2015 Draft Thread - Part 1

[nuposse04]

Also, Bos has a **** ton of stretch 4s already, I think they take a SF or SG. ATL could probably be drafting a 4 for future in case Milsap bounces.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5vOZho1YuM

This interview made me feel a lot better about Robert Upshaw. He is really well spoken and seems genuine. We need youth in the front court. I would consider him. If he pans out, he may have apt of impact.

Meh the Wiz can't afford to make that kind of risky pick after Javale and Blatche... He might be well spoken but too many red flags...

Agreed. He's 21. Twice kicked off teams. Look elsehwere.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Why would anyone be disappointed in MKG? He wasn't drafted based on being advanced offensively -- he wasn't. His appeal was that he did everything else well, and the hope was that the offense would come. This season, on slightly below average usage, he was about average in offensive efficiency. And he rebounded well. And he defended well. I wouldn't trade the Porter we've seen in the playoffs for MKG, but I'd trade the regular season Porter for him.

I concur.

My musing caused me to reflect on just how profoundly improved Porter has been in the playoffs.

I considered MKG to be a much better prospect than Beal. Based on what I've seen so far, I'd say MKG isn't that far behind Kawhi Leonard, potentially. Injuries and playing in Charlotte have not helped his progress. I agree his defense and his rebounding are strengths. After two regular seasons, I would say Beal has become a higher profile but perhaps still not better prospect than MKG. I think I would keep Beal over MKG only because I think Beal has begun to drive the basketball well, rebounds well, passes well, defends reasonably well, and he's a terrific open three point shooter. I would now rate Bradley slightly more valuable than MKG.

Otto Porter has made me quite optimistic. Playoffs Porter is a beast and I think the beast will not get worse next regular season. He'll be the starting SF for years to come. I think he's better than MKG.

I am shocked to be saying that this soon.

Back to draft thread topic...I would say the Wizards need to draft a PF of the future or a Wall backup, who can really help if Wall has a broken hand or something.

We need to draft a young, stud who's like Jordan Clarkson, who can back up Sessions ....

You would really love this owner in England's second Division that was written up recently for SI. He's an analytics geek who made his millions finding ineffiecencies in the bettering markets in European soccer, and took his winnings and bought a lower division soccer team with it, and then purchased another European team as well in Denmark (Midtjylland). Unlike our witless, supposedly tech savvy owner, this guy, who owns Brentford, used proprietary analytics models to first find inefficiencies in the markets, and later in the game itself, to help better prepare Brentford and his new Danish squad to compete at a top level. In the case of Brentford, he managed to help push Brentford from an unknown third tier squad, to a team competiting in this years playoff for promotion to the EPL, and all this was done, while firing the management of the team for repeatedly chafing and complaining about his analytics meddling with their management. Basically, he canned these guys for their recalcitrance when it came to his models. Now Midtjylland is about to win it's first ever Danish League Championship after adopting his analytics platform, and has set records by scoring a goal a game off set pieces, thanks to the use of his models which suggested flaws in how teams approach set pieces, as well as purchasing of players.

See, this guy, will fire a manager, and staff, even if the guy has a good record and numbers, if the guys refuse to buy in, and especially if they refuse to buy in, and are achieving results that his model suggests are based more on random chance, than actual accomplishment.

I love this guy. Now compare this guy, who is very Un-English, to our own management, and it just makes me want to cry. Incompetent coaching, incompetent management, free pass, whether the results are god awful (2009-2013), or inspite of the team in place (2014-2015), completing ignoring the role of player selection/rotations (Witman), and god awful team building (Cash instead of Clarkson, Vesely instead of Leonard, two bench guys instead of Curry etc), in our failure to achieve so much more. We are at the vanguard of analytics in this country and yet our teams are run by the worst front offices in the country.


uggh. I would also consider dealing up for Porter, but only if he falls to within 2-3 picks of us, as I don't want to give a ridiculous amount of value to a team, when there are four or five nice front court guys available.

http://www.si.com/planet-futbol/2015/05 ... hew-benham

I'm sure you meant dealing up for Portis.

Consiglieri, I'm thoroughly convinced Kevin, nate33, Dat2U, and I could field a team that would kick butt within three seasons.

Recalcitrant, entitled personnel refuse to listen. Man, I contacted the Wizards a year before Millsap came out. They went with Pecherov.

I'm not an analytics geek, but I did get a BS in mathematics. I do have an MS in education. I have been a US Air Force captain. God has given me certain gifts (and of course I have many areas of challenge).

Organizational development and blending disparate skills in order to field a competitive sports team is extremely interesting stuff. Consiglieri, if you were rich like that dude in England...oh, man!

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

It's got the right year back up.

Maybe the player that hurt himself the most - Christian Wood. He measured great as far as height and length, but 216 lbs with a body fat percentage of... 14.7. The potato chips and doughnuts diet is not working well for him.

Compare that to Justin Anderson - who's projected to play guard by some... 231 lbs with a 5.0 body fat percentage.

Shocked really. I knew with the mentality he showed this year, I wasn't really expecting much in that department, but that's pretty damning. I could see him falling out of the first round now.

Anderson belongs in the lottery.

[No-Man]

Anderson belongs in the lottery.

[SUPERBALLMAN]

Anderson belongs in the lottery.

Gotta check this Justin Anderson video...

http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Jus ... ideo-4979/


Portis and/or Anderson are my targets for this draft.

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

I'm not completely sold on Anderson, though I absolutely love the kid.

He's mature, passionate, hard-working and extremely athletic.

It's just a little hard to predict how his game will translate. He's a bit of a tweener. He's somewhere between a 2 and a four. But his handles aren't great and he's not quite tall enough to guard fours.... Which, of course makes him a three. But, though his FG% was great this year, I'm not sure how much of that is attributable to Bennett's offense which got him lots of open looks within rhythm.

