Slather me, Lather me, Blather me - 2011 Draft Thread 5

[Spence]

Spurs just traded George Hill's contract for Kawhi Leonard and two stiffs. That team just knows what it is doing.

[dobrojim]

Again, Vesely is not going to play a lot first year. You have Blatche at the 4, Rashard Lewis can play some there. Seraphin and McGee at the 5. Not great. But Vesely needs to get used to the NBA and the physical playHe definitely needs at least 10 pounds to play the 4. Heard Googs comparisons but that guy was jacked coming out of NC State (juiced?). This guy is a lot more wiry. I think he'll need a year or two. Singleton should have more impact his first year. Jany's only impact will be getting tutored on how to perform in dunk contest by Javale.

all he needs to know about that is to somehow involve an NBA sponsor
in the dunk - guaranteed winner

[Terpman]

@MikePradaSBN
Mike Prada
Chris Singleton when asked what he's going to do to celebrate: "Celebrate? I'm just going to mark off the teams that passed me up." #Wizards

That's freakin awesome

damn right. good quote.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Jordan Williams is garbage. I'm a UMD fan and I don't want him. He should have stayed in school, he will do nothing in the NBA.

Jordan Williams left school after missing free throws and costing his team games. He left in a way that says: "I want it now, even though I cannot finish in the NBA, my team underachieved, my body has only recently looked the part, and I have shown myself to be a choker at the line". He was betrayed by the measuring tape and the measurable lane agility--which IMO just like with Blair have very little to do with why the guy can rebound.

I think Jordan must have really had stink talked about him (Hawaii term). Gary Williams essentially had it all riding on Jordan and this was the year for Jordan to come back, show loyalty to the program, work on parts of his game and his body to improve.

By going round two, I think Jordan really blew it. No way in hades does he play in front of Humphries or Lopez. JuJuan Johnson can do the thing NBA teams love: Score. He's the round one (guaranteed) guy that will beat Jordan out because the Nets already have a monster rebounder and also a C.

Jordan Williams it appears for now has gambled and lost.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Spurs just traded George Hill's contract for Kawhi Leonard and two stiffs. That team just knows what it is doing.

Wow. They sure do, Spence.

[LyricalRico]

Jon Barry has the Wiz as his draft winner!

[RickRoll_inDC]

John Barry picked the Wizards as his 'winner' of the draft....... not sure if that is good or bad

[Terpman]

Nice draft Ernie. Wanted the Underkanter, but you still did a solid job. Afraid the Morris twins will both be better than the kissin' Czech, but we'll see....

[hands11]

ESPN post draft


Winners of the draft

Jon picked the WIzards
Jeff V picked Dallas
Jay picked Utah

[Higga]

I love Vesley's swag. "Blake Griffin is the American Jan Vesley." LOL! I don't think he'll be a star or anything but I'm warming up to him.

[Terpman]

Wiz did a solid job....now, about 2012...

[Terpman]

I love Vesley's swag. "Blake Griffin is the American Jan Vesley." LOL! I don't think he'll be a star or anything but I'm warming up to him.

kid's got SWAG

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

As you can see I don't post on here very much -- but I just wanted to share a few thoughts about the Wizards draft. Being a serious draft fan, as I'm sure many of you are as well, I don't know how you can walk away from tonight feeling anything but pumped.

Starting with Vesely, I love the pick. I don't know why he's not getting more love on this board. All too often when there are drafts, fans get their minds set on a player and if your team doesn't take the player you want -- it's a "meh" feeling. That's totally understandable, but sometimes teams do know what they're doing. It sounds a bit 'apologist' like, but it's true. In the days leading up to the draft, including tonight, I'm reading a whole lot of material that has Vesely listed as the perfect compliment to John Wall. The way the Wizards are built, that's ideal. Given the wave of talent that's come to the eastern conference -- the way you beat teams like Miami and Chicago is going to be at the defensive end of the floor. You need players with energy, passion, and most importantly -- length. Matchup wise, the Wizards 3-5 don't match up with any playoff team. While not a defensive stud, Vesely's length will give most 3's and some 4's in the NBA problems when it comes to getting off their shots. Offensively he gets after it, and if he turns out to be AK-47... NOBODY should be mad at that.

The Singleton pick is quite frankly the best pick of the 1st round. As I mentioned previously, you're going to have to play defense to win in the east. If you remember, Deshawn Stevenson used to be the best defender on the team. That alone should make you happy about Singleton. As a lifelong ACC fan, Leonard Hamilton simply produces basketball players. The Wizards finally have a player that they can honestly say matches up against Kevin Durant, Lebron James, etc. You're never going to stop those types of players, but it'll be a whole heck of a lot better than watching Nick Young stopping the ball on the way down the court.

Last, but certainly not least, Shelvin Mack. LOVE. THIS. PICK. I read the scouting report listed on CNNSI's site, and the best part about him is that he has "no bs in his game." When you look at players like that, think about the Wizards and how much "BS" they have in their games. Mcgee, Blatche, Young, all of them define BS when it comes to basketball a lot of the time. A clean, fundamental guard who can run the show when Wall needs a breather is the perfect fit for this ball club.

I know it may seem like I have the blue goggles on tonight, but it's definitely a night to enjoy. The Wizards could've wet the bet this draft, but they didn't. They took the players they had to take and the ones they were supposed to select. You can't argue with any selection, and I'd give them a solid "A" for their job tonight.

