Simmons Latest Mailbag Blurb

[ReasonablySober]

[waits for the GS masses]

Q: Seriously, if they did the draft over again ... I mean, you have to admit, I'd go in the top 10, right? I was the hidden gem of the 2007 draft. Everyone thought I was 6-foot-7 when I'm really 6-foot-9. Everyone was worried about my torn ACL in college when my knee was fine. Everyone called me an undersized power forward when I was really the only true power forward in that entire draft. Even your boy Chad Ford gave the Rockets a D-plus after last year's draft. Now I'm the X-factor for the Rockets as we make our push to replace the Giants as the latest Ewing Theory team. So where would I go if they did the draft over again?
--C. Landry, Houston

SG: That's an excellent question. Oden, Durant, Horford and Conley would be the first four in some order. (After Oden's knee injury, would Portland still take him first and wait a year for him? Hard to say.) After that, it gets sketchy. Jeff Green hasn't exactly lit the NBA on fire, but Seattle still takes him at No. 5 because he's a character/intangibles guy and fills a specific need for them. At No. 6, there's no way in hell that Milwaukee takes Yi with the intention of keeping him -- he's just not good enough, and if he's really 23, we're looking at some Tskitishvili potential here. I see them taking Brandan Wright instead; he's looked good in short spurts lately and might be looming as an X-factor for the playoffs because of his ability to score down low. Minnesota would follow with Al Thornton at No. 7 -- he'll never be an All-Star, and he's almost definitely one of those "good stats on bad teams" guys, but he can score in bunches and would be a nice fit with Al Jefferson. At No. 8, unquestionably, the Warriors would take Rudy Fernandez because he has more value than anyone left on the board (and they'd just wait a year for him).

That brings us to Chicago at No. 9. Joakim Noah's been OK, but he's an energy/intangibles guy and they already have plenty of those. You know what, Carl Landry? I think you go right here. The Bulls need a true power forward and you have a higher ceiling than Noah does. I'd have Noah dropping to 10 (the Kings), followed by Rodney Stuckey (who's as good as advertised) to Atlanta, Thaddeus Young (coming on like a freight train) to Philly, and then Big Baby (New Orleans), Javaris Crittenton (Clips), Corey Brewer (Pistons), Spencer Hawes (Wiz) and Jared Dudley (Jersey) rounding out the top 17.

One last thing: The No. 18 pick would be fascinating because the Warriors would be choosing between Sean Williams (an athletic rebounder/shotblocker who fits perfectly for them, right down to his potential as a head case) and Chairman Yi (possibly a bust, but a savvy pick because of the Bay Area's gigantic Asian community). Frankly, I don't know what they'd do.

Anyway, if you're scoring at home, the three "climbers" in the '07 draft would be Fernandez, Big Baby and Landry, and the four "droppers" would be Yi, Hawes, Brewer and Acie Law (although none of them would drop that far). Unlike our friends at Draft Express, I believe this will eventually end up being considered a good draft because of three potential franchise guys (the top-three ... and, yes, Horford is that good), two more potential All-Stars (Conley and, surprisingly, Thaddeus Young) and a slew of potential starters and quality role players. We will see. I'm just excited that we have a guy named "Thaddeus" in the NBA who might be really good.

[/waits for the GS masses]

[emunney]

So... how many times has Bill Simmons changed his mind on Yi this season?

[MajorDad]

well yi hasn't exactly improved as the season has gone along. A lot of people who were very hyped to draft him are now not as impressed and more than willing to trade him for a more proven commodity. how many years will it take for yi to elevate his game to tim thomas's level? 5 years?

[emunney]

He's already a better rebounder than Tim Thomas.

[skones]

He gave us reason to be excited early on but since then, he's done absolutely nothing. That's the most troubling thing about him and his game.

[emunney]

The most troubling thing about his game is that he has to play 120 of them a year.

[schweig]

Okay knee-jerk, you don't want to take Yi #6 with the intention of keeping him? How about taking him anyway and trading him for any of the 2 or 3+ offers that were still better than Brendan?

[SupremeHustle]

I was a big Brandan Wright pimp before the draft and I still think he's going to end up better than Yi. (it's easy to remember this cuz I was the ONLY one). That said, I'm willing to give our dude more than one season.

