Official Raptors 2011 NBA Draft Thread, Part 6

[andyo]

Biyombo has bust written all over him. He doesn't look like he is going to be able to score at this level. There are plenty of guys that can replicate what he does on the defensive end but are blackholes offensively and lack footwork, etc. Kanter and Val are the same age, except Kanter has a much more NBA-ready body. I think the choice is obvious between these 3.

[Rejected]

Why is everyone hyping up Biyombo as a lottery pick? This is the most irrational out of nowhere prospect I've seen in a while. Who wants a 6'9 center? People don't even know his age let alone how good he is.

People went orgasmic when they heard he`s got 7'7 wingspan

I wouldn't be so quick to laugh, he's got the shoulders, length and hops to play undersized C, imo. If you don't want to compare him to Ben Wallace, a longer, quicker Joey Dorsey with better hands comes to mind. He's got the defensive abilities and skills of an NBA C, but is also very mobile.

Considering the weakness of this draft, it looks like he's not only going to be a lottery pick, but a high one once he gets in for individual workouts. Maybe even our pick.

I guarantee this guy is a smoke screen by a smart scout and a smart team. This is speculation, but this is what I would do if I was a team picking around 10-15 in a weak draft. Find some guy with long arms and can jump, hidden somewhere who clearly isn't much else. Film him, make a youtube video. Contact every draft site and rave about him to ultimately convince some desperate team to take a chance on people you don't want, before your pick, so some talent that has a hope of being real actually falls to your team. I would create 5 Biyombos every year.

Picking a mysterious person like this is how people get fired and why franchises should not exist. If we waste this phenomenal display of tanking on a dude like this... If we come out to this draft with Biyombo I will cry, and every other team will be laughing. Ridiculous. Oh wait but he has shoulders and arms so what do I know.

[WhatsaTDot]

Thats drastically lowering the bar then. From Ben Wallace to Joey Dorsey in a matter of 25 posts. Apparently his age is somewhere between those two as well!

[Sanctuary123]

I'm getting a serious Hoffa vibe from Kanter. He's just not mobile or quick enough. The scary thing is a Zero blocks total in Euro play..that's right...zero. I remember having serious doubts about Hoffa because he had less than a block a game against weak competition. The only reson Hoffa was picked high cause he had a good tourney in particular he beat up Hakim Warrick, who was about 100 lbs lighter and 3 inches shorter.

Big mistake if Kanter is the pick and don't believe Calipari who has his own agenda and proably made Kanter promises he couldn't keep.

[fredericklove]

What I am learning from this thread is Kanter will either be Kendrick Perkins or Hoffa, and Jonas will either be Marcus Camby or Alabi.

It seems we'll just have to trust our organisation's great scouting department and talent evalua-- oh wait.

The Kanter-Perkins is a bad comparison anyways its so off, and not even to Kevin Love either (espn analysts' comparison to Kanter), Love's game is centralized on putbacks from reboundng, amazing quick hands around the rim, range goes all the way out to 3 point line but his post moves are limited (I have Love on my yahoo fantasy team I've watched him quite abit this year).

Listen, dude is not going to be a bust like Hoffa. Hoffa got a bulls strength with a kindergarten's IQ, Kanter on the other hand, has bulls strength with rare quickness with combinations of great hands and high bball IQ. He's got post moves that are beyond his age but obviously there's alot more pro post moves to learn in the nba. I personally find his game similar to that of Luis Scola, the bigger version of the rockets big man.

I wouldn't be so quick to laugh, he's got the shoulders, length and hops to play undersized C, imo. If you don't want to compare him to Ben Wallace, a longer, quicker Joey Dorsey with better hands comes to mind. He's got the defensive abilities and skills of an NBA C, but is also very mobile.

Considering the weakness of this draft, it looks like he's not only going to be a lottery pick, but a high one once he gets in for individual workouts. Maybe even our pick.

He'll likely have an impact on the defensive end in this league but it's the offense I worried about, he is still extremely raw and I don't see him being an explosive scorer in the paint. If we're really going to ship Andrea out, then we really have to pair Ed up with a scoring big man with rebounding ability, when was the last time we had a guy who can dominate the paint offensively (don't say bosh). I don't think Ed is going to score a whole bunch, I find both Ed and Biyombo have similar traits anyways - both long lanky, defensive minded but limited offensively and having them both on the same floor doesn't even look like its going to balance out..With Kanter and if he lives up to his offense, he could help spread the floor, draw double teams, dish it to open shooters (if we have any legit shooters though lol).

