Do we have enough ammunition this year to get our small forward of the future and our center of the future? We all know the top small forward prospects for our team and we should be able to get one but how about the center prospects? There is only one in the draft that really interests me and that is Curtis Borchardt. Someone had come up with the idea in another thread of trading our lottery pick to LAC for Lamar Odom and their lottery pick. While I don't think that deal would fly how about our lottery pick plus our number 15 pick plus whatever player needed (to make the deal work financially) for Odom and the number 8 pick. If Dujan Wagner is still on the board when we get our pick then the Clipps would have to think about it wouldn't they? I would hate to loose a chance to draft Mike Dunleavy buy wouldn't Lamar Odom and Curtis Borchardt make our team a lot better than just Dunleavy and whoever we might get at the number 15 spot? We could have: Francis Cat Odom / TMo Griffin / MoT Borchardt That would be a good nucleus I think. So is a trade like that possible or would we be better to just keep our picks and go for the best talent available at that position. I personally think Odom and Borchardt would make for great off-season editions
Tell me, why does Borchardt interest you? Have you seen him play? Is he good? Is he fast? Does he have any post game? Can he block shots? How far from the basket can he shoot? Is he an inside presence? Is he agile? Is he worth a 1-15 pick? I've never seen him.
If I were to dream, Wagner or Jay Williams will have dropped to #5. Then we trade #5 and KT for Odom and #8. Then with #8 we pick Nene Hilario(Hakeem comparison). Then we have Cato/Hilario MoT/Griffin/T-Mo Rice/Odom/T-Mo Mobley/Torres Francis/Moochie That's brilliant. Minutes and starters, I haven't considred. That's just the main players we'd have at all the positions. That's rebuilT. I would hope that Hilario and Griffin use this one year to develop, then giving us one of the best frontcourts in the league the following season. After the upcoming season, our core: Hilario Griffin Odom Mobley Francis Add whatever you want on the bench. Interior defense? Tremendous. Scoring? Tremendous. Passing? Tremendous. Running? Tremendous. Odom doesn't demand shots. Hilario and Griffin will get their shots as confidence in them grows. Common, TELL ME that ain't the best team? We could also make a package deal of #5 and #15 to move up in the draft, possibly one place? Then we'd have Wagner for sure. Please Rockets, pull something brilliant off this offseason.
Borchardt plays very good defense. He rebounds extreamly well and blocks shots very well. He dominated Chris Marcus in the NCAA turney. He has a very soft touch in the post and shoots high percentage shots (kind of like Scott Pollard but a litte better). He is not Shaq or Duncan but he should be a very solid Center. Not a dominant scoring threat but good enough to keep his defender honest and good enough to make him pay when he is not. He avg'd about 11 boards, 3 blocks and 16 points this year and he shot almost .600 from the floor because he shoots such high percentage shots. I seem him as kind of like Brad Daugherty if you remember who he was. Very solid. Much better than Cato.
I've been thinking of this topic a lot as well. My best case scenario would have to be landing #1 overall, drafting Ming (center solved), and then using KT/15 to acquire a SF from the large market out there (move up to ~10 for Woods or Butler if one slips due to addition of TheSkitishVillain and Dunleavy) or trade for Artest, etc. 5/15 for Odom/8? I don't think LAC does that deal. I like Borchardt. However, I think he's a reach at 5/6, and won't last till 15. I'd take him in a heartbeat at 15. Anyone who calls him Collier II probably hasn't seen him play. He doesn't have those slithery KG-like skills, but he's fairly athletic. He is VERY tough inside, and doesn't shy away. Excellent rebounder, shotblocker. Decent shooter. I think he has a good potential of being Raef Lafrentz with toughness inside-which is the only thing in my mind that keeps Lafrentz from being a perennial all-star center. Injuries may be a problem, and his shot may not end up as good as Raef's. He's around an 8-11 pick.
My take on Odom. You have a guy who got busted for pot during the 2000-2001 season. OK...it was a mistake...he'll learn from it, right? Wrong! He gets busted the very next season for the exact same thing. Now, there's two things that can be deduced from this. One, is that Lamar Odom is a very dumb person. Or two, he just doesn't really care. I've heard Odom in interviews. He doesn't really seem like the type of person who is so dumb that he would continue taking drugs without realizing he was going to be caught again at his next drug screen. So, my money is on number 2. He knew he was going to get a drug test again and he knew he was doing drugs and would be caught, but he chose to do the drugs anyway. This is a guy who just cares about himself and doesn't give a crap about winning. I don't want anything to do with him. That's my take.
Any clue as to what Rudy thinks about Brochardt? If we could not work a deal with LAC do you think that we have enough to put with our number 15 pick to move up far enough to grab him? I know Rudy and CD have had problems moving up from the late lottery area to improve drafting position in the past. Not including last year.
