I get it, I'm not everyone's cup of tea. I loved Daniels when he was an otion at #17 or slight trade up to pair with Green-Chet or Green-Jabari. Never a consideration at #3 for me. You should post more, your basketball talk was good stuff. And I hope the personal part was therapeutic for you.
Alongside Banchero-Sengun in frontcourt? I would still do it but you'd have to understand that the spacing is less than zero which would cause major problems for Green-KPJ as well.
Size and play style reminds me of Garuba. But Garuba is just so much more talented - more productive and younger.
Beauchamp is decent defender but Liddell better. Liddell also significantly better 3P%. Beauchamp is from Seattle. Liddell is not.
I’m just glad we are prioritizing the draft after so many years of neglecting it. That was my biggest issue with Morey. I think great organizations invest in the draft even when they are contending. GS is a great example. btw: sounds like we have a 1st round pick offer for EG!!!!!!
Last year I think we were all pleased with Stone's aggressiveness in trading to get Sengun. We can complain about taking Jalen Green over Evan Mobley, but I don't think we can complain about Stone's willingness to make a move. We had 4 first rounders last year. I don't see us repeating that this year because that's just way too many young players on the same team. I'm hopeful that we package two of our first round picks for either a higher pick or a talented NBA player. I wonder what we could get back for #3 overall?? Intriguing.
Yeah. I guess you want to try and do something different because there will be outliers. Annnnd you get a little carried away. Jabari is not going 6th
Robert Horry was a college center and played small forward during our first chip. Marjon Beauchamp and Tari Eason are NBA threes... doesn't matter what they played in college. @Astrosfan183 ... I enjoyed reading your update. I like to see people updating their opinions. Reminds me of one of my favorite Muhammad Ali quotes, " A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life."
One last narrowed down ranking #3 1. Chet Holmgren 2. Paolo Banchero 3. Jabari Smith #17 1. Jeremy Sochan 2. Mark Williams 3. Tari Eason 4. Dalen Terry 5. Jalen Williams 6. Marjon Beauchamp #26 1. Dalen Terry 2. Marjon Beauchamp 3. Tyty Washington 4. Jake Laravia 5. Wendell Moore Officially placed Chet barely above Paolo. I just can't get over the potential of Chet, he's the only one of these players that I think could be a game changer. The defense he could bring is just too hard to pass up, specially for a team that needs defense, while he's no slouch on offense either. He's got plenty of offensive skills to be a 2nd or 3rd offensive option and we already have a 1st offensive option. And he can offer rim protection we desperately need, and on top of that I think he could play on the floor with Sengun and even maximize Sengun's potential. I just love everything about it. He's much less of a "win now" player than Paolo, but I almost see that as a positive with a strong 2023 draft class. That being said, I think Paolo would make an absolutely incredible offensive pairing with Jalen Green and I think he can do that right away, which I think would be great for Green's development. The idea of a motion offense based around those two has me salivating. Paolo could easily be one of the best non-PG playmakers to be as tall as he is ever, and that's so exciting. I think if our team had more defensive anchors, I would have Paolo number 1, because I think he's more of a sure bet than Chet, who I think has potentially the lowest floor here. But I worry a lot about him getting eaten alive on defense, I do think he will be good enough there combined with great enough on offense to be a big net positive on the floor, but it's something I see keeping him from ever being an all-timer. I'm still ecstatic with getting Paolo at 3. I'd be less excited about Jabari. I think Jabari is a very good player who will have a long career and could essentially be the most elite 3 and D wing in the league, but I have trouble seeing him being better than the 3rd or 4th best guy on a championship team, yet also being a guy who demands a max contract in 4 years and keeps you from acquiring those first two or three best guys. I'm fully prepared to admit I could end up wrong, but his inability to attack the rim just takes away so much potential gravity from this guy that you are going to need other people on the court taking that gravity for him to truly flourish. I'll say the defense is really exciting but it'd have to be defensive player of the year potential for me to say he's the best of these three and I don't see that in him. I think he'll be great in the NBA and you can insert him into nearly any line-up which is exciting, but in a stronger draft like last years I'd have him down a few spots. I actually have Jaden Ivey over him on my overall big board, but for the Rockets I think I'd take Jabari over Ivey. For pick 17, I'm still enamored with Sochan. I don't at all think he will be there at 17 but I left him on here. Mark Williams is another one I love, I think he'd instantly add the rim protection we'd need while still being playable in the playoffs because he wouldn't be a terrible switch defender. Not a great one, but not as bad as a lot of other centers that'd get played off the court. He'd have great lob potential which Paolo has already realized with him too. I'm not for sure he'd mesh with Sengun, but he's too talented to not worry about that later. And in a rookie season he can come off the bench. Tari Eason is the most realistic dream guy to fall to us and I'd love him, mainly because he's completely switchable 1-5 which is the exact guy I'd love to target, can fit in nearly any line-up. Add that he can get to the rim easily and draw fouls, that makes him valuable. He got his 3 pointer up a lot in the Sophomore year and if he can make that at a similar rate in the NBA then he's super dangerous. His only knock is his basketball IQ, which is at least something that can usually be taught easier than talent and size. I'm still enamored with Dalen Terry as another switchable glue guy who can knock down spot-up 3's if Eason is off the board, he just doesn't have the offensive talent of Eason and I don't think would be quite as switchable. Beauchamp has risen up my rankings for similar reasons, but he gets knocked down here because I think he'd be available at 26. Jalen Williams come in with great size and again switchable defensively, while also being a great passer. I love the idea of filling this team with guys who can all playmake and/or pass and Jalen fits right in. Offensively he has great shooting percentages and I think he can feast off a team where Jalen Green and Paolo Banchero are taking up a lot of the defensive pressure. Pick 26 I like Terry and Beauchamp for reasons listed above. Tyty Washington is a guy that I think will be a solid PG in the NBA and if he happened to fall to 26 I'd love him here to be a back-up PG, and I think he could even win that role from KPJ (I've always thought KPJ might be best leading the second unit). I know we have Nix who the team is high on but its a thing where the talent is too high. Jake Laravia is a super smart player whose a solid shooter and defender and I think could easily fit into this team, hard to go wrong there. Wendell Moore is a bit of a potential pick because he's improved a lot every season, but I would feel a bit more comfy with picking him if say we still had our second rounder at 31, but if everyone else is off the board I still like him more than some other options here. I dropped Ousmane Dieng off my board because honestly the more I read, the more I think he could really be a bust. I'm just not seeing it there. And I dropped Walker Kessler because even though I'd like him in a bit role here, I don't know that our timeline necessitates getting a guy like that, I think I'd rather explore FA for a back-up C unless Mark Williams falls to us. And leave some playing time for Garuba too.
UPDATE My Rockets based top 30 big board divided in tiers 1.Chet 2.Jabari 3.Paolo 4.Ivey 5.Murray 6.Mathurin 7.Sharpe 8.Daniels 9.Griffin 10.Duren 11.Dieng 12.Eason 13.Sochan 14.TyTy 15.Dalen Terry 16.Jalen Williams 17.Davis 18.Mark Williams 19.Jovic 20.Branham 21.MarJon 22.Hardy 23.Agbaji 24.Kendall Brown 25.Braun 26.Liddell 27.Montero 28.Chandler 29.Keels 30.Welker Forgot Davis on my original list. Also did some tweaking after further reflection.
