Prediction Time ! - Discuss the draft real-time here!

[Manocad]

Anyone who watches a highlight video of Bam and Duren side by side and wants to argue that one is clearly more athletic than the other is blowing smoke. They're both very mobile guys who run the floor extremely well for their size and extremely similarly IMO, quite frankly.

[zeebneeb]

Anyone who watches a highlight video of Bam and Duren side by side and wants to argue that one is clearly more athletic than the other is blowing smoke. They're both very mobile guys who run the floor extremely well for their size and extremely similarly IMO, quite frankly.

Nope. Now that Duren is a Detroit Piston, he is clearly more athletic then Bam.

[440BB]

I guess the Pistons got lucky that Charlotte didn't have a better offer in place when Duren and Williams were both available at 13. With Cleveland drafting 14, they were comfortable enough to move out of 13 and still get their preferred center. I'm thankful their roster and cap situation led them to give that pick up.

[whitehops]

yeah bam isn't quite as explosive or long an athlete as duren but he is very fluid, which is a different and honestly more functional type of athleticism for the nba. he was also a little more advanced dribbling in college but both flashed similar ability to pass the ball imo.

duren still has tons of time to work on his body as well as his game, but right now i'd say his "fluidness (fluidity?)" is somewhere between dwight howard's rigid, straight-line athleticism and bam's.

[whitehops]

also, between drafting isaiah stewart and duren i think troy weaver is just targeting the most muscle-bound 18 year old centers he can find.

[Manocad]

Anyone who watches a highlight video of Bam and Duren side by side and wants to argue that one is clearly more athletic than the other is blowing smoke. They're both very mobile guys who run the floor extremely well for their size and extremely similarly IMO, quite frankly.

Nope. Now that Duren is a Detroit Piston, he is clearly more athletic then Bam.

Reminds me of our resident Hayes hater who decided Hayes was a lost cause long before he played his career total of 92 games but has stated that not much should be expected from Duren until year 3.

[MotownMadness]

also, between drafting isaiah stewart and duren i think troy weaver is just targeting the most muscle-bound 18 year old centers he can find.

At least nobody will be getting away with any cheap shots on us

[theBigLip]

Last year’s draft. Entertaining read.

[bstein14]

I think Mathurin has a better chance to be what we need in the starting lineup between Cade and Bey... so I like his potential fit best. I don't think he has the highest upside but but he should be solid and plays winning basketball. He's like the Patrick Williams of this draft to a degree. I could see Weaver liking him as a Pistons DNA type guy.

I'd still take whoever is left between Ivey and Murray, with a slight edge going to Ivey at this point but not enough to actually trade anything to move up. If anything, I wouldn't mind trading down to #6 is just taking whoever is left out of those 3 because its a lesser salary and we could possibly get a slight asset on the trade down of one spot.

Not a bad call here... It really seemed everyone knew the 3 options were going to be Murray, Ivey or Mathurin and all of them had their pros and cons and you could make an argument for any of those 3.

[theBigLip]

I think Mathurin has a better chance to be what we need in the starting lineup between Cade and Bey... so I like his potential fit best. I don't think he has the highest upside but but he should be solid and plays winning basketball. He's like the Patrick Williams of this draft to a degree. I could see Weaver liking him as a Pistons DNA type guy.

I'd still take whoever is left between Ivey and Murray, with a slight edge going to Ivey at this point but not enough to actually trade anything to move up. If anything, I wouldn't mind trading down to #6 is just taking whoever is left out of those 3 because its a lesser salary and we could possibly get a slight asset on the trade down of one spot.

Not a bad call here... It really seemed everyone knew the 3 options were going to be Murray, Ivey or Mathurin and all of them had their pros and cons and you could make an argument for any of those 3.

Agreed. I was big on Ivey and/or Mathurin. When I saw Mathurin play in college, he just carried himself as such a badass. I figured he would be a solid player for sure, but didn’t think he would take off as fast as he did.

[Kalamazoo317]

My personal ranking was Math > Murray > Ivey. I'm hoping by next year I think I was dead wrong, but not so far.

[NYPiston]

The Pistons will pick Murray
I want the Pistons to pick Mathurin

The Kings will wind up picking Ivey. I think all the talk of them picking Murray is typical smokescreen stuff so I'm not accounting for Ivey dropping to 5. Their GM has been picking BPA the last few drafts despite need so I think the same will apply this time although BPA differs for everybody so who knows.

Also, and I've said it before. I predict that IF Ivey falls to 5 that Weaver will take Mathurin over Ivey which I don't think would be the worst thing in the world but I'm sure most of the Pistons fanbase will think of it as the end of days.

I always find these hindsight threads interesting. Thanks for bumping it.

I wanted Mathurin because I saw him as the best fit. An athletic scoring machine with length next to Cade would have been the ideal. Was wrong about them taking Mathurin over Ivey, obviously.
I was happy with Ivey because of all the excitement he brings and I felt, still feel, like he had the highest ceiling in this draft after Chet but I questioned and still question the fit. We'll see...