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I don't think you could count on the Rockets making the right pick if they didn't have the first pick in the draft. Not after the trading 3 first rounders for Eddie Griffin debacle the previous year. I didn't think so at the time, but Yao was the right pick.

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That's a good point about Eddie Griffin. It's a shame he didn't really put the hard work into it. And their other pick in the Yao draft was Nachbar, who didn't work out too well either.

However, they were looking for front court needs at the time, which (barring any draft day trades and assuming Yao #1) would have meant choosing from Gooden or Amare. All a moot point now, so no point in debating could've/would've/should've from years ago.

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Look who else they had to choose from:
Amare - a HS kid after the previous draft had such great top 10 HS studs as Desagana Diop, Kwame Brown (first HS player drafted number 1) Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry. Yeah.

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So did Amare redeem the HS prospects and "allow" LeBron to go #1 the following year? Or was LeBron just that special to put HS kids back at the top? Like I said, if only LeBron was a year older, maybe the Rockets would've ended up with him instead of Yao. I suppose that's why they call it a lottery: you lose some more often than you win.

[This message has been edited by Silver Eagle (edited 5/3/2010 9:38a).]

Amare didn't save it. LeBron was that good. And if LeBron had come out his sophomore year of HS, I think he would have been picked over Kwame. He definitely would have been picked over Yao.

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And if LeBron had come out his sophomore year of HS, I think he would have been picked over Kwame

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Good one!

wow soup that draft WAS terrible.

if the rockets dont make that griffin trade, they certainly dont take yao because they have jason? collins.

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if the rockets dont make that griffin trade, they certainly dont take yao because they have jason? collins.

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It was Jason Collins. But who knows. Collins certainly didn't set the world on fire with his 4p/3r rookie campaign.

And he may have been a pick that NJ dictated.

The 2001 Rockets needed pretty much everything. Hakeem was at the end of his career, and they wanted to build around Stevie Franchise. Their whole team was basically Franchise and his gay lover Cuttino Mobley. Throw in that waste of space in Mo Taylor and a few journeymen in Walt Williams, Shanden Anderson and Moochie Norris, and you have the whole team.

Maybe if they weren't drafting for NJ, they would have made some smart picks.
Their three picks COULD HAVE BEEN:
#13: Richard Jefferson was their pick. Pretty good pick. Would have worked well with Franchise. That would be crazy fun run and gun.
#18: Jason Collins was the pick. That COULD have been Zach Randolph. Sure a head case, but no doubt a lot more talented. Franchise+ZBo=Lots of points, lots of problems.
#23: Brandon Armstrong. He pretty mcuh sucked. But he could have been Gerald Wallace (which you wouldn't do b/c you have RJeff already), Samuel Dalembert to go with ZBo at C, Tony Parker, Gilbert Arenas or Jamaal Tinsley at PG, Memo Okur was taken in the second round.

So you could have easily had a team of:
C Hakeem (don't trade him for Bosjan Nachbar)
PF Zach Randolph
SF Richard Jefferson
SG Stevie Franchise
PG Tony Parker

Could you image Hakeem cleaning up the glass and sending the outlet to start the break with that team? Crazy.

I think the 2001 Rockets draft was probably the worst draft ever by any team in the history of basketball. Not sure a team of rookies would make the 2002 playoffs (the Jazz were the 8th seed, and were pretty good at 44-38) which may have meant that the Rockets get ~9 pick, which lands them Amare in the 02 draft to replace a retiring Hakeem.

Now you have a foundation of 25-under players of Amare/Zbo/RJeff/Mobley/Francis/Parker. Tell me that's isn't scary.

If healthy: Yao..easily
In reality (not healthy): Howard..easily

soup in theory i like what you did there. but that team was never gonna win anything with Francis. i loved him at the time, but his hoops IQ was terrible. francis with rjeff woulda been damn fun to watch though.

A team with Francis and ZBo as starters won't win it all.

But think you have that lineup in 2002. Rudy T retires due to bladder cancer and so Houston hires Mike DAntoni to coach the Rockets instead of Jeff Van Gundy. The Rockets probably win 65 games a year, attract free agents that want to run and gun and average about 125 points per game and a second round exit in the playoffs. You aren't winning a championship, but damn would that be a ride.

that woulda been cool no doubt. i lived in phx during some of those good phx runs, (2005 to 2007) and yeah i loved watching those games.

I would take Dampier any day.

I started to think about this more during Game 1 of the ECF because initially I leaned towards Howard all the way. However....

he seems lost on the offensive end and he just seems awkward all together. He picked up a cheap foul running back on defense. He is an offensive liability because he has no post up game and no mid range jumper. He can barely make his free throws and he's letting the C's get under his skin.

