'13-'14 Rookie Discussion Thread #1

dckingsfan · Post #101 » by **dckingsfan** » Fri Jan 10, 2014 3:02 am

Hardaway just had an amazing slam - pretty good player... maybe a solid career starter.

dckingsfan · Post #102 » by **dckingsfan** » Fri Jan 10, 2014 3:06 am

http://www.nba.com/rookie-ladder/

hands11 · Post #103 » by **hands11** » Fri Jan 10, 2014 1:30 pm

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/gamelog/_ ... j-mccollum

CJM is finally on the court. Lets hope he can stay healthy this time.

He was a player I liked a lot coming into the draft. Nice combo SG/PG that can score, fast break, etc.

I won't be surprised if he doesn't post some good number quickly in the next 1-5 games. But with him, its going to be a matter of getting minutes. He has Lillard, Mathews, and Mo Williams all getting minutes ahead of him. So for now I guess the best he can do is score efficiently and find his legs.

Blazer have Boston and Cleveland coming up next. If they can get a good lead, he could find more time on the court.

Look at that draft. 9, 10, and 11 are all going to be good players. Burke, MCW and CJM.

dckingsfan · Post #104 » by **dckingsfan** » Fri Jan 10, 2014 2:03 pm

hands11 wrote:http://espn.go.com/nba/player/gamelog/_/id/2490149/cj-mccollum

CJM is finally on the court. Lets hope he can stay healthy this time.

He was a player I liked a lot coming into the draft. Nice combo SG/PG that can score, fast break, etc.

I won't be surprised if he doesn't post some good number quickly in the next 1-5 games. But with him, its going to be a matter of getting minutes. He has Lillard, Mathews, and Mo Williams all getting minutes ahead of him. So for now I guess the best he can do is score efficiently and find his legs.

Blazer have Boston and Cleveland coming up next. If they can get a good lead, he could find more time on the court.

Look at that draft. 9, 10, and 11 are all going to be good players. Burke, MCW and CJM.

yep, a bit of a backlog at PG for Portland with Damian Lillard, Mo Williams, Earl Watson and CJM. Watson will be gone next year - still that is an uphill climb with those two on the roster.

mhd · Post #105 » by **mhd** » Fri Jan 10, 2014 3:02 pm

You can tell Giannis will be the best player in the draft (assuming Noel doesn't get back to pre-injury form). He's by far the most talented. He'd go #1 if they did a redraft. He's a complete freak out there. He could be like a prime AK47 in that he fills up the stat sheet.

dckingsfan · Post #106 » by **dckingsfan** » Fri Jan 10, 2014 4:03 pm

mhd wrote:You can tell Giannis will be the best player in the draft (assuming Noel doesn't get back to pre-injury form). He's by far the most talented. He'd go #1 if they did a redraft. He's a complete freak out there. He could be like a prime AK47 in that he fills up the stat sheet.

Agreed - and he is an unselfish player with good handles, very good passing skills, good rebounding skills, good defensive skills and good help defensive skills. I would say his only shortcoming is his shot (which is coming) and having a couple of go to moves to break down a defender.

He is already the second best player on the team to Henson and can play either wing position. He can also guard the PG position - which is really scary.

Not sure if he will be an all-star but he is going to be a very solid starting wing in the league.

I sometimes tune into the Bucks games to watch - even though they are terrible - especially their guards.

hands11 · Post #107 » by **hands11** » Fri Jan 10, 2014 6:23 pm

mhd wrote:You can tell Giannis will be the best player in the draft (assuming Noel doesn't get back to pre-injury form). He's by far the most talented. He'd go #1 if they did a redraft. He's a complete freak out there. He could be like a prime AK47 in that he fills up the stat sheet.

Supports my long help feeling that this was actually a good draft. It was just tricky at the top. Specially since I want my top picks producing something in year one and solid contributors by year two. But as time goes on, its going to look better and better.

I have to admit, I didn't even pay much attention to MCW or Giannis Adetokunbo. Both seemed to raw for anything the Wizards would consider. But man, MCW really proved a lot of people wrong. And Giannis is looking way ahead of schedule. I didn't think we would have the answer for him until next year or later in this year getting flashes.

Add those two to Burke, CJM, VO and that's 5 right there. Len and Noel still have a chance to make the list but we have to wait on that. That's 7. Otto ? Maybe 8 good players right there. KCP ? Then you have solid support pieces that will get better in time. Adams, McLemore. Hell. Both of them have nice upside over 3 years. Even have another high upside prospect in Schroeder. And a nice role player in KO. Zeller still could be that as well.

Its just going to take time for this class to really show its wears. Injuries where a big part of that. Usually takes 3 years to really fully grade a class.

mhd · Post #108 » by **mhd** » Fri Jan 10, 2014 6:25 pm

hands11 wrote:
mhd wrote:You can tell Giannis will be the best player in the draft (assuming Noel doesn't get back to pre-injury form). He's by far the most talented. He'd go #1 if they did a redraft. He's a complete freak out there. He could be like a prime AK47 in that he fills up the stat sheet.

Supports my long help feeling that this was actually a good draft. It was just tricky at the top. Specially since I want my top picks producing something in year one and solid contributors by year two. But as time goes on, its going to look better and better.

I have to admit, I didn't even pay much attention to MCW or Giannis Adetokunbo. Both seemed to raw for anything the Wizards would consider. But man, MCW really proved a lot of people wrong. And Giannis is looking way ahead of schedule. I didn't think we would have the answer for him until next year or later in this year getting flashes.

Add those two to Burke, CJM, VO and that's 5 right there. Len and Noel still have a chance to make the list but we have to wait on that. That's 7. Otto ? Maybe 8 good players right there. KCP ? Then you have solid support pieces that will get better in time. Adams, McLemore. Hell. Both of them have nice upside over 3 years. Even have another high upside prospect in Schroeder. And a nice role player in KO. Zeller still could be that as well.

Its just going to take time for this class to really show its wears. Injuries where a big part of that. Usually takes 3 years to really fully grade a class.

I said before the season started that Giannis had way more potential than Porter does. Imagine if we had picked Giannis!

Kanyewest · Post #109 » by **Kanyewest** » Fri Jan 10, 2014 6:53 pm

Anthony Bennett's makes and misses for the first 12 games of his NBA career.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lt3Xw_8oMI

Illmatic21 · Post #110 » by **Illmatic21** » Sun Jan 12, 2014 4:13 pm

This kid is so much better than Porter. Jesus

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_BOkyq_H3E[/youtube]

*sigh*

Dat2U · Post #111 » by **Dat2U** » Sun Jan 12, 2014 4:40 pm

hands11 wrote:
mhd wrote:You can tell Giannis will be the best player in the draft (assuming Noel doesn't get back to pre-injury form). He's by far the most talented. He'd go #1 if they did a redraft. He's a complete freak out there. He could be like a prime AK47 in that he fills up the stat sheet.

Supports my long help feeling that this was actually a good draft. It was just tricky at the top. Specially since I want my top picks producing something in year one and solid contributors by year two. But as time goes on, its going to look better and better.

I have to admit, I didn't even pay much attention to MCW or Giannis Adetokunbo. Both seemed to raw for anything the Wizards would consider. But man, MCW really proved a lot of people wrong. And Giannis is looking way ahead of schedule. I didn't think we would have the answer for him until next year or later in this year getting flashes.

Add those two to Burke, CJM, VO and that's 5 right there. Len and Noel still have a chance to make the list but we have to wait on that. That's 7. Otto ? Maybe 8 good players right there. KCP ? Then you have solid support pieces that will get better in time. Adams, McLemore. Hell. Both of them have nice upside over 3 years. Even have another high upside prospect in Schroeder. And a nice role player in KO. Zeller still could be that as well.

Its just going to take time for this class to really show its wears. Injuries where a big part of that. Usually takes 3 years to really fully grade a class.

No it doesn't. The draft was still horrible. Only a handful of players are contributing. Guys like Oladipo & McLemore have gotten plenty of opportunities and are two of the worst rotation players in the league. The top 8 was a trainwreck. Only guys really playing well are role playing 15-20 minute a night bigs in Adams & Plumlee. Giannis looks like he might the next Boris Diaw with a better motor, a good player, but not necessarily a game changer. The only guy with legit all-star talent is MCW. Noel might be a solid player in time as well.

hands11 · Post #112 » by **hands11** » Mon Jan 13, 2014 1:53 am

mhd wrote:
hands11 wrote:
mhd wrote:You can tell Giannis will be the best player in the draft (assuming Noel doesn't get back to pre-injury form). He's by far the most talented. He'd go #1 if they did a redraft. He's a complete freak out there. He could be like a prime AK47 in that he fills up the stat sheet.

Supports my long help feeling that this was actually a good draft. It was just tricky at the top. Specially since I want my top picks producing something in year one and solid contributors by year two. But as time goes on, its going to look better and better.

I have to admit, I didn't even pay much attention to MCW or Giannis Adetokunbo. Both seemed to raw for anything the Wizards would consider. But man, MCW really proved a lot of people wrong. And Giannis is looking way ahead of schedule. I didn't think we would have the answer for him until next year or later in this year getting flashes.

Add those two to Burke, CJM, VO and that's 5 right there. Len and Noel still have a chance to make the list but we have to wait on that. That's 7. Otto ? Maybe 8 good players right there. KCP ? Then you have solid support pieces that will get better in time. Adams, McLemore. Hell. Both of them have nice upside over 3 years. Even have another high upside prospect in Schroeder. And a nice role player in KO. Zeller still could be that as well.

Its just going to take time for this class to really show its wears. Injuries where a big part of that. Usually takes 3 years to really fully grade a class.

I said before the season started that Giannis had way more potential than Porter does. Imagine if we had picked Giannis!

And look at what he is going to get paid. That's how your keep you cap right. You have to land quality in the 9 to 15 range. Otto is making $4,278,000 this year. I hated that we moved up in the draft because of the ping pong balls. I would have rather been 9th looking at

Burke, CJM, MCW, Adams and Giannis Adetokunbo.

hands11 · Post #113 » by **hands11** » Mon Jan 13, 2014 2:00 am

Kanyewest wrote:Anthony Bennett's makes and misses for the first 12 games of his NBA career.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lt3Xw_8oMI

Well he gets a lot of clean looks. If he start hitting those, well see what happens. Clearly teams will run at the shot more but he shoots it high and he is big. Should be interesting to see if players can get at him. They are really clean looks. Just coming up short a lot.

hands11 · Post #114 » by **hands11** » Mon Jan 13, 2014 2:05 am

Illmatic21 wrote:This kid is so much better than Porter. Jesus

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_BOkyq_H3E[/youtube]

*sigh*

Wow. That kid is a FREAK.

All that length and handles already.

That's the next KD right there. Actually, he has more hops then KD had. How you going to stop that.

There is nothing on his DrafrX page. I don't remember seeing him before the draft.

Kanyewest · Post #115 » by **Kanyewest** » Mon Jan 13, 2014 3:34 am

Giannis still needs a jumper but that was impressive.

Dr Positivity · Post #116 » by **Dr Positivity** » Mon Jan 13, 2014 8:02 am

hands11 wrote:
Kanyewest wrote:Anthony Bennett's makes and misses for the first 12 games of his NBA career.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lt3Xw_8oMI

Well he gets a lot of clean looks. If he start hitting those, well see what happens. Clearly teams will run at the shot more but he shoots it high and he is big. Should be interesting to see if players can get at him. They are really clean looks. Just coming up short a lot.

