Official 2013 Draft Thread - Part IV

[Earth2Ted]

Article from New Zealand quotes Adams' longtime coach as naming the Wiz as one of 5 or 6 teams that have called with some interest in the kid.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/basketball ... BA-combine

You'd have to think this would be a trade down scenario- Adams isn't likely to make the jump to lottery unless he blows away the field at the pre draft combines, and he also isn't likely to drop to the 2nd round.

[pancakes3]

Really all he has to do is pass the "true 7 foot" barrier, the "250lbs and under 10% body fat" barrier and all the rest is gravy. I guess arm reach, lateral quickness, and vert would help but he certainly does have at LEAST vanilla gorilla potential in him, imo.

[Rafael122]

According to J. Michael of CSN Washington, these are the guys the Wizards are scheduled to interview during the combine:

Victor Oladipo (Indiana), SF Shabazz Muhammad (UCLA), PG Isaiah Canaan (Murray State), SG Allen Crabbe (California), PG/SG C.J. McCollum (Lehigh), C Cody Zeller (Indiana), PF Mason Plumlee (Duke), C Kelly Olynyk (Gonzaga), and C Steven Adams (Pittsburgh).

Via Bulletsforever. That's aside from Len and Porter, thoughts?

I mentioned this on Twitter, Canaan and Crabbe are interesting because by most draft experts, they are late first, early 2nd round picks. I'm not reading into it much but it could mean either a trade down situation, or we could look at Canaan in the 2nd round.

[SUPERBALLMAN]

Really all he has to do is pass the "true 7 foot" barrier, the "250lbs and under 10% body fat" barrier and all the rest is gravy. I guess arm reach, lateral quickness, and vert would help but he certainly does have at LEAST vanilla gorilla potential in him, imo.

Well we've talked about everyone else about as much as possible into the ground, I guess Adams is one that hasn't been discussed too much yet, but should be under consideration as someone who certainly could move up quickly on draft boards come the combine and workouts. That article is a good find Earth2Ted, thanks. Interesting to hear he's been working out against Dieng, Withey and Olynyk.

He's definitely someone I could see Ernie becoming enamored with, as a diamond in the rough high upside under the radar type pick he seems to favor. I really don't know much about him, so hopefully someone has some good accurate evaluation. I know he has some kind of weird family situation. Looking at the DX video now... physically and athletically pretty impressive.

One thing that catches my eye though is the DX scouting report...
"Adams seems to have smaller hands than average for a player his size and had a difficult time catching the ball cleanly all season long resulting in quite a few turnovers. He bobbles the ball on the catch regularly, as he seems to need to have it thrown to him perfectly so he can get two hands around it, at times using his chest to assist him. Because of his lack of control upon catching it, he tends to either hesitate going up strong for the finish, or just throws the ball up on the rim, seemingly just hoping for the best."

From DraftExpress.com http://www.draftexpress.com#ixzz2TPhUHFUO
http://www.draftexpress.com

I remember this being a major issue with Kwame Brown. Despite his great athleticism, he always had bad hands, had to dunk with 2 hands, would lose control of the ball a lot.

[The Consiglieri]

According to J. Michael of CSN Washington, these are the guys the Wizards are scheduled to interview during the combine:

Victor Oladipo (Indiana), SF Shabazz Muhammad (UCLA), PG Isaiah Canaan (Murray State), SG Allen Crabbe (California), PG/SG C.J. McCollum (Lehigh), C Cody Zeller (Indiana), PF Mason Plumlee (Duke), C Kelly Olynyk (Gonzaga), and C Steven Adams (Pittsburgh).

Via Bulletsforever. That's aside from Len and Porter, thoughts?

I mentioned this on Twitter, Canaan and Crabbe are interesting because by most draft experts, they are late first, early 2nd round picks. I'm not reading into it much but it could mean either a trade down situation, or we could look at Canaan in the 2nd round.

Oladipo: me happy. two or three months ago I wasn't as big of a fan, but at this point, he's one of the few guys I think can find a legit role, and probably start in this league and not hurt you. So im interested.