Welcome aboard, and do post more often, bej6789!

All I have to say is if you ever become a teacher I would like to be your student for your grade scale. Who's to say you are not right? Time will tell if this draft rates an A.

[SUPERBALLMAN]

Vucevic is a guy I would have seriously considered at 6.

[SUPERBALLMAN]

I would have seriously considered Vucevic at 6.


Also, Cavs should of taken Derrick Williams and Kemba Walker IMO.

[dobrojim]

Meh. Feh.

A bunch of d league guys can do what Mack does. Really wanted rebounding here

Truthfully, my first thought was exactly that.

IDK - he was a key player on b2b Champ game team. Not many guys
in the D league have that on their resume.

[jivelikenice]

I am very pleased with the draft. Obviously feelings are mixed about Vesely on the board but who could they have taken instead of him @ 6? Once Thompson and Valanciuanas were off the board, there just wasn't another player on the board who was worth that selection. Kawhi has had support, but he slipped for a reason....

Its also a positive that Jon Barry and Chad Ford have called the Wiz winners. Did we get a star tonight? No IMO, but we got 3 players that project to contribute as a starter, specialist and potential starter, and a solid backup. All 3 play the game in a no nonsense manner and bring a professionalism to the team IMO....

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Jon Barry has the Wiz as his draft winner!

Rico, I'm coming around and feel strangely glib tonight.

Washington's got guys with swagger. "Blake Griffin is the American Jan Vesely". That's serious swag, man.

Dudes that will dunk on you. Dudes that will kick your butt. Dudes can do either or both.

Dudes with hot GFs.

Instead of drafting young guys with potential, they got a mature PG/SG with old school swag in Mack.

We've come a long way from Micheal Ruffin at C. No more Poet at the five. No more Big Three, floorbound, undersized shot jackers.

This wasn't a bad night for EG. I can tell that already. If Vesely is better than I think--and most of EGs picks have been lately, this could be good.

Somebody pointed out that FA money can bring in some offensive players. This might not be tragic at all.

[The Consiglieri]

not a fan of the mack pick. i think he's overrated and will have a hard time playing the 1. "toughness" is new ernie obsession

would have rather taken williams, jenkins or selby or draft n' stash bertrans.

I think two combo guards could work well for our backup team. Mack with Crawford is an interesting pairing.

i'm looking forward to having mack and booker on the floor against juwan howard so they can stick him on his ass. i just think eg's gone overboard with the toughness idea.

it's just a 2nd round pick so it's no big deal. i guess crawford can cover for his physical point guard skills and mack can provide the mental point guard skills. it wasnt a good value pick but he'll tide us over for 2 years.

I don't get this, Mack was probably the third or 4th best value at that slot. Very good value, and at that slot everyone had blemishes on their game. Mack hit a lot of his shots as a sophmore, his shooting pct dipped 5% as a junior, Im willing to bet some of that was losing Heyward and having to carry a bigger load. They were hoping to get Gordon back last year, and they struggled badly through the first half of the year (in mid january they were looking like they were playing their way out of even being an at large team, I think they were like 12-8 at one point or something like that). The good news is that when it came down to crunch time he really delivered, averaged nearly 21 points in the NCAA's in their run to the finals. He played exceptionally well when it counted most, hit 3 pointers at a nice clip too.

I don't see what the negativity is about, I really like him, he's a winner, a fighter, a tough guy, mentally tough, scrapper, a hard worker, i have a hard time seeing him fail. I believe he's going to be a good player for us. Maybe even very good. I would have preferred Honeycutt, but I can see Mack as being a better match for what we wanted to build here, and with 7 draftees added in the last 13 months, we can afford to go after someone for his glue/toughness/mentality/intangibles as much as for his talent (which is there too). I really like the pick. Again, would have rather have had Honeycutt, probably would have rather had Lee, and another guy I can't remember, but after that he made the most sense.

Personally, if he's as good as I think he's gonna be, and I think he will be, we also have a set back court. Pretty cool.

A little write up from the si scout as well on Vesely:

"Jan Vesely

SF, KK Partizan Belgrade (Serbia)
Height: 6-foot-11
Weight: 240 pounds
Age: 21
Mock Draft Standing: No. 6

PROJECTION: He could go as high as No. 3 to Utah, but No. 5 (Toronto), No. 6 (Washington) and No. 7 (Sacramento) are possibilities, too.

BACKGROUND: The forward from the Czech Republic has played a significant role on a high-level Euroleague team since 2008. He entered his name in the draft last year before pulling out.

SCOUT'S TAKE: "Very athletic, high-energy player. He's probably the most NBA-ready athlete from Europe [we've seen] in a long time. He's probably like a '4/3' [power forward, small forward]. He gets up and down the floor, is really good in transition and finishes. [Utah small forward Andrei Kirilenko] is a good comparison: He's out in transition, good hands, making moves, dunking it. If Vesely develops, he has the tools to one day be [as good as Kirilenko] -- if not an All-Star, then close."

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/w ... z1QAJd8Lq7

[80sballboy]

http://www.eurobasket.com/player.asp?Cn ... erID=80430

She's 6-3 but my guess they won't be together after JV finds the pickings a little better in D.C. area. I guess she looks a lot better made up and with blond hair.