It's been a while since the Rockets ended the regular season, and the team's players went home and went on vacation, but the team management didn't sit idle. As we all know, the Rockets ended the season with the league's penultimate record, holding not only their own first-round picks in the first round but also the Nets' 17th pick, and the current team management is definitely collecting rookie information to ensure that they have won in the draft.
So how will the Rockets use these two first-round picks? Kelly Iko talks to Rockets management and gets the message: Prioritize talent before worrying about something else. At the same time, Stone also mentioned that the draft night does not rule out the possibility of trading.
This has basically pointed out the direction for the team's next work, first of all, to give priority to talent, then it must be their first round signing, the penultimate record makes the Rockets have a 40.1% chance of winning the top three, which is the result of the Rockets' overall "effort" for a season, how can it be a season of effort to "hand over to people", and the general recognition of the top three in this rookie is Chet > Banchero > Smith, so there is no accident, one of them will become a member of the Rockets.
However, the Nets with the 17th pick can not be said to be good, after all, this year is a small year of the draft, this pick is one lower than the selection of Shen Jing last season, and the probability of finding talented players in this position is not too low. In addition, there are many young players in the Rockets, there are 3 young veterans such as Porter Jr., Martin Jr., and Tate, plus the 4 rookies selected last season, Green, Shen Jing, Garuba, and Christopher, which have to take time to cultivate, and in 2022, their first-round pick will bring back a young player, in the case of limited resources of a team, if the management of the Rockets cashes in on the 17th pick, then he can be said to be a chicken rib-like presence in the Rockets.
That's in line with Stone's "don't rule out the possibility of draft trade" idea, the Rockets are now in a rebuild, the team still has several veterans to deal with, Wall has not played for a season, and will not play next season; Gordon, although loved by Rockets fans, but he has no future in Hugh City, the heart to leave is more and more urgent; Wood everyone has become unaccustomed to him for a season, as next season enters the contract year, the Rockets are unlikely to renew his contract, The best thing to do is to take advantage of the fact that he now has trading value in exchange for something. However, after dealing with these veterans, hugh city's immediate combat power will be greatly reduced, so the best solution for management is to trade with other teams in the league with the 17th pick, preferably in exchange for a wing player.
Then some of these people will have to say goodbye to Hugh City, because in the draft, the Rockets can't deal with so many veterans at once, and the chip that the Rockets want to trade to fight is the 17th sign + Wood, which can still attract many teams. I don't know what kind of players the Rockets think can be exchanged for such chips, welcome to discuss together...