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How the Rockets draft just hits different for Houston sports fans
Jun 22, 2023, 4:17 pm
The Rockets have the 4th pick in the NBA Draft. Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images.
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When the NFL Draft came around last April, Houston was lit up with Texans talk: who will we take with the No. 2 pick and, surprise surprise, the No. 3 pick?
Texans fans were elated, actually more relieved, when Houston selected quarterback C.J. Stroud from Ohio State and delighted when they landed edge rusher Will Anderson from Alabama.
Interest ran high because football fans in Houston were familiar with the league’s top choices. We had seen No. 1 pick Bryce Young, the one who got away, play nearly every week for two years at Alabama. We watched Stroud’s heroic effort in the college semifinal game against Georgia. We knew all about Anderson’s ability to wreck an offense at Alabama.
The first round of the NFL draft involves superstar college players from major conferences whose games are on TV every Saturday. We know these players and we want them on our team.
The NBA Draft is different. Tonight league commissioner Adam Silver will call out names that fans, while they may recognize them from pre-draft publicity and predictions, may never have seen in action on TV or in person.
With the NFL, fans can make up their own draft boards based on what they’ve seen personally. With the NBA, fans have to rely on NBA scouts, executives, and analysts.
You know these scouts, executives and analysts, they’re the same geniuses who in recent years, after spending millions on research, recommended taking the following “guaranteed superstars” with the No. 1 overall pick: Markelle Fultz, Ben Simmons, Anthony Bennett, Greg Oden, Andrea Barnani, and Kwame Brown. Major flops all.
The Rockets are rumored to be pursuing free agent Fred VanVleet to lend proven veteran leadership to their young squad. VanVleet wasn’t even drafted in 2016. So there.
The bigger problems daunting fans’ interest in the NBA Draft in recent years are the emergence of international players and the developmental G League. Most fans do not watch G League games and can’t watch international leagues.
If the NBA is a star-driven league, it’s a fair argument that international ball has produced as many megastar talents as U.S. colleges. The last five Most Valuable Players were either born outside the U.S. or played on international teams before joining the NBA: Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic (twice) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (twice).
Four of the five 2023 All-NBA First Team members were born outside the U.S.: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic, Joel Embiid and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Now for tonight’s draft:
Victor Wembanyama is the most talked-about, can’t-miss, sure-fire No. 1 pick since Zion Williamson in 2019. Wembanyama, we’re told, will change the way NBA basketball is played. He instantly makes the Spurs must-see TV. He’s 7 ft. 4 and can shoot threes, run the floor and block shots.
That’s a big “we’re told.” Like most NBA followers, I have never seen Wembanyama play a complete game. He played for the Metropolitans 92 team in the LNB Pro A tier of the French basketball league. Big fan?
All most NBA followers have seen of Wembanyama are highlights from France. Yes, he looks dominant and unstoppable. He’s also playing against opponents who would not make an NBA team.
He also looks skinny and young, which he is. Wembanyama is 19 years old. Williamson was only 18 when he was drafted No. 1 overall in 2019. With all the talent in the world, Williamson has been a major disappointment due mainly to injuries and, some accuse a hearty appetite and lack of professionalism. Williamson doesn’t look skinny. He’s missed about 65-percent of Pelicans games since he entered the NBA. With a long-term contract worth about $200 million, Williamson is an overpaid, overweight, part-time member of the Pelicans active roster. When Charles Barkley calls you fat, it’s time to give Jenny Craig a call.
The NBA Draft will start at 7 p.m. on ABC and ESPN with the San Antonio Spurs on the board. At 7 p.m. and one nanosecond. Charlotte comes next and is projected to take either Scoot Henderson of the G League Ignite or Brandon Miller from Alabama. Portland will pick third.
Then it’s Houston’s turn. Most experts have the Rockets selecting Amen Thompson from Overtime Elite. We can only hope that the Rockets war room has done its due diligence on Thompson and he becomes a productive player for Houston. Most fans have never seen Thompson play. Would you recognize Amen Thompson in a supermarket? Did you know what position he played before his name popped up on the Rockets wish list? (He’s a 6 ft. 7 guard reportedly with a high basketball IQ.)
But there is reason to get excited. The last three years have presented Houston a No. 2 (Jalen Green), No. 3 (Jabari Smith Jr.) and No. 4 (tonight), along with No. 17 in 2022 (Tari Eason). The Rockets also have the No. 20 pick tonight.
That’s one way, probably the best way, to build a successful team, to draft wisely. And that’s where hope enters the game.
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The Astros have already been swept in four series this season. They were swept in four series all of last season. As Mexico City says bienvenidos to the Astros this weekend, there are certainly more than a few folks fretting that the Astros are already close to saying adios to playoff hopes. The Astros are not at the point of no return, though one can see it out there on the horizon. It wouldn’t take another month of their garbage level 7-19 performance for the season to be essentially down the drain.
