2008 draft final

[sonic-ben]

#4 Westbrook ... Defensive PG ... maybe like Payton
#24 Ibaka ... 6-10 reminds of Kemp... overseas
#29 DJ White traded #32 and #46
#50 Hardin 6-11 defensive player
#56 Sasha Kaun ... overseas

1 Westbrook, Watson, Ridnour
2 Durrant, Wilkens
3 Green, Marshall
4 Wilcox, Collison, DJ White
5 Hardin, Petro, Swift

[S0yb3anB0y]

I just hope Westbrook can save this year's draft. I do like Westbrook better than Bayless but the rest of the draft is ..... I really thought we should have drafted Love at 4. He will be our PF for the next 12-15 years. I just hope Westbrook ends up like Devin Harris. The 24th pick was a waste.. I AM SORRY but aren't you guys tired of a bunch of projects?!?!?!? Did everyone forget about Swift and Sene? Then again, there weren't many prospect I like that was available at #24. Couldn't we trade the pick to Portland for a future first?

In the 2nd round, there were tons of talent left to be had.

Malik Harrison
Mario Chalmers
Kyle Weaver
CDR
Bill Walker

At least we did pick up a steal in DeVon Hardin.

Ok, maybe I am a little emotional right now but the draft is not as bad as I made it out to be.

[nwsports253]

Ibaka was a great pick at 24, hes going to be in Spain for 2-3 years but he's going to develop into a solid player. He was the best overseas player in the draft behind Gallinari.

DJ White is going to be one of those high energy guys off the bench, like a Millsap, David Lee, Maxiell. Hardin was a steal if he can develop an offensive game he'll be a good Center in the league. Sasha Kaun is going to make a bunch of money playing in Russia who knows if he'll ever play in the NBA.

[wiff]

Overall I liked the draft. I'd probably give the draft a solid B.

I would have liked to traded down to the 7 spot for Westbrook and land another piece but if he was going to be gone by 7 just take him and be happy with it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJUkr1xDiJs

But does that mean he starts over Watson on opening night? Can you justify bringing in a guy with the #4 pick and not start him? Personally I think he'll be starting by the All-Star game.

Sergie Ilbaka to be honest I have never seen him play but like you guys have seen the clips and have read all the reports that claim he has a ton of up side lot of hops and length. Who know how he turns out but that goes for any player. I think he is a very reasonable pick at 24. You take a solid pick with the #4 and shoot for the moon with the #24 that works for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMP7pn6V ... re=related

I watched DJ White a couple years back and was impressed with him. Nothing a matter with a 6'9" energy guy in the late first round.

Hardin seems like a nice pick up that late. He has some ridiculous hops

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I44d6ZxcJPw

And Sasha Kaun I'd be surprised to ever see him in a Sonics uniform.

I guess the only piece I would have liked to see the Sonics pick up would be a wing defender like Kyle Weaver.

Like I said I'd give it a B.

And I think it is completely obvious that Bennett is looking to be competitive in three or four years.

I watched the draft with HeavyP and Big_Mac79 both really cool guys and they both know their college prospects way better than me so it was cool to watch the draft with them.

[nwsports253]

Ibaka could turn into a Shawn Kemp type player. I hope he develop's into a big time player while hes in Spain. I saw him play during the nike hoops summit and he can jump out of the gym.

[S0yb3anB0y]

Ibaka was a great pick at 24, hes going to be in Spain for 2-3 years but he's going to develop into a solid player. He was the best overseas player in the draft behind Gallinari.

DJ White is going to be one of those high energy guys off the bench, like a Millsap, David Lee, Maxiell. Hardin was a steal if he can develop an offensive game he'll be a good Center in the league. Sasha Kaun is going to make a bunch of money playing in Russia who knows if he'll ever play in the NBA.

Or Reggie Evans. Oh well, what is done is done. I WELCOME Westbrook (GP#2)

[S0yb3anB0y]

Ibaka could turn into a Shawn Kemp type player. I hope he develop's into a big time player while hes in Spain. I saw him play during the nike hoops summit and he can jump out of the gym.

So did SENE

[BBen]

I agree with Wiff. I'll give this a B for now. I'll revise my opinion in a few years. I have a lot of hope for Ibaka and he could be a monster who knows? Maybe I'll have a Spanish team to root for when I'm online at odd hours.

I just have to say that it could be a LOT worse. There's suicidal people on the TWolves forum after they traded Mayo. Man, this dude's hype is too much and man I can't believe those Minnesotans got so worked up for him. I'll give 2 to 1 odds that Kevin Love is a more respected player in ten years.

