Rockets Get Greene, Dorsey and Leunen

The wait is finally over. After waiting for final approval from the NBA, Daryl Morey, Houston Rockets GM, finally spoke with the media and summarized the Rockets busy Thursday night on 2008 NBA Draft Night.

"Thanks for waiting everybody," said Morey. "I know it's been a really long night."

Here's what the Rockets accomplished Thursday night.

"First, we traded 25 (draft rights to Nicolas Batum) for 27 and 33," stated Morey. "Then, we traded 27 to Memphis at 28 and picked up their 2009 second-round pick. At that spot (28th), we picked Donté Greene from Syracuse.

"At 33, we picked Joey Dorsey from Memphis and at 54 we got Maarty Leunen from Oregon."

Got all that?

Morey added, "We wanted a balance of future players who could help the Rockets at two different positions -- the wing and the big. We felt like both were, for us, the best players on the board."

On paper, these deals look like very astute moves by the Rockets which could reap benefits in the short and long-term.

Morey gave his thoughts on each of their newest acquisitions.

"Donté Greene is 6'9. Legit size. Athletic small forward who can slide over to the 4 spot. He can shoot the ball. He was a freshman at Syracuse. We think he's a great future bet."

"Picking up Joey Dorsey, we feel good about his future as a big. He can play either the 4 or the 5. His combination of athleticsm and a big body that can move like he does. He can jump. He's a great finisher at the basket. In our opinion, he's the best defensive big in the country."

"Maarty Leunen is going to play on our summer league team. He's going to play overseas. He's someone will keep the rights to. He's someone who's a shooting, spacing 4 who we think has a chance down the road."

Morey also added the Rockets hope to sign "another vet or two" this summer.

Dorsey is someone Morey believes can have an impact "right away" for the Rockets.

"Dorsey takes good shots. He takes dunks. He can run the floor. He can anchor a transition game. We feel like he was a top five rebounder in the country on both ends; so, he's creating extra possessions on the offensive end.
"He is 6'7; but, he's long; and he makes up for any perceived size limitations with his athleticism and speed."

Morey believes Greene can fill a need at the wing position.

"At the wing spot, we need size, we need athleticism, and we need shooting. He (Greene) has all those things."

Overall, the Rockets wanted to acquire at least one rookie who would make impact this coming season.

"We wanted to come out with (at least) one rookie we thought could be an impact. If we could get two, we'd do it, but, we wanted to do it across those two positions.

"We were comfortable coming out with just one rookie. We're a team that is more focused on winning this upcoming season than down the road. We're not too focused on adding rookies unless we felt they were potential impact players in the future or a little bit shorter than that; and, we felt were able to do that."

For fans who believe the Rockets may now have to many frontcourt players, Morey was quite candid in his comments.

"We do have some depth at the bigs; but, we also have a lot of players with injury history with Yao Ming and Carl Landry. So, we don't feel deep at the big at all. We feel if we do have injuries at the bigs, then Dorsey is a guy who can contribute right away. He's more ready to play than Donté."

Morey feels very good about the Rockets selections; and, as of right now, he should. The Rockets may not have hit a proverbial home run; but, they could have come very, very close.