2014 NBA Draft Prospects Thread #5 | Raps picking 20th

[cammac]

Looks like we can get a good player at 20th in fact if DX is right and I think they are a better indicator than NBA Draft who doesn't scout European players well.
20th take Anderson ( because he can anchor 2nd unit next year), Porzingis ( 1/2 of potential Baltic Twin Towers ), Capella in that order.
37th Inglis (doubt if available like to get late 1st), Bogdanovic ( doubt he is available ),Dinwiddie in that order
59th Bachynski

[God Squad]

snip

Thanks for the vid and time stamp Undefeated, it's nice to get another quick source for Jabari D for us lazy people

But to me, the good plays you labeled are meh, and the rest are a combo of bad and the ugly

For once I agree fully with you Doc. Defensively he needs a lot of work.

[sweetcity]

outside of Lavine, what under the radar player has the most star upside? Bogdanovic?

[HolyMage110]

Payton seems like a kid with star potential

[Tortiglioni]

outside of Lavine, what under the radar player has the most star upside? Bogdanovic?

Bogdanovic has zero "star" upside. His upside is a serviceable NBA player.

[Raptorfan2012]

Looks like we can get a good player at 20th in fact if DX is right and I think they are a better indicator than NBA Draft who doesn't scout European players well.
20th take Anderson ( because he can anchor 2nd unit next year), Porzingis ( 1/2 of potential Baltic Twin Towers ), Capella in that order.
37th Inglis (doubt if available like to get late 1st), Bogdanovic ( doubt he is available ),Dinwiddie in that order
59th Bachynski

Anderson will be nice, but watching the very limited clips of Damien Inglis, seems like he has great court vision too. Inglis can also handle the ball decently (nice long arms), but has the body of a Lebron (6'8, 240 ilbs, 19 yrs old only). Guy is oozing of potential.

[wfnshow316]

What about Melvin Ejim - how come he's getting no love - DraftExpress doesn't have him as being drafted and NbaDraftnet has him going after Khem Birch - that I don't see - I saw him a few times against Kansas and I thought he handled himself well.

[gerrit4]

outside of Lavine, what under the radar player has the most star upside? Bogdanovic?

Bogdanovic has zero "star" upside. His upside is a serviceable NBA player.

From what I've seen of him, I agree. I'd be interested in taking him with #37, as he seems like one of those spurs type of role players that can give you solid minutes off the bench, doing a bit of everything.

[Indeed]

Well if he can guard the big sf of the league eg Lebron, Durant etc, is a good playmaker, can shoot the 3 well, can create his own shot, get to the rim, sure.

His agility test is among the worst SF, I think even DeRozan is better than him.
If his lateral quickness isn't good enough, he may have trouble guarding perimeter players.

The game of basketball is a reflexive sport where you read, anticipate and react. Going through a series of tests isn't going to determine how well a prospect will be defensively because these tests are pre-planned agility tests that you can practice to improve your score. Where as when playing defense you need perceptual skills and reactive agility because you're constantly trying to anticipate what the ball-handler is trying to do which is nothing like the box-agility test.

I agree that it is a reflexive sport where you read and react as a defender, but I also believe physical attributes are important as well. Even if you know what is coming, but cannot react to it, it wouldn't be effective.

[Indeed]

wasnt Harden supposed to be a lock-down defender when he came out?! these draft sites have been wrong so many times i wanna puke lol

Lockdown defender and the name James Harden have never been associated terms as far as I can remember.

only his "Intangibles" are higher. his Defense > his Potential lol

What kind of poor scouting site is that?
Did you read Draft Express?

[Indeed]

After Wiggins Who is the Best SF in the Draft? On draftExpress they have Rodney Hood from Duke going 15 - is he the next best SF. Reason I ask is because it's possible to move up in this draft and if SF is who you are looking for it seems likely you could get him at 10, 13 or 15 (and those teams would probably trade back for the right price). Or would you target Stauskis as our top prospect - three point specialist of the bench (although I think that Ross is a better fit there)

Hood is SG, his wingspan is 6'8, which is around DeRozan's wingspan.

Hood is not a SG.

If DeRozan is a SG, I think Hood maybe played as SG.

[Thespianoid]

I agree that it is a reflexive sport where you read and react as a defender, but I also believe physical attributes are important as well. Even if you know what is coming, but cannot react to it, it wouldn't be effective.

This was the defining characteristic of Jonas' 2nd season. His newly added weight took away enough of his foot speed where he could not move his physical parts/to spots at the rate he was used to. He reacted at the same time on defense as when he could move more fluidly, and thus was a split second late too often. There were flashes of perfect timing, but they were few and far between.

I really hope that sprint coach up in Oregon gets his foot speed/mobility back to where it was so Jonas can go back to being one of the more mobile bigs in the NBA.

[OAKLEY_2]

I agree that it is a reflexive sport where you read and react as a defender, but I also believe physical attributes are important as well. Even if you know what is coming, but cannot react to it, it wouldn't be effective.

This. So much, It was the defining characteristic of Jonas' 2nd season. His newly added weight took away enough of his foot speed where he could not move his physical parts/to spots at the rate he was used to. He reacted at the same time on defense as when he could move more fluidly, and thus was a split second late too often. There were flashes of perfect timing, but they were few and far between.

I really hope that sprint coach up in Oregon gets his foot speed/mobility back to where it was so Jonas can go back to being one of the more mobile bigs in the NBA.

By the time they made the playoffs he was beasting against the Nets.

[Kevin Willis]

If we end up up with Josh Huestis as our SF because the SFs we want are taken - I wouldn't be mad. He's a known defensive guy and he's improving his shot. Someone said if you have all intangibles but a somewhat off shot, that's not as much a big deal. Of course you have to work on it. Payton and Huestis are.


