Wayne Simien

Here is the link for a few video highlights from the last Kansas game.
Simien has a tip jam and a missed game winning shot.
Highlights

I am not completely familiar with his game, but I like the fact that he is a great rebounder with good fundamentals. I also like that fact that he is an excellent free throw shooter. I think this says alot for what kind of jumper he is capable of developing. He is pretty athletic player which would serve the Rockets well, especailly with the new breed of PF ala Marion and Bosh.

I don't like that he is slightly undersized for his position. However, I don't think that directly relates to how well a player can be defensively. I also don't like his injury prone past--which may help him drop to 24.

With all that said, I would be very happy if he were to drop to us. I think being a senior has been underrated in the past few drafts with all the HS and euros. Check out Boozer and you can see the fundamentals that are properly developed when compared to HS players like Dwight Howard, Al Jeferson who play relying solely on athletic ability.

 

I don't really understand the injury prone statements...his junior year he hurt his shoulder when he went up for a block and hit the underside of the rim. That is a freak accident and could happen to anyone. Also his senior year while going up for a layup, someone hit his thumb and torn some ligaments, also a freak accident, yet he still returned that game to help lead KU to the victory. Overall, I think he would be a great pick up do to his ability to knock down the 18 foot jumper on a consistent basis, plus his 80%+ free throw shooting is rare for a big man.

 

Simien's a good player, but I'm not sure you can really trust NBADraft.net, those guys are a bunch of hacks. Anyone that has CJ Miles getting drafted in the first round needs to go back to the drawing board. Here's are two more draft projections: http://www.hoopshype.com/draft.htm
http://www.draftcity.com/mock.php?y=2005



As a big time follower of college basketball, I'm very excited about this crop of college players this year. Unfortunatley, the ideal player for the Rockets stayed in school--Sheldon Williams. Williams is a solid rebounder and was the best shot blocker in the country this past year.

Like everyone else has said, the Rockets should target a PF and a slashing guard. I think Joey Graham is awesome, but he had a subpar senior season and is a tweener. I'm not sure he has the consistent deep range to play on the wing. He beat college 4's with his quickness and 3's with his size, and he can continue that in the NBA, but there are a lot of 3's his size that will give him problems.

Shawn May, Hakim Warrick, and Wayne Simien are all players that if they drop, the Rockets should grab. I guess you can throw Turiaf in the there, I just didn't watch him enough. I'm also not all that sold on Channing Frye as a go to scorer, but he can do good things.

Then there are a couple of long, do it all wings that we should trade up in the second round to get: Francisco Garcia and Julius Hodge.

 

is it true that Utah is trying to get rid of Carlos Boozer? now if Les is okay with winning........we should try go pry Boozer from the jazz. he's tough and rebounds. does not require the ball to be productive and is young. if utah wants to rid of Boozer, maybe we could give them our expiring contracts. that would give us 3 allstars for years.

 

A young Weatherspoon? I'll take it.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/w/weathcl01.html

 

we don't have a second round pick, unforturnately....but we should trade for one somehow, one of the high ones.....julius hodge is a pretty good player, and has some high aspirations lol he was quoted in SLAM magazine saying "when i become an NBA Hall of Famer.."... i forgot the rest of the quote, but anyways, he would be a great pickup in the second round....if only we had one

 

Didn't EG lead all freshman in blocked shots at Seton Hall?

 

I'd like Simien, Turiaf or Warrick. We need the best athlete available for depth, youth and atheticism. Simien seems the smarter of the bunch, which I like, but he's pretty short for a Western PF.

That was the only reason I thought Thomas would do better in the East. Oh well. Love to have him now, especially when we basically got nothing for him, even though he was a black hole. Although, JVG has had to get rid of all non-believers, and he might not have bought in.

But, we need to trade for someone who can do the job right now. That player, I believe, is Chandler. If we ended up SOMEHOW with Chandler, Duhon and a drafted PF, no matter who that meant we had to trade besides Yao/TMac/Deke, or how many draft picks we had to send, I'd consider this as killer an off-season as last.

I also think some key FAs will want to come to Houston, which could give us depth, such as Ronald Murray and Kwame Brown.

So, I would love for us to end up with:

Yao/Deke
Chandler/Brown/Simien or Turiaf
TMac/Barry/Bowen
Murray/Wesley
Duhon/James

... a bit unrealistic, perhaps, although not as unrealistic as getting Artest, who would be amazing to get, but last off-season makes one dream a little.

 

yao ming is tall. he is a beast on the boards.

rebounding is all about attitude. this kid seems to have it. plus he's 80%+ free throw shooter. that says alot about his touch and midrange game.

juwon's touch, rebounder's mentality, and athletic enough to run. sounds pretty good at 24.

 

Simien appears to have recovered well from his past injuries.He is stronger than Turiaf and rebounds better than him.His mid range shot is solid and even though he is short at 6'7" he is a reliable player with fair athletic ability who doesn't foul out quickly unlike Turiaf.

 

Just stay healthy! And we'll have us a rebounding monster! This guy had a very good vert too!

If not he. Then Channing Frye!

 

Lets just say you do not know what you are talking about. And in the future, desist from using absolutes - it makes one silly. I am sure the concept of depth chart did not even occur to you when you uttered that statement - simply put, finding a particular mold of player depends more on the depth of such talent in the said draft than history.

