Grade the Warriors' Draft

[Sid the Squid]

I don't like to give an opinion on players I havnt watched play...You're able to cover both rounds of the draft..Impressive BS...Good to have you back R

[Chris Cohan]

If you haven't watched Weaver play, you haven't been watching even the college ball readily available to you via FSN, CSN, whatever. Unless you're out of all Pac 10 markets, which may well be in Stockton. I really don't know.

But Weaver was a known commodity and was on national television more than once in the last four years. Meanwhile, your harshest draftee criticism was lobbed at a prospect NO ONE in the general public had seen play, Yi Jianlian.

Too late for the ethical escape route. You're just phoning it in.

[Mylie10]

There were several televised Chinese games prior to Yi being drafted.

As for Weaver, he's a very solid pick. I would call him a combo guard and not a PG even though he led his team in assists. I didn't fact check though so don't roast me for going off of memory.

doesn't matter what you want to call him though, he'll be a good rotational bench guy for years.

[Sid the Squid]

The Chinese playoffs were on NBATV last year...It's so obvious that Yi is and always has been a stiff..I can't believe you're still believing the 23 year old is going to make it big in this league...

Good luck hanging with that opinion

[Sid the Squid]

I seriously doubt you're watching all these games Rowell...As soon as we draft Randolph, you become an expert on the kid's current game and potential..

I am not being critical of you..I love all this BS..You keep this board alive... ..I love you just the way you are..Please don't change and become a bore.

[Chris Cohan]

There were several televised Chinese games prior to Yi being drafted.

As for Weaver, he's a very solid pick. I would call him a combo guard and not a PG even though he led his team in assists. I didn't fact check though so don't roast me for going off of memory.

doesn't matter what you want to call him though, he'll be a good rotational bench guy for years.

Weaver is definitely not a pure point but he ran offense a lot. He's fine for reserve NBA lead guard work. Felton and Wallace being aggressively shopped only confirms that Brown thinks highly of Weaver, Augustin, and of course Richardson. Weaver is very good.

I'm not sure how Yi's outstanding work in the Chinese playoffs, and not just the sparsely US televised work, hurts him. He may lack heart but let's see who does better this year between him and the Old White Man Favorite, Kevin Love.

I have no horse in this race.

[FNQ]

I'm not sure how Yi's outstanding work in the Chinese playoffs, and not just the sparsely US televised work, hurts him. He may lack heart but let's see who does better this year between him and the Old White Man Favorite, Kevin Love.

Quite the copout Love's in a horrible situation, while NJ is going to want to play with their new toy...

Situation >>> talent

Why does everyone care about Kyle Weaver now? I remember watching some WSt. games and I vaguely remember the name, but I couldn't even tell you who the NBA prospect was on the court... but much like any 6'6 PG with "good PG skills and defense", I will chalk him up as a Reece Gaines until I see him on an NBA court. There's no reasoning with me.

[Sid the Squid]

There were several televised Chinese games prior to Yi being drafted.

As for Weaver, he's a very solid pick. I would call him a combo guard and not a PG even though he led his team in assists. I didn't fact check though so don't roast me for going off of memory.

doesn't matter what you want to call him though, he'll be a good rotational bench guy for years.

I have no horse in this race.

No no no no..You don't get to get off the hook like that...That goes against all board rules..You're are a Yi believer untill you officially declare yourself off the bandwagon...Tottally illegal to declare you dont have a stance..

I vote to ban R until July

[Chris Cohan]

I seriously doubt you're watching all these games Rowell...As soon as we draft Randolph, you become an expert on the kid's current game and potential..

I am not being critical of you..I love all this BS..You keep this board alive... ..I love you just the way you are..Please don't change and become a bore.

Ditto. I'm glad you returned after your brief hiatus.

Randolph entered the NCAA season as a top-5 talent. Lots of folks hyped him. He was not someone to give up too much to move up for and I was shocked he was there at 14. So you'll excuse me if I didn't say much about him before now. But he was a known commodity. Very well known.

I hyped Brandon Rush and took on some pretty strong CDR favoritism in the process. I won't say the way the draft played out says anything terribly conclusive about the NBA differences between the two, the only things I care about.

But it says something.

I'm on a mini-Yi bandwagon now that he's in a big market with a serious commitment behind his success. He's got the goods to be good in the league. No reason to doubt it. Plenty of reason to be opposed to the ridiculous draft hype surrounding him, though. I think that backlash is a little overdone to the same tune the old schoolers' current Kevin Love infatuation is. Both have significant NBA limitations.