Muhammad: me happy, I continue to view him as a top 8 prospect in this draft, and a huge value at our slot.

Canaan: I know squat about him.

Crabbe: as a Cal graduate, I'm just not a big fan. I think he'll never be better than some bench scoring off the bench. A very foolish choice if he goes higher than 20-25. Decent value in round 2, as he can probably find a role in this league.

McCollum: Huge fan, one of the highest value potential picks in the draft. Will be a steal if he goes 7th or lower in the draft.

Zeller: Yuck. Only in a trade down. I think his ceiling is glue guy, or starter you are constantly trying to replace.

Plumlee: one of those moronic reaches that always happens in a draft. Guys like him shouldn't even go in the top 45 in my book. Hes an end of the bench big, probably can find some minutes in the league as that, but why waste a draft pick on it? Zero chance for stardom or even above average production in my view.

Olynyk: intriguing option in a trade down. Wouldn't touch him at 8, but in a trade down, his offensive versatility and skill make him plenty in the utility side of the game, and a potential player with legit value if all goes well.

Adams: sneaky C+ grade junk bond investment. High risk, but he's got a chance to be really good if a lot goes right for him in his development.

I mostly like the targets.

[hands11]

How can we make a judgment on his basketball intelligence when he's got one year of experience as a college player? Not sure. Granted we already knew Beal was brilliant, but if you're struggling as a freshman, well, how is that different from any other freshman?

I don't think we can define somebody, determine where they belong on any scale, that early in their development.

+1
Fact is, Hands doesn't really have a good reason to question Bennett's "smarts" and his weak response to my question proves that.

Weak?

You asked a weak question. I gave you a weak reply.

I was messing with you. Relax.

[hands11]

just watched a bit of the CJM video on DX, speaking of seniors.

was kinda encouraged by it. He could turn out to be a sleeper if
there is such a thing. His offensive versatility and BBIQ could be put to
good use by the Wiz, someone who could actually be well suited to
the role previously envisioned for Big Balls.

How are you just now watching the video though. It has been posted tons.

CJM has a lot of stuff the Wizards need. There are some concerns. There always are. The foot injury is a concern.

So just curious. How do you rank CJMs BBIQ to say Bennett. Rank them for BBIQ, Smarts, Personalities. Who fits the new Wizards mold best ?

[montestewart]

just watched a bit of the CJM video on DX, speaking of seniors.

was kinda encouraged by it. He could turn out to be a sleeper if
there is such a thing. His offensive versatility and BBIQ could be put to
good use by the Wiz, someone who could actually be well suited to
the role previously envisioned for Big Balls.

How are you just now watching the video though. I have been posted tons.

Yeah man! Shake a leg!

[hands11]

I'm not as thoroughly convinced as WizD but I do agree with him. Adams imo is a better prospect than a lot of other big men ranked ahead of him. Just a smidge below Len imo.

Better then some for sure, but not a top 10 pick.

But top 15 to 20. Probably.

[hands11]

According to J. Michael of CSN Washington, these are the guys the Wizards are scheduled to interview during the combine:

Victor Oladipo (Indiana), SF Shabazz Muhammad (UCLA), PG Isaiah Canaan (Murray State), SG Allen Crabbe (California), PG/SG C.J. McCollum (Lehigh), C Cody Zeller (Indiana), PF Mason Plumlee (Duke), C Kelly Olynyk (Gonzaga), and C Steven Adams (Pittsburgh).

Via Bulletsforever. That's aside from Len and Porter, thoughts?

I mentioned this on Twitter, Canaan and Crabbe are interesting because by most draft experts, they are late first, early 2nd round picks. I'm not reading into it much but it could mean either a trade down situation, or we could look at Canaan in the 2nd round.

Most the names I wanted are there. I would be happier if I also saw

Mike Muscala, Erik Murphy, Dieng and Pierre Jackson

But VO, CJM, Kelly, Otto, Len, Crabbe and Adams. Thats a good list. Though Adam is a ?

So no Burke, Noel, Bennett. Interesting.