[xTitan]

I don't know about the rest of you but I am not happy about our future GM telling the rest of the league who he is going to trade.

[skones]

I liked Wright a lot until I saw what he weight at the pre-draft camp. :/

[carmelbrownqueen]

Unless Al Horford or Mike Conley fell to the Bucks, then they were pretty set with taking Yi Jianlian.

Neither B. Wright was high on their list...

[paulpressey25]

I was a big Brandan Wright pimp before the draft and I still think he's going to end up better than Yi. (it's easy to remember this cuz I was the ONLY one). That said, I'm willing to give our dude more than one season.

You also get the share the podium with Bernman. He went on record big time on here that Yi would be a bust and that he wanted Brandan Wright.

I'll admit as this troubling season ends, one does think of those three #1's and a player offered by Philly. But then I think about how well Yi played the first six weeks...that guy was a player.

[emunney]

As much as I liked and still like Yi's prospects going forward, I would have preferred Julian Wright + Splitter + Fesenko.

[carmelbrownqueen]

The expectations of some fans on this board are completely unrealistic even for a rookie. Branden Wright is playing a handful of minutes and showing some limited production, and now guys like Bill Simmons (who is putting his extreme wishy washy ways on display) and a few fans think he might have been the better pick over Yi? WOW...B. Wright has had some good moments in short spurts during games but I have seen nothing that even justifies him going as high as he did. I still think he should have gone a bit lower.

[Nowak008]

As much as I liked and still like Yi's prospects going forward, I would have preferred Julian Wright + Splitter + Fesenko.

Agreed. Thad Young, Splitter, Landry would have been sweet.

[raferfenix]

The Channing Frye/Yi comparison freaked me out. Similarly to Yi, Frye came on real strong with solid defense and a great jump shot, but then teams figured him out and his game impact disappeared never to be seen again.

However---Frye doesn't have billions of people relying on him to improve. For Yi to slack off or not do what he needs to do to improve will be dramatically more costly than for Frye. Yi would be a pariah in China if they don't think he's doing what he needs to do.

The question I see is whether or not Yi, even with the most motivation he could possibly have, can improve his game successfully where Frye has not been able to so far?

[carmelbrownqueen]

The Channing Frye/Yi comparison freaked me out. Similarly to Yi, Frye came on real strong with solid defense and a great jump shot, but then teams figured him out and his game impact disappeared never to be seen again.

However---Frye doesn't have billions of people relying on him to improve. For Yi to slack off or not do what he needs to do to improve will be dramatically more costly than for Frye. Yi would be a pariah in China if they don't think he's doing what he needs to do.

The question I see is whether or not Yi, even with the most motivation he could possibly have, can improve his game successfully where Frye has not been able to so far?

The word defense and Frye have never ever been associated. What Frye did was score.. and he scored well and rebounded the ball but he was never ever a good defender not even in college.

[carmelbrownqueen]

Looking at these stats.. THIS is the guy some of you think we should have grabbed instead of Yi??? WHAT????

http://www.nba.com/playerfile/brandan_w ... stats.html

Or This guy:

http://www.nba.com/playerfile/julian_wr ... stats.html

Come on you guys can't be serious.

[ReasonablySober]

Looking at these stats.. THIS is the guy some of you think we should have grabbed instead of Yi??? WHAT????

http://www.nba.com/playerfile/brandan_w ... stats.html

Or This guy:

http://www.nba.com/playerfile/julian_wr ... stats.html

Come on you guys can't be serious.

I wanted the guy I thought could be the best player in three years i.e. the guy with the greatest potential. After seeing Yi play, I still think Harris and Kohl made the correct choice. However, both the guys you listed are very young and it's possible that Yi's 3-4 years older. That put a dent in the potential argument.

[carmelbrownqueen]

-= original quote snipped =-



Agreed. Thad Young, Splitter, Landry would have been sweet.

We don't know if Splitter's game will even translate positively to the NBA... although I like him as a player and have seen him play very well on his current team, I'm not sure I am ready to be "wishing for him" over anyone yet.

Also, there isn't a team in their right mind that would have taken Landry in the lottery.. considering his production lately, some would have tried to steal him late in the first but still probably no higher than that. I think we are getting a little to excited too early about guys who still have a lot of proving and learning to do.