Let's not forget that Steve Francis was the #2 pick in a pretty strong draft. I think we all know that he wasn't what we wanted(Then again, we annointed him "The Franchise" and thought he was going to lead us Isaiah-style), but Steve Francis is still a damn good player in his own right. Steve Francis at #8 in this crappy ass draft would be an absolute steal. If Foye is that good, sign me up.
Yea I saw that about swapping picks with the Hornets. Also Chad Ford was reporting pretty much the same thing on his insider blog as well. Hornets are dangling #12, #15 and J.R Smith to move up for O'Bryant, but that might be to much to move up for #8, so the rockets would probably have to throw in Stromile Swift to get it done. He says the rockets need to add more assets. I could see something like that happening. Byron Scott is not going to play J.R Smith and JVG is not going to play Stromile. So you pickup a veteran SG in J.R Smith and you could potentially pickup Cedric Simmons at #12 replacing Stro and Rojan Rondo or Shannon Brown at #15 as JVG's backup PG. That would be adding some more assets and much more needed depth.
There is nothing in the article that mentions the Hornets swapping with us. It says the T-wolves. You said Chad Ford reported the same thing, but Chad said the swap is with us. They are completely different. Um, Um, Um, Ok.
Um, you need to read Chad: Trade talk shaping up draft. And spend the time to go down and look at what he says about the Hornets.
I have READ that. But LOOK at what you said earlier: You were referring to my article and saying that Chad Ford was reporting the "same thing". Which, in fact, they AREN'T the same thing.
i've never seen foye play but in the couple highlight clips i've seen of him, they've never showed anything remotely close to steve francis' athleticism. if anything he looks like a fat allen iverson with no pg skills. even though that sounds negative, he looks like he's quick and crafty enough to be a good scorer in the nba.
Isnt this what was said about Nicholoz T and Lampe who was projeted at top 10? I dont know about some of these euros.
bargnani is going to be good. just look at his highlights he had when his team played against the raptors.
Let us not forget that Steve Francis was a darn good player in his first couple of years with the Rockets as its future franchise player. When the Rockets. [ normally big man team] realized that the had forgotten the big man and that Yao Ming was about to come onto the sceen, they started to look closely at Francis's game and realized that he was NOTa playmaker, but a short scoring guard . After a trial period with Yao Ming [the Rockets management didn't believe their own findings ] Steve Francis continued to be a selfish player , without a defined role,and was not one who was going to help the Rockets develop Yao Ming's game. at this point Tracy Mc G came on the sceen and the Franchise moved to the Magic.
All the talk about the great potential of Nachbar and Nicholas t***....was brought back from Europe by Rudy T, after his scouting trip.
Thabo Sefolosha is coming in for a workout. He's the swiss player that's long and athletic and a little good at everything. He's being projected to the Bulls at 16 by Espn and Draftexpress. Here's a link to an interview of him: http://www.draftexpress.com/viewarticle.php?a=1364 He could be an option if we trade down. His scouting report sounds good (he sounds like Brewer only without the longterm shooting concerns), and I remember reading somewhere that his wingspan topped 7'. Could be a sleeper.
Bargnani is all but surely going to be drafted by the Raptors now... http://www.nba.com/raptors/ They hired his GM.
For what it's worth (and it's probably a lot), we have known this was going to happen for a looooong time.
Didn't we draft a gentleman named Dan Langhi, who was at the time very similar to Bargnani's height, weight, reputed skill set, etc. etc. Didn't Air Langhi have some terrific highlight reels on his resume? I was delighted when we traded for his rights, but over the next two years I had to tuck my tail for supporting that move. I certainly am not opposed to drafting him or any other player as long as we keep two words in mind -- due diligence.
No, we traded for a 6'9' unathletic player that was basically the equivalent of Steve Novak in college. Bargnani is 3 inches taller, about 12 inches longer wingspan, and has 10 times the athleticism, with the ability to put the ball on the floor and finish at the rim when they come out to guard him. No comparison. The best comparison is really probably Dirk. Although I think Dirk is much more polished obviously with his NBA experience and Dirk has the ability to get off the shot by just jumping over defenders. Bargnani seems to be at his best shooting when he can create space to get off the jump shot. Bargnani also strikes me as being a better interior shot blocker than Dirk. Dirk's defense is not impressive now, even though he's been in the league for several years. I think Bargnani is going to find some success in this league, and I think he could fit in with the Rockets quite well. You could essentially play him as the 2 or 3 offensively while a guy like Swift or Hayes was on the floor with Mike James. Four shooters/scorers and a garbage man. Or in the classic setup, he is your 4, with a Bruce Bowen type defender at the 2. I think he would be a great fit. Bottom line is he is an athletic 7 footer who is one of the top shooters available along with guys like Morrison and Redick. He would have to be considered if he was available. If you go with the theory that Toronto takes Bargnani #1, and Chicago is on TT at #2, Charlotte with Gay at #3, the Portland is left with Morrison, Roy and Aldridge at #4. Portland should take Aldridge, and you've still got the deal for Roy and Morrison with Atlanta at #5. Or if Portland takes Morrison, you've stil got Roy there at #5 to do deal with Atlanta. If Atlanta does indeed want Shelden, then they are either going to take him or they have a trade lined up with someone else that guarantees tham Shelden. If Shelden has a promise in the top 7, it has to be either Atl or Minnesota. Either way, the more you analyze the more it looks we are in prime spot to either have one of the big 6 fall to us or we are the best position to do a deal up to get the guy we want. I really don't think we want Aldridge however. I think we would simply use Aldridge for trade bait if he fell. He is too redundant for us. But if one of Morrison, Gay, Bargnani, or Roy is available at pick #5, and it looks like at least one of them will be, then we are sitting in a pretty good position to really help ourselves. I think that probably 2 of those guys are going to be available at 5.
