Official Raptors 2012 NBA Draft Thread, Part 5

[JamesNaismith]

although its still early - the 2013 draft looks quite weak while the 2014 draft should be one of the better ones of the decade.

Agreed but it depends who stays back...McAdoo is a given, Rivers and Miller may. They say Drummond will but it really doesn't make sense to me when he's projected top 3 can risk injury, another less then stellar year to drop his stock, losses an entire year of pay and Noel and Austin will be there next year.

Shabazz and Noels appear to be franchise altering talents though....personally I need to see a bit more of Isaiah Austin but he could be as well too.

At 7' he looks like a taller ADavis...almost

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_YV3JINYCA[/youtube]

[5DOM]

RealSkipBayless Skip Bayless
Something is wrong when a player as talented as Harrison Barnes lets his team get outscored 13-2 in final 2:10 at home by arch rival.
Il y a 32 minutes

I don't often agree with Skip, but I do on this one. Barnes is talented, and I would be happy to get him. But he doesnt have that ''it'' factor.

Barnes has killed many teams on crunch time, in fact i find he plays better in the second half. last season he lead the ncaa on game winners w 5.

He's not been very good against good teams. I can't wait to see him against Kentucky. Perfect time to step up after 2 poor games against them.

[CunningLinguist]

Has anyone else noticed that Kendall Marshall has looked much quicker in the last couple of games and is driving to the hoop much better? This has been an area of his game that I had always considered a weakness.

[dTox]

RealSkipBayless Skip Bayless
Something is wrong when a player as talented as Harrison Barnes lets his team get outscored 13-2 in final 2:10 at home by arch rival.
Il y a 32 minutes

I don't often agree with Skip, but I do on this one. Barnes is talented, and I would be happy to get him. But he doesnt have that ''it'' factor.

Barnes has killed many teams on crunch time, in fact i find he plays better in the second half. last season he lead the ncaa on game winners w 5.

He's not been very good against good teams. I can't wait to see him against Kentucky. Perfect time to step up after 2 poor games against them.

When do they play Kentucky next?

[CunningLinguist]

Is Steely around to explain how future HOF PJ3 got dominated by TRob???



Perry Jones: 5pts, 3rbs Thomas Robinson: 15pts and 11rbs

I didn't watch the game but I'd assume T Rob played with heart and aggressive. Steely is probably afraid of the next insult he has on us will get him banned, I guess it sucks for him cos he can't freely use his trolling power anymore.

He had predicted 30 points and 20 rebounds in this game on the draft board. He was only off by 25 points and 17 boards.

[Tofubeque]

Is Tony Wroten still going by his high school highlights? The guy is a terrible point guard and not much better as a shooting guard. He makes flashy passes from time to time, but so did Roko Ukic and he was clueless on how to run an offense. Ed Davis and Jerryd Bayless for Tony Wroten would be one of the worst trades in history.

Nah, Tony Wroten has been ballin' lately. From the games I've seen, like 2 or 3 games, he's actually not that bad at finding and setting up his teammates. I find that, he's more of a risk-taker with his passing going for the "ooh's and ahh's" instead of making simple passes. His court-vision is stellar, though. He'll routinely find his bigs around the basket darting laser beam passes from the wing, but sometimes, it gets picked off because he's trying to squeeze the pass inside through congested traffic in the lane. Still, he's good at the draw-and-kick when he sees an open man on the perimeter, dump off passes when penetrating the defense (bread-and-butter) or stepping into a crossover for the shovel pass. If he learns to pace himself and slow down, the turnovers should cut down. But it's kind of hard to gauge how well Wroten runs an offense because of the talent that's on the roster and lack of a big to run a two-man game.

Wroten isn't even considered lotto bound by most teams either way, so giving up two former lotto picks is way too much when they still got potential. I mean, there's still a nice crop of PGs coming out next year like Josiah Turner, Ryan Harrow, and Myck Kabongo if he decides not to declare that the Raptors can wait for.

The flaws in Wroten's game all look like teachable or disciplinary flaws to me. And attitude, which is always a bit of an unknown. But I'd like to see what a demanding coach like Casey could do with him.

His natural abilities are tremendous and I see his ceiling being really high, a bigger Rondo maybe. But his floor is also low as hell. That's exactly the sort of risky player that would be perfect to get a second pick for, 17-25 or something like that. But not a lottery pick, and not worth giving up both Bayless and Davis for.

