I ask in view of the nailbiting on this board about possibly giving up a first-rounder to get Daniels. We've traded away a lot of picks lately. Do we regret it? What became of those picks? Jefferson of course leaps to mind, and what we traded for turned out to be a douchebag, but in that case was a draftee, not an established player. And then I think of Nachbar and Collier and how using the picks so often ends in disappointment. Basically, is our current policy of trading picks rational, in terms of the probability that the pick turns out to be more valuable than the guy we trade for? And would Daniels be more valuable than what we'd probably get with, say, pick #21?
pavel podkolzine, marcus banks, richard jefferson, jason collins, brandon armstrong, joel pryzbilla, eddie najera, luis flores.
too many high schoolers and euros its all a crap shoot. Let someone else draft em, develop em for 3 years, then we can trade or sign them as free agents (Houston has a lot to offer) Rodrick Rhodes and Jason Collier come to mind don't sweat the Jefferson deal - that was a trade up in the draft, not a trade OUT of the draft/ Plus that is a good arguement for NOT letting the rockets have a draft pick in th first round
This is why I'm against giving away first rounders. I think that for teams that are in the rebuilding stage and mediocre teams (picks 15 - 20) that don't really have an identity, it's really tough to find contributors through the draft. These teams are not looking for role players that fit into a system, they need star players. It's tough to find star players with mid first rounders. Whereas contenders that have superstars and have a system with defined roles, it's much easier to find a contributor through the draft. Just look at what teams like the Spurs, Lakers, and Piston have been able to do with their first rounders. They may not have been able to draft talented players with their low first rounders, but they've been able to find young players that they can mold and fit into their systems.
I'd like to have the chance to find that Sam Cassell, Tony Parker at the end of the first round. Glen Rice + 2 1st round picks + 2 (high) 2nd round picks for.... Antonio Daniels??? (and tax relief) Yuck.
Exactly! AK47, KT, Parker, Posey, Zach Randolph, Turkoglu, Q Richardson, Jamaal Tinsley , Jamaal Magloire are all late first round picks in recent years. If we had kept our pick in last year's draft, we would have been able to draft Nelson.
For every Kenny Thomas and Sam Cassell we have had five Derrick Cheivous' and Mirsad Tucansams. I would love to keep our picks but I guess Les has been burnt too many times lately.
Then why not get better scouts? Why not try to invest a little more effort into the scouting process? Getting burned is his own fault, and he should learn to invest in the future.
JVG and rookies/young players is not a match. However, even the playoffs is not a guarantee with how the West stacks up. Name me one team 100% out of it, even the woeful Clips (even without getting Kobe).
Actually he went one pick before us which would have been excruciating, but i see your point and agree with it. Even if Tmac and Yao make us a top 3 team for the next few years, we will need our 1st round picks to develop and replace existing role players who leave.
CD is dumb, ive said it all along. I was happy about the tmac trade but that basically fell into his lap. Tmac wanted to come here.
CD isn't done, he's doing a good job. This is the same guy that pulled Steve Francis out of the blue when Vancouver was dealing him and every team in the league wanted him. We're not rebuilding anymore so why obsess over draft picks?
Have you noticed that no FA has signed with us so far. We thought Barry/Fisher/Dice/Hudson/or waterboy would line up to play with Yao/T-Mac but it has not happened. Where do we get the role players??
I've been saying this for some time. The Rox need fresh blood in the front office. YM and TM were gifts. Btw, AK47 was picked at 24,
Well Eddie Griffin...Jason Collins, Brandon Armstrong, and Richard Jefferson. We got YAO! Collier horrible..Terence Morris gone..Nachbar still project. Moochie and Mobley turned out all right. Most of our picks are gone!
This came up in another thread...I understand the mechanics of the TE, but I still don't buy the argument that we would be trading Glen Rice + 2 first rounders for Daniels. The Rice deal is done, over, history. It's called a sunk cost. We weren't going to get anyone to take his contract off our hands without sending some additional compensation. In return, we got luxury tax relief, that allowed us to to do more deals.