Josh Huestis, 9 points, 2 rebounds, 2 turnovers, 4-for-8 FGs, 1-for-2 3FGs
Huestis showed his NBA potential on both ends of the floor, guarding multiple positions while finishing a couple of dunks on offense and knocking down a triple, which is key if he wants to make the transition to the wing spot. Huestis shot it with confidence all day and seems to be improving in that area. Given his athleticism, size and length, defensive potential, and improved shooting ability, Huestis has a definite chance to make it in the NBA and stick long-term.


From DraftExpress.com http://www.draftexpress.com#ixzz32YVqAqWE
http://www.draftexpress.com

[Thespianoid]

I agree that it is a reflexive sport where you read and react as a defender, but I also believe physical attributes are important as well. Even if you know what is coming, but cannot react to it, it wouldn't be effective.

This. So much, It was the defining characteristic of Jonas' 2nd season. His newly added weight took away enough of his foot speed where he could not move his physical parts/to spots at the rate he was used to. He reacted at the same time on defense as when he could move more fluidly, and thus was a split second late too often. There were flashes of perfect timing, but they were few and far between.

I really hope that sprint coach up in Oregon gets his foot speed/mobility back to where it was so Jonas can go back to being one of the more mobile bigs in the NBA.

By the time they made the playoffs he was beasting against the Nets.

True. He had shown good progress in adjusting, but I think it still wasn't quite enough and not nearly to the level where it could be with better physical condition. Remember what he was like the first two games, and imagine an even better version with better mobility. That is what Jonas could have been in only his 2nd year.

I'll elaborate on this soon, but I remember reading something about some workouts Blake Griffin did during his injured offseason his first year that exponentially helped his fluidity and balance by strengthening his core and lower body.

“People think the stronger you are in the upper body, the better you’ll be,” Griffin says. “But a lot of time, the strongest-looking guys are the easiest ones to push around because, from the waist down, they aren’t strong.“

Sound like a player on this team?

[SkywalkerAC]

This. So much, It was the defining characteristic of Jonas' 2nd season. His newly added weight took away enough of his foot speed where he could not move his physical parts/to spots at the rate he was used to. He reacted at the same time on defense as when he could move more fluidly, and thus was a split second late too often. There were flashes of perfect timing, but they were few and far between.

I really hope that sprint coach up in Oregon gets his foot speed/mobility back to where it was so Jonas can go back to being one of the more mobile bigs in the NBA.

By the time they made the playoffs he was beasting against the Nets.

True. He had shown good progress in adjusting, but I think it still wasn't quite enough and not nearly to the level where it could be with better physical condition. Remember what he was like the first two games, and imagine an even better version with better mobility. That is what Jonas could have been in only his 2nd year.

I'll elaborate on this soon, but I remember reading something about some workouts Blake Griffin did during his injured offseason his first year that exponentially helped his fluidity and balance by strengthening his core and lower body.

“People think the stronger you are in the upper body, the better you’ll be,” Griffin says. “But a lot of time, the strongest-looking guys are the easiest ones to push around because, from the waist down, they aren’t strong.“

Sound like a player on this team?

Doesn't sound like Jonas, who has a strong lower body, that's for sure. He's still got work to do, especially in terms of quickness and burst, but lower body strength is not some huge deficiency.

[Sonrisen]

According to mynbadraft.com we are projected to draft Rodney Hood at 20. What do you guys think? Should we draft him if he is available? And will he fit with our team?

He's so mediocre. The Raps pick should be Cleanthony Early, Cleanthony Early, Cleanthony Early.

Hell no. For two reasons.

1) no way I take Early with #20. Way, way, way better players available there.
2) He's a undersized tweener (6'7 SF/PF) and what he does is very, very replaceable. We could easily sign Wesley Johnson or Xavier Henry for the minimum and they'll come in and do exactly what Early does. Why should we waste a draft pick on him? He doesn't do anything well.

No thanks to Early.

He's not a tweener at all, he's a sf and one of the best in the draft. He lit up kentucky for 31 on 4-6 3 point shooting and shot 71% in the game. I cant believe so many people are sleeping on him.

[Roland Brice]

Early wouldn't be a bad pick by any means, although I prefer others over him. He's one of the most experienced, athletic players available and his length isn't bad either at 6'7" with a 6'11" wingspan. He shot 58% on 2's and 38% on 3's this season while also grabbing 6 rebounds and almost getting 1 steal/block per game. However, he has shortcomings defensively and at this point I'm not sure he can add that to his game unless that's all he's asked to do.

[SkywalkerAC]

He's so mediocre. The Raps pick should be Cleanthony Early, Cleanthony Early, Cleanthony Early.

Hell no. For two reasons.

1) no way I take Early with #20. Way, way, way better players available there.
2) He's a undersized tweener (6'7 SF/PF) and what he does is very, very replaceable. We could easily sign Wesley Johnson or Xavier Henry for the minimum and they'll come in and do exactly what Early does. Why should we waste a draft pick on him? He doesn't do anything well.

No thanks to Early.

He's not a tweener at all, he's a sf and one of the best in the draft. He lit up kentucky for 31 on 4-6 3 point shooting and shot 71% in the game. I cant believe so many people are sleeping on him.

I'm not super high on him but I don't know if I agree that he can be written off as a tweener either. His combine numbers were pretty great (as far as I remember) and big 3s are not unusual these days - Morris twins, PJ Tucker, etc. Is he a lesser perimeter defender than all these other 3s in this draft - Warren, Anderson, Hood, McDermott, even James Young?

I understand the trepidation in that he does look a bit like a less talented Terrence Jones but due diligence is still required. After all, his face resembles Damien Lillard and his TS% was nice.

[Risk101]

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