 

This draft reminds me a lot of the Kwame Brown drarft in 2001 - the guys in the middle and end of the first round might turn out to be better than a lot of the lottery guys simply because of that dreaded "P" word that lottery teams always look for instead of safe picks that'll be solid role players/starters like a Simien if he stays healthy or a Joey Graham/Francisco Garcia.

My reasonable draft list would be:

1)Sean May- Mo Taylor with rebounding, probably won't be at 24

2) Joey Graham - reminds me of Richard Jefferson, probably will shoot up draft boards

3) Mickeal Gilabale - nobody's talked about this guy most people have him in the second round. He's an outstanding defender, good rebounder, and is developing a good jumper. I can see the Spurs taking him in the first round and laughing at the rest of the NBA like they did with Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. He won a slam dunk contest, too. Could be a better-shooting Josh Howard.

4) Wayne Simeon - The difference between 6'8" and 6'9" seems to be a big deal for scouts for some reason, I don't know why. It's only an inch, and to guys like simeon with fairly long arms, it makes absolutely no difference. Look at Elton Brand, Udonis Haslem, and Dennis Rodman. Heck, Chrales Barkeley was 6'5".

5) Turiaf - I like him a lot, but like Simeon, he's gonna have to stay healthy, which I think could be a problem in the NBA. Pro players aren't as nice in the paint as WCC kids are.

6)Francisco Garcia - He'd make a nice spot-up shooter, maybe turn into a guy like brent barry.

 

Actually, I just forgot the word "almost" the second time I brought up the point. Yes, I know you never say never. So how about I say it's simply much more unlikely that you'll find a solid big man in the lower portion of the draft as opposed to a smaller player.

That said, your point about depth hardly pertains to the Rockets. I mean, it's a freaking #24 pick. And you're talking about looking for a premium position. It's one thing if the Rockets were picking near the end of the lottery. But big men with any great potential are usually picked by #10. Even a deep class(and I'm not sold that this is a deep year for interior players) would simply mean solid big men might last until pick #15 or so. Certainly not by #24. Just take a look at all the good PF/C in the league. They're all either lottery picks, or they've taken many years to develop into solid contributers.

 

I agree 1000%, and I made this exact same point much less eloquently in one of the 18 million offseason threads.

I think we're much more likely to get a good swingman late in the draft -- a Gerald Wallace type.

I say pick the best player/athlete available, and my money's on guys like Francisco Garcia/Kennedy Winston being better available athletes than Wayne Semien and even Turiaf.

 

wrath/meh, I don't think you can be so sure a servicable 4 wont be found at #24. Every other year you see a PJ Brown, Elden Campbell, Brad Miller, Cliff Robinson or Dalembert type big emerge after the #24 pick. Further almost every year your get a Kenny Thomas or Fortson--decent servicable four who would help the Rockets a lot out of the pick. I do suspect the rate of success is higher for swingmen, but I would not assume we can't find a 4.

Here are SOLID 1st round PF prospects:

Bogut, Utah 7-0, 245, Sophomore
Chris Taft, Pittsburgh 6-10, 260, Sophomore
Martynas Andriuskevicius, Lithuania: 7-3, 230, 19-years-old
Fran Vasquez, Spain 6-10, 230, 21-years-old
Tiago Splitter, Brazil : 6-11, 245, 20-years-old
Sean May, UNC
Charlie Villanueva, UConn 6-11, 240, Sophomore
Hakim Warrick, Syracuse 6-8, 218, Senior
Wayne Simien, Kansas 6-9, 255, Senior
Ronny Turiaf, Gonzaga 6-10, 250, Senior
Channing Frye
Andray Blatche (hscl)

Here are a couple more possible 1st rounders.
Bradon Bass LSU (might declare)
Ike Diogu, Arizona State

Given there are 12-14 of these guys (I may be missing other international prospects), it is highly unlikely there won't be one or two from the top group plus a guy like Bass or Diogu at #24. A PF would have to be selected more than every other pick for there not to be. Also remember there are quite a few SF/PF types, guys who are 6'7" and meaty, or 6'9"+. Looks like pretty good value in the mid 20s to me, including potential contributing PFs.

Also if the guy we want is there at like 16-17 (Toronto and Indy--who don't need PFs)-- say Sean May or Warrick or Villanueva or Simien, maybe our #24 plus next years #1 would swing that. I would do it if we think this is a guy who could immeditely contribute.

 

I pretty much agree with you, actually. I just think that a more than servicable swingman is available in the late first round every year. To me, those are better odds than a "servicable" big every OTHER year.

The point where I disagree with most is that I'm not too sold on Semien or Turiaf. Or, to a lesser extent, Hakim Warrick. (I think Warrick will be a good player, but I'm not sure he's what we need. Also I think he'll be gone by 24.)

So, for me, if it's between Semien and Garcia, I take Garcia because I personally think Garcia's going to be better. I just don't think there are as many "solid" PF prospects in this draft as everyone else does. I see a few good ones, and then a few projects.

For example, I think Garcia's a more solid prospect than Semien or Turiaf, but that's just my opinion. (And I know it's a minority one ) I think Garcia contributes more immediately than Semien or some of those other guys.