Official Draft Thread 2015-16

[No-Man]

BTW, Georges Niang can play. He'll be a late 2nd round pick and a pleasant surprise for the team that drafts him.

Most likely undrafted honestly

[robbie84]

Buddy Hield drops 39 on Iowa State.

I really think he'll be in the running for the #3 pick when all is said and done. Dude has a lot of Gilbert Arenas (the good parts) about him and has now shown he can create off the dribble and score off the dribble in the half court. Kid has just improved so much this year.

If we get #4 or #5 and he's still around I think this is someone that Stevens is all over.

I mean this was a good game but how many stellar games has he had like this for the season? I can't count how many, he's been that good.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iLS-BcPGcY[/youtube]

[Justin33]

Buddy Hield drops 39 on Iowa State.

I really think he'll be in the running for the #3 pick when all is said and done. Dude has a lot of Gilbert Arenas (the good parts) about him and has now shown he can create off the dribble and score off the dribble in the half court. Kid has just improved so much this year.

If we get #4 or #5 and he's still around I think this is someone that Stevens is all over.

I mean this was a good game but how many stellar games has he had like this for the season? I can't count how many, he's been that good.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iLS-BcPGcY[/youtube]

He has long arms

[Murta]

Everything can happen in one game system like NCAA tournament, but Hield is probably the biggest winner from the bracketology. Oklahoma is the strongest team in that region, guards thrive in March Madness, I just don't see how he won't profit, barring a possible, highly improbable surprise. Which makes me concerned if he would be overdrafted.

[Duke4life831]

Buddy Hield drops 39 on Iowa State.

I really think he'll be in the running for the #3 pick when all is said and done. Dude has a lot of Gilbert Arenas (the good parts) about him and has now shown he can create off the dribble and score off the dribble in the half court. Kid has just improved so much this year.

If we get #4 or #5 and he's still around I think this is someone that Stevens is all over.

I mean this was a good game but how many stellar games has he had like this for the season? I can't count how many, he's been that good.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iLS-BcPGcY[/youtube]

He has long arms

Not really. He has a 6'8 wingspan which is just average for a 2 guard

[return2glory]

I watch some vids on Poeltl and was impressed by his agility near the rim. I also suspect he will measure well, since he is 7 ft an looks to have long arms. The kid is a baller. I also like D. Stone. The Celtics need a big who is not a TRex.

If the Celtics want another big that can't rebound (see Zeller & KO), then Poeltl would be their guy.

If his rebounding was better, I would consider him, but it's pretty bad for a guy his height. Oregon just blew his team out and he was a joke on the glass.

Hmm. He averages 9 rbs per game. That was not his best game.

Watch the games not highlights. I've seen him play about 8 times now. I know he averages 9 rebounds. His conference is weak and he is 7 feet tall. He should be averaging 12-14 rebounds a game in that conference.

He doesn't fight for rebounds. He doesn't rebound in traffic. He doesn't go for rebounds. Zeller averaged about the same or more rebounds than Poeltl.

A good rebounder doesn't have a bad rebounding game. Rebounding is about desire, heart, and positioning. That's why Zeller an KO struggle on the boards. That's why WCS struggles on the glass.

[Curmudgeon]

BTW, Georges Niang can play. He'll be a late 2nd round pick and a pleasant surprise for the team that drafts him.

Most likely undrafted honestly

Perhaps. But he can play. Let's see if Iowa State can make some noise in the tournament.

[tlee324]

Buddy Hield drops 39 on Iowa State.

I really think he'll be in the running for the #3 pick when all is said and done. Dude has a lot of Gilbert Arenas (the good parts) about him and has now shown he can create off the dribble and score off the dribble in the half court. Kid has just improved so much this year.

If we get #4 or #5 and he's still around I think this is someone that Stevens is all over.

I mean this was a good game but how many stellar games has he had like this for the season? I can't count how many, he's been that good.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iLS-BcPGcY[/youtube]

Definitely looked like a legit player in that highlight. Sadly, I haven't watched a lot of college ball this year. That was pretty damn impressive, though. I'll keep my eye out.

[robbie84]

Buddy Hield drops 39 on Iowa State.

I really think he'll be in the running for the #3 pick when all is said and done. Dude has a lot of Gilbert Arenas (the good parts) about him and has now shown he can create off the dribble and score off the dribble in the half court. Kid has just improved so much this year.

If we get #4 or #5 and he's still around I think this is someone that Stevens is all over.