[nwsports253]

Kaun got trade to the Cavs

http://blogs.thenewstribune.com/sonics/

[Downtown]

As I was at a highschool graduation ceremony(not mine), I missed the entire draft.

What the heck have Portland done? I can't believe how good their GM is. They stole the day once again. Seriously.

As for the Sonics I have mixed feelings since I really don't know how things lead up to who Presti drafted. I said I like Westbrook. But at #4 I think he was a little too high. But my uneducated guess from what I heard is Presti tried to trade down to get something else and still take Westbrook but a deal didn't materialize. So he took the guy he wanted even though it was higher than he was projected since he wasn't sure that both the Clippers or Knicks wouldn't have grabbed him. Let's face it, Bayless and Westbrook, along with Gordon, Love, and Lopez all worked out for Seattle and since he had his choice of all of them Westbrook had something Presti was after more than the rest. Time will tell.

But if he knew Bayless would have fell as far as he did would he have made a deal with Charlotte or New Jersey like I suggested? Hindsight I suppose. But I did say I wanted to see a deal with either of those teams.

#24 is the biggest downer of the night for me. I just don't get why he would pick Ibaka there even though his agent told teams that Ibaka wasn't playing in the NBA for a while. With CDR still on board I would have thought he was the guy for that perimiter defender. Or Batum as the combo player. Dissapointed big time in that pick.

But he made up for it in getting DJ White. Both Djthesonicsfan and myself have talked about him as being a player that is pretty good. Good trade.

While I thought that it would be second rounders, not the #24 that Presti would try and stash away with a foreign player, I do think that Devon Hardin was a good pickup. He may never see more than a few games after being called up from the D league but he was worth the pick at where he was taken.

I"ll have more thoughts after I've seen the entire draft board which I havene't yet seen.

[djthesonicsfan]

Nice comments, wiff... although I was hoping for pictures. I agree with you for the most part, but here's my spin...

Obviously I wanted OJ Mayo. I just knew McHale was going for Love. And wow, a nice trade he made. Love & Miller for Mayo. He got the guy he wanted, Love, and Miller as a bonus. The Wolves are on their way. But what really makes it for me is that McHale out played Riley. For all Riley's scheming, he wasn't able to leverage the #2 pick. At least so far. But maybe Beasley turns out great. Maybe he's Derrick Coleman. Maybe he's been unfairly maligned. But for sure Riley's done nothing to make Beasley feel welcome in Miami. For all his self important airs, Riley's really sucked the past couple of years. And that's nice.

Anyway, given the cards he was dealt, Presti did a solid job. I like the angle he tried with the Clippers. Ok, so it fell short. It happens. But he had the courage to pick his guy. Richard Westbrook. I wasn't on board a few months ago, but after witnessing that Memphis - UCLA game I became a serious believer. Time will tell if he works out better than Bayless, but he's got all the intangibles going for him. Amazing athlete. Anyone else notice how closely his Orlando stats compare to Rose's? Great work ethic. He's already a fantastic, all-NBA caliber defender. He'll only get better on the offensive end. Excellent attitude. Unselfish. Tough. He's going to be a great teammate. A very good fit with Durant & Green. I'm reasonably sure he'll start right away... why not?

You all know I was praying for a miracle that somehow the Sonics would get Brandon Rush. Well, I guess the Rush family only plays for the Pacers. Courtney Lee would have been a great consolation prize, but no luck there either. So Serge Ibaka. Ya ok. All I've seen is the clips. I've read the reports. He's raw, but from what I've seen he's got amazing athleticism & he's active. His shot doesn't look bad. And he's a #24 pick. That's a longshot pick even in a deep draft. So we'll see. He'll probably play in Spain another couple of years. The only weird thing is that his agent sent all NBA teams a letter saying don't draft Ibaka until the 2nd round because he doesn't want to be locked into the rookie pay scale.

Of course I love the DJ White pick. My target guy at #32. Packaging the #32 & #46 to get him at #29 is fine. If he turns out decent he's locked into a relatively cheap long term contract. If not the Sonics can just not exercise the option. But I think he'll make the team. And contribute. He's tough. Reminds me a little of Elton Brand.

