If you could accurately predict every average shooter in college that would become a great shooter in the NBA, you would be the best GM in the NBA. Edit: To add to this. One of the things that makes the spurs special as an organization is that they probably have the best shooting coach in the NBA and can make chicken salad out of chicken parts.
Everyone but the Spurs. Traded a pretty good point guard to get into the lottery and nabbed him. And upside doesn’t have to be just offensively, although he did work on his shot to become and elite shooter as you said. The defensive skills, length/athleticism, were already there, waiting for Pop to bring out its full potential.
Thanks for the take. Kawhi could have been a bust but I liked him coming out of college and would have taken him over Morris. Had Morris turned out to be a better pro than Kawhi, I would tell you...that based on what I saw of Kawhi in the tournament that year, picking him over Morris would have been the right decision for me.
Yeah you but you can't be an elite player without shooting thats why rockets bailed on Kawhi and picked Morris. Look at MKG today he is pretty good at everything but since his shooting is so bad it is so hard for him to become more than a role player. I'm not debating with you whether the Spurs are good or not I'm just saying why the Rockets bailed on Kawhi it is because he projected to be a role player. If you can see that he will be a finals MVP and score higher in the NBA than in college where competition is 100x weaker then you need to quit your job and be an nba scout.
I think with Lin that was a "Les Alexander" signing. Maybe you dont remember but Jeremy Lin was originally a 15th spot prospect on the Rox, according to coaching staff he played great in SL or in practices but the Rox cut him because his salary was unguaranteed over some other dude. Then Lin came to NY and Linsanity happened and according to an some insider here Alexander was totally angry with Morey and let him have it for letting Lin go lol. Then Carl Herrera came up with the Poison Pill contract idea on this board and I guess Morey (or one of his staff) read it and had Morey do it to steal Lin from NY, possibly to appease Alexander and also as a replacement for Lowry (who had beef with McFail). I think Lin not working out is due to three factors: 1. Losing coach's trust in crucial situations (did several boneheaded plays over his tenure) 2. Injuries (Always got injured when starting to play well) 3. Beverly-itis (Thought he was a superstar and hated coming from the bench)
Will Rockets sign Ilyasova? who will be waived? Is he Kevin Love or Ryan Anderson? Ilyasova is a 30-year-old stretch-four who's been something of a mercenary over the past few seasons. He's a 37 percent career 3-point shooter, and is averaging 10.9 points and 5.5 rebounds in 26 minutes per game for the Hawks this season.
How do you know I’m not one already All kidding aside, Morey loved MKG and wanted to get him. If he loved MKG and wanted to draft him even though he couldn’t shoot, why didn’t he take Kawhi. And that’s why I wanted him to dish on why he didn’t take Kawhi over Morris. Your explanation, though well meaning, leaves a lot of unanswered questions for me. I would rather take a role player that can contribute to a championship over an undersized 4 who can’t shoot 3s. But you can’t hit on them all, even DM acknowledged this. Inquiring minds want to know that’s all.
Again Morris had more star potential, how hard is that to process? Can't hit 3s? Morris averaged 35% from 3 in college wtf. With Kawhi, people were saying hus big hands are gonna prevent him from having a shot whereas Morris' build makes him ideal as a power SF in the style of Melo or Lebron. Kawhi was considered to be the better player but Morris had a higher chance of becoming a star. It is that simple. A role player is useless on a team with 0 stars so it doesn't matter how much Kawhi will contribute to a championship team because the Rox are nowhere near competing their best players were Luis Scola and Shane Battier. MKG shot 51% in college that is better than Kawhi. More importantly Morey didnt have a lotto pick that year and MKG was top 5 pick at worst, that is a lot higher than Kawhi who was highest mock at 9 in a draft considered to be weak by analysts. So while Morey might have said he "loved" MKG, we dont know if he will actually spend a lotto pick to get him if he had the 2nd pick in the draft.