Yeah what's happening with Bennett is he's a mental trainwreck anytime he takes a shot away from the rim. I counted the other day and he was 5 for 31 on non restricted area shots in December/January and 1 for his last 18, before going 1 for 5 on them tonight. In Dec/Jan however he did learn to hit shots at the rim and FT line at an acceptable level (50%+, 70%+ respectively)

Basically the switch should flip at some point. A player who hit 37% from 3 in NCAA and went 33% from 3 in preseason (9 for 28) suddenly becoming a guy who shoots 5-15% on wide open 10-15 footers, is a mental block. A soon as his 2 point jumpshot goes in 35% of the time and his 3 goes in 30% of the time the train will be on the track. I guess it's conceivable this start destroys him mentally forever and he can't never have "NBA confidence", at which point CLE failing the pick becomes like POR failing on Oden, just a disaster for reasons unrelated to talent. But for it'll be a long time before declaring him hopeless in that department, especially considering he get minutes on a minimum of 3-4 teams before being ousted from the NBA. I believe when people say things like Kwame and Darko's careers were destroyed by what Jordan and Brown did to their confidence, it's missing the mark. Those guys had enough minutes and teams to make something of themselves, in the end it appears they just didn't have much talent. Darko could've had a better career but when I say that, I mean he should've Dalembert'd his way around the league for a while. He never showed much sign of skill or feel to me.

I agree this draft is good but I think it's the "least ready" NBA draft ever, for mental and physical reasons across the board it would appear. If it does end up a good to great draft, it'll be a very rare and unique year for how many players were slow starters, or perhaps a sign of the future that as time goes on prospects will take longer to adjust. It's conceivable the more analytic and system-orientated team strategies become, the more lost rookies entering the league will be. The league I know 2nd most for prospects is the NHL and it takes a lot longer for prospects to come through and most are sent to the minors for years, part of that is needed physical maturity, but I also feel how structured and system orientated the sport is creates a bigger learning curve

Dr Positivity · Post #117 » by **Dr Positivity** » Mon Jan 13, 2014 8:08 am

Giannis is really nice, but when I see him, I see a young Kawhi Leonard. The size, feel, the giant hands/rebounding ability thing. Like Kawhi not convinced at all in the offensive upside

dckingsfan · Post #118 » by **dckingsfan** » Tue Jan 14, 2014 7:08 pm

http://fansided.com/2014/01/13/nba-rook ... s-week-11/

Mostly agree with this list - MCW and Burke will be starting guards and borderline All-Stars in the future.

GA as well - and if he develops a set of consistent offensive moves he will be an All-Star due to his defense. And you know he is going to grow into that body.

Oladipo and Hardaway seem like very good assets on a team. Probable starters or really good 6th man on a team.

To early to tell: Ben McLemore, Kelly Olynyk, Steven Adams and CJM

Not to impressed with the rest, they will need to take a big jump next year.

Hope Porter and Rice take HUUUUUGGGGEEE jumps next year.

Post #119 » by **Ruzious** » Tue Jan 14, 2014 7:18 pm

Dr Positivity wrote:Giannis is really nice, but when I see him, I see a young Kawhi Leonard. The size, feel, the giant hands/rebounding ability thing. Like Kawhi not convinced at all in the offensive upside

They do have the most freakishly long hands in the NBA. Thing is - the nurture factor is completely different. Leonard's been brought along in the best organization in basketball with arguably the best coach and 3 teammates who might end up in the HOF - in a very structured environment with a very defined role that they've expanded little by little. Giannis is the youngest player in the NBA on a young team being brought along in a very shakey organization with a coach who has very little respect and who could very well be gone after this season.

dckingsfan · Post #120 » by **dckingsfan** » Wed Jan 15, 2014 2:43 pm

Ruzious wrote:
Dr Positivity wrote:Giannis is really nice, but when I see him, I see a young Kawhi Leonard. The size, feel, the giant hands/rebounding ability thing. Like Kawhi not convinced at all in the offensive upside

They do have the most freakishly long hands in the NBA. Thing is - the nurture factor is completely different. Leonard's been brought along in the best organization in basketball with arguably the best coach and 3 teammates who might end up in the HOF - in a very structured environment with a very defined role that they've expanded little by little. Giannis is the youngest player in the NBA on a young team being brought along in a very shakey organization with a coach who has very little respect and who could very well be gone after this season.

Really good point - Leonard is definitely progressing at a nice pace... it will be interesting to watch year over year.