RealGM

Pacers Draft Board:

1. Derrick Rose
2. Michael Beasley
3. O.J. Mayo
4. Jerryd Bayless
5. Brook Lopez
6. Eric Gordon
7. Anthony Randolph
8. Russell Westbrook

I'm going with Jordan again.

Went with Love myself.

Love, by a mile at this point IMO.

Yeah, I think it's unavoidable...it has to be Kevin Love here.

(Can I request to add Kosta Koufos next round?)

PacersRule07 wrote:(Can I request to add Kosta Koufos next round?)

I don't think it's too ridiculous to swap Koufos for Batum. Batum isn't really projected until about the mid to late teen's, while Koufos is more of the early teen's type prospect.

I'll put Koufos up next, but Batum is going pretty high in some mock drafts, I think anyone compared to Rudy Gay should be pretty high up there.

Jordan might be the hardest guy in this draft for me to make up my mind about. You'd think he couldn't help but be good with that size and athleticism, but having watched him play in the Big 12 this year...well, he wasn't very good. Just doesn't seem to have much of a feel for the game. Kind of like Jonathan Bender, only IMO Bender had more potential and seemed to get it at least a little bit more (granted, the Bender I remember best was a little older than Jordan is now).

Who knows what percentage of guys like Jordan/Bender eventually have the lightbulb go on, and if it ever happens, Jordan will probably be very good. Picking him is a swing for the fences, which I kinda like at #11...you just might end up with a top-five-pick quality talent...but even so I think there are still three more guys besides Love that I have ahead of Jordan on my draft board. As for which three, I'm going to leave you all in suspense.

Koufos is #13 at draftexpress, and on Chad Ford's mock draft simulator, I've seen him go as #9 to the Bulls ahead of guys like A. Randolph, Westbrook, Gallinari, and D. Jordan. He's probably going to be one of my upcoming picks.

Whats all the hype with Koufos anyway? I only watched him play 1 game this year(OSU/UNC), but he got eaten alive by Tyler Hansbrough. He shots like 1/10 with 3 boards in 27 minutes.

I thought he had a very disappointing year(at least compared to hype)? What am I missing?

He has a lot of offensive skills for a guy his size. At 7'1 and only 19 years old, he's only going to get better. He's battle tested in Europe and has played well from what I've heard in some of the European Championships over there.

Also, having seen him play live against Butler, I came away pretty impressed. The crowd was giving him a hard time, but he responded and dominated the paint during stretches simply blocking shots and really didn't look intimidated. He probably was one of the big reasons OSU stayed in that game. A lot of guys with European backgrounds are a little soft due to differing basketball styles, but I haven't seen that with Koufos as he's fairly physical. I see him as a more athletic Mehmet Okur.

As for him getting dominated by Hansbrough, that's a pretty tough cover for a freshman going up against a much quicker 6'9 College Player of the Year. I'm surprised they didn't put Othello Hunter on Hansbrough.

U-18 European Championship: Serbia Completes the Grand Slam
August 15, 2007
Ten days, that