Who will have the most individual success

[HMFFL]

Looking back at the draft we picked Acie Law over Rodney Stuckey. I know it's early and hard to gauge but who do you think will eventually have the most individual success during their career. I have included Mike Conley Jr. also.

[JoshB914]

Easily MCJ. He has been very good since the Grizz stuck him in the starting lineup.

[CAM]

I had to go all homer style and go with Acie. Probably not the correct choice, but I see his ability to penetrate and shoot from long range (though he has struggled so far) valuable.

I just think he's going to get alot better.

MCJ definately seems to have a large edge in playmaking and speed.

Gotta give it to the hawk though.

[killbuckner]

I still say that I would have taken Conley over Horford.

[CAM]

^^ wow. Please explain?

Can you imagine our frontline this year with Zaza starting and only Shelden and Lo to back him up......... urggghhh.

[killbuckner]

I think that Conley is going to have a much better career. Look at Horford's actual stats, he is producing at almost the exact same rate as Shelden did last season. I think that Conley is going to be an allstar type pointguard and right now the Hawks have absolutely plan to fix the PG problem. You could have taken Conley and Sean Williams and I think the Hawks would longterm be in much better shape than they are now. Maybe if Horford were playing his natural position of PF he would be producing more, but his lack of offense is starting to be a pretty big redflag on what kind of player he will eventually become.

[HoopsGuru25]

I think that Conley is going to have a much better career. Look at Horford's actual stats, he is producing at almost the exact same rate as Shelden did last season. I think that Conley is going to be an allstar type pointguard and right now the Hawks have absolutely plan to fix the PG problem. You could have taken Conley and Sean Williams and I think the Hawks would longterm be in much better shape than they are now. Maybe if Horford were playing his natural position of PF he would be producing more, but his lack of offense is starting to be a pretty big redflag on what kind of player he will eventually become.

Can you honestly say you wanted that malcontent Sean Williams before the draft? He was picked to go in the 20's before the draft and I can see why...his attitude is horrible. He actually sarcastically waved bye to the Hawks crowd and bench when the Nets won. He was never on my radar at 11.

[atlsun]

I am going with mcj hes been given the keys already.

[killbuckner]

If the hawks wanted a defensive center who doesn't provide offense (which Horford is turning into) then I absolutely would have been looking at Sean Williams. I think he fills that role better than Horford because of his shot blocking ability. If they could trade down and still get the guy who would be what they need then thats even better. But ike I said, maybe Horford's real skills are just being wasted by pigeonholing him into this role. I don't at all consider a guy smoking weed to be a reason not to draft him.

But I will say that I thought the team would be fine with Shelden as the starting center if they had a top PG. I have no clue why Shelden's rebounding numbers have collapsed like they have. With him getting out of that shoulder brace I actually thought he might improve in that area. I liked Thad Young a great deal, but I was also open to the idea of packaging the 11 with Childress to get frontline help. I am simply pointing out that if they had taken Conley they had other options for helping out the frontline.

[HoopsGuru25]

If the hawks wanted a defensive center who doesn't provide offense (which Horford is turning into) then I absolutely would have been looking at Sean Williams. I think he fills that role better than Horford because of his shot blocking ability. If they could trade down and still get the guy who would be what they need then thats even better. But ike I said, maybe Horford's real skills are just being wasted by pigeonholing him into this role. I don't at all consider a guy smoking weed to be a reason not to draft him.

Williams is a hell of a player...people knew this going into the draft(there was a big thread on the draft board back in November of 06 I think). He was basically a guaranteed lotto pick if he had not been suspended. I just find it hilarious that you are saying we should have drafted him now when I heard little to nothing from anyone on this board suggesting we should just the 11th pick on him(even Tiago Splitter was mentioned before him). I would have been fine with taking Conley but only if we had a trade in line to get Camby or another good center.

I find your track record to be a little TOO perfect. You are on record as to saying you wanted Deng in 04,Paul in 05,Roy in 06,now Conley and Williams(who was thought to be a universal reach at #17 because of attitude problems). How are you not an NBA GM yet(or atleast a scout)? Did you seriously want Sean Williams BEFORE the draft or are you using hindsight?

I am simply pointing out that if they had taken Conley they had other options for helping out the frontline.

