Enzo The Baker said:
Scouts and execs around the league anticipate that SA will make a big offer to Markkanen. I'm pretty lukewarm on him myself and don't really understand the move if the Spurs think there is any potential in Luka.
Spurs have been trying to avoid a rebuild to be competitive but this is really going to hamstring them for the future IMO. To be honest, I'd rather be in the position of a franchise like Houston (assuming they can get Cade or Mobley). Young talent, good young coach and high draft picks for the next couple of years.
As a Rockets fan I'd be tempted to trade our top 3 pick for Coach Pop and the Spurs organizational stability.
The Rockets have to 1) pick the right player and 2) develop them into a star. Currently, we have a head coach and GM combo that has less than a year of experience. Even worse, the new draftee will be walking into a team that has gotten used to losing. The culture of the Rockets will need to be repaired if we hope to turn a young player into a star. None of the players at the top of the draft have the ability to flip the culture of the organization either. They are all freshman with very little leadership experience.
Given that, it is possible Pop might do better with the 10th pick than the Rockets with the first. The last top 15 pick Pop worked with as a rookie was Leonard....(I'm obviously omitting Vassell due to age/timing). Give him 3 more years to work with all these young kids and he might put together another great team....the dude is a basketball wizard.
At this point, all the Rockets have for sure is a last place team with very little talent and experience. It could work out, but I also wouldn't be surprised if the Rockets suck for the next 7 years despite the fact that we have high draft picks. My greatest fear is becoming something similar to the timberwolves where you constantly have top 10 picks, but the organization is so cruddy it doesn't matter. That would never happen to a Pop run organization.
