With the 10th pick in the NBA Draft the Houston Rockets Select...

Personally I like Nique Clifford's game. I watched a fair amount of full Colorado St games towards the end of the college season, and think his peripheral qualities (rebounding, passing, competitive mentality and confidence) make him an interesting bet to be more than a pure role player at the next level.

I would definitely not be mad at a trade down for a real future FRP asset + Clifford at later pick. Getting him at a favorable rookie contract would be a plus too.

However, IMO there are real questions with the jumper and the draft age. His percentages were good the last two years on legit volume, but I'm not sure I really believe that he'll shoot at the next level - his misses tended to be pretty bad and his form is wristy and somewhat inconsistent. It reminded me of Jalen a little bit - it seems like he's always trying to find his form and get hot, and it looks very good sometimes and very bad other times.

As an old rookie I'd be a little worried that if he isn't in a shooting groove year 1, it'd be like we burnt the asset, because nobody is interested in waiting on 24 or 25 year olds.

 

Agree completely--there's enough there to believe that he has a good chance of being an average-or-better shooter in the NBA, but there's a real possibility he won't. Always kind of hard to tell with these types of dudes. FVV is a guy who actually has similar issues with his jump shot and has largely been able to make it work while still being streaky overall.

Nice thing about Clifford is that if he's even an okay shooter, his entire offensive package really plays up. He can score from basically any distance and in a variety of ways around the rim.

 

Nique is 6'6 and plays like a pf/sf old school back to the basket with spin banchero shots. I'll take him with the 40th pick

 

He made the finals his second season, you dolt.

 

No, that was his first season, he inherited a stacked team in a weak east. Boston wanted to win so they moved on from him and the team got better as a result.

Having a competent coach in charge meant moving away from Marcus Smart who is an Ime type player and moving to better players.

 

Ime is a better coach than Mazzulla. I guarantee they would have won at least one under Ime.

 

If they stuck with Ime, they'd have stuck with Smart and never won. The guy is an idiot when it comes to player management and rotations

 

Agree if Egor is gone by 10th pick. Trade for a 2026 first as we don’t have one next year.

 

This is a deep draft. I would look into trading back and grabbing 2 second round picks or buying them.

I seen Fleming,Clayton, and Coward fall in the mid twenties.

 

I have to admit that I’ve bought into the Coward hype and I’m a sucker for wingspan so the measurables are exciting, and he can shoot and defend. But can he dribble? If he can’t dribble he’s not a lotto guy. The teams that work him out are gonna get an answer on the handles. I hope we can get him in our gym.

If Fleming can play the 5 that changes things for me. I see him as similar to Bari with even worse handles. If he can defend centers I’m all over it.

I like Clayton in the late 1st. Great shooter and leader but clearly undersized. I like him over Jase Richardson, but in the mid-20’s.

 

Not being a good dribbler should not exclude someone from being the 10th pick in the lottery. Virtually every player picked 10th has warts. I don’t know sh*t about this guy, but not being able to dribble definitely doesn’t exclude him from being a top 10 pick. Jesus, Amen doesn’t dribble great yet, but I would pick him no. 1 in this draft.

 

I think dribbling is super important if you are a guard. Not as important for someone like Fleming. But I don’t like guards that don’t have good handles. I see Amen as non-positional and you can see that the handles will get there; just a bit loose. I wouldnt compare many plsyers to Amen given his unique skill set and work ethic.

 

Kinda feeling like a move up target to #3, #4 or #6 would get us a player that would fit better than anything we're gonna get at #10. I dont love any of CMB, Coward, Bryant or Fleming at 10. Wouldn't mind Jakucionis but I dont think he'll be there at 10. Thinking the order will go:

1. Flagg
2. Harper
3. Bailey
4. Edgecomb
5. Fears
6. Johnson
7. Knueppel
8. Jakucionis
9. Egor/Maluach

Leaving all of the Tari Eason-y wings on the board still. Though at 10 they are all going to fly until 18. I think by then all of them will be gone.

 

Disagree.

 

Not seen him, but Danny Wolf sounds intriguing as a stretch 5. Maybe a slight move back option.

 

If you get 2 taris on this draft you've won the draft. Terror quintuplets twins.

 

I know im in the minority but if the board fell like that id be fine with Egor or Maluach. I'd also be fine with someone like carter bryant, flemning or coward. If we keep the pick though my number one choice is trade up.

 

Same. There's a ton of teams ahead of us that need talent + experience not just talent. Rockets have that but we need to start fitting around our best talents instead of getting more defensively oriented offensively challenged projects that will litter the 10-15 range.

Sixers, Hornets and Jazz are three teams I could see willing to take one of our castoffs so we can move up.

 

Raher is long and weighs 240. Myles Turner comp but faster. He can hang at the 5.

Clayton plays way bigger than his height. Fast, shooter, IQ, dog, a good track record, he's better than Jalen right now

 

If we're serious about a run next year, which we should be, Udoka won't be playing a rookie. If I'm Stone I'm trading it into the future, similar to what OKC did with the Sengun pick.