This is a bold post. Baqui99 is essentially saying "Not only do I know basketball better than CD, but I can foretell the future. I know with absolute certainty that Ike Diogu, Wayne Simien and Chris Taft will be impact players in the league." Well, I plan to remember this. I'm all for drafting Ike Diogu. I'm not as excited about the other two. However, I'm not convinced that ANY of them are absolutely gauranteed to succeed in the league. What will be really funny is if we take some combo guard like Head or Hodge and they become great players in the league, while the power forwards Baqui99 insists we take end up scrubs. I have to say, that just because of the overwhelming negativity of this post, I'm going to root for that outcome now. But that isn't the only way Baqui99 stands to look foolish for this - what if the Rockets do pick one of those power forwards? Baqui99 has stated that the Rockets will screw this draft up and if you think otherwise you're buying fools gold. Well, if they do exactly what he would like him to do, then who is the fool here? Better still, what if they pick one of those power forwards and the guy doesn't pan out? Really, the chances of Baqui99 looking smart after this are slim and none, but my hat is off to him for putting himself on the line.
Not to call you out Crisco, but you think Les would fired CD just because a couple fans on a website don't like who we picked? But hopefully we can come out tonight with a solid pick that can help us out quickly. I really hope we don't try to trade out of the 1st round, I think we can get solid help w/ the 24th pick.
Baqui -- This draft may or may not be deep. We don't know, and won't know for years. To definitively conclude that it is deep -- and that it is deep enough to improve our power forward position -- is wrong. Free agency and trades are a better way to plug a gaping hole, not a low pick in the draft.
We traded away 3 starters from a 7 seed WC playoff team to get McGrady. You don't fix that in 1 draft. In which case we will get a medical exception to replace Juwan. This would be in addition to our other exceptions. There are 4 unresticted PF's avaialble. There are only 4 teams with cap space. I don't see ATL or CHA going after these PF's. Now your down to NO and maybe CLE. Chances of those 2 gobbling up all of the unrestricted PF's is nill. If you think the Rockets are going to draft a perimeter player and start the season with a PF depth chart of Howard, Padgett and Bowen, we need to make a tip jar bet.
Where can I get some of this action? Padgett has already opted out so he probably won't be back as well. We will get one of Marshall, Swift or SAR.
Who among us would be satisfied if the entire roster fortification came from a #24 draft pick? Tonight is IRRELEVANT -- unless -- there is a trade for players. Trades/lux tax cuts/FAs. What is not accomplished by Thursday night will be accomplished in latter July, or August -- before training camp. Repeat: Tonight is IRRELEVANT
wow. i realize the highest pick is #15, but when the most notable thing any of your 12 draft picks over 6 years goes on to do is get teabagged by vince carter in the olympics, that can't be very good. and to think isiah might even be worse for the team.
CD on FIRE? CD couldn't get on fire if he was doused with napalm! The (sad) fact is the Rockets have their very own version of Wes Unseld and just like the Bullets/Wizards organization, nothing will change here until he's gone from the picture. Meanwhile, we get to watch them try to play catchup with the rest of the Western Conference...again.
