 the rest of the way, maybe only 0.400. 7 games against lottery teams, 7 games against playoff teams. We've got 5 other teams that have almost the same record as us, and I don't see us playing as badly as the Warriors or Celtics. My guess is the #10 pick. Badian is unlikely to ever come over at this point. He's a dollar store version of Hilario at best. I'm not envisioning V-Span as a starter, but hopefully he'll give us some fire and shooting off the bench. If we're around the 10 spot, guys (focusing on SGs and Fs) we should have a shot at are: Brandon Roy, Redick, and Brewer. It's too high to grab Sheldon, and this draft is flooded with PGs, which I don't think we need despite the Rafer-hate. We do have a complete void at the 2. At the top of the second round, courtesy of Isiah, there are some 4s: Marco Killingsworth, Craig Smith, Paul Davis (all upperclassmen) There's also Denham Brown from UConn If we want Sheldon, we need to trade down from #10 or up from #31 Evan
So far Rafer, who plays his own game and out of control hasn't proved that he is good enough to be the starting Point Guard. V-Span would not join the Rockets to be a bench player, he would be better off staying in Europe.
I dont see us drafting lower than 9, cant see it with this team and our upcoming schedule. about JJ, he is an AMAZING college player, but there are differences and size and athleticism magnify them. He is the 3rd best pro prospect on his team this year. -McRoberts has the highest ceiling and is basically playing the Marvin Williams script right now. Sheldon Williams is the best help side defender in all of college basketball and his shot blocking and rebounding, plus alreading being used to deferring on the offensive side of the ball would fit in great next to Yao Ming. Reddicks shooting would be incredible to have coming with all the double teams we get, but he doesn't do it at the other side, u think he is going to defende Kobe? or even Bonzi Wells? not gonna happen, and knowing the teams Philosophy we are going to take someone that at least has the physical talent to defend. We already have an undersized 2 guard back up in Head. we need size desperately in the starter.
Rafer has not had a full deck to play with, its hard to criticise him because teams can cheat on defense because the rest of our roster can't make shots. His shooting has been off, but his first duty is distriubtor. V-span will be over this year, the NBA increased the amount we can contribute to a buyout and we will use part of our MLE to sign him and bring him over.