Bradley Beal Representing Wizards At NBA Draft Lottery
http://wizofawes.com/2013/05/15/nba-dra ... t-lottery/

Other side note... Pierre Jackson up to 14th in the 2nd round. I expect he will continue to climb a little further into top 10 2nd round or late first.

Its a smaller move, but the Wizards would do themselves good if they could find a way to move that late 2nd pick up to an earlier 2nd pick. As time goes on, the value picks are moving out of range. I wonder if they can bundle Singleton in any way to help them move up. Do he have any value at all ? Maybe another team that doesn't really want to use their 2nd pick on a green player and they see Singleton as someone who has two years of experience and is ready to contribute at a more solid level gaining from the school of hard knocks.

Maybe CLE would trade with us. They need defenders and they have two high 2nds and 2 firsts. Are they really going to want to add 4 draft picks ? Man I wish we had all of their picks. Pretty much perfect.

Top 3 first, a later first and two high 2nds. That is exactly what we need. I could totally build out the Wizards with those picks.

[jivelikenice]

So Shabazz is taking part in all the combine drills....I was not a fan at all but this type of competitiveness makes me willing to re-evaluate.....

[Deeptu McPullup]

I posted on it a few pages back, but Bennet’s BBIQ is under heavy scrutiny for me. For the life of me, I can’t find another full UNLV game on the webs other than the clunker against the Golden Bears in the tourney, but I have not been encouraged with what’s passed through my screen thus far.

The reason that he’s at the top of the lottery is really just based on his physical tools and his skills with the ball in his hands; he has amongst the most rudimentary of off-ball games that you’re going to find at the top of the lottery. Guys like Zeller, Bazz and Porter are furlongs ahead of him here. In contrast to those guys, everything I’ve seen says that Bennet with better conditioning would be a much better 3-on-3 player than a 5-on-5 guy.

The case is as follows: he doesn’t cut or try and get in advantageous positions to receive the ball other than sealing his man off around the hoop. He usually just waits around and calls for a pass at random spots in the high post. On most possessions, he appears to be hedging between taking a breather and posting up or spotting up from further out. He’s just improving on possessions within a narrow band of predictable, low energy activities.

In this way, he also rarely appears to be in synch with his teammates or party to running anything that looks like actual basketball plays. While his teammates are running more sophisticated sets with a lot of motion and ball movement, he’s just sort of there. He seems oblivious to the idea that there are certain circumstances that create higher percentage rhythm shots for the team and actions he can perform without the ball to facilitate that happening. He watches the guy with the ball and calls for it. He doesn’t set picks for guys in motion off the ball, adjust his position in relation to them to put pressure on the defense or pay much attention to them in general. He is not the missile defense radar suite that’s processing ten tangos inbound and enacting countermeasures within nano-seconds. He knows that if he’s shooting inside, that’s a good shot, which is undoubtedly true, but otherwise he’s playing checkers out there.

That’s not even bringing up the team defense where he’s a step behind in rotations, never minding the general lethargy. A lack of defensive awareness for an interior player as a help defender is not the most difficult thing to detect and points squarely towards low BBIQ being the likely culprit.

I would like to have seen some more games from earlier in the season to be surer, but it's hard to be encouraged. The only place his ability to anticipate stands out is on the offensive glass. His decisions with the ball are OK and his shot selection is generally alright.

Unless there was some issue with his shoulder or asthma that severely limited him to where he was holding a lot back, at best, his BBIQ probably tops out at average. It could be worse than that too and we're not even bringing in his motor and possible lack of "little things" contributions.

All that said, we’re getting warts and caveats at 8 no matter what, so I’m certainly not saying we don’t draft him if he slides to us. He's great with the ball for a power forward and has top shelf tools, so at 8, OK, but let's not pretend he's Shane Battier.

[Deeptu McPullup]

One thing that catches my eye though is the DX scouting report...

"Adams seems to have smaller hands than average for a player his size and had a difficult time catching the ball cleanly all season long.....

