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The June 2007 NBA Draft was hyped up to epic proportions as one of the best in recent years. With the NBA instituting the new age/school regulations for declaring, 2007 was a special year in because that it included essentially the top high school players from 2008 as well as the usual crowd of refined college athletes.

With potential superstars Oden and Durant on the board, as well as a load of other talent available, the 2007 NBA Draft was supposed to be very strong AND deep. This was the draft you wanted to be in, as many teams tried to trade players in order to obtain the many hot commodities available.

However, after 2 months of play in the NBA I'm having second thoughts about how strong this draft class will actually be. I think it's WAY over hyped in fact.

Picks...

1. Greg Oden - Out for the year because of injury. Not saying he's a bad player, but will his knee trouble slow him down and prevent him from being the player he could be?

2. Kevin Durant - He has had a solid start so far this year but even though I am a Seattle fan he doesn't look that spectacular. He is a rookie of course, and he will no doubt improve but Carmelo and LeBron looked better in their inaugural seasons in the NBA. No doubt he will be a 25 PPG scorer in a year or two, but his shot selection has been questionable and he has a long way to go.

3. Al Horford - Junior out of Florida averaging 9 PPG in 30 MPG? He was supposed to be NBA ready but his stats are very subpar so far.

4. Mike Conley - Has had injury troubles and has waffled in and out of the Grizzly lineup all season long. For a rebuilding team you'd think he'd be out there more.

5. Jeff Green - Respectable start but nothing spectacular. Not a great shooter and is questionable whether he was a top 5 pick.

6. Yi Jianlian - A solid 11 PPG. He will get better and better...

7. Corey Brewer - Averaging 5 PPG on 33% shooting. I'm not sure if anyone has shot this bad since Tskitishvili shot 29% in his rookie campaign with Denver. This guy is supposed to be a Top 10 pick in a 'strong' draft class? Laf.

8. Brandan Wright - Who's that guy again?

9. Joakim Noah - Only 4 PPG thus far in the NBA. Has showed some improvement but i wonder if he even cracks 10 PPG in his NBA career. Not saying he can't be effective but he's a role player at best.

10. Spencer Hawes - He is young, I'll give him that. But hasn't done much so far in the NBA.

11. Acie Law - Hey isn't that the guy averaging like 5 PPG on 38% shooting? Oh but he's a distributing PG isn't he? Wait no, he's more of a 'SG' in point guards body actually...2 assists per game so far.

12. Thaddeus Young - He's barely even played so far...

13. Julian Wright - Who?

14. Al Thornton - For someone who's 24 you might expect more out of him. He hasn't been BAD per se, but nothing to right home about. I guess you can't expect a star from a 14th pick I suppose...


I'm not saying that this is a BAD draft class, or that these guys won't get any better. But I am emphasizing the point that all the hype about 2007 draft being the best since 2003, 1996 etc. is far from the truth. Even the highly looked down upon 2006 draft had many solid rookie campaigns: Bargnani, Gay, Roy, Foye, and M. Williams among others (not including the guys who bloomed in their sophmore seasons.)

We'll have to wait a few years to fully judge the 2007 draft class, but so far they have gotten off to a pretty slow start and I am a little disappointed IMO.

pr0wler wrote:7. Corey Brewer - Averaging 5 PPG on 33% shooting. I'm not sure if anyone has shot this bad since Tskitishvili shot 29% in his rookie campaign with Denver. This guy is supposed to be a Top 10 pick in a 'strong' draft class? Laf.
.

Have you watched him play yet? Kid has a major case of the "deer in headlights" issue and his confidence has been hit. But he has been a very good defender, very good rebounder and has shown flash of being a very good passer and offensive player.

A very important thing to remember also is that the coaching staff is taking his jumper apart and teaching him new form. Which will make it horrible until he gets it. His mechanics were very bad and inconsistant coming out of florida but fixing his shot (fred hoilberg is teaching him) and having him gain weight (and he has) will make him a very good player in the future.

Well, obviously the class as a whole is going to look bad without the #1 overall pick. But you also have to consider the upsides of many of the players drafted. Oden, Durant, and Conley all have monster cielings, and players like Brewer, Hawes and the two Wrights were known as long-term investments going into the draft. Horford and Yi are already contributing well and will only get better.

I think this kind of stuff was written this time last year about the 2006 draft class, and this time two years ago about the 2005 draft class, and...

All of those guys have shown flashes and promise in their very brief NBA career.

This draft wasn't overrated, you are just ignorant to all the rookies contributions, and are one of the guys who is quick to write everyone off.

It's been two months, relax fella.

Ive actually thought that this draft has been dang good, actually GREAT. Even good rookies don't really get started until the second half of the season and yet check out the whole list .

Already Yi, horford, Durant, and Conley have already cemented starting jobs, which tend to project stardom. Green, Noah, Brewer,Law, Stuckey, Young, Smith, Thornton, Williams, Cook, Dudley, Williams, Brooks all log signigficant minutes with their team. Crittendon is getting spot minutes on a team that plays 3 PG ahead of him. Rudy Fernandez and Tiago Splitter are considered two of the better players in Europe. Almond has been dominating the D-league. Only the two wrights have struggled to get time in the lottery. Chandler, Afflao, and Tucker are the only post lottery non-europeans no getting PT. No idea what is going on with Koponen.

