Kevin Seraphin

[closg00]

I absolutely love this pick and don't understand the anger over this. Booker is undersized but has excellent athleticism and plays with a nasty demeanor this team sorely lacks. He can be a great 20-25 minute a game player who can backup both forward positions.

Recently, this was a just a discussion on whether Booker could play SF, it somehow ended-up here somehow. No anger.

[Benjammin]

I'm sure this has already been mentioned, but Hamady N'diaye speaks French so he could translate for Seraphin, assuming he actually translated the right thing to a guy he would be battling for playing time
.

[closg00]

I'm sure this has already been mentioned, but Hamady N'diaye speaks French so he could translate for Seraphin, assuming he actually translated the right thing to a guy he would be battling for playing time
.

Perfect, we drafted a player/translator, he'll have to make the team

[yungal07]

Seraphin speaks English, according to Michael Lee.

Anyway, I was perusing spurstalk.net -- good stuff over there. Naturally they are very well informed when it comes to international players, and they had a nice thread there on Seraphin. They wanted him pretty badly and they were pretty sure OKC was going to nab him with #18.

[dangermouse]

With Blatche coming off foot surgery, will Seraphin come over right away? He'd get good minutes.

[Hoopalotta]

Seraphin speaks English, according to Michael Lee.

Anyway, I was perusing spurstalk.net -- good stuff over there. Naturally they are very well informed when it comes to international players, and they had a nice thread there on Seraphin. They wanted him pretty badly and they were pretty sure OKC was going to nab him with #18.

I knew it!

Throwing in that report that Fisher posted in the draft thread, I think the idea that Seraphin was a wild and desperate reach that only Ernie would have made is a complete and total error based on being uninformed. He was more like the prime target of two of the most adept talent evaluating teams in the league who we leap frogged.

Does that mean he will he pan out? Dunno about that, but it was a nice ballsy pick with a hell of a lot more upside potential than what I'm sensing from the rest of the board, give or take one of the guards possibly breaking through.

[crackhed]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lHZveuKK5U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9-gqYDpM_0

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Kev ... phin-5278/

[lupin]

On the other hand, if he was the prime target why didn't they just leapfrog the Wiz? Surely it would have been cheaper than making that deal with NO (in which they they took someone else who they believe is better and yet many others here didn't like as much).

[Hoopalotta]

On the other hand, if he was the prime target why didn't they just leapfrog the Wiz? Surely it would have been cheaper than making that deal with NO (in which they they took someone else who they believe is better and yet many others here didn't like as much).

Oh, I'm sure OKC had Aldrich rated higher and he's obviously much more ready to go now. Cole was a divisive figure for many here; some had him high, some low. Personally, I liked him quite a bit and would have been ecstatic if he had fallen to 17, so someone rated behind him is not dampening things for me. Seraphin quite probably has more upside, just as an athlete but OKC would almost surely have stashed him overseas.

As to OKC leapfrogging the Wiz for a pick right ahead of us, A) with who and for what? B) they might not have known that we were going to take Seraphin (there was that report of Eliot Williams potentially being our pick from DX). Those sort of "hop ahead" moves are talked about by fans quite a bit, but rarely happen. I don't think anything like that happened all draft until the picks got into the 20's.

[Hoopalotta]

Just to beat a dead horse....

Brian Windhorst (Cleveland) on draft night twitter:

PDcavsinsiderThe player Thunder wanted at No. 18 was gone so we'll see if Eric Bledsoe stays in OKC. #Cavs have some interest in Bledsoe.

http://twitter.com/pdcavsinsider

Well?

[fishercob]

WIth the lockout looming, there are some serious benefits to Seraphin staying overseas next year. Keep that in mind, ladies.

[AnotherFinn]

I think he will learn a lot more in NBA than in france. He played 35 games this year for total about 575 minutes, in NBA he can play 82 games / year and I bet he gets more than 7min/game (there seems to be small hole in 5 position...).

Besides training biggies takes longer, better start early than late.

[no D in Hibachi]

Just to beat a dead horse....