[Sid the Squid]

I watched Randolph play once during the season..That was in Hawaii ..He was nobody..A tall scared thin kid...He did catch my eye though..But I didnt watch LSU play the rest of the season...I remember liking their center Chris Johnson too..Another talented freakishly skinny kid who made a brief impression on me.

[Chris Cohan]

I'm not sure how Yi's outstanding work in the Chinese playoffs, and not just the sparsely US televised work, hurts him. He may lack heart but let's see who does better this year between him and the Old White Man Favorite, Kevin Love.

Quite the copout Love's in a horrible situation, while NJ is going to want to play with their new toy...

Situation >>> talent

Why does everyone care about Kyle Weaver now? I remember watching some WSt. games and I vaguely remember the name, but I couldn't even tell you who the NBA prospect was on the court... but much like any 6'6 PG with "good PG skills and defense", I will chalk him up as a Reece Gaines until I see him on an NBA court. There's no reasoning with me.

I'm not sure what you mean by "Love's situation" but the Wolves are uber-committed to him and now they have to work it out somehow. And I've said he has talent the entire time. So does Yi. What exactly are you trying to say, that neither has any talent?

Yi is in New Jersey as much to make the organization boatloads of cash as to play basketball and, you're absolutely right, he'll be built around appropriately to play to his strengths. I fail to see the issue with that and was quite adamant about his terrible fit in Milwaukee and Milwaukee's additional issue of not being committed to much of anything worthwhile. Hammond made a steal of a trade, though. He wins again.

As for Weaver, I'm sorry you didn't see the ability and are not in on his intelligence and maturity. Or his potentially brilliant guard defense. He's a very strong NBA reserve PROSPECT and that's good second round drafting in every way. But I am not in love with Charlotte's selection of Ajinca based solely upon a few workouts. Not sold, though I have seen next to nothing of Ajinca. He sounds pretty raw. So I can't say much about that part of their draft.

[FNQ]

No... I'm saying that even with Love's high draft status, who do you think is #1 priority in MIN? It's still Al, and he brings the rare talent of inside scoring - same as Love. He, like Love, needs to be protected by the same type of C. What I'm saying is, there's only 2 low blocks in Minny, and you only need one to operate on either.

Yi on the other hand, now HAS to be forcefed the ball. How can the Nets trade for Yi and then let him be as complacent as he was on MIL? So now you are forcing him to do stuff with the ball, and as he showed last year, he's about as raw as anyone in that draft at that aspect... the only positive aspect is that Devin Harris is quick enough to allow Yi some drive and dish open jumpers, but even those aren't gimmes - his jumpshot eFG% was below Wright's, even with the 3pt% kick. Not to say Wright's jumper is better than Yi's, or close, but to say that Yi still has trouble getting off his jumper under any sort of pressure.

NJ is banking on Devin Harris, Yi, and Brook Lopez. Kiki just loves to make franchises completely stagnant...

Kyle Weaver became a great pick the second he was drafted by Larry Brown... unless he can really run the PG spot at the NBA level, I'm not enamored with 'brilliant' defense in college...

BTW I take back what I said about seeing him - he was the 'forward' that destroyed us to the tune of 17-2-4 this year - but he hardly looked that impressive during the game... the WSU F's were the ones actually playing the great defense, shutting down Ryan Anderson.

I'd like to know the kid's physicals (most notably, wingspan)... he seems not to be a pure PG, so I want to know if he has the long arms to distract jumpshooters and disrupt passing lanes at SG... otherwise I don't see what makes it a great pick other than LB.

[Chris Cohan]

You don't know anything about Weaver, I don't know anything about plenty of this year's draft picks.

It happens. We like mostly the same player qualities and aptitudes, I think.

In the case of Randolph, he's nowhere near NBA ready on defense. There's no way to evaluate his defensive projection from SEC game tape but his intelligence, coachability, and makeup are far more important and I don't think we've got much public info to discuss on all that quite yet.

Weaver is one I just happened to be paying attention to. I like him a lot and would have been happy to pick him up with a spare second rounder. I'd simply trust that he can defend in the NBA at this pont, until you find some footage for your own edification. He plays part time point guard just fine and he could be one of the best rookie defenders this year, no problem. His offense is just OK but in a transition game his intelligence and athleticism would make him better than Barnes and Pietrus. He passes far better than either and is much smarter and basketball savvy than both.