I mean this was a good game but how many stellar games has he had like this for the season? I can't count how many, he's been that good.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iLS-BcPGcY[/youtube]

Definitely looked like a legit player in that highlight. Sadly, I haven't watched a lot of college ball this year. That was pretty damn impressive, though. I'll keep my eye out.

The insane thing is that he's had at least 10 games like this so far this season. Dude's a freak.
I think he's going 3rd or 4th this year in the draft.

Let's hope the C's get him if we can't get Ingram or Ben.

[165bows]

BTW, Georges Niang can play. He'll be a late 2nd round pick and a pleasant surprise for the team that drafts him.

Most likely undrafted honestly

He's from right around my neck of the woods, I hope he makes it.

[Crossy2008]

I was checking out Bender, and trying to get a better read on him. He is tough to figure out because I don't know much about his competition. He has good handles and runs the floor well. As the draft express profile pointed out several times, he has a 9'3" standing reach which makes the handles more impressive. Definitely weak on the glass. Looks good defensively though. He is pretty quick and looks to relish the challenge of guarding smaller players after switches. He tends to back off the guards to take away the drive, but has the quickness to challenge the shot from a distance due to his length. He will be 18 for the start of next season.

Of course, this lead me to looking up old Milicic profiles from 2003, and man, how wrong were the media and scouts. Comparisons included Olajuwon, Garnett, and a bunch of other greats. Interestingly, Milicic wasn't even eligible for that draft, but there was a special exemption made for him because his b-day was within 45 days of draft. How much would Detroit pay to have made sure that didn't happen?

Anyways, I liked what I saw from Bender, but because they were essentially highlights I tend to throw them away because I could make a highlight reel of myself to make myself look like a number one pick if I played enough, but the fourteen hours of me having cramps, and falling to the floor completely winded would be mysteriously left out.

[Celtsfan1980]

An all-Kentucky draft:Murray, Skal, and Ulis. If we keep the picks I can definitely see Ainge trying for this.

[Murta]

Every Bender footage you're going to find is at least a year old with the exception of two New York games vs Milano. The reason is simple: Israel. Local fans don't make those types of highlight videos. Draftexpress is going to have the newest footage in their draft video (probably in June) and NBA teams do have access to it by asking Maccabi. Unfortunately, we can't do that.
But there is a Croatian Twitter guy who, among other things, extracts Bender's moves from the game highlight videos (Maccabi posts own highlights on YT like NBA does on NBA.com). You can see the highlights in this search:
https://twitter.com/search?f=tweets&vertical=default&q=CroSports_%20Bender&src=typd

I actually watch Bender's games on live streams, but I doubt any one of you is interested in doing that.

[klemen4]

Great Murta, that means you probably have even better insight than a lot of scouts. What is you oppinion, what you see, how good he can be, any comparison you can give...is he really 3rd best prospect? Thanks in advance

[Crossy2008]

^^Thanks^^

Nice to see a finish through contact.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/CroSports_/status/696745937142730752[/tweet]

[jmr07019]

The concerns with competitiveness for Simmons are scary. Our team has veteran leaders, elite competitors and Brad making Simmons earn his minutes which should give him the best possible environment overcome his lack of competitiveness. On a regular lottery team with no vet leadership and minutes and touches given out regardless of production or professionalism I'd be scared about taking him. In Philly?

[Murta]

Great Murta, that means you probably have even better insight than a lot of scouts. What is you oppinion, what you see, how good he can be, any comparison you can give...is he really 3rd best prospect? Thanks in advance

There are two clear elite skills Bender possess and that have to translate at NBA level: shot-blocking instincts and passing.

According to people who watched him back in the days, he played point-forward for his youth team until he would be 15 or 16 and the only reason they switched him inside is they realized he would grown to this height. Playing off the ball at Maccabi due to the age doesn't create him opportunities to pass, but when he had played on the ball, there were some great passes he tried but his teammates failed to make the basket. This is the only one I remember was successful:
[tweet]https://twitter.com/Sebastianctcb/status/672502413941678080[/tweet]

His shot-blocking instincts are real. Granted, Bender's skinniness won't allow him to actually anchor NBA defense from the get go and he can do it 40% of the time at this level, but that shouldn't be a concern. His wingspan is 7'1" (average for big-men) and standing reach 9'3" (above average) which would allow him to be a good defender inside. The ability to switch in p&r is also very enticing. Although he doesn't contest perimeter shots well. That has to improve. Yep, it is ridiculous as it sounds, he needs to make perimeter players attack the rim.

He has always been a willing shooter (sometimes to his fault) and coaches have always pushed him to shoot. It is finally giving fruits this season. Bender basically became well above average shooter since the last season when he was well below average. This is probably the best development sign about him.

