Draft Thread Continued. 2011 part two...

[hands11]

I actually had the thought today, hands. People forget the price of obtaining Howard could be like New York paid to get Amare, only worse in that McGee and other bigs with promise will be giving along with picks and salary.

Might be better to surround McGee with a bunch of skill and talent and to go get guys like Glen Davis, Leon Powe, Varejao, etc. to bother Howard. A better player to pursue might be Lamar Odom, once OKC knocks the Lakers off the top of the heap. He might have 3-5 more good years. He's not Dwight Howard, but if you add a superstar to the Wizards in this draft the next step is to get good veterans that win games, but do so economically.

Odom would be a guy to pursue. Dwight's going to cost the moon and the stars.

Horford would be a guy to target after next season, because you just KNOW the Hawks are caving.

Nice to have options isn't it. Hopefully we are in the drivers set when the time comes. A diversified approach may work better than a complete sell out.

[hands11]

Most talented player in the draft may be debatable, but there's no doubt in my mind the most complete capital P player available at his position, whenever he's picked, will be Kemba Walker.

If I'm picking PGs I'd take him over Kyrie Irving and never have to worry about a learning curve. YOu may You may gain better individual upside with Kyrie, but will get better team results with Kemba. Kyrie scores, has phenomenal feel, but will still need to develop his floor generalship. Has Chris Paul ever won a championship yet? Kyrie Irving ain't quite Chris Paul. Quite often the PG of a winning team has an ability to keep a low-profile to put the team in position to win, taking over only when the team needs a pick-up. Kemba has that skill set, earned by effort and experience. Coming in the league he already manages his team like a veteran, makes his entire squad better, makes the smart play time and again, maximizes his strengths and minimizes his shortfalls. Clutch, determined, good attitude, more feisty than cool in temperament but with the good humor that wins over refs, he'll laugh midgame when an opponent makes a nice play, but will put his grim face on and make it up at the other end.

I always said, regardless of upside, teams do well to pick the keystone player on a championship squad, to teach the players on their roster the value and importance of clutch play, steel will when it matters most. Win the title or no, Kemba is this draft's best bet as far as that is concerned. I like talented players who had to learn to become winners, since they value effort more than natural talents who never had to work much to succeed.

Kembra should be a solid player in the NBA. It is his height hold him back in the draft. If he was 6-2 or 6-3, he would go #1

[pcbothwel]

I know that this draft is a little weaker than most but is there anyway Jonas Valanciunas falls to our ATL pick. I dont see how its possible but him spending 2 years abroad could curtail some interest, no?
The only thing I worry about is some team not wanting to commit mid-1st salary and a roster spot to a player in this draft, so they take JV for that reason.

[pancakes3]

doc, how does kemba not just REEK of ben gordon to you?

[Dark Faze]

At this rate we may have to look at perry and kanter...why are we winning NOW out of all times.

smh

[no D in Hibachi]

These next six games are very concerning for the Wiz tanking purposes. I really think the cut off of this draft is the 5th pick. Anything lower than 5 and you get into some really scary prospects. I'd be okay with Kanter, Perry Jones, Derrick Williams, Irving, or Barnes, but after that you really start getting into uncertainty. Here's to hoping Boston cares down the stretch, that the Piston "veteren leaders" play motivated one more time and that Flip give extended floor time to all the D-Leaguers + Yi in the Cav's game.

[closg00]

The Derrick Williams to the Wizards fantasy can live-on ....for now.

[SUPERBALLMAN]

These next six games are very concerning for the Wiz tanking purposes. I really think the cut off of this draft is the 5th pick. Anything lower than 5 and you get into some really scary prospects. I'd be okay with Kanter, Perry Jones, Derrick Williams, Irving, or Barnes, but after that you really start getting into uncertainty. Here's to hoping Boston cares down the stretch, that the Piston "veteren leaders" play motivated one more time and that Flip give extended floor time to all the D-Leaguers + Yi in the Cav's game.

I agree. I do think the Wizards could get a good player in the 5-10 range, such as Terrance Jones. But I REALLY want Derrick Williams, and as Dark Faze suggested earlier, I'd be willing to deal both 1st rounders for him if we drop out of Williams/Barnes range.

[doclinkin]

doc, how does kemba not just REEK of ben gordon to you?

3-cakes:

Passing, leadership, positional defense, game management, kairotic sense (timing), even rebounding. I follow UConn since I was young-- Kemba is no Ben Gordon, nor Marcus Williams, nor Khalid El-Amin (loved that kid) ...