Part of the reason I know about Weaver is because I try to find out a bit about defensive minded players in college year to year and get a sense of their pro potential, especially fringe second round wing players, because those make excellent and cheap bench players in precisely the sorts of team makeups you and I both prefer to the Nelson S t ball act. But the other part is just that he was hyped by a few internet sources in years past and even a bit this year and he sounded interesting. So Weaver hit my radar more than some others (like Forbes - I don't know anything about that guy).

But the only guy I ever made any noise about was Rush because not only is he a great wing defender, he's a polished offensive player, too. I hashed that out already and I recall we were in agreement. I was all for a solid conventional wing this year until Randolph and Hendrix dropped to us. I liked DJ White better than Hendrix but the Warriors ultimately made no moves pre-draft so we didn't have a great shot at him. The good fortune was really nice to get for a change after missing Gay by one, Nick Young by a few, and so on and so forth.

Would have been happier to get Bill Walker than Weaver, of course, but so it goes and we'll have to settle for a potentially very solid 3/4/5 rotation, instead. Pity.

Anyway, Yi was a nice throw in in a clear salary dump of Jefferson. Carter is suposedly on the move soon, too, though I have my doubts about the Nets getting anything worthwhile for him. So Yi playing high level ball besides the serious cash boon is gravy for the Nets.

Still, Jefferson is a special 3 in the league and he's still in his prime. Milwaukee was relevant the moment they staffed their front office and coaching seat professionally. Now their on-court talent has a chance to make the playoffs in the East under Skiles. Yi is no defender. Jefferson very much is. Good and opportune swap, actually, since the Nets are looking to rule free agency in the coming two years and have every opportunity to build a stacked team.

But big for small is always OK if extenuating interests affect take back demands.

[Thugleavy34]

S t ball...I like it...

[FNQ]

From what I'm hearing, Weaver would have made a great 2nd rounder for us... backup 1/2, mostly transition player - at least for the regular season.

I'll just always be very weary of guards with not even a decent jump shot, regardless of where they are picked. Usually takes a special type of player to be a good guard without a legit jumper. Weaver will have some hurdles to clear in my mind, unless he develops that J out to the the point where you have to contest wide open jumpers...

[Mylie10]

From what I'm hearing, Weaver would have made a great 2nd rounder for us... backup 1/2, mostly transition player - at least for the regular season.

I'll just always be very weary of guards with not even a decent jump shot, regardless of where they are picked. Usually takes a special type of player to be a good guard without a legit jumper. Weaver will have some hurdles to clear in my mind, unless he develops that J out to the the point where you have to contest wide open jumpers...

What makes Weaver an attractive 2nd rounder is that he can play 1 or 2. Guard 1 or 2. His defense is what stands out. And he makes smart plays. Lowe got the pub, but Weaver was the glue.

He's solid. Not a starter, but solid.

[Chris Cohan]

Reg,

I agree with you about prospects who don't have NBA jump shots needing some immediate fundamentals work before unleashing them in the NBA game fulltime but I'm not sure why you think Weaver is in this group. Perhaps from his January DraftExpress writeup? I hope it's not the same writer as the September one - In September, midrang work is Weaver's bread and butter. In January, suddenly his lack of a midrange game is very confusing to the otherwise insightful author.

What he lacks is a consistent offensive approach, in part due to the WSU system but also due to his only recent turn to some conventional wing play in preparation for his probable NBA role. His shot is much better than whatever the DX writer is concluding and his percentages improved dramatically this year, as he worked to be a stronger NBA prospect. He actually has the corner three pretty well in play now and that makes him a Bruce Bowen type at worst on part time offense. But as far as adding great handles for a 2 defender to a comprehensive offensive scheme backing up a defense-first NBA system? There were no better options in this year's draft. There just weren't. He may not pan out perfectly but he's a crazy perfect fit for Brown in theory.

Once you see his slashing, man-man work, and handling, you'll forget the Bowen comparison entirely on offense. In Brown's favored motion and movement sets, Weaver immediately replaces hacks like McInnis, who is gone anyway. Like any rookie, he'll probably take his lumps. But the kid's head is supposed to be one of the best and most ready in this draft class. He's very efficient and extremely coachable. Like you said, the coach he was drafted to play for may end up establishing him as a very productive young player when another fit might have left him on the bench for a long time. We'll see. He's "just a second rounder."

Sid must be getting fed up with all of this talk about some other team's second round draft pick but if we're not watching the Cats very closely, we're kidding ourselves. They've got our heartbeat and our former GM over there with MJ's charisma and a Hall of Fame coach. If Wright doesn't get serious burn this year as Augustin, Weaver, and Ajinca do, and if Charlotte is good while we miss the playoffs again in a lame duck vet/coach campaign, We Lose.