[WhatsaTDot]

Also, not sure if it’s been mentioned elsewhere, but Biyombo is 6’9 WITH shoes. He’s 6’7.75 without shoes.

[Rejected]

^^^^ yes fredlove

[Moxie]

Biyombo's just got some Jimmer-esque speculative hype going on right now.

" Wow! Look at how well he does that one thing! What? He can't really do anything else? Nah, that won't be a problem, look at how well he does that one thing!"

I'm willing to make the guess that Biyombo's BBIQ is atrocious, possibly the worst in the draft, and probably bust-inducing.

He's not top 5 anyway.

[bboyskinnylegs]

Biyombo has bust written all over him. He doesn't look like he is going to be able to score at this level. There are plenty of guys that can replicate what he does on the defensive end but are blackholes offensively and lack footwork, etc. Kanter and Val are the same age, except Kanter has a much more NBA-ready body. I think the choice is obvious between these 3.

I agree that I'd probably rank Kanter/Val ahead of Biyombo at this point, but I'm curious as to who you think can replicate what he brings on the defensive end? His combination of size/strength/length/athleticism makes him a good prospect imo. We've seen the kind of impact Ibaka has made defensively, and this guy is bigger and longer than Ibaka was when he came over as a 19 year old. The only guys I can think of are McGee (who isn't a very solid defender, but a great shotblocker), DeAndre Jordan (yeah, I like him, but he's an RFA), Hibbert (Pacers won't move him), Brendan Haywood (who is 31 now), Dalembert (29), Camby (37), Darko (not the greatest rebounder), Birdman (32, big injury concerns), Udoh (he's similar, but not as strong and gives up 5 inches on his standing reach--and is 5 years older). The only other guys I can think of are elite two-way C's like Bynum/Bogut/Dwight that we have no chance of attaining.

[Prestige]

I see that the Edmonton Oilers won the NHL lottery. According to the Star, its the second year in a row for them. I don't know if the NHL uses a similar formula to the NBA, but that's interesting. A similar thing could potentially happen with the Wiz this year.

[nowayguy]

I see that the Edmonton Oilers won the NHL lottery. According to the Star, its the second year in a row for them. I don't know if the NHL uses a similar formula to the NBA, but that's interesting. A similar thing could potentially happen with the Wiz this year.

?

Devils won the lottery.

[darth_federer]

You got the text message from TSN too? It was very poorly worded. The Devils didnt win the lottery.

The NHL system uses a different system. They weight it differently too.

[CanadaB-Ball]

I see that the Edmonton Oilers won the NHL lottery. According to the Star, its the second year in a row for them. I don't know if the NHL uses a similar formula to the NBA, but that's interesting. A similar thing could potentially happen with the Wiz this year.

Yeah, it's the second year in the row for them. They picked Hall last year, and will likely pick either Larsson or Hopkins this year. I like Hopkins, but they have a pretty small team as is. If I were the Colorado GM I would pick Landeskog, unless Larsson is available as Colorado is set down the middle.


Anyways, the Oilers had a 50% (48.2) chance both years (this and last year, both years they finished last) so they had a much better chance than the Nets had last year and Minnesota/Cleveland this year.

[CanadaB-Ball]

I see that the Edmonton Oilers won the NHL lottery. According to the Star, its the second year in a row for them. I don't know if the NHL uses a similar formula to the NBA, but that's interesting. A similar thing could potentially happen with the Wiz this year.

?

Devils won the lottery.

No they didn't.

When they say "won the lottery" they are referring to the fact they were the 8th worst team but ended up with the 4th pick.

[andyo]

Biyombo has bust written all over him. He doesn't look like he is going to be able to score at this level. There are plenty of guys that can replicate what he does on the defensive end but are blackholes offensively and lack footwork, etc. Kanter and Val are the same age, except Kanter has a much more NBA-ready body. I think the choice is obvious between these 3.

I agree that I'd probably rank Kanter/Val ahead of Biyombo at this point, but I'm curious as to who you think can replicate what he brings on the defensive end? His combination of size/strength/length/athleticism makes him a good prospect imo. We've seen the kind of impact Ibaka has made defensively, and this guy is bigger and longer than Ibaka was when he came over as a 19 year old. The only guys I can think of are McGee (who isn't a very solid defender, but a great shotblocker), DeAndre Jordan (yeah, I like him, but he's an RFA), Hibbert (Pacers won't move him), Brendan Haywood (who is 31 now), Dalembert (29), Camby (37), Darko (not the greatest rebounder), Birdman (32, big injury concerns), Udoh (he's similar, but not as strong and gives up 5 inches on his standing reach--and is 5 years older). The only other guys I can think of are elite two-way C's like Bynum/Bogut/Dwight that we have no chance of attaining.

