PRINT THIS PAGE | E-MAIL THIS PAGE

Wednesday, June 25, 1997

With late first-round pick, Rockets don't expect big-name draft choice

HOUSTON (AP) - Don't look for the Houston Rockets to get a shot at any immediate impact player in Wednesday's NBA draft, although their recent history shows coach Rudy Tomjanovich's staff can uncover nuggets of talent out there.

Thanks to their success, the team, which this past season made the NBA's version of the Final Four and then lost to Utah in the Western Conference finals, won't get to select until the 24th pick.

Then, they follow with the 29th overall selection - the first pick in the second round - which they obtained from Vancouver.

By then, however, any marquee names should be long gone.

"When you're at 24, you're not at that sort of position where you can say, 'OK, we're in the lottery. We've got these options,' " says Tomjanovich. "There are some guys in the lottery who can't even say that this year."

The Rockets though do have some alternatives.

"There's a whole bunch of options open," Tomjanovich says. "We could combine the picks and try to move up or trade the first-round pick, because the second-round choice we have is as good as you can get in that round. Also we'll look at Europe."

Of course, a number of other NBA teams have the same thoughts.

"There's not a lot going on around the league except for teams wanting to get rid of their late picks in the first round," he says.

Houston has picked at No. 24 before, taking Sam Cassell a few years ago. Cassell gave them a couple of good years before he was packaged as part of the deal that brought Charles Barkley to Houston last summer.

Last year, with no selection in the first round, they took forward Othella Harrington and guard Randy Livingston both in the second round. Both made the team although Livingston's year was wrecked by a knee injury.

In the days leading up to this week's draft, Houston has been auditioning a number of players, including Keith Booth of Maryland, Anthony Parker from Bradley, Paul Grant from Wisconsin and Pat Burke from Auburn.

On Monday they took a look at Jerald Honeycutt of Tulane and Johnny Taylor of Tennessee-Chattanooga, along with James Collins of Florida State and Rodrick Rhodes of Southern California.

Tomjanovich and his staff, however, don't put much stock in the pre-draft workouts and rely more on word-of-mouth from their contacts at the colleges and the unblinking eye of videotape.

"If you went on those workouts alone, you'd be making a mistake," Tomjanovich said. Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
Send the URL (Address) of This Story to A Friend: