OT Brook Lopez and Brandon Jennings

wiff · Post #1 » by **wiff** » Sat Nov 21, 2009 5:04 pm

Both Brook and Brandon were the #10 pick in their draft class.

Brook this season is putting up 17.3pts, 8.5rebs, 1.5dimes, 2.6blks
Brandon has been hotter than the Sun by putting up crazy numbers for a rookie 25.2pts, 4.6rebs, 5.9dimes, 1.1thefts

These are the teams that passed on both of them.
Minny
Memphis
Knicks
Clippers
and the Thunder

These two guys are going to be cornerstones for their respective franchises for a long, long, long time in the league.

I can't help to think how nice New York would have looked with Lopez, Jennings and a guy by the name of LeBron.

Memphis could have used some help too. Obviously OJ is nice but I'd give him up in a moment for Jennings.

Minny with Lopez, Jennings and Big Al would be a solid foundation.

Or maybe a team of Lopez, Jennings, Durant, Green and Thabo would have looked pretty nice on the court together.

Nothing against Westbrook or Harden but I would trade them both in a moment for Brook and Jennings.

I know hindsight is 20/20 and both Westbrook and Harden look to be nice players in the league but those two along with Durant would have been amazing.

Marty McFly · Post #2 » by **Marty McFly** » Sat Nov 21, 2009 10:56 pm

not getting jennings stings a lot, lopez on the other hand, ain't nothing special imo.nothing to get to upset about.

memphis had gasol and conley so they don't really need lopez and jennings.the problem with conley is he's got to deal with oj combo guardness.

maybe minny could have use him;

the thunder could have been a pretty ridiculous team in the future to be honest, but i think westbrook is a pretty good player.personally i don't think you guys have anything to worry about with a guy like durant on your team.

i think that both durant and green should be moved down a spot from sf and pf to sg and sf ( i think durant has the height speed and length to give everybody not named kobe nightmares in the league, and green would play his natural position)

Julio · Post #3 » by **Julio** » Sun Nov 22, 2009 12:06 pm

Kevin can't play SG, period.

And really, we would be better IMO with Brook.
I don't know about Jennings, it's early to claim he's the real deal.

But man, that team would look good
Harden
Thabo
KD
Green
Lopez

That's IMO the main mistake of our GM.. well that, and not taking Landry in the secound round the year we took Durant

wiff · Post #4 » by **wiff** » Sun Nov 22, 2009 8:30 pm

REVOLVER wrote:not getting jennings stings a lot, lopez on the other hand, ain't nothing special imo.nothing to get to upset about.

Really lets take a closer look at this.

Brook Lopez LEADS THE ENTIRE LEAGUE IN BLOCKS.

now compared to active centers he ranks
4th in points per game. 0.1pt behind D Howard.
7th in rebounds.
11th in assists.

Lopez is going to be an All-Star for the next 12 years

He is a defensive anchor in the middle and can score inside what more do you want?

Again no offense to Westbrook but the only thing he has lead the league in is turnovers.

Post #5 » by **slick_watts** » Mon Nov 23, 2009 12:40 am

You know, if Sam Presti had drafted Brook Lopez, I think it's pretty likely that either Ricky Rubio or Tyreke Evans would be in OKC. Brandon Jennings' stock wasn't that great going into the draft, I don't think Presti would have taken him with a top five pick.

Still, with the center position out of the way it certainly would have made building the team up a whole lot easier. I still remember all the Seattle guys begging Presti not to take Brook Lopez.. :-?

dream_catcher_9 · Post #6 » by **dream_catcher_9** » Mon Nov 23, 2009 1:04 am

I am a HUGE Rubio fan don't get me wrong and I'd rather have him than Westbrook, but If we took Lopez then Rubio, that would mean our lineup would be something like this....

Rubio/Ollie
Sefolosha
Durant
Green/Collison
Lopez/Krstic/Thomas

Rubio and Sefolosha playing together would be brutal just because they both can't shoot. Presti would have had to grab a offensive shooting guard somehow to play along side Rubio. So we would have a problem again, and Rubio is going to take some time to adjust to the NBA and get stronger. We would be a pretty bad team this year.

Drafting Evans is interesting.....

Evans/Ollie
Sefolosha
Durant
Green/Collison
Lopez/Krstic

We would still need a offensive shooting guard somehow.

However there is another possibility................

Westbrook/Ollie
Sefolosha/Harden
Durant
Green/Collison
1st round pick/Krstic

1st round pick could be a number of players at center.....
Cole Aldrich
Greg Monroe
Solomon Alabi
Larry Sanders
DeMarcus Cousins

This team isn't a finished product by any means.

