2012 NBA Draft - Part III

[WizarDynasty]

the beauty of basketball

[Ed Wood]

Did you know, that former Knick great Patrick Ewing's inability to land a coaching job with New York is a direct result of his own enormous hands?

James Dolan initially intended to offer Ewing a job in player development but found himself unable to allow his tiny girl hands to be engulfed in a pair of massive mitts that former teammate Charles Smith has, on separate occasions described as "flippers" and "great terrifying spiders".

To this day Dolan's dreams are troubled by massive digits extending outward to prod him and he has specifically alluded to one recurring image of "a great, slender and endless arm reaching out and resigning Allan Houston."

[queridiculo]

Well if you can dribble and jump off one foot and float in the air for morel than a second while clutching a basketball with one hand, then you know what aerodynamic is. If you fumble the balls, have a tendency to look at an nba basketball playerj's behind rather than if the basketball goes into the net.... but you have a male name, then watching dimess in wnba would be waist of time...and a brutal experience.

Mind == blown.

[tontoz]

Well if you can dribble and jump off one foot and float in the air for morel than a second while clutching a basketball with one hand, then you know what aerodynamic is. If you fumble the balls, have a tendency to look at an nba basketball playerj's behind rather than if the basketball goes into the net.... but you have a male name, then watching dimess in wnba would be waist of time...and a brutal experience.

I think you might want to pay a visit to Webster's Online Dictionary. Aerodynamics are not affected by how a player clutches his ball.

[Nivek]

The last couple pages belong in the HOF.

[gesa2]

Well if you can dribble and jump off one foot and float in the air for morel than a second while clutching a basketball with one hand, then you know what aerodynamic is. If you fumble the balls, have a tendency to look at an nba basketball playerj's behind rather than if the basketball goes into the net.... but you have a male name, then watching dimess in wnba would be waist of time...and a brutal experience.

I think you might want to pay a visit to Webster's Online Dictionary. Aerodynamics are not affected by how a player clutches his ball.

I was wondering if this malapropism was intentional

[Zonkerbl]

You know, I'm 5'7". I can't palm a basketball, and yet I had no problem moving the ball around while in mid air. Nor did I have problems catching basketballs fired at me under the basket and laying them in with english. Nor did I have problems absorbing contact and readjusting in midair. And I think Spud Webb/Muggsy Bogues/that other really small guy who we had on our roster whose name I can't remember would agree with me.

I don't think it's a size of hands thing. It's something else.

[WizarDynasty]

so you have no problems catching bullet passes in the post with one hand while holding off a powerful post defender trying to push you out of the paint with your other hand.
I don't think height has anything to do with if a guys has uncoordinated hands. Most people can catch basketball with two hands but not many can pull the basketballball midair from above their head and after getting wacked by a 260lb be able to re-extend the ball out from their body and get off a good shot...without being able to palm the basketball. A shooting guard is usually colliding with 250 help defenders as a living in the nba. It's alot more important for a bigman to have coordinated hands...and very very good if he can palm the basketballball.
Bigmen usually don't have nearly as much hand coordination as perimeter players because they don't dribble the basketball much. speed Dribbling and running with basketball really develops your hand coordination and most post players aren't allowed to dribble the basketball for the length of the court very often in a gametime setting.

[Nivek]

Don't doubt Zonker's hands. He's one of the best I've ever seen at clunching the ball.

[fishercob]

so you have no problems catching bullet passes in the post with one hand while holding off a powerful post defender trying to push you out of the paint with your other hand.
I don't think height has anything to do with if a guys has uncoordinated hands. Most people can catch basketball with two hands but not many can pull the basketballball midair from above their head and after getting wacked by a 260lb be able to re-extend the ball out from their body and get off a good shot...without being able to palm the basketball. A shooting guard is usually colliding with 250 help defenders as a living in the nba. It's alot more important for a bigman to have coordinated hands...and very very good if he can palm the basketballball.
Bigmen usually don't have nearly as much hand coordination as perimeter players because they don't dribble the basketball much. speed Dribbling and running with basketball really develops your hand coordination and most post players aren't allowed to dribble the basketball for the length of the court very often in a gametime setting.

Thank you! People are not understanding that we're talking about several different things here: hand size (size of palm and size of individual fingers), strength (both of fingers and palm), and coordination.

Many players can't dribble with their offhand -- not because they lack strength in their palm or requisite finger length -- it's that their outer digits (usually ring finger and pinkie) aren't properly coordinated. They driblle just as well with their thumn, index and middle fingers only as they do with their entire hand.

