the difference between the end of the bench/rotation player on an NBA team and being a top euro/interantional player is almost non existent, half the time its just about how 1 person was given a chance and another was not…sometimes based on hype, sometimes based on luck
armoni was minutes away from going to Australia 2 weeks ago, and got a extremely last minute call, and is now on the verge of being a potential millionaire if he can continue his production…if the rocketrts were nt struggling he’d be australia…
happy for armoni… wish rob and corey could have had some similar luck
There is a lot of luck involved in getting your shot, but you also make your own luck to an extent too.
You and I disagree on whether Corey could play in the NBA and I think Armoni is a much better fit for the NBA than both of those guys.
But regardless of that, if you want to play in the league you really need to be over here playing in the G League. Rob went overseas after one G League season. Corey went overseas immediately. Armoni got his shot after his second G League season.
but you cant ignore the crazy luck that went into armoni making it…
im not sure you aware of his situation… he had basically given up on any realistic shot at the NBA and decided it was time to go oversee… he wasnt even on a 2 way… from his dad they had a emotional goodbye party where he was supposed to leave to australia, in the airport he gets a call from the rockets that they want to sign him where he broke down crying…
had the hawks gleague team decided to go in the bubble, armoni is never on the rockets radar… but they werent so he got to play for the rockets gleague team, a team trying to tank and signing numerous members of its gleague team …
he has made the most of his chance, but even that chance to prove himself was out of his control and had heavy luck play into it
I definitely agree that he had a lot of luck go his way to finally get his shot (though he should’ve been two way’ed already so I guess he’d been unlucky in a way too…).
But yeah, I’m mainly saying that sticking around for a second year in the G League and shooting 38% on 10 3PAs a game and showing some serious range was ultimately what made the Rockets decide they needed to make a roster move and sign him before he flew out to New Zealand. Rob and especially Corey didn’t put themselves in a position where a team was going to potentially make a call like that like Armoni did.
But like you, I of course would have loved for those guys to get a real shot at the league (and hope they do at some point though it’s obviously a lot harder once you are overseas).
Armoni fits the bill of what the NBA is looking for in a off the ball guard. He’s 6’3 with a 6’10 wingspan that allows him to get his shot off almost regardless of who’s guarding him. Both Rob and Corey are 6’1” guys with as Kelvin put it, 6’1 wingspans. Neither have the shooting range of Armoni as well
IF the Rockets can get Cunningham or Mobley the rebuild could be shorter than anticipated. Would be cool to see Armoni on the team as an off the bench sniper when they return to relevance.
Do you think they are going to try to rebuild solely through the draft? I think it will be a combo. The Rockets have so many picks and swaps right now. Couple that with cap space and I think they can draft high and also create a nice bundle of picks to trade for a legit veteran talent to go alongside Wall and Wood. Even without Wall, it looks like they have found their future PG in Kevin Porter, Jr.
If Daryl Morey were here, I would expect some big blockbuster trade with these picks and pick swaps. Not sure about Raphel Stone and Patrick Fertitta just yet. I’m also not sold yet on Kevin Porter Jr. as the long term option.
That’s fair. If KPJ can get and keep his emotions under control, his talent is off the charts. It’s definitely too early to call it, but I really like what I’ve seen so far from him.
You would expect Daryl to continue to set us up for failure into the future? He designed one of the worst trades I have ever seen in my life. When he traded CP3 for Westbrook. And we may lose a top 5 pick this year because of it.
I think they were thinking “if we’re going to pay a point guard x amount of money, it might as well be for a younger point guard.” Although it didn’t pan out, I could see their reasoning behind it. But at the end of the day, they tied their hip to James Harden and if he wanted a player in or out, it was ultimately up to him. He and CP3 had issues and so although we fans would have liked him to stay, that trade was already made at the end of that season. Morey at least made some exciting trades and brought in players that kept the Rockets relevant over the years. He was innovative and I liked that about him as a GM.