What will Daryl Morey's Lottery Draft Strategy be?

If that's true, then manu ginobili is your friend.

Personally I think we need a backup center who can be a starting center on a different team.

 

If they can stay healthy, absolutely draft Oden types...

Oden healthy is exactly what we could use...

 

I don't know why anyone is debating need vs. best player available anyway or even discussing guards and small forwards. Morey already said they are focusing on a big man in this PF/C stacked draft. So there you go. That's his strategy. Get the best PF/C he can get.

 

If they can stay healthy, they are not Oden types(injuy-prone big).

 

Oden looks strong, but snaps like a twig. 280 lbs

Whiteside looks weak. 235 lbs

He might look weak, because of his weight. It's good though. The skinny bigs don't have as much knee and foot problems. He will be fine if he gets up to 250-255 lbs, he should be fine. Hakeem, David Robinson, and many great centers only carried 250-260 lbs and stayed healthy.

 

White is 235 lbs and has skill. Weight is one of the easiest things for our trainers to fix. An extra 15 pounds wouldn't even be a challenge for them. They can do it in 6 months(2lbs a month).

Udoh's perimeter shot is awful. He has bricked 19 or 20 shots out of 27 shots, this season. He does have some skill down low though.

 

Have you seen both players play in a game?

 

You obviously have not watched Udoh play and how is Whiteside's perimeter shot?

 

As bad as Udoh's perimeter shot.

 

Im pretty sure teams will be drafting either player based on their perimeter shot. LOL. I can't say much about Whiteside since I haven't seen the kid play, they don't show alot of Marshall vs. Appalachian State or Lamar or Tulane games on ESPN.

 

Its obvious.

 

Udoh will probably be able to make a rotation faster, whereas Whiteside probably has the dreaded "Potential" tag -- I'm good with either.

Morey, via twitter, is overseas right now. It looks like he's scouting Jan Vesely tonight in Belgrade.

 

Yes I have and Udoh has a pretty nice versatile game for someone 6'10, but his age I feel will become a factor in the draft....(3-4 yrs older than Draft Classmates).....which indicates he has limited upside aka Role player upside(which isn't a bad thing, but not what the Rockets should be looking for in the draft IMO)...which leads me to think he will drop...

Now don't get me wrong I like Udoh, but I don't see him as a top 10 lottery pick, so more likely than not he'll be available at our probable position, However, probably so will Whiteside 7'0, Vesely 6'11 & Motiejunas 7'0....all which have much better "upside" than Udoh.... IMO, peace

--RB

 

Some of the Bigs are going to get hurt in this draft with the abundance of post players. Personally I do see Udoh vaulting up the boards, but I have been wrong before. He looks like a winner and he's played against proven competition. Im probably bias in that I want the rockets to draft a true shot blocker, but knowing Morey he will take the best player available of which is the proven stategy. Getting a big threw free agency or threw a trade just seems way to costly. I could envision a bench lineup of Udoh at center, Hill at PF, Ariza at SF and Budinger at SG and Lowry at the point.

 

The age argument is crap. Aaron Brooks & Carl Landry would certainly disagree with you about it. Kobe Bryant, at over 30 years of age, has vastly improved his post up game this year after a summer working out with Hakeem.

Age has nothing to do with establishing a ceiling on how much you can improve -- it's all up the individuals themselves to put in the work.

 

Actually they make my point, neither of those two are All-star players(and probably never will be, and its not their fault there's just more physically talented players out there at their position) but each in their own right is one hell of a role player!!!... :grin:

Which is what I'm talking about, Udoh is probably going to have an impact right away and become(like you said) a rotation player of the bat, but he'll never be an All-Star IMO...(which is why I would take Whiteside over udoh, because he has the tools to become an All-Star)

Its kind of like right after the 2004-05 season when people were saying that Orlando should have taken Okafor with the first pick because he had bigger Impact right of the bat in his rookie season than D.Howard....but in the longterm Howard turned out to be the better player....

I think the same thing could be applied in a Udoh vs. Whiteside comparison IMO...

PS. about the age thing, I guess, but besides Roy(Port.) & Lee(NY) I've never really seen a player who's come out of college at a later age and become an All-Star level player in the NBA in the past two decades(90's-00's)...and the few that have are exceptional cases...

--RB

 

We drafted Brooks and Landry in the late first round and early second. In the lottery, you draft at a totally different mentality. Every lottery team (even those in the late lottery) are trying to snag a potential all-star or franchise player.

Look at Anthony Randolph, he was selected with 14th and was then just thought of as a nothing more than raw talent. If it wasn't for Don Nelson, just about every NBA fan would be gushing about this kid.

 

+100,000,000

 

You are only looking at only at the reward side of risk versus reward. Whiteside could become a star in the NBA. Whiteside could become a bust in the NBA. Udoh will most likely be the better player.

 

Quoted for truth: "Look at Anthony Randolph, he was selected with 14th and was then just thought of as a nothing more than raw talent. If it wasn't for Don Nelson, just about every NBA fan would be gushing about this kid."