A few thoughts about the Rockets’ draft
Sunday, June 29th, 2008
by John
It has been a couple of days since the NBA draft, and I normally would have commented on it by now, but it has been extremely busy with me at work and in my personal life. But now that it’s the weekend, I’ve found a few minutes to write, as well as had some time to digest what the Rockets did on Thursday night, as I’m sure you have.
First, you gotta love what Rockets GM Daryl Morey did in getting 2 pretty good players for the price of one. Trading Nicolas Batum for Donte Greene and Joey Dorsey look like great moves (click here for photos from their press conference on Friday that Raymond has posted in the forum).
But since Greene isn’t that great of a ballhandler and is known to take some ill-advised shots, I’m not all that excited about him being a formidable scorer off the bench this season when Tracy McGrady needs a rest. Although Greene ranked higher than Chris Douglas-Roberts, I was hoping CDR somehow would have become a Rocket because of how tough he made his Memphis team along with Derrick Rose. I never underestimate big-time experience like that and the value of being a winner.
Speaking of Memphis, even though he’s only 6′ 7″, I like the Joey Dorsey pickup as a backup center. I love how he describes himself as a “Ray Lewis with a basketball.” He along with Yao and Dikembe Mutombo should be tough matchups on defense for the Tim Duncans and Amare Stoudemires in the West. It’s also cool to have a bench player on your team who is known to be one of the best in a certain category: like Aaron Brooks with speed, Steve Novak with 3-point shooting, Mutombo with shot-blocking, Carl Landry with dunks and jumping ability, and now Dorsey with defense and intensity.
The big work ahead for the Rockets is getting a backup shooting guard to take over Luther Head‘s spot, who I don’t expect will be with the team this season. The other is getting a legitimate center who can score, because when Yao is taking a rest, the hole in the offense still remains. Something tells me Loren Woods isn’t going to be the answer. But scoring centers are hard to find. It would have been great if the Rockets could have made a trade for one or both of these during the draft, but now look for Morey to work some of his magic the rest of this summer.
It has been a couple of days since the NBA draft, and I normally would have commented on it by now, but it has been extremely busy with me at work and in my personal life. But now that it’s the weekend, I’ve found a few minutes to write, as well as had some time to digest what the Rockets did on Thursday night, as I’m sure you have.
First, you gotta love what Rockets GM Daryl Morey did in getting 2 pretty good players for the price of one. Trading Nicolas Batum for Donte Greene and Joey Dorsey look like great moves (click here for photos from their press conference on Friday that Raymond has posted in the forum).
But since Greene isn’t that great of a ballhandler and is known to take some ill-advised shots, I’m not all that excited about him being a formidable scorer off the bench this season when Tracy McGrady needs a rest. Although Greene ranked higher than Chris Douglas-Roberts, I was hoping CDR somehow would have become a Rocket because of how tough he made his Memphis team along with Derrick Rose. I never underestimate big-time experience like that and the value of being a winner.
Speaking of Memphis, even though he’s only 6′ 7″, I like the Joey Dorsey pickup as a backup center. I love how he describes himself as a “Ray Lewis with a basketball.” He along with Yao and Dikembe Mutombo should be tough matchups on defense for the Tim Duncans and Amare Stoudemires in the West. It’s also cool to have a bench player on your team who is known to be one of the best in a certain category: like Aaron Brooks with speed, Steve Novak with 3-point shooting, Mutombo with shot-blocking, Carl Landry with dunks and jumping ability, and now Dorsey with defense and intensity.
The big work ahead for the Rockets is getting a backup shooting guard to take over Luther Head‘s spot, who I don’t expect will be with the team this season. The other is getting a legitimate center who can score, because when Yao is taking a rest, the hole in the offense still remains. Something tells me Loren Woods isn’t going to be the answer. But scoring centers are hard to find. It would have been great if the Rockets could have made a trade for one or both of these during the draft, but now look for Morey to work some of his magic the rest of this summer.
