I think I figured this draft out

erudite23 · Post #1 » by **erudite23** » Tue May 24, 2011 8:29 pm

It's the 2007 draft, just if there were no Oden and no Durant.

So a top PG and PF/C prospect who aren't quite superstar caliber talents, and a nice big tier of 2nd level prospects, one or two of which will turn out to be homeruns.

Sound about right?

Dr Positivity · Post #2 » by **Dr Positivity** » Tue May 24, 2011 8:43 pm

I was thinking less enigmatic 99

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_NBA_Draft

Top 4 = Brand, Francis, Baron, Odom. Big inside outside big man, fast PG, strong PG, and skilled SF/PF. Sounds a lot like Kanter, Irving, Knight and Williams

Then a bunch more pretty good NBA careers like Wally, Marion, Rip, Miller, Terry, Maggette, Artest, Kirilenko and Manu went 57 there too

Amazingly, 9 all-stars, 12/13 borderline ones with Terry, Odom, Miller, Maggette included - But none of them are perenniel shoo-ins/home run superstars

I could see something similar here. Wouldn't be surprised to see Irving, Kanter, Knight, Williams, Biyombo, Burks, Marcus Morris on an all-star team, then throw in a bunch of other guys like Brooks, T Thompson, Markieff Morris, Jimmer, Hamilton, Klay Thompson, Jackson, Honeycutt, Vucevic, Valanciunas who have reasonable shots at very good careers

vincecarter4pres · Post #3 » by **vincecarter4pres** » Tue May 24, 2011 9:09 pm

I think Irving and Williams are your Durant Durant.

There is no Oden though.

erudite23 · Post #4 » by **erudite23** » Wed May 25, 2011 1:10 am

Haha...Durant is the 2nd best prospect of the decade after LeBron. I think people are starting to take health into more consideration when evaluating bigs, and the red flags were there with Oden. I think if that draft was held today with no extra knowledge, Durant goes 1st.

So I disagree. I think Irving and Williams are on par with CP3 and Melo as prospects (guys that would normally go anywhere from 2nd to 4th in most drafts depending on who was picking and how many truly elite guys were at the top), but that Durant is one of the 5 most unique prospect to come out in the last 20 years. So I disagree.

As for 99....I don't see it. That draft is defined by under achievement to me. As prospects, Francis and Davis were phenomenal and Odom is an insanely talented guy who would have gone 1st overall if he didn't have the checkered past. I think that was a more talented draft that disappointed due to character issues. This draft is more a draft of doubles and triples in the top 10. Which I think might have been your point.

Post #5 » by **KF10** » Wed May 25, 2011 1:15 am

I like the 2007-draft comparison. Nice catch.

vincecarter4pres · Post #6 » by **vincecarter4pres** » Wed May 25, 2011 1:16 am

erudite23 wrote:Haha...Durant is the 2nd best prospect of the decade after LeBron. I think people are starting to take health into more consideration when evaluating bigs, and the red flags were there with Oden. I think if that draft was held today with no extra knowledge, Durant goes 1st.

So I disagree. I think Irving and Williams are on par with CP3 and Melo as prospects (guys that would normally go anywhere from 2nd to 4th in most drafts depending on who was picking and how many truly elite guys were at the top), but that Durant is one of the 5 most unique prospect to come out in the last 20 years. So I disagree.

As for 99....I don't see it. That draft is defined by under achievement to me. As prospects, Francis and Davis were phenomenal and Odom is an insanely talented guy who would have gone 1st overall if he didn't have the checkered past. I think that was a more talented draft that disappointed due to character issues. This draft is more a draft of doubles and triples in the top 10. Which I think might have been your point.

Was Durant the prospect really that hyped and thought of?

I don't remember it like that to be honest.

I remember him being considered a top notch prospect, but nothing like you're claiming.

I thought he was seen as an ultra skinny tweener who would have trouble guarding either position with a limited handle for a swing?

Was just so talented he was still considered top notch?

But nothing like Lebron IIRC...

I mean was Durant even considered the prospect Rose or Blake Griffin were?

I remember him more on par with a John Wall.

