I would have contacted the Knicks about swapping picks since we know nobody was gonna take Wlson Chandler in the first round. I'd throw in Luther Head to give them the shooter if they balked. Morris would have been the obvious choice here. With him gone I would have tried to trade down to the second round for Strawberry and/or Dowdell/Davis. Although I'm not totally down on Brooks. He's gonna make defense pay when they double Tmac and Yao. Something we sorely missed last year, a PG with a good 3point %.
Aaron Brooks will become the steal of this draft in a couple of years just like tony parker and he was taken 28.
Tony Parker is much taller than Brooks..... I hope you are right, but unless Brooks is Calvin Murphy he may be in the NBDL for the next couple of years. DD
I feel the same way. I didnt think McRoberts or Splitter would be available at 26, but they were. They had a chance to grab both of these players, which would have been great. Two good rotation players. One good on defense, the other on offense. One of them was bound to work out. i really dont think Brooks was the best player available.
I would've taken Splitter. I've never seen him play, but he's received such high accolades and the only drawback is that he has a buyout issue with Tau. We could've had Brooks with the 31st. Landry would be the odd man out. Maybe we could've bought Phoenix's pick and had all three. But Splitter is a lottery talent that we passed on.
Splitter would have been the easy clear cut choice if he didn't have that buyout situation, but then he wouldn't have droped to us. The problem with drafting him would be having to have to wait a year for him to come over. In the end, Morey thought having Brooks and Landry in their sophomore seasons next year would be better then Splitter as a rookie next year. Also morey said that one of the teams after them would have picked up Brooks so he wouldnt have been available at 31.
It's not like Brooks is going to contribute this year either. He's going to ride the pine just like VSpan and Novak did this year. If Splitter came here in 2008, he'd contribute more than Brooks would. Regardless, neither player will really play for us this year and we'd still need a PF. But we'd be better off in 2008.
If you're trying to say that McRoberts is a good offensive player then I hope you're joking. Not only is Landry stronger, but he tested better athletically than McRoberts in every way. He also averaged more points and the same amount of rebounds as McRoberts. He had 16, 24, and 25 point games against Oden and Ohio State. As well as 18 points and 10 rebs against Horford and Noah. The only thing McRoberts can do is pass.
Splitter. I still havn't figured out why Morey and Adelman passed on him (or why he slipped so much) anyways, despite his buyout issues. Thought he could've been the perfect PF compliment to Yao for the next decade.
At first, I effing hated the pick. WTF, lol, rofl and such. I mean, McRoberts is there for the taking, twice, and nothing. But now, I love it. I see him being a presence in Houston. Someone made the comparison to Sam Cassel, personally, if we could go back and undo the Barkley trade I would, I definitely would.
Splitter. But i didnt know who Brooks was at the time. Im happy with Brooks from what I have seen. We need someone that can penetrate. I have no faith in James.
If we drafted Splitter, then we would have had to wait an extra year to bring him over. The nba buyout clause of his contract stipulates that he needs to pay them 3 million of mostly with his own money, since an NBA can only pay a maximum of 500000 towards a draft picks buyout. I think everyone recognizes Splitter would have been the most obvious choice. As everyone knows, most rookies dont contribute in their first years of play, thats another negative aspect of drafting splitter. Morey probably decided the rockets couldnt afford to wait what would essentially 2 years for him to be effective. So it was pretty choosing between having landry and brooks being in their 2nd years vs splitter as a rookie next year.
