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Blinebury: Houston, Minnesota Pleased

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by towW, Jun 26, 2009.

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towW Member

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How close to getting Rubio were we?

David Kahn walked into his first draft as general manager of the Timberwolves jingling with every step like a guy who'd just cracked open a piggy bank.

Daryl Morey of the Rockets entered the proceedings with his pockets so empty you could have turned them inside out and probably not even found lint.

Yet by the end of the night, the folks in Minnesota and Houston were all quite happy with what transpired, provided that there is more to come.

In his rookie outing, Kahn brought an embarrassment of riches into a draft that was not purported to be filled with quality goods. The day before he had traded Mike Miller and Randy Foye to Washington and secured the No. 5 overall picks, which gave the Wolves back-to-back selections and four first-round picks overall.

The general belief was that Kahn was trying to combine the No. 5 and 6 selections, perhaps to move up to the No. 2 spot to select Spanish teen idol point guard Ricky Rubio. When nothing materialized on the trade front, the basketball gods smiled down anyway and delivered Rubio to Minnesota with the fifth pick. Then Kahn turned right back around and picked point guard Jonny Flynn of Syracuse with the No. 6 pick.

Things got particularly wacky in Wolves world for a few minutes at the 18th pick when Minnesota grabbed yet a third point guard, Ty Lawson, but it turned out Lawson was being shipped to Denver in exchange for a future first-round pick. The Wolves then finished their first-round bonanza by taking shooting guard Wayne Ellington at No. 28.

Meanwhile Morey was just getting started as the Rockets, who began the evening with zero picks, treated the second round like they were filling up a shopping cart at the Dollar Store, buying three picks. They got No. 32 from Washington and scooped up shooting guard and scorer Jermaine Taylor out of the University of Central Florida. They bought the No. 34 pick from Denver and chose Spanish point guard Sergio Llull. Then they opened up their wallets one more time and kicked in conditional future second round pick get the No. 44 spot and Arizona's Chase Budinger from Detroit.

The Rockets had spent a good part of the night trying to deal their way into the first round, even willing to part with significant parts of their rotation if it meant getting into the upper echelon of the draft.

Think Rubio. According to a source, he is the player the Rockets had been maneuvering to climb up as high as No. 2 to get. They had tried to deal with Memphis, put in calls in Oklahoma City and then bent the ears of the Wolves on draft night. But while the Rockets had irons in the fire, nothing came to fruition.

"I don't want to talk about who we were talking to or talking about," Morey said. "It's hard to know how close because (teams) play it close to the vest. It's in their interest to get you to finalize things you would do and if you're on the chase, which we were, you sort of lose negotiating leverage. So we had what we thought were very significant offers and decided to go and pick the players."

That's not to say the Rockets are done trying. And that's not to say they won't continue burning up the phone lines to Minneapolis.

On the other hand, Kahn, at least for the ESPN cameras, maintained that the Wolves had every intention of keeping their young pair together, even if it means he currently has a roster whose talent lies in a pair of holdover power forwards and two rookie point guards.

"This wasn't to take Ricky and then trade him," Kahn said. "And it wasn't to take Jonny and trade him. Jonny is more of a scoring point guard and Ricky is more of the on-court leader."

Kahn envisions Dennis Johnson and Danny Ainge with the old Celtics or Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars with Bad Boys of Detroit.

Yet when you're sitting there with a franchise that is clearly starting all over again and doesn't even have a head coach yet, it might still be prudent to try to fill up some of the other positions on the roster by listening to what some others might still be willing to offer.

The draft that many had predicted would be a wild feeding frenzy of prime time deals consummated during the flesh market actually turned tame and bordered on outright boredom as blockbusters were absent and movement was almost imperceptible until the second round began.

"The last few years, 1 through 15, there's been a lot of trades," Morey said. "It seems like all those came the day before or two days before. I still think there's going to be some trades involving those picks, but they weren't able to be worked out. Look at the teams and some of them picked multiple, multiple players at the same position. So it's natural to think they're either close to or working out a trade."

It's also natural and wise to assume that Morey, who has never seen a deal that he won't chase, will continue his pursuit. Two summers ago, nobody thought he could convince San Antonio to trade Luis Scola
within their own division. Last summer, he reached out to Sacramento and reeled in Ron Artest.

The draft is over for a rookie GM and a guy who has already carved out a reputation as a cagey veteran in just three years.

David Kahn says he's happy with his abundance of point guards. Daryl Morey says he's content with his trio of second-round picks.

Rubio reportedly told someone on Thursday night that his mother is not a fan of cold weather.

