Official Raptors 2011 NBA Draft Thread, Part 3

[Gold Dragon]

Would love
Kyrie Irving

Would be happy with
Terrence Jones
Derrick Williams
Harrison Barnes

Open to considering
Kemba Walker
Enes Kanter

Do not want
Jared Sullinger
Jonas Valanciunas
Perry Jones
Jan Vesely

[TheDunc]

There are some interesting prospects out there for the raptors. Im kind of warming up to the idea of Kemba Walker. There isnt any clear cut talent in this draft so players who are suppose to go end of the lottery might get picked in the top 5. My number 1 talent in this draft is Kyrie Irving. After him i like harrison barnes,terrence jones, derrick williams for the raptors.

But my sleeper pick is kemba walker, i really like this kids killer instinct. The only thing hurting him is his size. The kid can flat out score and he can pass too. Brandon Knight is an interesting prospect too, he has much better size for the pg position. My big question is, how much better are they then Bayless?

Or we can take a risk on Perry Jones, i have high hopes for this kid. If he works really hard he can be very good.

[McFurious1]

kemba walker is looking like the next iverson

[Reignman]

My top 3 picks right now are:

Irving
Barnes
Jones

In that order.

Great consolation prize if we're not in the top 3:

Jonas V
Kanter
T Jones

Would trade down/out if they were BPA at our spot:

Sullinger
D Will

[TheDunc]

Yea, i can see walker coming into the league and averaging 15/5 right out of the gate. His jumpshot was nowhere near what it used to be. So apparently he has a pretty good work ethic. The kid is very talented, like i said before the only thing that worries me a bit is his size. If kemba was 6'3 then he would be a top 3 talent

[Reignman]

Out of curiousity, whatever happened to Willie Warren? Kemba reminds me of him.

[dagger]

Out of curiousity, whatever happened to Willie Warren? Kemba reminds me of him.

Warren was a second round pick of the Clippers and is one of their bench scrubs.

But there is no resemblance between his game and Walker's. Warren is an inconsistent shooter and lacks Walker's speed. Warren played with some good talent (you know, Blake what's his name) while Walker is surrounded by scrubs.

[Blasphemy]

Would love to have:

1) Kyrie
2) Harrison
3) King Kemba

[TheDunc]

1.Kyrie Irving
2.Harrison Barnes
3.Derrick Williams
4.Terrence Jones
5.Kemba Walker
6.Perry Jones

Those are the players id love to have on the raptors.

[Gold Dragon]

I like Kemba Walker quite a bit. I don't think many of the criticisms of his game will really be problems in the NBA.

1. Height: the main issue is his ability to defend other point guards but I don't think anyone thinks Chris Paul is a bad defender simply because he is 6-0 while many people consider Jose to be a bad defender at 6-3. Defense at the PG position is not about height but lateral quickness and tenacity, two things Kemba has plenty of supply in.

2. PG skills: passing, court vision and running an offense. Admittedly we have not seen much of it this year because of the lack of talent on the rest of UConn's roster. I don't think he is special in this category but I believe he will be more than adequate at running an NBA offense and he does have a pretty impressive drive and dish. That might work well with Bargs parked at the 3pt line but would work better with someone parked in the corners rather than where Bargs usually sits at the top of the key. The Raptors don't really have that guy. I can see him working really well with Ed Davis' soft touch around the rim after Kemba breaks down the defense.

3. Shooting and range. The plus is that he has the confidence and killer instinct to carry his team on his shot from anywhere on the court. The negative is poor percentages and being a volume shooter. I think if you put him on a team with other shooters, his percentages will go up and his need to shoot will go down. He probably will never be close to elite from an efficiency standpoint but I like his confidence in his shot.

4. Age. This is where he can't compete with the rest of this class. As a junior, he is turning 21 in august and does not have much time to develop if he doesn't figure things out in his rookie season. I wonder how quickly he will be able to adjust to bad habits he may have picked up at UConn. He is fairly close to his peak and will have limited upside but I think his floor is already pretty high.


Ultimately, I think Kemba Walker is a good but not ideal PG prospect for the Raptors. If they cannot land Irving, I would prefer filling the SF spot with TJ, DW or HB. Derrick Williams is tweener whose game is more PF than SF at the moment but I think he can make the transition. Next year is supposed to be a PG laden draft. But if all the SFs are gone and Kemba is BPA, I would rather take him than someone who I think is likely to bust or be mediocre like Perry Jones and Jared Sullinger.

[Rapsfan07]

Just a quick question for the rest of the board. I personally think that Barnes could be something special in the NBA. He has the tools it takes to be successful. However, Terrence Jones is, IMO, much more skilled. He is an above average defender, passer, ball-handler and rebounder at the SF position yet I notice many people have Harrison Barnes ahead of him in their lists of who they'd pick. Now it is true that Jones doesn't exact have the ability to score that say Barnes does. You could argue either way. But let's not forget that for about half the season, Barnes could find his stride and dropped from a No. 1 overall pick out of the Top 5. March Madness will definitely be his opportunity to prove himself but again, why him over T. Jones?