Kemba is one of those rare scorers who learned to adapt and run a team. He's the best scorer on the team but at this point defers by default, then turns up the scoring when the team absolutely needs him to do so. He converted his positional awareness and offensive tunnel vision to a complete team game. You pick it up in the little things.

An example from the KY game: his squad knocks a pass into the air, flying out of bounds, Kemba dove out of bounds and tapped the player directly to the hands of his teammates -- not blind, not to the opponent, not as a wild hope-- but as if it were a simple pass, running back onto the court as soon as he landed, picking up in the transition offense. And he's talking the whole time, instructing young talent where to be, when to cut, hitting them in the hands with the ball right when they're open. Helping them grow up on court.

What's intriguing to me is that adaptation. Evolution. I watch players closest who show an ability to improve. Entering the NBA the players who succeed over the long term are those who can tinker with their games and adapt to find a role. Kemba Walker catches my eye as a high usage player who rarely gives the ball away, that's a bonus. What's better: each year of his college career his pure passing metrics have significantly improved while his fouls decrease. He's posting a Stef Curry-esque usage rate, while maintaining that 2.0+ asst/TO ratio, and has cut his shot attempts per assist each year, this year especially, despite having only one other significant offensive player on his squad. That trend indicates a player who will learn and improve.

Ben Gordon by contrast had a beautiful long range shot, and a gunners mentality, who posted negative pure passing ratings despite playing next to future NBAers in Cholly Villopecia, Emeka Okafor, Caron Butler, etc.

[Dark Faze]

We lucked out with a SAC and TOR win today. The drama continues...

[spaceman_E]

It seems that people were mostly caught off guard by the trade FOR Hinrich. I don't think it was a surprise that Hinrich got traded but did anyone know that EG had so coveted Jordan? I'm guessing that many people here were surprised at the picks Seraphin, Booker, and Hamady. My sense it that a bunch of picks - McGee, NY, the #5 pick trade, Pecherov, weren't really expected. My question for the board is this: Everyone here talks about who they would pick -- What do you think EG's draft board looks like?

I heard Mike Miller is on the trade block.

[Hoopalotta]

Things went about as well as possible for the ATL pick with the Hawks losing and every Western playoff team that matters also winning. As of now, it'd be a three way tie for the 17th pick.

If it comes to it, that's one coin flip I'd definitely like to win.

[dobrojim]

I think you gotta like the fact that Walker should be climbing on
a lot of boards. I don't think he is the guy for us but he could
be attractive to a team that hops over us if we get unlucky
with the pingpong balls.

How about S Mack with our 2nd rnd pic?

[Rafael122]

Well it's done, Harrison Barnes is staying in school. We're talking about Derrick Williams and all that, he hasn't even said if he's coming out or not so for right now, it's all speculation. We have no clue if he's going back to school or what.

The draft just got weaker with Sullinger and Barnes staying.

[Hoopalotta]

Well it's done, Harrison Barnes is staying in school. We're talking about Derrick Williams and all that, he hasn't even said if he's coming out or not so for right now, it's all speculation. We have no clue if he's going back to school or what.

The draft just got weaker with Sullinger and Barnes staying.

Dame, we're at the precipice of full blown confoundedness here. All we need is Irving to check out of the pool and it's really all or nothing based on our bouncy balls.

Oh well, one thing I have is that I'd be happy with the Lithuanian, Johnny Valentine. I'd happily roll the dice on Perry Jones in accordance with the Dat-School of thought as well.

I'd be real surprised if Williams didn't declare given his stock and him being a second year and all, but this is getting dangerous.

[theboomking]

We lucked out tonight. We won, but so did Toronto and Sacramento. I have this sinking feeling that we are going to be on the wrong end of a winning streak that will wind up costing us a lot of lotto balls.

It would be hard for me to choose between Kanter and Perry Jones if we end up dropping badly in the draft. I'm not high on Kanter at all. I have more confidence in Zeller or Harrellson at this point for the simple fact that they played a season and we actually saw them playing. I'd hate to take a shot at a guy who even as a ceiling is not projected to be that dominant of a big man, let alone a guy who hasn't played for a year, isn't from the U.S and has had rumors about health issues.

I would rather just take a shot at Perry and call it a day on that one--even though Perry has a 60% chance to bust.
.