As said numerous times, it's the 24th pick! These are the kind of picks where you reach out and hope that your pick returns the salary that they end up earning with a 3 year deal just because they are a first rounder. As for trading down, the only benefits is to get an extra pick or as mentioned above, avoid the 3 year contract. I've read a lot of quality posts, and a lot of... let's not go there. Drafting the best player available can't all be bad. Depth is a luxury, and the draft is just phase one of many things that happens before a season even begins! Padgett already opted out, and if I heard right, Juwon Howard has resumed workouts, or are at least cleared by medical staff to resume. There are free agents out there and there are other solutions. It's a stretch, but just maybe the Rockets might know something that we don't? Maybe Badaine will eventually do something, but that's also a stretch. To draft second rounders and send them overseas does alleviate them from our salary cap, isn't that right? Regardless of the "we must win now" attitude," you can't possibly kill your future by drafting one of these PFs and sign them expecting them to be your next saviour, much less from the end of the first round. 3 years of an undersized, oft-injured PF could hurt the organization. That's 3 years of paying someone a couple million bucks that could've gone to someone that might help Yao and TMac make a run into the playoffs. I know a couple mil doesn't sound like a lot in NBA terms, but it's still a lot of money. It's also ridiculous that you could label Simien, Dioku, etc (excuse the spelling) as "can't miss" players. The draft is "deep" according to every article you read. It could also be a draft with a bunch of busts. You're talking about a draft with 5-10 "potential" PFs. Sure, we need one.. and badly, I might add, but you have to recognize that game 7 last year was not totally lost because of our PF spot, but our slow lateral movement in the backcourt defensively. We could not stop penetration and they were making every damn 3 pointer that I could imagine once they dished out. For those of you that kept looking at San Antonio as the reason that our drafts are failures, must recognize that they took their chances at a few players as well that didn't work out. Ginobili in the second round, parker first round, Udrih last year, etc. Parker was a great pick, Ginobili is nice, but the fact is that Duncan makes them nic"-er." Also, winning a championship would make anyone look like a decent draft pick. Heck, it probably makes Brent Barry's 4 year- $24 million contract looks good. Udrih was horrible during the finals, so it's yet to be determined how that draft went. The different could simply be... SA is allowing their picks to be role players around Duncan while Houston doesn't want to take that chance. Having a Tim Duncan around could make things really easy, just as Jordan made life easier during those championship years. These "role players" couldn't do a thing elsewhere, but when their star players are around, they can get the same shot over and over again. But I ramble.... All I'm trying to say is, a draft pick is what it is, which is a CHANCE to pick up a young player that could help a team. It's basically turnover in a company; no pun intended. Players retire, you replace them with younger players whom you then develope and hope for the best. I honestly can't see 60 players retiring from old age each year, so I definitely can't see 60 players coming in and make an impact. In fact, with so many undrafted free agents and such, I'll be suprised if 20 players in the first 2 rounds makes it anywhere in the NBA successfully to replace 20 quality retired NBA players. 24th pick is definitely on the outside looking in. I do wish the Rockets the best in this draft, and dont' get me wrong, I would love to see us draft a servicable PF because we need it. But there's no way I'll criticize CD for "messing up" a 24th pick because they picked in who they believed in. Scouts do their jobs, CD will get a nice player out of the draft. Placing any blame squarely on him is foolish.
According to CD in his radio interview the other day, Juwan has full medical clearance to play without restriction. FWIW, CD also said it was very difficult for Juwan to miss the playoffs, and he predicted Juwan would "come back with a vengence."
Regarding the draft and our offseason acquisitions, I actually sleep quite comfortably at night. This is because I know that JVG, on the other hand, is not getting much sleep. I have no doubt that he has every possible prospect's stats (down to how many dumps they take per day) already registered into his daily thought processes. Nobody wants to make the Rox a legit trophy contender more than JVG and nobody will evaluate and ponder over our draft selection more than him. He will find the right player(s) this summer to fill our needs and fit in with Tmac/Yao. These are mighty low-stress days to be a Rocket fan, indeed
Get the #1 ball for Yao....very Lucky! All-world looking Eddie Griffin devolves into a head case....very unlucky! Karma goes around, maybe we hit a long shot, maybe we don't. Whoever we get will have already been passed over by 23 teams so CD would have to be a genuis to actually find a superior player the others didn't see. Off seasons and drafts are about hope and dreams. They are supposed to be fun! So have fun or piss off.
CD will not mess up this draft as regardless of what happens, there are always the external factors. (e.g. Eddie Griffin's crazy GF gun saga) I just hope we get someone who blends with the current chemistry, an Horry or Mobley kind of player.
