2012/13 Toronto Raptors Draft Thread *Poll Edited*

[ATLTimekeeper]

From what I've seen, Davis was way more involved in hedging than Noel has been so far this year. Noel stays home more and gets those weakside blocks that make him look like Josh Smith.

[jman3134]

Alex Poythress and Archie Goodwin have been very underwhelming this game.

Nerlens Noel with some very good reads stopping those lobs. He's a like a cornerback out there making all those interceptions with his long reach. Excellent sprinter for his size. Very light on his feet. He's always the first one down the floor on those rim runs after making a stop. I think he has more potential as a defensive player than Anthony Davis.

Love a bold statement. Got to work on those hands, though. They can get stronger, if not better.

Agree on Goodwin/Poythress. Goodwin the ghost and Poythress the mess.

Way too quick to react. Both Goodwin and Poythress are freshman with a lot of NBA potential. I am particularly intrigued with Goodwin, who needs to play better under control, but you have to remember that he is going up against one of the top defenses in college basketball. And, it's not even conference play yet. He has an elite first step and will be able to get to the basket at the next level. That is more than you can say about just about anyone in this year's draft.

[FluLikeSymptoms]

Alex Poythress and Archie Goodwin have been very underwhelming this game.

Nerlens Noel with some very good reads stopping those lobs. He's a like a cornerback out there making all those interceptions with his long reach. Excellent sprinter for his size. Very light on his feet. He's always the first one down the floor on those rim runs after making a stop. I think he has more potential as a defensive player than Anthony Davis.

Love a bold statement. Got to work on those hands, though. They can get stronger, if not better.

Agree on Goodwin/Poythress. Goodwin the ghost and Poythress the mess.

Way too quick to react. Both Goodwin and Poythress are freshman with a lot of NBA potential. I am particularly intrigued with Goodwin, who needs to play better under control, but you have to remember that he is going up against one of the top defenses in college basketball. And, it's not even conference play yet. He has an elite first step and will be able to get to the basket at the next level. That is more than you can say about just about anyone in this year's draft.

We're talking about today. Pre-game would be too quick of a reaction.

[jman3134]

From what I've seen, Davis was way more involved in hedging than Noel has been so far this year. Noel stays home more and gets those weakside blocks that make him look like Josh Smith.

As it currently stands, Noel is more active with his hands in passing lanes/reaching in. But, Anthony Davis was a much better overall defender. He averaged a higher blocks % on almost 2 less fouls per game.

http://basketball.realgm.com/blog/22515 ... rlens_Noel

[Undefeated]

From what I've seen, Davis was way more involved in hedging than Noel has been so far this year. Noel stays home more and gets those weakside blocks that make him look like Josh Smith.

Good point. Nerlens Noel seems to read-and-react in the passing lanes than I remember Anthony Davis did. He deflects a lot of passes and does a better job of intercepting those lob passes. Averaging nearly 3 steals/game is beastly.

[jman3134]

I shouldn't have quoted you. The previous poster who you agreed with made a general statement about not liking Goodwin overall. He's had a poor showing this game without at doubt.

[FluLikeSymptoms]

I shouldn't have quoted you. The previous poster who you agreed with made a general statement about not liking Goodwin overall. He's had a poor showing this game without at doubt.

That Louisville press is ROUGH!

[Undefeated]

I shouldn't have quoted you. The previous poster who you agreed with made a general statement about not liking Goodwin overall. He's had a poor showing this game without at doubt.

No, Goodwin has been underwhelming the entire season thus far. I think most people will acknowledge that he has superior quickness, but his ball-handling can't keep up with his quickness. Ryan Harrow isn't much of a true lead guard, but they trust him to handle the ball more than Goodwin. Harrow has been doing a good job of avoiding getting trapped by Louisville's full court press.

[FluLikeSymptoms]

Oy. Go home, Archie. Get some sleep.

[Mr.Raptorsingh]

Great dribble-drive by Archie Goodwin

[Mr.Raptorsingh]

Goodwin again

[Undefeated]

Okay, Goodwin showing up with those nice drives.

[FluLikeSymptoms]

Great dribble-drive by Archie Goodwin

Followed by another. Undef is right, though. Need to sit on that right hand.

[jman3134]

I shouldn't have quoted you. The previous poster who you agreed with made a general statement about not liking Goodwin overall. He's had a poor showing this game without at doubt.