DeVon Hardin's big & strong. Another fantastic athlete. He can rebound & defend. I don't think his upside's much different than a lot of the bigs taken in the mid 1st round and on. I saw some mocks that had him at the end of the 1st or the start of the 2nd. A cheap replacement for Swift if he can't recover. Or maybe he makes the team if they decide to go with 14 guys. He's an excellent pick at #50.

Sasah Kahn's going to play in Russia. Maybe he grows into something. At #56 not a bad bet.

Starters - Westbrook, Durant, Green, Wilcox, Collison
Rotation - Watson, Petro, Wilkins, White
Bench - Ridnour, Marshall, Hardin?
Injured - Sene, Swift

Not bad. Could've been better with luck. But they're getting there. Hopefully Pajamas will stick with a consistent rotation & let the guys start to grow into a team. The guys Presti are adding all have the right attitudes & supreme athleticism. For now, I'm giving Presti a B+ on the draft. That's for Westbrook & White. If Ibaka turns out to half of what he could be than maybe that goes to an A in a couple of years.

[LarBrd33]

My reaction to the draft:

I agree with Dick Vitale that the Sonics should have taken Kevin Love. Especially considering that it was pretty clear that is who the Timberwolves wanted and we could have easily traded Love and picked up Mayo instead.

Never heard of any of the other scrubs. Bummer man... draft was a big disappointment for the Sonics.

[slick_watts]

i guess i give the draft a C+.

i like russell westbrook. i think a lot of people get caught up with 'he was picked too high' but obviously presti attempted to trade down unsuccessfully. it's not like westbrook would have fallen that far, i can't imagine the knicks not picking him despite what donnie walsh said about gallinari being 'his man'.

serge ibaka is a wasted pick. like i said, i will be very suprised if this guy is in the nba in three years. mo sene had higher stock than ibaka has and look where it's gotten him. it's so difficult to gauge young, foreign players and they are often drafted on the basis that they'll improve significantly and their 'raw talent' will translate into basketball talent. this is a fallacy for the most part and has been proven time and again with the low success rate of young, foreign, first round picks (especially big men). i hope i'm wrong and ibaka works out, but the odds are very heavily against him.

i like the d.j. white pick. white is pretty much the opposite of ibaka, four year player who's proven himself at the college level. white can be a very serviceable big man off the bench, i like his rebounding and defense. i don't think his offense translates well to the nba but who knows.

devon hardin is ok. not much talent left at that point.

in all, aside from the ibaka pick i'm happy with what went down. i am 100% baffled why presti did not select darrell arthur at #24, kidney ailment or not. or joey dorsey, or even deandre jordan. chris douglas-roberts was there too. nobody here has seen ibaka play (he's a 'youtube prospect') so i don't get the support for that pick, but whatever.

[sonic-ben]

Westbrook .... luv him... He will set tone on defense for whole team.

Ibaka.... 3 yrs from now people will like him.... Sene was compared to a raw mutombo
Ibaka compares to raw Kemp...

DJ White.... look like a trade coming....

Hardin ... play defense and blocks shots... atheltic ..... Sene and Swift hurt

Luv it! Sam Pesti culture.... defense

[big L]

I'm not sure why you don't "take a chance" on Darrell Arthur at 24. He will fit in very well down in Houston, and may very well be a starter in a year.

So let's get this right... Portland walks away with Bayless, Diogu, and Batum? With Roy next to him, Bayless won't have the traditional PG pressure on him. Great draft for those guys.

[wiff]

So I found out a little information about DeVon Hardin. The kid had a 4.0 GPA in High School according to the profile at http://www.nbadraft.net/admincp/profile ... ardin.html

That is very impressive. Plus I have to say watching this dunk is pretty crazy. He takes one step and gets his head up around the rim. He can get up off his feet quick.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I44d6Zxc ... re=related

[djthesonicsfan]

Nice. Too bad that dunk is the extent of his offensive game. Still, at #50, Hardin was a great pick. He can defend & rebound. He's got a legit chance to make the team.

[sonic-ben]

What PG will be traded?

Will we trade Collison or wilcox and to who?

[djthesonicsfan]

When I consider Presti, who he is, where he came from, the type of guys he's acquiring, it's clear to me that Collison is going nowhere. Wilcox might be another story. Neither Watson nor Ridnour have demonstrated they're in the long term plan. I completely expect one of them to be traded for the first reasonable offer that comes along like a bit more than an expiring. There's lots of teams that really need a starting PG... Knicks, Cavaliers, Heat, Nuggets, Clippers & Kings. Believe it or not, but other than Hinrich either Watson or Ridnour might be the best available.