He's a great on the ball defender. If he can really extend his range, he could be a good three and d guy... Though I'd always like more length from that position to help close out on three point shooters.

[No-Man]

Anderson ceiling is PJ Tucker, I am not certain that he will get there because he lacks offensive awareness and his off the ball game is not there yet, if he reaches that level he could be late lotto worthy, so I see the point, but there are better prospects or safer options for me than him, at least in the top20.

[SUPERBALLMAN]

In round 2 Michael Frazier looks like an ideal Beal backup...

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Mic ... ier-58736/


Of course Dez could be another option there... 20 min 4-8 13pt 5 assts 5 boards yesterday.

Pat Connaughton could be worth a look too.


Some backup points worth checking out Quinn Cook, McConnell, and I also like Boatright.

Backup centers possibly available at our 2nd rounder include Christmas and Alan Williams.

[SUPERBALLMAN]

I am high on Anderson, but as far as need I think Portis is who we should shoot for, unless we can acquire another pick which I doubt. Move Nene to backup center to replace Seraphin, also Blair. Go with Humphries/Portis at PF. Also Pierce if he returns, or possibly Gooden. Porter at SF, with Pierce there and Webster. We have Sessions at backup point another year, potentially Satoransky. The 2nd round we should target a backup for the somewhat injury prone Beal... Frazier or Wells IMO.

[mhd]

Pat Connaughton showed some serious athletic chops at the combine (Had the highest Vert). Could he be a possibility as a 2nd rounder?

[doclinkin]

I think Ruz mentoined him first I think, but the guy I've been eyeballing hard is Richaun Holmes of Bowling Green. He looks like a late steal, though after Portsmouth is likely to climb. And now that the combine results are out I bet he's snatched early.

Ath-elite. JuCo so early so under recruited. A senior so no seasoning necessary, defensive terror and he has picked up his 3ball shooting, has the sort of progression improvement/stability I like (maintaining good percents while his usage increases). Has the look of a stealth Kawhi Leonard type.

The PIT tourney page has the games in video and he stood out as a guy routinely making NBA caliber plays in the dirty work areas like defensive positioning etc.

Athletic like so:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I6vmg3gB8g[/youtube]

[SUPERBALLMAN]

Pat Connaughton showed some serious athletic chops at the combine (Had the highest Vert). Could he be a possibility as a 2nd rounder?

Mocks currently show him undrafted, but he tested very well at the combine, showed well in the 5 on 5, and is a very good spot up 3pt shooter. Shot 42% on 3s with 7.4 boards per game last season. Was very good in the ACC & NCAA tourneys.

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Pat ... ton-40714/

Part of why I like the idea of going PF round 1 and SG round 2.

Should be able to get Portis who looks like a perfect fit at 19, or if not maybe Looney if Portis is gone with our pick. Lyles, Wood, Martin, Mickey are all worthy of bringing in for a look.

2nd round should be able to land Frazier, Wells or Connaughton.

[FAH1223]

Also, Bos has a **** ton of stretch 4s already, I think they take a SF or SG. ATL could probably be drafting a 4 for future in case Milsap bounces.

Celtics will probably move up..

[closg00]

He will most-likely go un-drafted, but Dez Wells was one of the fastest SG's at the combine.

Top 3 Positional ¾ Sprint
PG Marcus Thornton WM 3.02, Keifer Sykes 3.13, Terry Rozier 3.15
SG Dez Wells 3.20, Norman Powell 3.20, Pat Connaughton 3.20
SF Rondae Hollis Jefferson 3.12, Anthony Brown 3.18, Branden Dawson 3.20
PF Larry Nance Jr 3.25, Vince Hunter 3.26, Jarell Martin
C [Player: Mouhammadou Jaiteh: 3.38], Rakeem Christmas 3.47, Dakari Johnson 3.62

[SUPERBALLMAN]

He will most-likely go un-drafted, but Dez Wells was one of the fastest SG's at the combine.

Top 3 Positional ¾ Sprint
PG Marcus Thornton WM 3.02, Keifer Sykes 3.13, Terry Rozier 3.15
SG Dez Wells 3.20, Norman Powell 3.20, Pat Connaughton 3.20
SF Rondae Hollis Jefferson 3.12, Anthony Brown 3.18, Branden Dawson 3.20
PF Larry Nance Jr 3.25, Vince Hunter 3.26, Jarell Martin
C [Player: Mouhammadou Jaiteh: 3.38], Rakeem Christmas 3.47, Dakari Johnson 3.62

According to that list Connaughton was just as fast.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

It will be interesting to see if Connaughton chooses baseball or basketball.

He's very athletic and is a terrific shooter.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I think Ruz mentoined him first I think, but the guy I've been eyeballing hard is Richaun Holmes of Bowling Green. He looks like a late steal, though after Portsmouth is likely to climb. And now that the combine results are out I bet he's snatched early.

Ath-elite. JuCo so early so under recruited. A senior so no seasoning necessary, defensive terror and he has picked up his 3ball shooting, has the sort of progression improvement/stability I like (maintaining good percents while his usage increases). Has the look of a stealth Kawhi Leonard type.

The PIT tourney page has the games in video and he stood out as a guy routinely making NBA caliber plays in the dirty work areas like defensive positioning etc.

Athletic like so:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I6vmg3gB8g[/youtube]

Whoa...

Awesome highlight reel dunks.

Richaun Holmes reminds me of young Amare Stoudemire in that footage.

[ozthegandp]

Why are you guys setting yourselves up for another year of near strokes. You know eg will sell the 2nd for cash, trade it, or release the player in a jiff.

[ozthegandp]

It wouldnt matter if towns somehow dropped to our 2nd round pic he would still do something stupid