Bigger Miss - Green over Mobley or Reed over Castle?

Stephon Castle is a better playoff power forward than Evan Mobley.

The pressure game wins in the playoffs.

Make the other team uncomfortable when they have the ball. Be comfortable when you have the ball.

It’s a numbers game of having more fast “pressure the ball” defenders than the other team has guys that can pass, handle, and keep the flow.

Multiple tall guys that play defense to protect, gear up for the contest, but can’t get in close and push a ball handler out of the comfort zone becomes a detriment. Especially if they’re not helping towards your offense being completely comfortable and moving.

That better be your center and only guy like that or you already lost the numbers game to a team like the Thunder.

For regular season wins Evan Mobley, Jabari Smith Jr, and Lauri Markanen are great power forwards.

In the playoffs I think you’re better off with worse ranked players but that adds speed and a 4th guy to your pressure numbers game at power forward: OG, Bridges, Caruso, Andrew Wiggins, Jalen Williams.

 

BOTH. But I give Reed another couple of years because I blame Ime for not knowing how to develop young players and having no offense. Also Castle gets to play with Wemby.

 

my point is he would get paid regardless. Maybe not max money but he would come at a hefty price for just a solid guy. Maybe that’s why the cavs aren’t as good as they can be. Again I don’t blame Stone for not drafting him. In fact none of those guys after Cade is a generational player. I’m not even sure Cade is one. But I did like Scottie Barnes for versatility (can play 4 positions) and a 2 way player with playmaking ability. I would take that over a defensive guy who isn’t great offensively.

 

I don’t blame Stone for any of his draft picks. He missed on Jalen and probably Reed, but many GM’s would have done the same thing. We needed shooting. It was the mantra that entire off-season. He took the best shooter instead of BPA which is often a mistake. Some may have preferred Castle, but few saw him blowing up like he has. I do think he screwed up majorly with the Ime extension (even if you think Ime is good, there was no reason not to make him prove it more before awarding him that much for that many years). He screwed up not getting Reed/FVV insurance in 2024/2025 and FVV/Reed insurance in 2025/2026. Extending Adams, signing Capella for exorbitant (imo) contracts. Panic signing Durant when he missed out on Booker. Getting out of this draft completely was a mistake. Running it back is also a mistake, which I’m pretty confident is exactly what he is going to do.
Pretty hard to defend the DFS contract and restricting your cap under the first apron with the FVV, Adams, Capella, and DFS signings.

 

Evan Mobley is not a franchise player. We’d still be in the same position we are now, still looking for a franchise player.

I remember guys like bill Simmons and rusillo talked about him as the next Duncan or Garnett, but now nobody even talks about him.

Everyone blames Mitchell or 36 year old harden whenever the Cavs lose, but no one ever blames Mobley, because he’s not a star.

 

I'd take Smith and his contract over Mobley. Mobley is not a 50 mil a year player. The Cavs will have to send picks out to shed his contract.

 

Disagree with that sentiment, while normal GMs would have mistakes, I doubt they would have made the SAME mistakes.

Everyone is an individual.

 

Regarding Jalen Green draft, Stone was ****ed either way as both Green and Mobley are role players. These 2 were the consensus 2/3 just like how Cade was consensus 1. Personally I prefer Jalen with his 30M over Mobley with his 55-70M. Stone did the correct thing which was turn Jalen into a star, All NBA KD.

For Castle, remember the 2 major contributors to Castle are playing with Wemby and the Spurs dev team. On the Rockets he wouldnt be this good meanwhile Reed on the Spurs would prob be the real Cocaine Curry. I dont think getting Reed was a mistake as Castle would just be ruined here and be a poor mans Amen. Udoka would prob yell at him for taking 3s just like he did with Sengun.

Players arent set in stone, how they are developed matters as much or even more than their inherent talent. Carmelo Anthony for example was seen as the more skilled player compared to Lebron and Dwade but quickly fell behind the other 2 due to minimal development.

 

Green and Mobley is a wash.Sheppard is a notch behind Castle right now, but that could even out if Sheppard becomes a more consistent shooter.

 

The draft, just like the league, is rigged. These players, just like the president, are selected for their teams way before the draft. They had Reed picked for us weeks ahead and the Rockets staff is not creative enough to change anything. They just went with the flow and now here we are.

 

Your avatar is PERFECT for this post, sir.

 

Mobley would be a very good fit with this team. Amen, Reed, Tari (or another 3%D), Jabari, Mobley. Could play 4 out. Mobley could fit with Amen offensively and Reed defensively. If we could get Mobley in a 3 way trade sending KD and Sengun out and Mobley in without giving up all our draft capital, we would be set up much better for the future than we are right now.

KD and Sengun, 27 Phx frp, to the Bucks
Mobley, Rollins, AJ Green, Schroeder to Rockets
Giannis, 29 Phx pick to Cleveland

Amen, Reed or Rollins, Tari, Jabari, Mobley
FVV, Reed or Rollins, Schroeder, Green, DFS, Adams, Capella

At the deadline try to package FVV, DFS, Adams and frp’s for difference makers or stand-pat until the off-season.

 

I was with you up till that last part ...where you blamed Stone for not drafting Wemby or SGA. It really helps ...a lot... when you have the best player on the court.

You can blame Stone for a lot of things, but being a second fiddle to OKC, and now SA, isn't Stone's fault. Regardless of player development, swap Amen with Wemby ...do you think SA would be tied up 2-2 with OKC right now?

Player development is nice ...but let's be real ...that isn't the story here.

 

The Rockets biggest miss was making Stone the GM. You can’t have a mediocre lead executive guiding a rebuild.

 

Evan Mobley is not good enough to be someone we lose sleep over not selecting.

 

It's way, way too early to call Reed a bust. He could still be a really good NBA player. Green is just not a good NBA player, period. Mobley is no superstar, but he's been head and shoulders better than Green from Day 1. Castle is no superstar either, though.

People picking Castle over Mobley are guilty of some pretry serious recency bias and forgot the last 4 years happened.

 

It's perfectly fair to criticize Stone for picking Reed over Castle. Reed was a bit of a reach given his role in college and his size. Stone would will rightfully get the credit if it all works out but it definitely seems like Castle's shooting concerns were overblown and he checks every other box given his motor, size, athleticism, defense, and demeanor.

Right now Reed Sheppard looks more like he has Payton Pritchard upside, rather than Steph Curry / Steve Nash / Mark Price. You can't justify taking a guy like that top 3.

I think you should always got best player available / upside with draft picks given their volatile nature. Free agency / trades is a better way to fill specific needs knowing how guys perform at the NBA level. I'm pretty good with all of the contracts Stone has given out so that's a plus, but the draft / handling young players has not been great.

 

Castle can create his own shot off the dribble, Mobley can’t.

 

Really? Castle can create his own shot similar to how Trevor Ariza could on the lakers

idk how people watch this and think they are seeing a guard that can iso and get his own shot whenever he wants when the defense is tuned in

there’s a reason the spurs collapse when Wemby sits