[nate33]

GIF of Ron Artest perfecting the "ball clunch"

[Zonkerbl]

Don't doubt Zonker's hands. He's one of the best I've ever seen at clunching the ball.

Yeah, I have pictures. Want to see them?

[miller31time]

Don't doubt Zonker's hands. He's one of the best I've ever seen at clunching the ball.

Yeah, I have pictures. Want to see them?

That would break the RealGM Terms of Service.

[Severn Hoos]

Kev, two of the "red flags" I've seen YODA describe as concerns are 2pt FG% (or was that TS%?), and a combined blocks+steals stat. Sounds like 60+% 2FG% is the good range, and below that starts to cause concern?

If so, what would YODA say about a big man who shoots .504 inside the arc (TS% of .540), and averages less than 2 Blocks+Steals per game? Seems like two red flags to me.

Yeah, you know where I'm going with this. And I really do believe that the key factor, as you have always said, is the desire to improve - which is well beyond question in this guy's case. Plus, rebounding is another strong suit, which would be nice for this team to add. But I wonder if taking him would result in a hyped-up version of Reggie Evans rather than the next Karl Malone.



[Sorry, the question above is poorly worded - I know that YODA has the player in question in a very high tier. I just wonder why - is it the rebounding? A/TO is less than 0.7. 2.7 PF and 6.1 FTA per game seem to be pretty standard, nothing exceptional. What am I missing in the stats?]

[tontoz]

You know, I'm 5'7". I can't palm a basketball, and yet I had no problem moving the ball around while in mid air. Nor did I have problems catching basketballs fired at me under the basket and laying them in with english. Nor did I have problems absorbing contact and readjusting in midair. And I think Spud Webb/Muggsy Bogues/that other really small guy who we had on our roster whose name I can't remember would agree with me.

I don't think it's a size of hands thing. It's something else.

You must have exceptional aerodynamics. Lucky guy

[Zonkerbl]

I have go-go gadget arms. But normal sized hands.

[Zonkerbl]

Purloined from a comment on Bullets Forever:

"Regular season finish / Lottery effect on draft position / Year

2 / -2 / 1995
2 / -3 / 2009
3 / -3 / 1993
3 / +2 / 2001 (First overall pick, Kwame Brown)
3 / -2 / 2004
5 / -1 / 1992
5 / 0 / 1994
6 / -1 / 2000
8 / 0 / 1991
10 / 0 / 2003
11 / 0 / 2002"

Discuss.

[Halcyon]

Purloined from a comment on Bullets Forever:

"Regular season finish / Lottery effect on draft position / Year

2 / -2 / 1995
2 / -3 / 2009
3 / -3 / 1993
3 / +2 / 2001 (First overall pick, Kwame Brown)
3 / -2 / 2004
5 / -1 / 1992
5 / 0 / 1994
6 / -1 / 2000
8 / 0 / 1991
10 / 0 / 2003
11 / 0 / 2002"

Discuss.

That's also missing the 2010 5 -> 1 jump (+4) and 2011 4->6 fall (-2)

which brings us to a total of -8. Nice...

[montestewart]

We can still complain about lousy luck at -7.

[nate33]

Purloined from a comment on Bullets Forever:

"Regular season finish / Lottery effect on draft position / Year

2 / -2 / 1995
2 / -3 / 2009
3 / -3 / 1993
3 / +2 / 2001 (First overall pick, Kwame Brown)
3 / -2 / 2004
5 / -1 / 1992
5 / 0 / 1994
6 / -1 / 2000
8 / 0 / 1991
10 / 0 / 2003
11 / 0 / 2002"

Discuss.

That's also missing the 2010 5 -> 1 jump (+4) and 2011 4->6 fall (-2)

which brings us to a total of -8. Nice...

-8 seems about right. Teams with the worst records generally have a greater chance of falling in the lottery than rising.

The #1 seed can't rise and has a 75% chance of falling (and potentially more than one spot).

The #2 seed has a 20% chance of rising 1 spot a 17% chance of falling one spot, a 31% chance of falling 2 spots and a 13% chance of falling 3 spots.

The #3 seed has a 16% chance of rising 2 spots, a 16% chance of rising 1 spot, a 23% chance of falling one spot, a 26% chance of falling 2 spots, and a 4% chance of falling 3 spots.

You get the idea.

It's not until you get to the 6th or so pick that the odds start favoring you. At #6, when you move up, you move up 3, 4 or 5 spaces, and when you move down, you generally only fall one slot. In the long run, the averages tend to result in a mild improvement in seeding.

If the Wizards want more luck in the lottery, they need to start finishing 6th or later.