At the senior level, he doesn't have post game and doesn't rebound particularly great which can mostly be attributed to the age, position switch and lack of strength. His rebounding ability is slowly but steadily improving through the season. Emphasis on both slowly and steadily.

Bender's lack of offensive aggression is overblown when people look at the context and the fact he played aggressively when they asked him to. Context:

Spoiler:

Scouts have watched him on the 1996-97 generation squad where he was by far the youngest and where his teammates have been great youth players (Eurohopes has Arapović as #2 in 1996, Zubac as #3 in 1997, Slavica has been great in last year's u19s, Žižić is producing in very strong ABA competition since last season and Mazalin was a great youth player, point-forward whose skills haven't translated to any older level). It is not like Bender played with bunch of scrubs (for reference Givony currently has Žižić and Zubac as #22 and #21 in this year's draft link, both play inside like Bender).
And nobody can seriously expect him to be more than a spot up shooter for Maccabi. I'd like to see him pay more in pick and roll, I don't even understand why they aren't because my eye test thinks it looks good, but whatever.

My overall take on Bender is that his talent level is as high as anybody's in this draft, but his current quality level isn't. His contract would suggest the plan for Bender was to develop and contend for top 3 in 2017 or 2018, but the overall depression of this draft pushed him earlier. Is he currently the third best player? Nope. Is he the third best talent? Absolutely. If the team feels they know how to develop talent and they're committed to it, drafting Bender 3rd is no-brainer. Looking for quick-fix? Pass.

Given the variables, I'd probably rank him 3rd or 4th most attractive prospect vs Brown. Brown has a ton of NBA ready skills and awful shooting & BBIQ. Bender is much more a complete player with lower quality level. With the right development plan, I have little doubt Bender has a high chance to be great. He checks 4 out of 5 things I look for in prospects (at least one skill to get minutes, NBA level athleticism, noticeable development, no red flags). The one he doesn't check is current ability. But you have to figure out the age.

[klemen4]

Thanks Murta..in draft you always have to go for long term best project. Probably would be good for him to stay in Europe for year or two. Better to play in good european competition than to be in NBDL.

[Crossy2008]

Thanks Murta..in draft you always have to go for long term best project. Probably would be good for him to stay in Europe for year or two. Better to play in good european competition than to be in NBDL.

First off, great work Murta!!

Although what I have seen from him is a year old, there are certain skills that translate well to today's NBA. He can switch on the pick and roll as a seven footer and do a good job of forcing an outside contested shot. As Murta mentioned, he tends to drift too far off the guy he is guarding, which allows the offensive player to get an outside shot off, so maybe he needs to work on measuring a guy a little better to allow him to contest the shot better. But, I'd rather a guy takes a rushed outside shot than a drive by layup.

Another thing that will translate well is his shooting ability combined with his ability to dribble drive to the hoop, and all that combined with his good passing skills.

Even if he is a project, I think I would be more than happy if he were getting some minutes on this team right now as opposed to Zeller or Amir, and Amir played pretty good last night. If we can get a Horford, or some other big, resign Sully, and have Olynyk coming off the bench, then Bender would be in a good situation where he could develop and maybe some of his skills would translate pretty quickly. Actually, don't resign Sully and have Horford and KO start with Bender and Mickey filling out the bench bigs.

I don't see Darko is this guy at all. Darko thought he was already great when he came into the NBA, but Bender seems to be more reserved, and a lot less cocky.

[Leprechaun18]

If the Celtics want another big that can't rebound (see Zeller & KO), then Poeltl would be their guy.

If his rebounding was better, I would consider him, but it's pretty bad for a guy his height. Oregon just blew his team out and he was a joke on the glass.

Hmm. He averages 9 rbs per game. That was not his best game.

Watch the games not highlights. I've seen him play about 8 times now. I know he averages 9 rebounds. His conference is weak and he is 7 feet tall. He should be averaging 12-14 rebounds a game in that conference.

He doesn't fight for rebounds. He doesn't rebound in traffic. He doesn't go for rebounds. Zeller averaged about the same or more rebounds than Poeltl.

A good rebounder doesn't have a bad rebounding game. Rebounding is about desire, heart, and positioning. That's why Zeller an KO struggle on the boards. That's why WCS struggles on the glass.

Well the kid is only a soph. and has better stats than T.Zeller did as a senior. Poeltl shut down Okafor last season allowing only 6 pts and gave up no offensive rebs. He improved dramatically this last season and boxes out consistently. D. Sabonis is a better rebounder, but I cannot think of another. I want to see how all these prospects measure out. It also depends on what pick we get.