The chance of this happening went down tremendously when Hibbert decided to stay at Gtown because Noah and Hawes(the only 2 centers guaranteed to go in the lottery after Oden)moved up a slot. If we took Conley...we would have been forced to reach for a big man like Splitter,Smith,or Williams(yes Williams would have been considered a MASSIVE reach at 11)or take another player at a position we are already stocked at(Nick Young,Thad Young,Wright,Thornton,etc). There was no clear option in this draft IMO.

[killbuckner]

Hoops- I shoudl have made it clearer from my post. I would have been OK with Shelden being the starting center and I never advocated Sean Williams with the 11. At the time (assuming no trades allowed) I said I would take Conley and Thad Young who I thought was the BPA. I don't think that the Hawks were looking to draft horford as a defense/rebounding center but if they thought thats what the team needed then I would have looked strongly at Sean Williams. But I was under the impression that since the Hawks had already used a top 5 pick on a defense/rebounding guy they were playing at Center (shelden) that they wouldn't want to use another lottery pick on the same role. Shelden last season was producing exactly like Horford is this year which I thought would be acceptable for the team as long as they were improved at PG.

But I do have a pretty good trackrecord of keeping honest with my preferences. Even when Horford was the rookie of the month and Conley was injured I was still stating that I would have taken Conley. At this point I think I might be the only person here who is still saying that they would rather have Conley than Horford. Should be interesting to see hwo it plays out.

[raleigh]

I'm the only one who likes Stuckey being tutored by the proven talent and minds in Detroit?

[conleyorbust]

I'm the only one who likes Stuckey being tutored by the proven talent and minds in Detroit?

It will be good for him, but Conley is already the better player even though he is 2 years younger and hasn't had the mentoring. The kid is a natural.

[killbuckner]

I am pretty surprised that even on this board there are 3 poeple who would prefer Acie over Conley. Seriously what has Acie shown you to make you think that!?

[Rip2137]

What has Conley shown? He played 9 games and started 3.

Its January for chirst sake. Acie and Mike Conley are built for a uptempo offense. One of them plays in the offense built for his skills....there you go.

Going into January a few years back, people would have been suprised if you said Deron Williams would have a better career than Raymond Felton. They are rookies. Anything can happen from this point. Maybe Conley will never develop his jumper, while Acies will become more potent. Maybe the Hawks will fire Woodson and have a actual uptempo game where Acie could florish. Maybe Conley develops the deadlest step back jumper in league history and become unstoppable.

My point is that going with any of them shouldn't be a shock at this point. Its January. I have seen just as much promise in Acie as I have in Conley.

I personally thinkg Kyle Lowery could end up being the best point guard that Grizzlies have. You might not agree, and thats fine, but it is just as solid of a pick as anyone else at this stage in their careers.

[JoshB914]

Rip MCJ has been starting of late and producing very well. By the end of the season he will be in the Durant/Horford category of rookies IMO.

[Rip2137]

As of late is 3 games.

And his number are what I would expect Acies would be if Mike Woodson let him play 30+ minutes. They are all rookies and are having ups and downs.

I am not ragging on anyone for picking conley, I am saying, how could you be suprised (!?) if anyone picks any of them at this point?

Acie has played well in his last 4 games, Save that cleveland game when, in true Mike Woodson fashion, he only got 8 minutes after having one of his best games as a rookie the game before.

The Grizz are giving their rook a chance to show and prove. But best believe, if Acie had coughed up 4 turnovers like Mike did against Miami, we wouldn't see him play for another 2 weeks. The Grizz will take the good with the bad because...well...their coach isn't horrible.

[tontoz]

i would have picked Conley and Stuckey on draft day. But since i haven't seen either as pros, and Acie hasn't gotten to play big minutes yet, i didn't vote. This would be a better question to ask later in the season.

[JoshB914]

That's because the Hawks are in a playoff race. If IV screws up we lose games. If MCJ screws up it doesn't hurt the Grizz as much since they are essentially playing for the future already.

[Rip2137]

We are a .500 team and his minutes are being split with Tyronne lue who is definately making us lose games.

I understand kinda the logic there in theory, but in reality, he gives us a better chance to win than Lue. At least he can defend...somebody .