Come on man...I don't necessarily agree that Williams is as good a prospect as you think, but I concede that you could be right. Williams could be great at the next level. I do think that we still have to keep in mind that Williams wasn't nearly as good as a freshman, and Barnes or Perry Jones could have a similar explosion in their sophomore years.

But, Zeller or Harellson over Kanter? Harellson? He is a senior that scored 7.6ppg this year and has personally stated that Kanter is the best player on Kentucky and can't be stopped by a single defender.

The 2012 draft class is very strong, and will be filled with blue-chip SFs. I wouldn't worry too much about Quincy Miller's ACL injury. He actually said that it was a good thing because he didn't always work hard, and the injury has motivated him and he knows that people will sleep on him. Here's the article: http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Qui ... o-me-3607/

Anthony Davis IMO is the #1 prospect though and he reminds me of a young K.G. But I don't know if he will play SF or PF in the NBA.

I also love Gilchrist. He's a blue-collar player, that finds a way to score even though he doesn't have a great mid-range shot and isn't the best ball-handler. He's tough, good rebounder, and a good defender. I think he'd be the perfect fit for our roster.

LeBryan Nash is another one and is a freak athlete and reminds me of Ron Artest. There are many more wings that I didn't include either. And even though I think Harrison Barnes declares this year, there are some rumors of him staying in school, so that's another wing for 2012. That's why I'm in favor of drafting a big with our first pick in this year's draft because we can't go wrong with a wing in next year's draft.

And their are other great prospects like Austin Rivers and James McAdoo. The 2012 class is stacked.

Does Anthony Davis remind you a bit of Jon Henson in terms of his body type? Thanks for the heads up on the other guys in 2012. It's fun to look ahead. Regarding that highlight video, there was one play that really caught my eye. At 2:05, Gilchrist is bringing the ball up the court in transition, and showed the kind of instantaneous acceleration past his defender that reminded me of Wall in transition this year. I think they could be great running mates. I still think, based just on that video, that Gilchrist looks like he may be better suited to play SG than SF, in terms of his body type, handle, and athleticism.

Well it's done, Harrison Barnes is staying in school. We're talking about Derrick Williams and all that, he hasn't even said if he's coming out or not so for right now, it's all speculation. We have no clue if he's going back to school or what.

The draft just got weaker with Sullinger and Barnes staying.

Link?

Assuming that everyone does stay in, what a hell of a draft next year will be!

[Hoopalotta]

There's some tweets on Barnes if you check out the Google live feed on latest info.

Here's the one that seems to of broke it:

martytirrell Harrison Barnes commits to "work left to be done" at NC Tells family and friends wants and feel Heels can move forward and " win a title "

http://twitter.com/martytirrell

[Ed Wood]

Well at a certain point you have to assume the last few blue chips standing will hang around because it's hard to love college enough to pass up a surefire top five pick when you're probably more of a top ten kinda guy in less interesting times.

That or if everybody continues to get out of the pool you might start to wonder if minders are spreading the word that things are going to get ugly come the end of the season. On the flip side anything that increases the chances of the team drafting Valanciunas and allowing me to enjoy people coming out of the woodwork to post their angst at having drafted a guy draft.net compares to Primoz Brezic is not entirely without merit.

And Doc did you seriously just pull a "kiss the rings" on Chris Paul?

And one more: This may raise a few eyebrows but a better comparison for Anthony Davis would be Quincy Douby.

[theboomking]

Check out the ridiculous handle on Quincy Miller. It's just silly good.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKu8-ZZAsyQ&feature=related[/youtube]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKu8-ZZA ... re=related

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Yeah, let's keep JaVale McGee, because Dwight Howard would be too expensive If there is a single player in the league worth a max contract, it is Dwight Howard. He is going to be the best big man of this generation, is still young, has no health concerns, and is dominant on offense, defense, and the boards. Call me when you guys get an NBA GM job.

Go back and read the word MIGHT in my post.

Then figure out in your own mind where I said do not pursue Howard.

I thought it might be too expensive for me to buy a new car while in the middle of a divorce but darn it if I didn't buy one. Just didn't get a Lexus or a Caddy or a nice Acura. I did buy the new car. But I thought about getting many used cars ....


Last, go back and see I was answering a question hands proposed.

As far as calling you, why would I do that if your mind is closed and you're calling me for suggesting what MIGHT be a better option? I put due diligence in things and consider all options, time permitting. Everyone wants Howard. He is worth the max. All sarcasm aside, that much is a given.

theboomking, I like Javale and all but this post isn't about him.