Rockets Report: Rockets Draft Ondrej Balvin

Well all I know is we were extremely pleased that Ondrej fell into our laps at #26, for a moment there we were kinda worried when the Wolves were back on the clock picking before us but we kinda had a feeling they would pass on him since they got Cauley-Stein at #8 I believe... Uh, he's a big body and that's something we definitely coulda used in the Finals this past June once Bismack was injured so now we have that and I look forward to seeing how he can get caught up to the speed of the CSL but he seems pretty heady and I think he'll adjust just fine... I was impressed with his rebounding of the basketball, in particular on the the offensive side and WillyJakkz raved about him in his workouts and once I got a look at the kid I was sold and I think he'll be able to do some of the things he did in his workouts in game situations for us and we look forward to getting him into camp and competing with Andrea and Bismack for minutes... Thanks guys.


His rebounding and his height were mesmerizing to say the least... He's also a very smart player and that is something you really can't put more of an emphasis on and this kid gets it...he gets it and we were thrilled to have him fall to us at #26 as Coach eluded to... We worked him out consistently, probably more than any one player and we knew we wanted him and fortunately things worked out and we got him... Uh there was Payne on the board still and it was briefly discussed but I looked at the guys, looked at Coach and said "Rudy...trust me, we already have Tristan on board, he's a young PF and no offense but we don't need another one, we need this guy" and that's all I had to say as they pretty much agreed that C was a more pressing need than PF and the rest is as they say history... We look forward to getting him in camp and Summer League as well to see how he performs against his peers throughout the League while also gauging how he meshes with what we have here so we're excited...we're pretty excited... Well yeah after losing in the Finals like that you always hope to learn a lesson and hopefully we've addressed a hindrance of ours by bringing Ondrej in... Ok guys thanks, look forward to it!

Jake0890 (MIN) wrote:I liked Tarc a whole lot more, thought he would have been drafted way earlier than Balvin.

Maybe not, that's just what I saw when I scouted the two.