Rockets Pre-Draft Summit

[APerna]

I apologize for the fact that the Rockets are no longer playing, but there is one bright side to the "unofficial" start of the offseason. It's time for the annual Pre-Draft Summit, led by myself (Andrew Perna). The pieces will be turned into articles, and will be part of a three-pronged attack of draft coverage on RealGM.

Thanks in advance for the answers, and please remember to try keeping the answers as tight and concise as possible.


1. What could the team have done different to advance further in the postseason?

2. Where were the team’s biggest strengths?

3. Who had a surprisingly effective season?

4. Who had a surprisingly ineffective season?

5. How confident are you in the front office heading into the offseason?

6. What are the team’s biggest needs in the draft?

7. If the Rockets are able to deal for a draft pick, who would you like them to target?


Thanks for taking the time, and contributing answers. We appreciate that you all help make RealGM what it is today!

[moofs]

1. What could the team have done different to advance further in the postseason?
Invented a magic health elixir. Had we been healthy, the answer would have been to tie Joey Crawford, Bennett Salvatore, and Violet Palmer up in a basement until July 1. (needless to say, I'm STUNNED that the Cavs are down 1-3)

2. Where were the team’s biggest strengths?
PF / Post play, Hustle, Team defense, Second unit

3. Who had a surprisingly effective season?
Von Wafer, Kyle Lowry

4. Who had a surprisingly ineffective season?
Landry (who was still good), Artest's 1v1 defense (offense was expected to be terrible), Barry

5. How confident are you in the front office heading into the offseason?
99.999999% (no, YOU eat it, College Boy!)

6. What are the team’s biggest needs in the draft?
SG/SF (go figure), backup C

7. If the Rockets are able to deal for a draft pick, who would you like them to target?
[pass]

[College Boy]

1. What could the team have done different to advance further in the postseason?
Restore its faith in God so He would stop hating us.

2. Where were the team’s biggest strengths?
Team Defense.... Overall hustle and effort

3. Who had a surprisingly effective season?
Von Wafer, Kyle Lowry, Aaron Brooks

4. Who had a surprisingly ineffective season?
I would say T-Mac, but who didn't see that coming? Brent Barry really didn't see the court nearly as much I thought he would.

5. How confident are you in the front office heading into the offseason?
99.99% (Eat that moofs)

6. What are the team’s biggest needs in the draft?
I would love for us to draft a wing player, because thats always more exciting. However, we really need size and athleticism on our front line.

7. If the Rockets are able to deal for a draft pick, who would you like them to target?
Demar Derozan

[TMU]

1. What could the team have done different to advance further in the postseason?
- Nothing I can think of. May be a cure for Tracy McGrady's mental state.

2. Where were the team’s biggest strengths?
- PF rotation, the Suck(Chuck)Cook Scolandry project was a major success. Well, except for Brian Cook.

3. Who had a surprisingly effective season?
- Kyle Lowry. Finally, Villanowhere has produced a star.

4. Who had a surprisingly ineffective season?
- T-Mac. Duh. Another player I want to mention is Joey Dorsey. He played 6 minutes in the entire season, but he's so inept. I was shocked when I heard he couldn't even hit a hook shot. We were fooled by his performances at Memphis.

5. How confident are you in the front office heading into the offseason?
- 100% confident. In Morey I Trust!!!

6. What are the team’s biggest needs in the draft?
- Backup C, backup swingman.

7. If the Rockets are able to deal for a draft pick, who would you like them to target?
- I think the upcoming draft will be a very weak one. However, if I were to select one player within a reasonable range, it would be Danny Green - he's a project but is very effective without the ball.

[Guy986]

1. What could the team have done different to advance further in the postseason?
Truth be told, even with a 100% healthy team(including Tmac) i'm not confident that we can get pass the Lakers in the postseason. This team's biggest strength is their hustle and team defense. With Tmac and Yao, we gain offense and star power but their inefficiency especially on the defensive end is hard to overcome. In short, we need better star players.

2. Where were the team’s biggest strengths?
Hustle and team defense.

3. Who had a surprisingly effective season?
Von Wafer and Lowry for sure. Wafer wasn't even supposed to make the team. I knew Kyle Lowry would be a good player but i didn't think he would be a good fit.

4. Who had a surprisingly ineffective season?
Tmac due to his injury. Dorsey due to his suckiness.

5. How confident are you in the front office heading into the offseason?
Very confident in that the team would make the right move.

6. What are the team’s biggest needs in the draft?
Backup 4/5 that is taller than 6'9.

7. If the Rockets are able to deal for a draft pick, who would you like them to target?
Best player available.

[RoxFan08]

1. What could the team have done different to advance further in the postseason?

-Boils down to health. We proved, even undermanned, we can play with anyone in this league, but we just didn't have the talent on the court to finish off a far more vastly talented Lakers squad. Throw in a healthy Tmac and I think we win in 6, at most.

2. Where were the team’s biggest strengths?

-Others have said our PF, and I think that's a strength, but clearly the #1 is team defense. We don't get a lot of steals and blocks, but we play better team defense than anybody in the league, and the playoffs serve as testament to that.

3. Who had a surprisingly effective season?

-Has to go to Von Wafer. I knew Lowry was going to play well (he always killed us when playing for Memphis). But I voted for Strawberry to make the team out of camp, and Von delightfully surprised me with his solid, solid play once injuries kicked in. Too bad we likely don't have the money/PT he wants to keep him around.

4. Who had a surprisingly ineffective season?

-Tracy McGrady, but not wholly unexpected. Carl Landry didn't feel as amazing as last season, but a lot of that was definitely the decline in ability of interior passing associated with Tracy's loss. Brent Barry was mostly terrible when on the court.

5. How confident are you in the front office heading into the offseason?

-100%, no questions asked.

6. What are the team’s biggest needs in the draft?

-Backup C, SG/SF backup, YOUTH above all else. The youngest regular on our team is Kyle Lowry, who will be 24 before next season (the same as Lebron!)

7. If the Rockets are able to deal for a draft pick, who would you like them to target?

-Because we don't have a draft pick, I haven't been paying much attention. Honestly couldn't give you a good assessment one way or another.

[tisbee]

1)Health
2)Team chemistry,Yao,team defense,second unit's energy
3)Wafer,Lowry,Brooks,Scola's jumper
4)McGrady never getting untracked,Dorsey and Landry not playing as well as he did his rookie season
5)Very
6)Athletic HEIGHT. Back-up C,a playmaking SG/SF who can both score and set up others,a TALL PF who can rebound,help defend and shoot from around the FT line.
7)While I personally would love for Rockets to move down and draft Rubio,I would be ecstatic if they could move down and draft Jordan Hill. While he prob will need a yr or two of seasoning,he has the tools to be an excellent complement to Yao and Scola.
More realistically,I'd like to see a late First and either Mullens if he fell or reach on Norel.(There isn't alot of height in this draft,so I expect the few tall C/PFs to go earlier than expected.)
A very,very late First,early Second on Jermaine Taylor. A possible Wafer replacement w/out the 3pt range-yet.

[TMACFORMVP]

1. What could the team have done different to advance further in the postseason?

- Stay healthy, we went as far as we could with all the injuries to the roster.

2. Where were the team’s biggest strengths?

- Defense and our PF rotation, it was really our only consistent the second half of the season.

3. Who had a surprisingly effective season?

- Wafer, he wasn't even supposed to be on the roster, let alone a rotation player.

4. Who had a surprisingly ineffective season?

- McGrady, more the way he handled everything than his actual piss poor play.

5. How confident are you in the front office heading into the offseason?

- Fairly confident, Morey has done a solid job as the GM, and I'd expect him to make the right moves in the off-season, though I'm not sure how much he can do with the MLE, and whether we can resign our FA's.

6. What are the team’s biggest needs in the draft?

- A backup C, more athleticism is always welcome, look at how much Wafer contributed.

7. If the Rockets are able to deal for a draft pick, who would you like them to target?

- Don't have a draft pick but assuming Morey buys his way in it, I'd love to target LeBron, Kobe or Wade. They'd be awesome. Realistically though, any serviceable player really.

[Baller 24]

1. What could the team have done different to advance further in the postseason?
Limit the injuries, our biggest enemy isn't the Lakers, it's the fact that this team for the past 4 years now has been riddled with injuries to it's key players.

2. Where were the team’s biggest strengths?
Defense, Rick Adelmen's offense, and our mental toughness. Keeping the same core and limiting injuries is a must for this team to succeed and build upon.

3. Who had a surprisingly effective season?
Luis Scola did wonderful, Von Wafer surprised us all, and Ron Artest's shooting ability (40% from behind the arc!) was pretty surprising too.

4. Who had a surprisingly ineffective season?
Tracy McGrady, he was hurt with injuries the entire year, it's been kind of like a soap-opera with him, but hopefully he returns next season with vengeance.

5. How confident are you in the front office heading into the offseason?
Very confident, in my opinion Daryl Morey (Rockets GM) is as good as they come, probably a top 5 GM easily.

6. What are the team’s biggest needs in the draft?
Back-up center that's capable of playing physical and bringing in high energy, a 6'10+ good defender with shot-blocking abilities would be nice.

7. If the Rockets are able to deal for a draft pick, who would you like them to target?
Personally, I think this draft is VERY weak, the most NBA ready player in this league his Black Griffin, and there's not chance we get him without giving up Yao.