[JamesNaismith]

I love Wroten but I have to agree that I don't give up BOTH Bayless and Davis for him...but as aside; isn't this Bayless' contract year so therefore it would need to be a S&T???

[niQ]

Just noticed nbadraft.net's new update.

If we can't have Jeremy Lin, let's take Jeremy Lamb!

lol j/k.

[JamesNaismith]

Just noticed nbadraft.net's new update.

If we can't have Jeremy Lin, let's take Jeremy Lamb!

lol j/k.

The more the season goes on the more I like Lamb BECAUSE we need a legit 2nd scoring threat. Of course at the beginning of the season I was hoping that would be my boy Quincy but imo he's just not looking like the player he was in highschool...if he were I would take him by a landslide (outside of the 2 ADs).

But I like Lamb the most because not only can he shoot the lights out like Barnes but he has better handles. He also has freakish length for his position. He plays some pretty good D as he averages close to a block per game and 1.5spg. Barnes is right there with him for me (at this point)...I don't see superstar in him but he can score and play Deng like defence. He's likened to Deng a lot for good reason but I think he can be a better scorer then Luol was/is which is a heck of a player. My only issue is I think we need to get another pick to fill out either SG or SF (obviously depending on if we pick Lamb or Barnes).

I just can't get excited about a guy like MKG as much as I try to....unless we already drafted a good scorer first. To me he's an incredible glue guy who is Gerald Wallace with better leadership which is again a great player but the bottomline is every team needs at least two guys they can count on to score and I think while his D is more disruptive overall for teams it's not miles above the previous two names. Not to mention Kidd is NOT that big for his position; listed as 6'7 but looks 6'6 at best to me...imho he actually looks physically better suited at SG like Tony Allen but I guess we'll see.

[nahom1319]

Its funny Jamesnaismith and I started the season so far apart on our picks but have now settled into perfect agreement.

[7-Day Dray]

MKG measured out at 6'7" w/ a 6'11" wingspan during the summer.

[DreamTeam09]

I wan't barnes b/c hes a 3, but I also think lamb & demar could play together to. When we have to face Lebron/Melo(sucks but w/e)/Durant. We are gonna be playing a zone anyway, especially with Val. But more importantly, Lamb can see a lot of time at the point with demar at sg still , then james johnson looks a lil more impressive with his D. So even if I think Barnes is better than Lamb, lamb maybe a better fit for the raps b/c he can see time at the 1,2,3 where barnes is our 3.

This is my list that i'm sticking with in order....
Barnes/Lamb
MKG
PJ3

[JamesNaismith]

Lamb also has great movement without the ball like Rip....unfortunately no audio but decent footage

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdJ8HXp-3SY[/youtube]

With his style he could actually make Calderon seem useful again if we don't amnesty him for someone better.

[sweetcity]

looking forward to watching Wroten and Ross tonight...

For me right now, I still think we have to take the best player available, which could even be Sullinger, whom I think is like Al Jefferson.

[sweetcity]

Nice video on Lamb, I have to admit, outside of Drummond and Davis he has the highest ceiling in the draft.

[DreamTeam09]

Wroten is avg 16ppg, thats cold for a freshman....

[highness]

You guys think Lamb can play the 3? He's skinny but he can add weight and his wing span is 7'1.

[silverhill27]

If we're talking about drafting BPA, two names that don't get mentioned at all on this board that should really be considered are Thomas Robinson and Jared Sullinger. Sullinger just has the "it factor" IMHO. I think a valid comparison would be Al Jefferson with heart.

[silverhill27]

looking forward to watching Wroten and Ross tonight...

For me right now, I still think we have to take the best player available, which could even be Sullinger, whom I think is like Al Jefferson.

Yeah didn't see this before I posted, but totally agree on BPA and about taking Sullinger. Bargs/Sullinger/Jonas would be a nightmare for opposing teams. Best part is their games complement each other almost perfectly.

[JamesNaismith]

You guys think Lamb can play the 3? He's skinny but he can add weight and his wing span is 7'1.

Not really and it would be a waste of his talent imo.

I rather play lesser talent like DeMar out of position or just have someone like JJ start with him instead. The point would be to have 2 great scorers in the line up. At SG I believe Lamb would have what it takes to abuse ALOT of the current crop of SGs in the league....against SFs a lot of his advantages will be neutralized. Not that I think he would suddenly be garbage but not as good as he could be used. Plus this would feel like playing Andrea at C all over again.