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What was the Bigger draft steal?

Iggy at 9? or Thad at 12?

Thad at 12.

Iggy was a no brainer when we chose him at 9. I believe a few were a bit skeptical drafting Young at 12. Even according to him he did not expect to be drafted so early.

depends on what vantage your judging it on.

i remember some had andre as high as 3 or 4. The fact that he was available so low, and we lucked out w/ a huge reach right in front of us, is amazing. On a pure talent standpoint thad should never have gone 12th.

gun to my head, i pick iguodala. when i think of steals i think of basically getting away with murder or something. to get someone who was rated at like 3/4 at 9 is getting away with murder.

Thad was more of a great pick than a steal. we probably could have got thad a couple of spots down.

just my opinion could be wrong.

I think it's really too early to answer this. We don't have enough to go on with the 2007 draft class. Really depends on what these guys do over the next few years. As much as I like Young, it could be argued that all the guys ahead of him could turn out to be very good too. The only guys who went ahead of Thad that I never liked at all (and still don't) were Brewer and Law.

As for Iguodala, he was really only a steal based on the fact that Toronto took Arujao. I liked all the players in front of Andre a lot. Who know how could Livingston could have been without the injuries. By all reports I saw, the Sixers were exteemly high on Biedrins that year and if Iguodala went to Toronto, he likely would have been our pick. Biedrins is still so young so who knows how good he can get.

Agree with TSF:

Too early to tell.

But glad PHI has both.

Iguodala

I'm glad we didn't draft Nelson(the guy I wanted the Sixers to draft)

It's Andre Iguodala, based on where he was projected to go pre-draft. We were very lucky that Thad had that mediocre college season though.

Thad at 12.

When we picked Iggy at 9, I thought two things: 1) Cool! We got a good player; and 2) why didn't Toronto pick him?

The gap between expectations and ceiling is bigger for Thad than Iggy, which makes getting Thad more of a steal for me.

Sam at 21.
Lou at 45.

For Sam it may have been a long road from project to becoming good starting center- but he still was a steal as a late first rounder. He is still young- only 8 months older than Okafor. He really paid off.

Lou was a steal. Getting anything that late in the draft is great- but at only 21 he shows glimpses of star qualities (and then there are nights like yesterday...)

Chicago was heavily rumored to be interested in Iggy at 3, as was Washington at 5. Chicago selecting Gordon and Deng, and Washington trading out of 5, and Toronto doing...you know, was absolutely incredible luck and makes Iguodala a great steal.

IMO Thad wasn't a great steal, but a great find. Not many people had Thad going top 12. We just saw the talent where others didn't.

Iguodala was the steal. I remember a lot of teams wanted him and was extremely surprised the Raptors didn't select him.

Kevin Martin at #26 and Josh Howard at #29.......

Dala was a steal. He fell into our hands. Thad wasnt a steal. He was considered a reach for how hi we took him. Why do you have to always hijack every single thread? What was the guy from Married with children that everyshow he was on it was canceled soon after? I think his name was Ted Mcginlly? You are the same thing as it comes to threads.

Neither, you guys act like they are both superstars already.

76erinSJ wrote:Dala was a steal. He fell into our hands. Thad wasnt a steal. He was considered a reach for how hi we took him.

I agree. I'd have to say Iguodala as well, mainly because a lot of people from other teams wanted him over the player their team actually ended up drafting. I know Toronto especially, with a number of Atl/Chi fans too. Cleveland, I believe had an opportunity to get the position as well. I know a lot would have liked to rewind the clock and assassinate their gms.

big123 wrote:I'd have to say Iguodala, mainly because

What's funny is that both players are both compared to Paul Pierce on nbadraft.

big123 wrote:Neither, you guys act like they are both superstars already.

Right, because the only steals are superstars.

Definitely Iggy.

When we picked Iggy, everyone was wondering how he's still available at the 9th spot. Every mock draft had him gone after the 6th overall selection.

On the other hand, when we drafted Thaddeus Young, everyone was wondering why we picked Thaddeus Young over Julian Wright and Al Thornton. And I bet there were a lot of Sixers fans over here who were disappointed by selecting Thad over the two higher rated draftees. Thaddeus Young was a disappointment in College, compared to how highly praised he was in HS. Like dbods said, "Thad wasn't a great steal, but a great find."

Iguodala was a steal...Thad a find. Amazing that Martin and Howard came out of that draft so late as well. What was Toronto thinking?

I can tell you what Toronto was thinking. They badly needed a center with size (not a bean pole like Biedrins or Swift because pairing either of these two with Bosh would have gave the Raps the thinniest frontcourt ever). Coming out of college, Araujo was billed as the most NBA ready center available. Toronto had other needs as well (SG/SF and a PG). It would have been Jameer Nelson here but then-GM Babcock overspent on bringing back to the Raps the mentally unstable PG Rafer Alston. There were also competent SG/SFs to hold the fort so these positions weren't that important to be filled. Carter was still the ball hogging franchise player and MoPete was supposed to become the second banana in Toronto. So, they went for need ie a C, a position they could not fill in the FA market (partly because they blew their cap space on Alston). Stupid. Incredibly painful to live through the "Hoffa" era in Toronto and trying to believe the spin that management was putting out such as "big men take time to develop". Bleh.

As for who was a bigger steal, I would say Iggy for now. However, it is too early to tell. Come back in 10 years.

big123 wrote:Neither, you guys act like they are both superstars already.

and, you are...?