Draft Picks

The Rockets selected swing forward Marcus Morris with the 14th pick in the draft and followed it up by trading up to get Donatas Motiejunas, a seven-footer the media calls a "big."

Morris was a great pick at 14 for all the reasons I stated in my last post, which defined the team's greatest need as a small forward. While Marcus played mostly power forward in college, he has the skills to guard either position and can score from inside or out. I recommended Texas's Jordan Hamilton with this pick, but considering he slid to 26th, teams must have learned something about him that I didn't know. Chris Singleton of Florida would have been a good choice as well, but I yield to Daryl Morey and his scouts on this one. Good choice, guys.

It cost the Rockets the 23rd pick and a second rounder to get Motiejunas, but as everyone knows, second rounders are generally pretty useless anyway. He has been compared to Dirk Nowitzki in his style of play, if not the quality of it. It will be interesting to see how McHale works him into the team's chemistry as a high-post center or another PF behind Scola.

These were good choices, considering the Rockets' position and the quality of the players in this draft. The team will be a little better next year.

Who to draft?

Let's go forward assuming Yao will not be back. What do the Rockets need most? A true NBA center, pure and simple. But there aren't any in this draft, certainly none that will be available by the 14th pick anyway. The Rockets have a fine corp of bigs that can serve well as backup centers, so why draft a mediocre project that may never see action? The Rockets need to acquire a center through free agency or a trade. Good luck with that, Daryl.

The next weakest link is small forward (see my review of Chase Budinger). As the last selection in the lottery, the best player available for Houston will be Jordan Hamilton, a scorer from the University of Texas. He can play either wing position, but at 6' 8", he is a natural shooting forward. He can put the ball in the hole, averaging almost 18 ppg last season and hitting .385 from the 3-point line. He can rebound well too, at 7.7 per game. Those numbers are almost double Budinger's stats, though obviously Hamilton's stats were in college. Jordan is a decent defender and ball-handler at best, but the talent is there for him to be a solid NBA player with a little coaching. Originally from southern California, his two year stint in Austin gives him a local flavor.

OK, that's my pick. Jordan Hamilton will make the Rockets a little bit better.