If the Astros were in the American League East, they’d already be ten games out of second place. But they’re not! If in the AL Central they’d be eleven and a half games back of Cleveland. But they’re not! Dozens of teams have rebounded to win divisions from larger deficits much later in the season than the Astros face presently. The Seattle Mariners lead the thus far weak AL West at 13-12. The Astros being six and a half games in arrears of the M’s and six back of the Texas Rangers in late April is far from optimal but nowhere near devastating.
Multiple media outlets have noted how few teams historically have started a season in as stumblebum a fashion as the 2024 Astros and wound up making the playoffs. What every outlet I have seen noting that failed to include: this is just the third season since Major League Baseball added a third Wild Card to each league’s postseason field. So, while 7-19 out of the gate is indisputably awful, it is not the death knell to the extent it has been over generations of MLB.
The issue isn’t where the Astros sit in the standings, it’s that they have played atrocious baseball and aren’t providing reason for optimism that a stark turnaround is imminent. The starting rotation is the best hope. Justin Verlander has made two starts. Framber Valdez rejoins the rotation Sunday. Cristian Javier should be a week or so away. Obviously, Ronel Blanco isn’t going to continue pitching as well as he has through his first four starts. But if he is a good number four starter, that’s fine if the top three coming into the season pitch to reasonably hoped for form.
Hunter Brown simply is not a good big league pitcher. Maybe he someday fulfills his potential, but the data at this point are clear. What can Brown do for you? Not much. Spencer Arrighetti needs better command to be a good big league starter. J.P. France was a revelation over his first 17 starts last season, but since has looked like the guy who posted underwhelming numbers when in the minor leagues. If the Astros wind up with 50-plus starts from Brown/Arrighetti/France their goose will probably be cooked.
The only MLB teams with worse staff earned run averages than the Astros’ horrific 5.07 are the Chicago White Sox (Wait! They have Martin Maldonado!) and Colorado Rockies. At 3-22 the White Sox are on an early pace to post the worst record in the history of Major League Baseball. The Rockies never have a chance to post good pitching stats because of the mile high offensive freak show environment in Denver.
Way to go, Joe
Props to Joe Espada for his conviction in making what he believed to be the right call in pulling Verlander after four and a third innings Thursday at Wrigley Field. Verlander allowed no runs but had reached 95 pitches in just the second outing of the injury-delayed start to his season. Not easy for a rookie manager skippering what has been a Titanic journey thus far to pull a surefire Hall of Famer who was two outs away from qualifying for a win. Many were no doubt poised to destroy Espada had Rafael Montero given up the lead in the fifth. Verlander was angry at being pulled from any chance at his 259th career win. Understood, but the manager’s job is to make the decisions he thinks are in the ballclub’s overall best interest. That Montero and Bryan Abreu combined to blow the lead in the sixth is immaterial.
Then there's the offense…
Six runs total the last four games. Scored more than four runs in just one of the last nine games. Timely hitting largely non-existent.
At last check Alex Bregman still hawks that “Breggy Bomb” salsa. At the plate, he’s been mostly stuck in “Breggy Bum” mode, including zero bombs (home runs). 23 games played without a homer is Bregman’s longest drought since 2017 when he had separate 35 and 27 game stretches between dingers. Bregman has a history of slow first months of the season, but never anything as inept as he’s posted thus far. A litany of lazy fly balls, infield pops, and routine grounders add up to a .216 batting average and feeble .566 OPS. Reference point: Martin Maldonado’s worst OPS season with the Astros was .573. If Bregman was a young guy handed a starting job coming out of spring training, if a viable alternative were available, there’s a chance he’d be a Sugar Land Space Cowboy right now. Bregman’s track record makes it a decent bet that he winds up with decent numbers, but nothing special. Certainly nothing remotely worth the 10 years 300 million dollars or whatever Bregman and agent Scott Boras intend(ed) to seek on the free agent market this coming offseason. Two hits Thursday did get Bregman to the 1000 hit plateau for his career.
Despite arriving south of the border with his batting average at .346, even Jose Altuve has his warts. With runners in scoring position, Altuve has one hit this season. One. In 16 at bats. Small sample size, but it counts. That’s .063. Yordan Alvarez has been no great shakes either, five for 24 (.208) with RISP.
One wonders what would happen if the Astros got a hold of and “lost” Jose Abreu’s passport/visa this weekend in Mexico City and Abreu couldn’t get back into the U.S. after the two-game set with the Rockies.
Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via YouTube: stone cold stros - YouTube with the complete audio available via Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.