Yao may not be the physical force that Howard is, but you can leave Yao out in the fourth quarter knowing the team will be okay. You can't foul Yao either because he's a good free throw shooter. From Day 1 to now, he has gotten tougher and I expect nothing less than that next year.

Switch Yao for Howard and would the Magic really miss Howard (given that we're talking about a healthy Yao)?

wtf is a healthy yao.

how can we even know.

i wish kurt cobain was still alive too.

Right Now, this series is a tipping point for Howard's career IMO. The Celtics are going to play him straight up, 1 on 1, to prevent the other guys from getting open looks and killing them.

If he doesn't have a humongous series I don't want to hear any talk about him as the next elite big man. If you singled Hakeem, Robinson, Kareem, Shaq, etc. in their prime in playoff series they killed you to the tune of 35-40 points.

If he can't start doing that he becomes Alonzo Mourning in my eyes. A really good big man, but not elite.

If Hakeem had been played straight up during his career, he would have dropped in 40 a game without breaking a sweat. Dwight Howard is a very good player, but he is light years behind Dream, Robinson, Shaq, Malone, Jabaar.

[This message has been edited by TREX01 (edited 5/17/2010 9:50p).]

Yao, if healthy.

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But Howard absolutely kills Yao defensively

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What?

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Yao, if healthy.

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kind of like saying "sky, if green"

beav, your analogies were never your strong suit.

The correct answer is that it depends entirely on the team that you surround him with.

If you've got slashers and a stretch-4, you take Howard to control the boards, defend, finish strong off drive-and-dish.

If you've got primarily shooters and a tough, physical defense, you take Yao to alter drives, generate defensive rotation with this post game, and hit shots.

Right now Yao. in 2-3 years Dwight.

Howard sure is making a name for himself during these playoffs. Just terrible.

lol..at all the people saying howard..

All he can do is dunk...can't shoot fts, cant make jumpshots.....

YAO YAO YAO YAOYAO YAOYAO YAOYAO YAOYAO YAOYAO YAOYAO YAOYAO YAOYAO YAOYAO YAOYAO YAOYAO YAOYAO YAOYAO YAOYAO YAOYAO YAOYAO YAOYAO YAOYAO YAOYAO YAOYAO YAOYAO YAO

How far did Yao's team get into the playoffs this season? What about last season?

Howard can't be the man in the playoffs. He is one dimesional offensively. At least Yao's offensive game suites him as he ages. Once Howard loses a step, he will not be good.

this Celts series has been pretty telling. Howard aint doing squat offensively. He's like a better version of Thabeet, but the big problems are still there.

Put a healthy Yao on this Magic team and they're SERIOUS title contenders.

How can you compare both team's current states when one is in the East (far inferior competition) and one has supporting cast members and the other has Chuck Hayes as their backup...

7 points, 7 Rebounds in a must win game

that's what we call shrinking from the stage

just terrible


Howard needs to work his azz off this offseason to become more than a one dimensional offensive player.

I'd take a healthy Yao, but with no guarantees give me Howard.

as long as we're playing the what if game, can we give Houston a healthy Tracy McGrady and Rashard Lewis instead of one of the three draft picks they whiffed on that year?

The 2002 draft was pretty lousy. Part of that was dumb GMs.

Put Carlos Boozer in the top 5 selections. He was drafted in second round that year. There were a couple of other guys in second round that were steals.

I'm throwing out Scola too, because of foreign contract. But he's another one.

I "Laugh Out Loud" at people who think basketball is merely an offensive game.

Howard is a better rebounder, better shot blocker, better all-around defender, and has really improved his post offensive moves. He also participates in fast breaks, which you clearly can't say about Yao. Howard is easily the healthiest C in the league. Yao is clearly the least healthy. I'd like to be a GM in a league with some of you guys who are picking Yao. It'd be like taking candy from a baby.

Yao averaged 19 and 9. At least Yao can hit FTs when needed and does not become a liability. Also, I saw Howard refrain from several fastbreak opportunities last night.

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really improved his post moves.

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By improved post moves do you mean dunking putbacks now? Hes terrible to watch on the offensive end. He gets boards and dunks them. Thats the extent of this offensive game.

He is a beast defensively, but his offensive game is horrible. He scores points because he hits the boards and dunks the ball, which he is good at. Thats it.

By improved, I mean he improved his post moves.

Yao was the right pick at #1 for sure. Houston has made more than enough money off him to make up for early playoff exits. At least from a financial standpoint that is.

How many games does Howard sit with Technicals now?