No, Goodwin has been underwhelming the entire season thus far. I think most people will acknowledge that he has superior quickness, but his ball-handling can't keep up with his quickness. Ryan Harrow isn't much of a true lead guard, but they trust him to handle the ball more than Goodwin. Harrow has been doing a good job of avoiding getting trapped by Louisville's full court press.

It's not because of his handle. It's because he tends to have tunnel vision when he gets in the lane and leaves his feet when passing way too often. Goodwin has elite quickness and athleticism and has shown some serious potential early in the year. This is one of his poorer performances.

[Mr.Raptorsingh]

Great dribble-drive by Archie Goodwin

Followed by another. Undef is right, though. Need to sit on that right hand.

Can't deny the potential though at 18 yrs of age. He'll finish his rookie season in the NBA at 19.

[FluLikeSymptoms]

Great dribble-drive by Archie Goodwin

Followed by another. Undef is right, though. Need to sit on that right hand.

Can't deny the potential though at 18 yrs of age. He'll finish his rookie at 19.

I won't, but he could be wearing Dieng's cast on that left hand today.

[Mr.Raptorsingh]

Goodwin...big time move. Did he just go left?

[Undefeated]

Goodwin...big time move. Did he just go left?

lol yeah that was a dirty inside-out dribble

[fredericklove]

Alex Poythress and Archie Goodwin have been very underwhelming this game. I've seen Goodwin played a couple of times and I just don't see the hype for him always coming away disappointed by his performances. He's very erratic/out-of-control when he attempts to go coast-to-coast drawing a charge by driving directly into a brick wall this game. He's way too reliant on his right hand and almost had a TO to end the half. If he could learn to dribble with both hands then I'd think he'd make very good use of his quickness end-to-end. The dribbling skill isn't at the level of his speed for now.

Absolutely agree with you on his dribbles, like when you look at his highlight reel clip, you go wow he's penetrating so quick so fast but when you watch him play, he's just too out of control, and one dimensional in dribbling aspect primarily of his straight line drive w/ his heavy reliance on explosiveness, I rarely seen him operates a good PnR at the key, mostly catches and takes off from the wing straight line charge in traffic. The part that scares me is that I have yet to see a consistent repertoire of dribbling moves, I can live with John Wall doing his dribble drive for Coach Cal cos his end to end speed and quickness are unrivaled in the country (top 5 at least). Seeing Goodwin he's very quick with great acceleration but too much of a blind train w/ his head down style a la Bayless mode.

Another concern is that he plays the SG, is he going to play that position in the NBA? If so, it screams downfall, he's got the quickness however isn't a guy w/ a frame that can bulk up muscle and size, no separation moves, nor a good on ball defender, though a ball thief and occasional blocks from behind but lacks fundamental footwork to stay on his man, just not the ideal guard you want at the 2. If he wants to be successful, he has to play the PG, he has good transition passing instincts and solid on his dribble drive and kick. Maybe he'll learn to pace himself better in the NBA much like how Lowry did when he first came into the league as explosive erratic guard but changes his approaches to the game in later years.

Nerlens Noel with some very good reads stopping those lobs. He's a like a cornerback out there making all those interceptions with his long reach. Excellent sprinter for his size. Very light on his feet. He's always the first one down the floor on those rim runs after making a stop. I think he has more potential as a defensive player than Anthony Davis.

I definitely see better defensive potential too, his reads are better than Davis at UK level, don't get me wrong Davis is also stellar at reading a play but his lengths are what gives him unrivaled advantage. Noel seems to play it better at the fundamental level, especially post defense, quick/highly alert/incredible hands/uses his chest to defend the post players, he has that presence where if you go up and challenge him twice in the play, for sure he'll shut you down both times in the same play.

Despite his defensive caliber, I also see weaknesses in his defense, while his perimeter is pretty solid but his strength in the post is an issue but there are two areas he needs to improve, he falls for shot fake, too eager to steal from behind, he gets by doing this at college but for sure he'll pick up a few fouls at the NBA level, also he overly hustle on a loose ball play, completely uses his body to go at people to try to get the ball, he'll get offensive fouls call for doing that.

[fredericklove]

Goodwin...big time move. Did he just go left?

lol yeah that was a dirty inside-out dribble

What? That's new! Keep me updated play by play, I'm not watching it due to bandwidth.