The second round isn't as strong as some past ones but Glen Davis, Chris Richards, Aaron Gray, and Kyrylo Fesenko have all shown some nice glimpses (shaping up as one of the all time great years for bigs.

UGA Hayes wrote:Ive actually thought that this draft has been dang good, actually GREAT. Even good rookies don't really get started until the second half of the season and yet check out the whole list .

Already Yi, horford, Durant, and Conley have already cemented starting jobs, which tend to project stardom. Green, Noah, Brewer,Law, Stuckey, Young, Smith, Thornton, Williams, Cook, Dudley, Williams, Brooks all log signigficant minutes with their team. Crittendon is getting spot minutes on a team that plays 3 PG ahead of him. Rudy Fernandez and Tiago Splitter are considered two of the better players in Europe. Almond has been dominating the D-league. Only the two wrights have struggled to get time in the lottery. Chandler, Afflao, and Tucker are the only post lottery non-europeans no getting PT. No idea what is going on with Koponen.

The second round isn't as strong as some past ones but Glen Davis, Chris Richards, Aaron Gray, and Kyrylo Fesenko have all shown some nice glimpses (shaping up as one of the all time great years for bigs.

Afflalo has played nearly every game and is averaging about 12mpg, not sure how thats not getting any PT?

deeney0 wrote:I think this kind of stuff was written this time last year about the 2006 draft class, and this time two years ago about the 2005 draft class, and...

The 2005 draft class is weak

mattyj wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



Afflalo has played nearly every game and is averaging about 12mpg, not sure how thats not getting any PT?

My bad. Although i don't remember him playing against the celtics.

Leading canidate for Biggest Overreaction due to Impatience Post of 2008...

Basically, long term project players (both Wrights, Thad Young, and Hawes) are crapped on for not contributing yet. Huh?

Durant, Yi, Horford, Thornton, Law, Brewer, and Green are all contributing. Durant isn't setting the world on fire but he's sure proving he was worth the hype...

BTW, Im assuming you based this mostly off boxscores, as Horford has been a very key component for ATL this season.... and despite the team, Brewer looks to be a very good defender (havent seen him be successful on offense yet)

BTW, Thad Young the last two games has averaged 13.5 points and 8.5 rebounds. Only two games but he's getting consistent minutes lately and will hopefully start by the all-star break.

Who was calling this draft one of the best of all time?
I remember it being the Durant and Oden draft, and everybody else.
I was never that hyped up bout anybody else, especially the Florida guys. I knew Noah wouldn't do nothing in the NBA, and wasn't a fan of Brewer. Conley has been playing pretty good, since he's came back from injury.

mr.ankle wrote:The 2005 draft class is weak

Not really. CP3 and Deron Williams have proven to be top pgs in the NBA, while many solid players, as well as developing stars, have been produced. Andrew Bogut, Felton, Charlie V, Andrew Bynum, Rashad McCants, Danny Granger, Jarret Jack, Nate Robinson, Francisco Garcia, Linas Kleiza, David Lee. And thats only the first round. U still have Gomes, Monta Ellis, and Louis Williams. that the farthest thing from weak

I think everyone is playing as expected,

This draft was hyped not because of how ready most of the prospects were, but the POTENTIAL of most of these prospects. A bunch of the guys taken in the first round were 19 year old rookies, alot of these guys have star potential. It was a mixture of experienced college stars, and inexperienced, raw underclassmen. Do people actually expect rookies to look great right away?

Thad Young was one of the players in the 1st round who was criticized the most due to his failure to live up to the hype. There were individuals questioning his bball IQ and comparing him to Pietrus lmao, draft express called him dumb too. So far in his rookie campaign he has been one of the more productive rookies (when he has played he has contributed), and as I said his high bball IQ would allow him to contribute even though he lacks the experience. He's actually about to start soon, something most philly fans want to see since he has shown he can contribute in many areas(rebound, defend, score, pass), plus willie Green and carney suck.

you kinda gotta watch some of the rookies games before commenting on them, horford only takes 6-7 shots a game, is the 5th option with the starting lineup, and leads all rookies in rebounding.

mr.ankle wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



The 2005 draft class is weak

CP3, Dwill, bynum, Bogut, Marvin Willaims, Danny Granger, Monta Ellis to name a few out of that 05 draft.

The 2008 draft is the most overrated of all time .I mean look at it none of those bums have played a single minute yet in the league.

Daequan Cook is playing really well for the heat every time i see him on tv hes always hitting big shots

Al Horford is nearly avg a double double which i think he will get soon

Sean Williams and Corey Brewer have been solid

Durant is playing well

Oden is where i exspected him too be

Gray has been solid as well as richard

i dunno about the rest since i havent seen enough of them

A lot of the rookies are putting up impressive performances. Shawn Williams had a game with 7 blocks, Glen Davis had a 20pt performance as the leading scorer, Durant had 35 one game (and already hitting buzzer beaters, as a ROOKIE), Conley just had a 20 and 7 game, Jamario Moon is going to the slam dunk contest, Oden hasnt been seen, but will be good, Yi is looking like the next dirk, Green needs a jump shot and he will be good, Cook has potential, Thornton seems decent, Stucky is showing he will be good even in limited minutes, not to mention he is learning behind Billups and Rip.

I, personally can see 6 all stars and many more quality players in this draft.