That's interesting; a lot of posters here tell me that we are willfully being bad. If we just flipped a switch and played Sengun a little more we'd be a 38 win team.
Doesn't matter to me, this is a low to medium low pick, at best would take 3 years to play.....meh..... Top pick, sure, picks after 10 should be packaged for veteran players....or someone that can teach these young guys how to lead and win. DD
I am beginning to pin my hopes as much on Wood + Brooklyn's pick returning Eason or Sochan (either of whom I'd pair with Griffin) as I am the idea of one of the big three up top. KPJ - Green - Griffin - Eason - Sengun with Tate, Christopher, Martin & Garuba off the bench plus a max free agent in the Summer of '23 would position the Rockets quite nicely IMO.
The guy we drafted at where this pick is currently slotted is playing now (year 1), should be playing more, and we had to give up another pick to get in the range to draft him.
Honestly, depending on where both of Portland's picks land in the top 10, Stone might luck himself into a pick between 7-10 in addition to that potential top 3 pick. Let's say Portland ends up with picks 7 and 10 (theirs and the Pelicans'), I'd think it would benefit both the Blazers and the Rockets if we traded them Wood and the 16th pick for the 10th. If the Blazers are as serious as rebuilding the team around Lillard (I'm taking what they've said so far at face value), then having two lottery picks on the team won't do them any good, especially as a win-now-or-we-want-to-win-now team. Move Wood and the 16th to Portland for the 10th and either Hart or Bledsoe to make the salaries match up. Maybe you use that 10th pick on someone that drops (AJ Griffin? Keegan Murray?) to be your future SF? Of course this all depends on where the picks land. Hell, the Knicks might be open for business too if their pick isn't in the top 7.
He's good but if the Raptors win tonight the Nets are 4 games back with only 19 left to play. If they end up 8 they have to go on the road to play Toronto without Kyrie. Then they could end up at home against the Hawks without Kyrie depending on how the mandate plays out.
He's gotta stay healthy though. No Simmons Kyrie only on the road No inside game on O or D. And even if they do barely make it we'll be sitting pretty going into the draft.
This is precisely the plan I have pushed here for weeks. Bledsoe is a non guaranteed contract for next year whose salary works with Wood. As you point out, a rookie likely doesnt move the ball for Dame but Wood might. And they are only moving down a few spots to pick up a vet that can help them to compete now. We have seen how Wood looks with a top tier guard before, I would think either Portland or Washington would be interested given their situations.
Lots of possibilities. Brooklyn could miss the playoffs and win the lottery, or they could go on a tear move up several spots in the standings before the end of the year. Rockets could also have the ping pong balls go their way again, or they could go cold. Using the current Tankathon rankings, here are some possible outcomes. Best Case Scenario: #1 - Chet Holmgren #2 – Jabari Smith Realistic: #4 – AJ Griffin #10 – Tari Eason Status Quo: #3 - Paolo Banchero #16 – Marjon Beauchamp Worst Case Scenario: #7 – Keegan Murray #20 - Mark Williams While I would be upset if the worst case scenario would occur, for a team as bad as we are, I don't think it's that bad. The key would be to get Wood and Gordon traded for better young players and letting the youth movement really get started.
Imagine walking out of the draft with Smith and Griffin! I think both have work to be done on their games, but Smith's stroke is so pure... Griffin has the athletic ability, and can clearly shoot (I'd expect that to regress to the mean somewhat)
That's kind of silly. Here are some guys taken after 10. Let's start with the last two MVP's. Nikola Jokic (#41) Giannis Antetokounmpo (#14) But also, Karl Malone (#13) And while I'll skip the last few drafts because of small sample size, In 2018, Tyler Herro (#13) Matisse Thybulle (#20) Jordan Poole (#28) Kevin Porter Jr (#30) in 2017, Donovan Mitchell (#13) Bam Adebayo (#14) John Collins (#19) Jarrett Allen (#22) and let us not forget Isaiah Hartenstein (#43) in 2016, Domantis Sabonis (#11) Pascal Siakim (#27) Dejounte Murray (#29) Malcolm Brogdon (#36) In 2015, Devin Booker (#13) Terry Rozier (#16) etc etc etc. There are guys every year after the 10th pick that are invaluable to teams. Some are even all-stars or even MVPs. I think if the Rockets are looking at the upcoming draft and there is nobody they love after 10, then sure, consider trading the pick. But it would be silly to just use picks after 10 to trade for vets as a general rule. It's always case by case.
Portland is interesting. They are going to have two very good picks, but I really think they need to convert one of those into a win-now player. I'm just not sure what we would get back from them to make a trade work. Not to mention that they can probably re-sign Nurkic and get very similar value to Wood at a cheaper price.
That New Orleans pick they're owed has some interesting protections on it, though. I'm not saying they won't get it this year, but this race to be in/out of the lottery towards the end of the year is going to be interesting. lol.
How in the mf are the hawks not even in the playoffs and they went to the conference finals last year like what, at least leapfrog the dumass nets