There are a bunch of players like Biyombo who bring nothing to the table offensively and lack the footwork to score at the next level. Thabeet and Saer Sene are two players that come to mind immediately. McGee and Deandre are examples right now in the NBA, I think whoever overpays either of them is going to highly regret it, both will never develop a good offensive game. I disagree with Hibbert being one of those players, he has good basketball fundamentals and knows how to work in the post, the only negative is he plays a bit soft and doesn't crash the glass as much as he should be. Kanter is the best of the 3 IMO in terms of talent. He looks to have good footwork down low and unlike these other 2 guys, has a presence down low on both ends of the floor. He reminds me a bit of Scola, I think he's the best bigman this draft, and I'd be extremely dissapointed if we drafted Biyombo right now. I really think he's going to be a bust. Even if he isn't, the past draft picks of similar players haven't' necessarily been impact type players.

[fredericklove]

Both Kanter and Biyombo's draft stock escalate due to their performance from the nike hoop summit game against the USA, right? If I'm going to be sold on which performance is better then I say definitely Kanter.

I applauded for Biyombo for getting his impressive triple double in the nike hoop, but he was facing a matchup from guys like the skinny-a$$ 220lbs Anthony Davis, though Davis is a 6''10 skilled forward he isn't exactly a big body banger expert in the paint, more like a versatile tall dude that does everything and the whole usa team roster doesn't have guys that are taller than 6'9 defending the paint. Byombo's post game was nowhere to be found either.

Kanter's matchup was against Sully, although undersized and not a defensive presence but you guys saw what Sully's capable of in Ohio. Dude plays a physical game, yet in that game Kanter scored 34 pts & 13 reb against Sully and at times was double-teammed too he used so many different post moves against these guys, talk about rape in sully fata$$ type of amazing performance.

I'm more sold on Kanter's performance than Biyombo.

[nowayguy]

I see that the Edmonton Oilers won the NHL lottery. According to the Star, its the second year in a row for them. I don't know if the NHL uses a similar formula to the NBA, but that's interesting. A similar thing could potentially happen with the Wiz this year.

?

Devils won the lottery.

No they didn't.

When they say "won the lottery" they are referring to the fact they were the 8th worst team but ended up with the 4th pick.

Yes, I understand that. They still won the lottery, the prize is moving up a maximum of 4 spots in the draft. In the NHL, only one team "wins" the lottery whereas the NBA has situations where multiple teams benefit from the lottery.

Here's whats on the TSN frontpage so no one tries to argue

The Edmonton Oilers will pick first overall in the NHL draft for a second straight year. The New Jersey Devils won the draft lottery Tuesday but teams aren't allowed to move up more than four spots, leaving Edmonton with the first overall pick.

[5DOM]

Both Kanter and Biyombo's draft stock escalate due to their performance from the nike hoop summit game against the USA, right? If I'm going to be sold on which performance is better then I say definitely Kanter.

I applauded for Biyombo for getting his impressive triple double in the nike hoop, but he was facing a matchup from guys like the skinny-a$$ 220lbs Anthony Davis, though Davis is a 6''10 skilled forward he isn't exactly a big body banger expert in the paint, more like a versatile tall dude that does everything and the whole usa team roster doesn't have guys that are taller than 6'9 defending the paint. Byombo's post game was nowhere to be found either.

Kanter's matchup was against Sully, although undersized and not a defensive presence but you guys saw what Sully's capable of in Ohio. Dude plays a physical game, yet in that game Kanter scored 34 pts & 13 reb against Sully and at times was double-teammed too he used so many different post moves against these guys, talk about rape in sully fata$$ type of amazing performance.

I'm more sold on Kanter's performance than Biyombo.

I agree that he really hasn't shown much, but he was absolutely outstanding at help defense against who are some of the most athletic players outside NBA. And that + his rebounding is what has everyone talking.

[WhatsaTDot]

Yes, I understand that. They still won the lottery, the prize is moving up a maximum of 4 spots in the draft.

[redred9]

Kanter sounds more and more intriguing. A true bruising post presence would make our offence pretty sweet to watch with Dermar & Ed flying around, Bayless in the lane and Kleiza bombing away from the perimeter.

We might need a Kanter type more than a JonasV type in the post-Bargnani world. Hopefully he can be the man to send Andrea to the bench (or another team) for good.

If Kanter works out, we're one more great trade/good draft away from being a young playoff team eventually imo.