I remember this being a major issue with Kwame Brown. Despite his great athleticism, he always had bad hands, had to dunk with 2 hands, would lose control of the ball a lot.

Adams doesn’t have small hands; there’s a thread about that over on the RealGM draft board, but it’s been emphatically refuted. He bobbles passes and might have bad hands, but they’re big.

He looks like a huge project, but his ceiling is as an elite goon with extraordinary defensive impact. His lateral mobility looks like it's been lifted from the comic book talk on the off topic thread. I can't think of anyone that size who can shuffle sidelong like that. Offensively, I doubt he ever moves beyond pick and roll finisher/garbagier, but that could be viewed as a positive compared to certain guys who shall remain nameless.

He may not be much smarter than Javale as of now, but he's got more nasty grinder to him with emphasis on the things that will help you win.

His interview with Givony was historically awful, but it might be that he just didn't like Givony or something.

I feel fairly comfortable saying that a healthy Len has a higher floor and probably a higher ceiling as a two way player. Len might bottom out as Spencer Hawes meets Robin Lopez, which isn't bad if you believe that both guys are still improving. Adams has a higher defensive ceiling, but his overall floor is current Andris Biedrins meets Bobcat Goldthwait from Police Academy III.

I like Adams a lot in a trade down; feast or famine, that one.

According to J. Michael of CSN Washington, these are the guys the Wizards are scheduled to interview during the combine:

Victor Oladipo (Indiana), SF Shabazz Muhammad (UCLA), PG Isaiah Canaan (Murray State), SG Allen Crabbe (California), PG/SG C.J. McCollum (Lehigh), C Cody Zeller (Indiana), PF Mason Plumlee (Duke), C Kelly Olynyk (Gonzaga), and C Steven Adams (Pittsburgh).

Via Bulletsforever. That's aside from Len and Porter, thoughts?

I mentioned this on Twitter, Canaan and Crabbe are interesting because by most draft experts, they are late first, early 2nd round picks. I'm not reading into it much but it could mean either a trade down situation, or we could look at Canaan in the 2nd round.

That with Len and Porter looks like a pretty good list.

Aside from the obvious late round guys, Olynyk and especially Plumlee are the guys I'm most uncomfortable with. Olynyk might turn out fine and there's plenty to like, but I just can't get over the whole one year of productivity thing. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me 48 times and let's just fit me for a conical hat and sit me in the corner. I've been burned too many times on guys like Wesley Johnson and so forth. It's a religious thing for me at this point and I'm not really going to offer a good argument against him based on his play. Just look at Nate's sig and that's where I'm at for anyone with one good year.

For the record, I consider Victor Office Depot's previous seasons to have been nice in a role guy way, so I'm quite high on him. He oozes winning basketball, athleticism and smarts.

I'd love to trade up for Porter, but I would only see it being there if Orlando was sitting on him and wanted us to eat some salaries and cough up our 2014 pick. It'll be tough to get him unless we luck out. My top choice, though.

Shabbazz is a guy we need to do our due diligence on. If he's a better athlete than he showed this past year, he's a potential monster and you can throw that cruddy 2PT% right out. If he's as mediocre an athlete as he appeared to be at UCLA, steer well clear.

McCollum is interesting and a still growing, neckless Beal makes me think we can go small and have a big role for CJ; maybe even as a starter in the longrun. His smarts and intangibles look as good as Porter and Oladipo and he's vying with those two as being the most ready of anyone we're looking at too.

I'm keener on Zeller than most here too. Generally, I'd avoid offensive bigs, but a fair bit of the criticisms would be overcome by his getting stronger with the frame being there for that. Nice in space on both ends, skilled, smart, fundamentally sound and has good potential as a shooter. Has to be a 4 as he'll get the crap beat out of him as a rim protector even if he gains strength. Not so sure about his instincts as an interior defender and his rebounding is only mediocre. SteveMcQ's comparison to a slighter Nene was interesting as he has some of that in him and could develop into an excellent post scorer; not sure about his hands, though. Really, just a very versatile offensive player with a solid motor and underrated athleticism.