Dr Positivity · Post #7 » by **Dr Positivity** » Wed May 25, 2011 1:42 am

I think the fact that he was in a draft with Oden lifted Durant's pre draft presence above Rose and Wall's but was on a similar level for projections. I bet Rose/Wall vs Oden would've gone down the same way. I think Lebron, Oden, Duncan, Shaq, Ewing = Tier 1 for draft prospects, Rose, Wall, Durant = Tier 2

Griffin's pre draft hype I think was below Rose, Durant, Wall. We were talking Amare/Boozer, 2nd best guy on a good team with him IIRC. I think Griffin pre draft was like Irving.

Dr Positivity · Post #8 » by **Dr Positivity** » Wed May 25, 2011 1:48 am

Oden just lifted 07 to a different level than this one in terms of expectations. ESPN ran a Best C prospect since Ewing promo on draft day IIRC (or was it the lotto?). Like, holy **** at that statement in retrospect. I also remember Bill Simmons comment saying "he'll just be Ewing" as a debbie downer comment as he was on Team Durant

I think Oden would've had a serious chance of going above Lebron if drafted together. The big vs small machine would've taken over... and Lebron being a high school guy...

Geaux_Hawks · Post #9 » by **Geaux_Hawks** » Wed May 25, 2011 3:12 am

Surprisingly this could very well be a '05 draft,with A better version of Marvin and Knight being similar to Deron. Kemba is like Felton(both won the title that year). Biyombo can be compared to Bynum as far as being center's with high upside..klay is granger, Donatas can become David Lee, while Reggie Jackson looks to be Monta Ellis. Others just seem as good role players in both drafts..

Point-God · Post #10 » by **Point-God** » Wed May 25, 2011 3:18 pm

This draft is absolutely unique. You have guys staying in college who should have entered, then there are actually top prospects that people know so little about like Biyombo, Kanter, and Irving. This draft is like the late 90's drafts that included unknown high school players and unknown european players. If Harrison Barnes and Perry had remained in the draft I would say the draft was a 2011 version of the 1998 draft. That draft consisted of a top PG, a top mystery upside big man ridding a hype wagon, and a top college player who produced. All top 3 like this year. I believe that Reggie Jackson will be this draft's version of Jason Williams, a PG that shot up draft boards out of nowhere, well Reggie did actually play college ball this past season. Jimmer is Bryce Drew. Bismack is Dirk, in that he is a freak foreign prospect that dominated the Nike Hoops game. Burks is Larry Hughes. This draft even has a few Ricky Davis like freshman that entered far before anyone thought they would.

erudite23 · Post #11 » by **erudite23** » Wed May 25, 2011 5:15 pm

All good points. Except the one about Durant. You have to remember that this is the guy that had the best freshman year in the history of the NCAA. He was insane. He was such a great shooter and so freakishly proportioned that no one had any idea how high his ceiling really was, and few doubted that he would be anything less than a star at the next level. That's about as good as you can get for a prospect.

What happened with him was he went to a team with no visibility and really struggled his first season, causing the hype to die down a bit. But he was absolutely an elite prospect, worthy of being the #1 in most drafts.

vincecarter4pres · Post #12 » by **vincecarter4pres** » Wed May 25, 2011 6:34 pm

erudite23 wrote:All good points. Except the one about Durant. You have to remember that this is the guy that had the best freshman year in the history of the NCAA. He was insane. He was such a great shooter and so freakishly proportioned that no one had any idea how high his ceiling really was, and few doubted that he would be anything less than a star at the next level. That's about as good as you can get for a prospect.

What happened with him was he went to a team with no visibility and really struggled his first season, causing the hype to die down a bit. But he was absolutely an elite prospect, worthy of being the #1 in most drafts.

I understand and agree with what you're saying, I just don't necessarily remember him being considered this Lebron-esque, once a generation prospect.

Wall, even Rose and Griffin, everything you said about Durant was basically said about them too and that is how I mainly remember Durant being categorized.

I could be wrong, I am more or less asking rather then saying what I'm saying is true, but that's the only point I was making.

He was absolutely considered an elite prospect, but there were some questions of if he had a position, there was questions about his durability simply due to his crack head like frame when he was in college and he was more viewed as a Carmelo or George Gervin level franchise guy and not a can't miss, monster lock HOF top 10 of all time type prospect like one would be directly saying by claiming he was considered a Lebron level prospect.