[Reignman]

Just a quick question for the rest of the board. I personally think that Barnes could be something special in the NBA. He has the tools it takes to be successful. However, Terrence Jones is, IMO, much more skilled. He is an above average defender, passer, ball-handler and rebounder at the SF position yet I notice many people have Harrison Barnes ahead of him in their lists of who they'd pick. Now it is true that Jones doesn't exact have the ability to score that say Barnes does. You could argue either way. But let's not forget that for about half the season, Barnes could find his stride and dropped from a No. 1 overall pick out of the Top 5. March Madness will definitely be his opportunity to prove himself but again, why him over T. Jones?

I like T Jones and wouldn't be mad if we picked him outside of the top 3 but my issue is that he seems like a very high-end role player. To me that's his ceiling. Obviously I could be wrong but i see a much higher ceiling for Barnes.

And when you're picking high you want to get a high ceiling player, that's why I have guys like Irving, Barnes, P Jones and Jonas V all ahead of him. Even Kanter but he's harder to gauge.

[TheDunc]

This draft will be exciting because anyone can go anywhere. Irving is the player i think we NEED to get. If we dont get him then there are alot of other interesting players. Alot of tweeners though.

Terrence Jones
Perry Jones
Derrick Williams

Those three are very interesting to me but all come off as tweeners.

[Reignman]

This draft will be exciting because anyone can go anywhere. Irving is the player i think we NEED to get. If we dont get him then there are alot of other interesting players. Alot of tweeners though.

Terrence Jones
Perry Jones
Derrick Williams

Those three are very interesting to me but all come off as tweeners.

Yeah, that's my concern with those guys as well. Especially T Jones and D will. I think P Jones could be an NBA SF and after reading that article about him doing point guard drills in front of scouts better than actually point guards, it's hard not to be intrigued by him. Still a tweener though at this point.

[God Squad]

Why has Dwill fallen off so many draft boards? I can understand Jonas V. But Dwill?

[Kevin Willis]

This draft will be exciting because anyone can go anywhere. Irving is the player i think we NEED to get. If we dont get him then there are alot of other interesting players. Alot of tweeners though.

Terrence Jones
Perry Jones
Derrick Williams

Those three are very interesting to me but all come off as tweeners.

Yeah, that's my concern with those guys as well. Especially T Jones and D will. I think P Jones could be an NBA SF and after reading that article about him doing point guard drills in front of scouts better than actually point guards, it's hard not to be intrigued by him. Still a tweener though at this point.

Depends on the point guards he was compared to. Baylor doesn't have great PGs. He has the biggest chance of being a bust than anyone in the top 5. At some point players need to start realizing their talent and he's not even close which is both intriguing and scary.

[TheDunc]

Yea Perry was never great in high school neither. He seems to have alot of basketball skills and athletism but he doesnt use it much in games yet. He still has an amazing mix of skill, athletism to go along with height almost being a 7 footer which makes him a very interesting prospect.

[Reignman]

This draft will be exciting because anyone can go anywhere. Irving is the player i think we NEED to get. If we dont get him then there are alot of other interesting players. Alot of tweeners though.

Terrence Jones
Perry Jones
Derrick Williams

Those three are very interesting to me but all come off as tweeners.

Yeah, that's my concern with those guys as well. Especially T Jones and D will. I think P Jones could be an NBA SF and after reading that article about him doing point guard drills in front of scouts better than actually point guards, it's hard not to be intrigued by him. Still a tweener though at this point.

Depends on the point guards he was compared to. Baylor doesn't have great PGs. He has the biggest chance of being a bust than anyone in the top 5. At some point players need to start realizing their talent and he's not even close which is both intriguing and scary.

I agree that his bust potential is very high but he also has the highest ceiling of any player in this draft. And it's not like he hasn't done anything, he still put up 14/7 at nearly 60% shooting. I would imagine it's tough to show off your perimeter skills when you're being used inside as a traditional big man. On top of all that, his PG Dunn is the ultimate chucker.

Anyway, he's a high risk / high reward pick, no doubt about that.

[Silk Wilkes]

Perry Jones just seems like another guy that will make us say, "if only he had the work ethic of Kobe".

[dagger]

There is a difference between wishing a player turns out like you think to seeing enough evidence that he can become what you want him to be. Offensively, Barnes has been a one-trick pony this year, and not a particularly good one. You look for evidence that he could be elite, but a player who shoots 40% from the field and doesn't drive the basket is surely not worthy of a top 3 pick. The onus is on Barnes to show during the ACC playoffs and NCAA tournament that he's more than a spot up shooter. The same can be said about Jones. Does he have multiple elite skills, or is he the next Stromile Swift, both in skillset and character.

With a top 5 pick, even in a weak draft, you at least want to make an evidence-based selection rather than a emotional selection. Down around 10-15th pick, you can gamble more on faith or hope, but that isn't going to cut it with a top 5 pick. Between what they show when they play and how they do in workouts, you want to see multiple tools, and a motor that suggests they will apply themselves to improving both strengths and weaknesses.

That's why I can't exclude Kemba Walker at around 5th or 6th pick, because he has a shot, speed, leadership, good lateral quicks to defend, a low turnover rate, has improved from year to year (big improvement this season) and he has big stones. I don't yet see Barnes or Jones displaying multiple skills yet, although I am quite willing to change my mind after the next month.