Ideal draft

My ideal draft regardless of trades, just in terms of players we bring in. Whether we keep our picks or trade with, say, Orlando, the players that I think would best help our team long term would be:

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**Anthony Black** with out first selection, and then,**Derek Lively II** with our second selection.

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The Rockets most pressing needs just so happens to be the two most important positions on a team, PG and C. And while most people are saying we ought to get Amen Thompson to have “ThE mOsT aThLeTiC bAcKcOuRt EvEr”, the truth is we don’t need that. We need a floor general, a quarterback if you will. From what I’ve seen, after Henderson, Black might be the best “QB” in the draft. He’s a willing passer and distributor and can coordinate the offense better than just about any of the elite prospects. With all the talent we have already, we don’t need another scorer, we need a leader. Keep in mind, Black was doing this in D1 basketball, in the SEC. Thompson did it in OTE, whatever that is. Seems like a super high school league. Black was doing what he did against the likes of Alabama (#1 team in the country), Tennessee (top 15 team), Kentucky (always stacked with talent), and beat #1 seeded Kansas in the tourney. Level of competition matters. Athleticism in and of itself doesn’t mean much if you don’t have the skills and decision-making to exploit it. Black has that. In addition, he’s the best perimeter defender in the draft. If you tell a PG starved team that they have an opportunity to draft the best floor general and perimeter defender in the draft, and he happens to be a larger, sturdier point guard at that, they’d be foolish not to draft him.

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With the second pick, even if it means having to move up, I’d go after Lively. Mobile 7-footers don’t grow on trees. He can definitely be a PnR lob threat with Black and Sengun, and a low-post defensive stud on the other end.

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With those two, the Rockets will finally have all 5 spots filled with people playing their natural positions. Not a lot of ‘tweening’ in your starting 5, which is ideal. I can see Black running the offense and throwing alley-oops to Lively, while Lively protects the rim on defense. I can see Green zipping and zooming across the floor and scoring in a myriad of ways. I can see Jabari becoming perhaps the best 3-D player in the league with rebounding chops. I can see Sengun doing his best Jokic impression. Nobody playing out of place. And all of it coordinated by a competent, high-IQ PG with defensive chops to boot. ANOTHER highly athletic, ball dominant guard is not what we need. Athletic, cost-to-coast, above-the-rim PGs are fun, but they don’t lead to titles. We need skill and solid decision making. Anthony Black is the guy. He’s a winner. I also hope we can finally fill the void left by Capela when we traded him. Lively looks like he can do that.

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EDIT: Coach Spins with The Box and One, who I know a lot of people here respect, just updated his Big Board. Black at #5 and Lively at #14. I know he rates Thompson one spot above Black, but listen to the breakdowns of Black, Thompson, and Lively. He clearly states we don’t know what we’re getting with Thompson because of the competition he’s playing. Also, Thompson is a year older than Black. Black and Lively are the clear cut biggest needs for the Rockets. Draft Black at 4, trade up from 20 to grab Lively. If we do that, we win the draft (outside of Spurs of course).

[https://youtu.be/NMajz3TIO0w](https://youtu.be/NMajz3TIO0w)

by iwasthefastest