Which brought out a few smiles in Houston, where the temperature has been over 100 all week. It's early in the summer and still plenty of time to heat up more.
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Link

#1 towW, Jun 26, 2009

TheGreat Member

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Can someone answer this for me. Why would we want Rubio if he's going back to Europe for a year? We're in WIN NOW mode and Rubio would not be able to help NOW but ONLY in the future.

#2 TheGreat, Jun 26, 2009
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TheGreat said:

Can someone answer this for me. Why would we want Rubio if he's going back to Europe for a year? We're in WIN NOW mode and Rubio would not be able to help NOW but ONLY in the future.
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Trust me, if he lands in Houston, he'll be here next year. Big market + Nice weather are good enough to please RR.

#3 pandazn, Jun 26, 2009
towW Member

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I understand that we're in a win now mode but Yao's left foot just put that on pause.

#4 towW, Jun 26, 2009
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TheGreat said:

Can someone answer this for me. Why would we want Rubio if he's going back to Europe for a year? We're in WIN NOW mode and Rubio would not be able to help NOW but ONLY in the future.
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He could atleast be a back up. He's already better than lowry

#5 Mac#5, Jun 26, 2009
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TheGreat said:

Can someone answer this for me. Why would we want Rubio if he's going back to Europe for a year? We're in WIN NOW mode and Rubio would not be able to help NOW but ONLY in the future.
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I garuntee you Rubio would play for the Rockets in a heartbeat if traded.

#6 Xsatyr, Jun 26, 2009
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TheGreat said:

Can someone answer this for me. Why would we want Rubio if he's going back to Europe for a year? We're in WIN NOW mode and Rubio would not be able to help NOW but ONLY in the future.
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Because unless you are able to get that one piece that puts you over the top, you keep your options open for perhaps making that window go a bit longer with players who may or may not be here right now.

#7 BucMan55, Jun 26, 2009

Xsatyr Member

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Mac#5 said:

He could atleast be a back up. He's already better than lowry
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That did not answer his question.

#8 Xsatyr, Jun 26, 2009
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I already posted this in the thread about Ricky Rubio. Thought it was interesting to make another thread about it.

#9 BasketballReasons, Jun 26, 2009
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He only said that because he doesn't want to play in Minnesota. He would fit right in in our city. I have been seeing a lot of tape on him and he looks very impressive.

#10 blacktopKING, Jun 26, 2009
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Only problem with getting Rubio is we'd probably have to give up most of our major pieces (T-mac, Brooks, Landry) to get it done, and that leaves us with gaping holes at backup center and shooting guard. I imagine we'd get something else too, but I hope we don't go selling the farm for a point guard. That's fine if we're rebuilding but we're not...we need a squad that can make another run next year.

#11 DieHard Rocket, Jun 26, 2009
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TheGreat said:

Can someone answer this for me. Why would we want Rubio if he's going back to Europe for a year? We're in WIN NOW mode and Rubio would not be able to help NOW but ONLY in the future.
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Maybe he's going back to Europe b/c he really doens't want to play for the Wolves. It just doesn't make sense to enter the draft at a lottery position and then turn around and stay in Europe.

#12 Little Bit, Jun 26, 2009
towW Member

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Link

My links keep getting messed up...

#13 towW, Jun 26, 2009

towW Member

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towW said:

Link

My links keep getting messed up...
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http://www.***************/Story.asp?story_id=13097

#14 towW, Jun 26, 2009
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how about we give up barry, landry, and one of our 2nd round picks liek jermaine taylor for rubio?

#15 tming, Jun 26, 2009
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tming said:

how about we give up barry, landry, and one of our 2nd round picks liek jermaine taylor for rubio?
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I like this trade

#16 Egghead, Jun 26, 2009
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Xsatyr said:

That did not answer his question.
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<br>
Because Houston is better than Minnesota. Basketball related, and otherwise...
<br>
Similar scenario happened with this guy named Steve Francis ten years ago. Just saying...

#17 DudeWah, Jun 26, 2009
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tming said:

how about we give up barry, landry, and one of our 2nd round picks liek jermaine taylor for rubio?
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HAHAHA! Minny would be stupid to do this.

They could get so many better offers.

#18 Aznoob, Jun 26, 2009

bobrek Politics belong in the D & D

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Aznoob said:

HAHAHA! Minny would be stupid to do this.

They could get so many better offers.
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More than likely any trade would involve at least a 3rd team.

#19 bobrek, Jun 26, 2009
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I don't expect there is a trade before the summer league. The twolves need to see how Flynn plays in SL. I hope one of our picks can perform well. They need a good wing player. In that case, we can trade Brooks (or Lowry) + a wing player + a futue 1st round pick for Rubio.

#20 abc2007, Jun 26, 2009

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