Official Raptors 2012 NBA Draft Thread, Part 3

[fredericklove]

Who's the best scorer in this draft?

Austin River, by a mile. His ability to break down the defense will give him enough space to do his signature floater, and he can shake off defenders, pulling up the 3 pointer. I just think offensively he'll be really good but whether he can finish through contact I don't think he can cos he's not above the rim kind of guy but his handles and long distance shots are good enough to warrant him alot of points in the nba level.

[fredericklove]

Bradely Beal is growing on me he's going to be a big time player.

How did he manage that? Especially when he's not playing today .......

On a more serious note, I don't see him dominating offensively given his low usage in college. So maybe its something in games that has caused you to believe this, if so please share. I honestly haven't seen him play and his stats don't jump out at me so he hasn't been on my radar.

He has low usage because he has two veteran midgets dominating the ball on his team, and he's playing out of position too, he's a SG not a SF but he seems to play the 3 pretty well for some reason. Although he won't strike me as a big time scorer but he can do everything right, he plays bigger than his size, he goes after the board, he passes quite well, one knock on him is that although he has a good shooting form, he strikes me as a streaky shooter. He can take the ball to the hole at times too and a solid defender. However, if it comes down to him or Lamb, I'll take Lamb. Lamb's capable of being a big time scorer in the NBA and you probably agree to that too.

[nahom1319]

Who's the best scorer in this draft?

Austin River, by a mile. His ability to break down the defense will give him enough space to do his signature floater, and he can shake off defenders, pulling up the 3 pointer. I just think offensively he'll be really good but whether he can finish through contact I don't think he can cos he's not above the rim kind of guy but his handles and long distance shots are good enough to warrant him alot of points in the nba level.

I've read his decision making is atrocious... has it improved whatsoever since the beginning of the season?

[fredericklove]

Are you serious? You take Leonard in this strong draft, where there are plenty star players in progress?

Val dominated s*** out of Leonard this summer:

Val 30pts/15reb/4blk
Leonard 3pts/3reb/1blk

http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fa/game/p ... istic.html

Val played 38 minutes to Leonard's 13

Leonard's stats in the FIBA tournament

16.3 MP, 6.9ppg, 5.2rpg, 0.9apg, 1.5bpg, 63.4%, 71.4 FT. Per 36: 15.2ppg, 11.4rpg, 2.0apg, 3.3bpg

No doubt Val had a huge tournament but Leonard putting up a 15/11 with 3 blocks on Valanciunas esque mega efficiency is nothing to sneeze at whatsoever

Using per 36 is a joke.

[fredericklove]

Who's the best scorer in this draft?

Austin River, by a mile. His ability to break down the defense will give him enough space to do his signature floater, and he can shake off defenders, pulling up the 3 pointer. I just think offensively he'll be really good but whether he can finish through contact I don't think he can cos he's not above the rim kind of guy but his handles and long distance shots are good enough to warrant him alot of points in the nba level.

I've read his decision making is atrocious... has it improved whatsoever since the beginning of the season?

Nope, it still hasn't improved, during a long stretch he started to pick it up and started finding his teammates but now he's struggling again, again also failing to make shots and going on evil chucking Kobe mode again. But his handles are good, very good, but he's just too short and doesn't pass much. This is why he's not top 5

[nahom1319]

Bradely Beal is growing on me he's going to be a big time player.

How did he manage that? Especially when he's not playing today .......

On a more serious note, I don't see him dominating offensively given his low usage in college. So maybe its something in games that has caused you to believe this, if so please share. I honestly haven't seen him play and his stats don't jump out at me so he hasn't been on my radar.

He has low usage because he has two veteran midgets dominating the ball on his team, and he's playing out of position too, he's a SG not a SF but he seems to play the 3 pretty well for some reason. Although he won't strike me as a big time scorer but he can do everything right, he plays bigger than his size, he goes after the board, he passes quite well, one knock on him is that although he has a good shooting form, he strikes me as a streaky shooter. He can take the ball to the hole at times too and a solid defender. However, if it comes down to him or Lamb, I'll take Lamb. Lamb's capable of being a big time scorer in the NBA and you probably agree to that too.

Yeah i think Lamb is going to have a great rookie campaign in the nba, his teamates at UConn are offensively inept. From what I have read I would be hard pressed to choose between both prospects as Beal sounds like he has the complete package, whereas Lamb has the scoring punch and skills to be a great 2 way player.

[fredericklove]

By the way, has anyone else noticed that he lands awkwardly when goes up for a dunk, much like Derozan?

Landed awkwardly? I missed the game so idk, hope its not Blake Griffin situation

[fredericklove]

If we drafted MKG, win the off-season prize from the RFA market and end up having this lineup.

Val
Bargnani
MKG
DD
Westbrook

What will be the strength and weakness of this lineup?
Will it be a 2nd round playoff team contender?