Post #7 » by **slick_watts** » Mon Nov 23, 2009 1:17 am

You're right but centers can be so hit or miss, it would have been nice to have that piece taken care of.

This big man class doesn't really blow me away. Greg Monroe is interesting but is more of a perimeter player, Cole Aldrich might fit but is unspectacular, Solomon Alabi scares me like Hasheem Thabeet scares me. I think one of the PF prospects (Ed Davis or Derrick Favors) could be a possibility, then slide Jeff Green to the bench or trade him for a center.

Of these guys Cole Aldrich is probably what we need, or Alabi but he's a scary prospect to me.

dream_catcher_9 · Post #8 » by **dream_catcher_9** » Mon Nov 23, 2009 1:29 am

slick_watts wrote:You're right but centers can be so hit or miss, it would have been nice to have that piece taken care of.

This big man class doesn't really blow me away. Greg Monroe is interesting but is more of a perimeter player, Cole Aldrich might fit but is unspectacular, Solomon Alabi scares me like Hasheem Thabeet scares me. I think one of the PF prospects (Ed Davis or Derrick Favors) could be a possibility, then slide Jeff Green to the bench or trade him for a center.

Of these guys Cole Aldrich is probably what we need, or Alabi but he's a scary prospect to me.

That is interesting. I really like Favors, but he will definitely be gone by the time we pick(10-16 range). Unless we somehow trade up but I doubt it. Ed Davis is another guy who intrigues me. I watched him vs Syracuse he is kind of skinny for a PF but is a good athlete and knows how to play the game. He "could" be around the 10 spot because there are a number of other great prospects in this draft, one of the deepest in recent memory. If we took Davis which I wouldn't mind, Green would go to the bench and we would still need a center because I don't really want to trade Uncle Jeff. Maybe Larry Sanders or a big project with our Phoenix 1st rounder.

Aldrich is my dream scenario but it looks like he is going top 5. Alibi does remind me of Thabeet and scares me. He is also really old for a draft prospect.

With two 1st round picks 1 likely to be in the 10-16 range and the other in the 16-24 range we can grab a couple solid big men prospects. Maybe even trade our own plus Phoenix to move up if Aldrich or Favors is slipping. Who knows but I DO know for a fact this up coming draft is of HUGE importance for our future success.

Post #9 » by **slick_watts** » Mon Nov 23, 2009 2:30 am

Yeah Favors and possibly Davis won't be around if we pick 10-14.. (not gonna be brash and predict playoffs just yet).

DeMarcus Cousins intrigues me because of his size. NBA ready body definitely.

Julio · Post #10 » by **Julio** » Mon Nov 23, 2009 1:24 pm

Like I said, going with Lopez and Harden (and playing Harden as a PG, which will eventually happen IMO)
would have just been fine.
That's also a scenario where Green and Lopez complement each other.
Hindsight is always better

Clangus · Post #11 » by **Clangus** » Tue Nov 24, 2009 12:47 am

Lopez would have been good, but Jennngs has said a few thing in the press (before the draft etc) where he had me thinking that he was a Marbury. trash talking Rubio and the other prospects.

I like Westbrook, but he is pissing me off at the moment.

Realistically though, what has happened by our guys winning 50% of their games and taking a few other good teams to the wire, it has lifted our expectations> We all went into the year thinking that it would be a struggle to win 35games, and our early schedule would cause us some problems. I think we need to get back to that mentality of giving our guys this year to work out the kinks in thier games.

Seriously you cannot tell me that on the games when Westbrook, Green, or Harden put it together that you like having them on our team? When Green hits his shots and makes an effort on deefense? When Westbrook plays in control and doesn't turn it over, when harden makes his 3pt shots and distributes well? We KNOW that they all have the ability to play some pretty decent Ball. The thing is CONSISTANCY. None of tehm have it yet, which is not unusual for a young player, Westbrook and Harden, have at lest another season or 2 where this is to be expected to a degree.

Green on the otherhand, is in his 3rd year, this is the year when he either makes a big leap in his play(mostly being consistant) or he gets labelled as bust-( well not exactly a bust, but certainly as being picked too high.) Its on him, he isn't as young as the other guys.

Overall I dont think its who we DIDN't pick that is our problem. I think its our "veterens"

We have a **** load of cap space, but our second string PG is Kevin Ollie?

Krystic and Thomas and Collison as our big man rotation?

I think our boys have done better this early than we could have expected (considering in our first 12 we've had 9 games against playoff teams including the past years finalists 2 times each! I believe after seeing such a good start (relatively) Presti needs to think about spending our riches and make a push for our first playoff appearance. Use all those dam picks and Dollars to get a decent big and a backup PG!