Len I touched on above. He's a major project like Adams, but is more cerebral and skilled if a bit of a spaz and tentative. At this point, his developing skills might actually be lowering his FG% and raising his TOV%, but in time he could morph into a fine high post decision maker and offensive conduit who sees the floor and executes at a high level. He also might not do that, so it's a hit or miss pick like most guys his size, but his floor looks respectably high by those standards.

[Dark Faze]

Super stoked to see Olynyk getting interviewed.

[Ruzious]

I wish I'd seen the great ability a lot of people insist Adams has shown, but I watched 3 of his games, and he performed as the incredible disappearing 7 footer. No doubt, he's a well put together 7 footer who moves well, but I didn't see any game or BBIQ from him. I think it's pretty clear that EG & Co are not going for a project. They want someone who can step right in and play. I'd be hugely surprised if they think Adams fits that description. Then again, I was sure they wouldn't pick Vesely, so I'm not good at predicting the actions of certain types of people.

[Benjammin]

Apparently BBIQ is the acronym of the season for draft prospects. In my feeble mind, that's barbecue IQ, and certainly that's an important consideration for our potential draft picks.

[verbal8]

The Wizards late 2nd probably isn't a huge asset, but it might be a good place to get a back-up SG.

The prospects are rather interesting

Snaer - good defense/size, mixed offensively - outside shooting good, not good 2pt%
Vander Blue and Brandon Paul seem similar, slightly undersized, good defensive potential, ok, but not great outside shooting - low 30s 3pt%
Seth Curry - small, defensive liability, great pure shooter, produced offensively in a variety of roles in his college career

I think Seth Curry may not be more than a 10 to 15 mpg player, but he also seems to have the best chance of sticking in the NBA.

[Rafael122]

According to J. Michael of CSN Washington, these are the guys the Wizards are scheduled to interview during the combine:

Victor Oladipo (Indiana), SF Shabazz Muhammad (UCLA), PG Isaiah Canaan (Murray State), SG Allen Crabbe (California), PG/SG C.J. McCollum (Lehigh), C Cody Zeller (Indiana), PF Mason Plumlee (Duke), C Kelly Olynyk (Gonzaga), and C Steven Adams (Pittsburgh).

Via Bulletsforever. That's aside from Len and Porter, thoughts?

I mentioned this on Twitter, Canaan and Crabbe are interesting because by most draft experts, they are late first, early 2nd round picks. I'm not reading into it much but it could mean either a trade down situation, or we could look at Canaan in the 2nd round.

Most the names I wanted are there. I would be happier if I also saw

Mike Muscala, Erik Murphy, Dieng and Pierre Jackson

But VO, CJM, Kelly, Otto, Len, Crabbe and Adams. Thats a good list.

So no Burke, Noel, Bennett. Interesting.

Bradley Beal Representing Wizards At NBA Draft Lottery
http://wizofawes.com/2013/05/15/nba-dra ... t-lottery/

I think they view Noel and those guys as the top prospects hence they likely won't be around at our pick. Obviously things will change if we move up.

[Dark Faze]

The Wizards late 2nd probably isn't a huge asset, but it might be a good place to get a back-up SG.

The prospects are rather interesting

Snaer - good defense/size, mixed offensively - outside shooting good, not good 2pt%
Vander Blue and Brandon Paul seem similar, slightly undersized, good defensive potential, ok, but not great outside shooting - low 30s 3pt%
Seth Curry - small, defensive liability, great pure shooter, produced offensively in a variety of roles in his college career

I think Seth Curry may not be more than a 10 to 15 mpg player, but he also seems to have the best chance of sticking in the NBA.

That late in the draft you go for guys who have a documented NBA skill. Having guys that are below average at everything isn't going to stick. I'd go for Curry.

[Ruzious]

Apparently BBIQ is the acronym of the season for draft prospects. In my feeble mind, that's barbecue IQ, and certainly that's an important consideration for our potential draft picks.

Nope - 2 different things. One makes you fat, the other makes you a better basketball player. Blatche got them mixed up, too.