Since we are gonna have a high draft pick this year..

As bad as we are playing, there are still several teams out in the east that will finsh with worse records (hawks, bobcats, others as well) and even a few in the west (Hornets, warriors, clippers). So i doubt that we get a top 5 or 6 pick.

To answer the question i say we should go with a PF because it might be easier to get a decent point guard through free agency. A young athletic PF is exactly what we need.

p.s. Although i am very dissapointed with our start and agree that we are playing like trash, I still think its a bit too early to start talking about next years draft. Give it another 20 games or so and we should have a little better feel for this team.

 

Considering our probable draft position -- if we have one -- and the candidates available around that area, IMO we should go for Rudy Fernandez 6-6 175 PG (Spain). He will be about 20 by then.

 

right....

 

Lottery team? Care to put a Tip Jar bet on that?

 

does not matter to me. I think we should take the best player available...period.

Yao may or may not be this teams center for the next decade and Tracy can play eith guard or small forward position.

Lets face it we could use someone at just about any position.

 

I don't know about high lottery but a late lottery pick is a definite possibility. Right now we're in 12th place in the West and I just don't know if 4 teams are going to drop below the Rockets.

Minnesota, Dallas, SA, Sacramento are probably locks. Phoenix and Seattle will probably fall back into the pack sooner or later but they have such a huge cushion. That leaves 2 spots left for Utah, Denver, Portland, LAC, LAL, and Houston. Can't forget about Memphis either.

 

we need to put on some good runs..... its not easy to play catchup in the West

 

Get Kwame Brown and motivate him.....



DD

 

Best available player.

We need help everywhere.

 

No JVG would kill him because he S-U-C-K-S more than Yao.

 

I seen Kwame Brown play...i think he can be a beast. He's talked and can be unstoppable like Stromile Swift.

 

Sadly, I do.

I love the Rocks to death, but unlike most here, was not so optimistic about this season. The West is just too tough, CD and co has screwed up a lot over the years (Maloney, Drew, Turcan, Mo, Shandn, EG -I was like the only one cheering in the Chat Room when they announced Jefferson, then of course he got traded.--seriously, the Yao pick and T-Mac trade were no brainers...it didn't take a genious maneuver to get those things done...i digress), and even though I understand Van Gundy's philosophy, he was an Allan Houston shooter's role away from losing to the Heat in rd 1, never making anywhere in the playoffs, not getting famous and subsequently probably never getting this job.

Baring injury, the Rockets are not definitively a top 8 team in the West. Seattle is playing above their heads, but their already 6.5 games ahead of the Rocks. And can we become that much a better team than Denver?

Are Kobe and Rudy T in LA not going to make it? Kobe is just too good, and Rudy is not a bad coach.

It comes down to Houston, Denver, and Seattle fighting it out for the 8 spot. Seattle is the least talented, but they're shooting lights out and have a huge head start. Denver has problems, but already have 1 win against the Rocks, and have talent to trade for shooters.

I hope every other teams' stars go Ron Artest and are out for the year, and some bonehead GM takes MoTay/JHo, and Van Gundy gets a near death experience that changes his outlook on basketball and life and the Rocks win the championship.

But, $20 in the tip jar says no playoffs. You up for that GATER?

If they make the playoffs, I will gladly put $20 in and if they don't, you will sadly put $20 in.

Deal?

 

i suggest we draft yi jianlian, play him next to yao. i mean they have experience playing together on the CNT.



The Class of 1987 - Nov. 26, 2004 - by Arthur Volbert

Everyone has heard of Yi Jian Lian (213-C/F-87), Guangdong's 7-foot-plus center/power forward, born in 1987, and compared to a young Kevin Garnett.

But there are four other players born in 1987 who are making waves in the CBA this year. In the United States, these players would be high school juniors. Only Lebron James and Amare Stoudemire did anything significant in their first year in the NBA among players who jumped straight from high school and these players would have been college freshmen.

Yi Li (204-F/G-87) is the second-most promising of these players. A still-growing 204 cm small forward-shooting guard currently starting for undefeated Jiangsu, he was rated fifth among high school juniors at the Adidas Superstar Camp in Atlanta, even though young Chinese players do not get the level of training of young American stars. But they are catching up. Observers said that Yi had point-guard-type skills.

The next player to watch is Wang Zhongqiang, a 193 cm guard who appears to have won the starting point guard position for last year's CBA runner-up Bayi. He seems to have beaten out two other promising slightly older point guards, Li Ke and Yao Kaifu, in the competition to replace now-retired long-time star point guard Fan Bin. It would not shock me if Wang is the starting point guard on the 2008 Olympic team.

Men Wei is a 191 cm guard for the Beijing Ducks, who had some double-figure games last year and has been consistently in the scoring column for the Ducks this year. He had 8 points, three rebounds, 1 assist and 3 steals in Beijing's loss to Xinjiang this round.

Sun Jie is a 192 cm guard for Shandong, who has also been consistently in the box scores. This week he had 13 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals in Shandong's 107-94 win over Jilin. Sun was a star on the Chinese Under-18 National Team at this year's Asian Under-18 Championship.

It is interesting that four of these five young players are guards. Because of the way the Chinese used to play basketball their guards have always China's weakest link in international competition. But the young guards are now learning to play the game correctly and therefore do not have to unlearn bad habits. The need to unlearn bad habits is why China's guards do not have proper basketball "instincts." These players will have all the right "instincts" when they grow up.

The Chinese are coming, the Chinese are coming, the Chinese are coming ...
The Class of 1987 - Nov. 26, 2004 - by Arthur Volbert

 

I'd take it with the stipulation that JVG coaches the whole season. If JVG coaches the whole season, I will bet that we will not make the playoffs in the west.

 

I think the Rockets will turn it around and won't end up with a really high pick, but they should do whatever they can to pick up Hakim Warrick. I was watching Syracuse the other day and there is hardly a better fit available. He's so athletic, such a great rebounder, and he's become a decent passer and offensive player.

 

QUESTION: Do we even have a pick this year? I thought we traded it.

QUESTION 2: Is anyone coming off the books next year?

Rocket RIver

 

we traded next years pick. i think the rule is you can't trade away yoru first rounder 3 years in a row.

as for your second question: boki, lue, padgett, barrett, bowen are FA's this summer. nothing that will help us move away from the luxury tax threshold. spoon will come off the books the summer after.

 

Deke is also a FA he is making 4.5 mil this year according to HoopsHype.

 

When did we trade away next year's pick? I was under the impression that we have all our picks.