- I don’t want to say that it’s likely the team moves up because since Daryl Morey took over, smoke of this amount has always been par for the course. The team is simply doing the diligence due and we’re hearing about it; the number of reports don’t necessarily equate to a greater likelihood of a deal – we know they’re trying as they always do.
- I can’t speak on the prospects because the draft is unequivocally the weakest domain of my basketball knowledge gallery.
- Morey tweeted earlier that the team felt there were atleast twenty potential contributors in this draft, up from normal years. That still doesn’t affect my statement regarding the #23: economics is economics and if someone similar can be had in the second round, that’s a better bet. If the Rockets select someone at #23, they really like him.
- The Spurs are allegedly fielding calls for point guard Tony Parker, begging many painful questions regarding the relationship between public relations and business. Is it better to hold on to mediocrity than to trade a franchise cornerstone? Obviously not but I’d hate to be the man in charge if the decision backfired.
- One of the more interesting rumors involves the Wolves sending both Kevin Love and the #2 pick to the Lakers for power forward Pau Gasol in an effort to team up the Spaniard with countryman Ricky Rubio. First, were this to go down, it’s more proof that there should be some sort of insulation for general managers from the affects of marketing concerns. I don’t think David Kahn is necessarily as dumb as his reputation describes, but he’s surely feeling the heat, needing an immediate boost in attendance. Of greater interest is the potential effects on the Lakers. I don’t think it’s accurate to say Love would completely replace Pau–we forget just how good the latter is because of that horrid playoff performance–but they basically almost replace Pau and add another major piece. That would then allow them to entice Orlando with a package of Odom, Bynum, and the #2 in hopes of creating a Love-Howard frontline with two to three more years of Kobe. That’s just not fair yet part of me wants it to happen just in hopes of validating the statement that life really isn’t fair. You see the Rockets toiling around at .500 maybe without even a single player in the top 35 in the league and the Lakers could be on the verge of bringing together three of the top 25. The more stories such as these which come to fruition, such as last year’s Heat, lends credence to the thesis that in life, you only strike gold luck once and for the Rockets, that lifetime luck was landing a 25 year old McGrady. For whatever reason you want to attribute the team’s failures (Carrol Dawson’s ineptitude as a general manager, injuries), it didn’t work out and now the team is stuck waiting for the next stroke of luck. Who knows when it will come but the best general management cannot overcome that absence.
More Draft Notes
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