Brian Windhorst (Cleveland) on draft night twitter:

PDcavsinsiderThe player Thunder wanted at No. 18 was gone so we'll see if Eric Bledsoe stays in OKC. #Cavs have some interest in Bledsoe.

http://twitter.com/pdcavsinsider

Well?

I bet you he's talking about Babbitt.

[no D in Hibachi]

He has an NBA body at 263 lbs. The scouts must have seen some good things about it.

Seraphin measured out pretty well considering this is how the best center in the NBA measured out at the pre-draft camp in 2004.

Dwight Howard bare feet:6' 9", in shoes:6' 10.25", weight:240, wingspan:7' 4.5", reach:9' 3.5"

Reports are that Seraphin is 6'9'' in bare feet, 263lb, and has a 7'3'' wingspan. Pretty comperable to Howard if you ask me. Also, for what it's worth Seraphin's offensive game from the youtube clips looks more advanced than Howard's, faint praise, I know.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Yes, I've seen him play and he's raw! No, I was listenting to the commentators but looking at the Wizards' history with the picks from overseas makes it look like a bad decision. Our past overseas picks never put on Wiz uniform. It wouldn't be too bad if this was the 30th pick but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth at the 17th pick.

My first impression as well, cdouglas.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

There were some articles on this guy in the French media yesterday about him joining Tony Parker, Batum, Beaubois etc eventually in the NBA.

It's 4 AM here in Paris, so doubt any French papers say anything tomorrow, but it did seem as though he would be staying in France for at least another year. We shall see.

Poor pick by EG. Videos I've seen of him aren't very impressive.....and even French newspaper media seemed surprised at the amount of NBA interest.

I really wanted James Anderson, even at 17, because he's a shooter who can't be covered closely due to John Wall beint at point. I'm scared of what I don't know about Seraphin.

The Wizards better know something, Induveca.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I actually like this pick, it could pay off big time in the long run

Seraphin's a physical speciman unlike Pecherov, so I'm not making any athleticism comparison. However, this is exactly what folks were saying when Pecherov was drafted. He might really pay off big time in long run.

I'm scared of might at #17, but time will tell. EG does seem to have had a crystall ball on Blatche and IMO both McGee and Young.

[Hoopalotta]

PDcavsinsiderThe player Thunder wanted at No. 18 was gone so we'll see if Eric Bledsoe stays in OKC. #Cavs have some interest in Bledsoe.

I bet you he's talking about Babbitt.

In all seriousness, I actually considered that possibility as Babbit was maybe the one other guy that could have slipped, but the thing is it makes a lot of sense for them to stash a Euro with their roster being full. Plus, their real need is for bigs and they did meet with Seraphin recently too.

I actually think it might be that Seraphin wanted to come here as it sounds like Ernie wants him immediately (from what Yungal said) while everyone else wants him to stay in France.

[no D in Hibachi]

I really wanted James Anderson, even at 17, because he's a shooter who can't be covered closely due to John Wall beint at point. I'm scared of what I don't know about Seraphin.

The Wizards better know something, Induveca.

As long as the Wiz keep Arenas he'll be the shooter who can be covered closely due to Wall at the point. I think the simple fact that the Thunder traded out of 18 because they wanted no one else besides Seraphin speaks volumes. They are one of the top talent evaluating teams in the league. There is corroborative evidence from people in the know that Seraphin is legit.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

So, off the front page of Bullets Forver, there's the Mike Lee quote...

Seriphan will not participate in summer league as he recovers from his right knee injury suffered a few weeks ago. He might not come to Washington until he receives his work visa in about a month or two, according to Seriphan's agent, Bouna N'Diaye.

So, do you get a work visa if you're not playing for the Zards next year? maybe, but hopefully all the dot-dot-dot's spelled out this far mean that he's coming over.

Reading between the lines, the guy's not ready to come over, not particularly motivated at this time to come over, and can (maybe legitimately) use his knee injury to take his time coming over. He will not play in the NBA this year but I bet he plays overseas is my GUESS.

I read about the knee injury prior to the draft and didn't like the guy as a pick, but I don't know what the injury details as far as rehab/recover is concerned.

Consiglieri, in another thread, pointed out the Wizards drafted with a 2-3 year window in mind. However, if EG said the guy was coming over and he's not coming over this is a not a good sign.