Too tired to do an indepth analysis but a major problem is no one can shoot but Bargnani.


Also since Westbrook creates a lot of his own offence off the dribble it doesn't really help DeMar or MKG since he won't be looking to kick out to 2 guys who aren't great shooters, that also means defences can clog the paint and RW won't score as well meanwhile not sharing well with those 2 -- sounds like a pretty bad combo imo. Not to mention Russell isn't that great off the PNR or Ibaka would be killing it by now (for Val). Obviously it goes with out saying that Barnes would be a much better fit next to a guy like RW but....

The team would be a little more balanced as there would be a 3 solid defenders in the starting line up but not to the point that it makes up for the major offensive defecencies.

I'm thinking Westbrook can free up more room for Demar so he can either attack or get open 3s. That'll make up for the MKG's lack of shooting touch. Either way, I think this lineup will make a statement on defense, Westbrook and MKG can make up for DD's bad defense while Val can make up for Bargs' lack of rebounding instinct. We're already better on the defense in the paint so we have solid interior defense and have very strong perimeter defense.

But I do feel Barnes a better fit with them since he can shoot the lights out, but if it's Deron instead of Westbrook, he'll be able to knock down 3s and do really well on p&r with Val. Deron's a better fit for this team, but of course there's just no way we could get Deron or Frog boy this off-season unless BC makes an offer they can't refuse

[Dr Positivity]

Getting Westbrook next season is just ... impossible

1. OKC will surely match. You don't let a superstar RFA leave while you get nothing.

2. If by some act of god OKC didn't match, he'd have suitors that he'd pick over Westbrook. Like whoever doesn't get Deron between Brooklyn and Dallas.

[fredericklove]

btw, Davis's birthday had me scared. On espn and wiki it says he's born in 1991 so he'll be 21 this year. But last he was reported in the USA Basketball that he's born 1993. Wussup with espn and wiki? Why are they trolling lol?

[vaff87]

btw, Davis's birthday had me scared. On espn and wiki it says he's born in 1991 so he'll be 21 this year. But last he was reported in the USA Basketball that he's born 1993. Wussup with espn and wiki? Why are they trolling lol?

You get scared easily.

[fredericklove]

btw, Davis's birthday had me scared. On espn and wiki it says he's born in 1991 so he'll be 21 this year. But last he was reported in the USA Basketball that he's born 1993. Wussup with espn and wiki? Why are they trolling lol?

You get scared easily.

I dont get scared easily but its only him that has me scared easily. First, the face and now the birthday confusion.

[CunningLinguist]

By the way, has anyone else noticed that he lands awkwardly when goes up for a dunk, much like Derozan?

Landed awkwardly? I missed the game so idk, hope its not Blake Griffin situation

It wasn't one specific instance. He often stumbles when he lands just as Derozan does. His leg did slip out from under him when he tried a spin move in the game, though he was OK.

[TowelBoy]

MKG is looking like a winner. If we get either him, Davis, Barnes or Drummond we will be ready to take that next step.

Raps in four.

[fredericklove]

Am I the only one who wishes we don't draft Drummond?

[fredericklove]

By the way, has anyone else noticed that he lands awkwardly when goes up for a dunk, much like Derozan?

Landed awkwardly? I missed the game so idk, hope its not Blake Griffin situation

It wasn't one specific instance. He often stumbles when he lands just as Derozan does. His leg did slip out from under him when he tried a spin move in the game, though he was OK.

yea i saw on youtube highlight MKG dunked once and then fell onto the ground and came back up like a boss

[wegetitin08]

Two words Jeremy Lamb

Somehow get Westbrook/Deron

c-Val
pf-Bargs
sf-DeMar
sg-Lamb
pg-Westbrook

[fredericklove]

Two words Jeremy Lamb

Somehow get Westbrook/Deron

c-Val
pf-Bargs
sf-DeMar
sg-Lamb
pg-Westbrook

Demar at the sf good luck with that

[wegetitin08]

Two words Jeremy Lamb

Somehow get Westbrook/Deron

c-Val
pf-Bargs
sf-DeMar
sg-Lamb
pg-Westbrook

Demar at the sf good luck with that

Or we could deal him for another pick. Either him or Davis, hahaha because your right I wouldn't be confident with him at SF

[Mr.Raptorsingh]

It seems like a third of the league decided to tank as well this year lol

10 teams with 4 wins or less on the season thus far, not including the Raptors and Celtics, who will probably end up turning things around.

Overall, there are 15 teams in the league that are currently under .500.

It's early though. Of the 15, I fully expect Memphis and Boston to end at or above .500.

I'm surprised that Utah is winning. They're, what, 8-4? They looked terrible when I saw them play, looked like the worst team in the league. Good for the tank, I suppose.