RealGM

Originally this was going to be posted in the Webster thread, but I thought it deserved it's own topic:

Ever since we were rumored to be heavily interested in Porter, and in bringing back Webster, I figured it was a reasonable way of projecting our future team building moves. Trading up for Rice Jr cemented it. With Singleton/Booker/Ves/Seraphin all either being busts, or at best bench depth, I suspect the '14 and '15 drafts will be all about taking the best available big men be they centers, PF, or stretch 4's going forward.

Last year's draft has a decent supply of said prospects, and considering my projection of where our pick will land (between 15 and 19 if healthy and 10-14 if unhealthy), there are several options available.



Projected Center Prospects 5-15:

1. Willie Cauley Stein (Walter 8, Express 15, .net 5)
2. Mitch McGary ( Walter 14, Express 11, 19)
3. Isaiah Austin ( Walter 16, Express 13, .net 30)
4. Ilimaine Diop (Walter 9)
5. Montrezel Harrel (Express 10)
6. Joel Embiid (Express 12)
7. Przemek Karnowski (14 .net)
8. AJ Hammons (15 .net)

Projected Center Prospects 16-30:

9. Kaleb Tarzewski (30 Express)
10. Patric Young (31 Express, 50 .net)
11. Mouhammadu Saiteh (Walter 30)

PF:

Projected PF Prospects 1-10

1. J. Parker (2 Walter, 2 .net, 5 Express)
2. J. Randle (5 Walter,2 Express,4 .net)
3. A. Gordon (4 Walter, 4 Express)

Projected PF Prospects 11-21

5. A. Payne (24 Walter, 23 Express, 25 .net)
6. P. Ellis (17 .net)
7. J. McAdoo (17 Walter, 14 Express, 21 .net)

Projected Power Forward Prospects 22-30:
8. A. Poythress (15 Walter, 26 Express, 33 .net)
9. J. Stokes (28 Walter, 27 Express)
10. D. Powell (25 Walter, 33 Express, 41)
11. Khem Birch (36 Express)

Walter=Walter Football 2014 Mock, Express=draftexpress 2014 mock, and .net=nbadraft.net's 2014 mock

I kinda think chatter about this topic deserves it's own thread. Once we started draft talk last fall it was hard to look back and get a good pic at where the prospects were actually ranked during the summer of '12. You had to use memory to go back and realize Oladipo and Burke didn't even have first round grades, while Otto Porter, Alex Poythress, and James McAdoo were the Forwards I listed as potential targets for us at my projected pre-lottery slot (I believe I said the floor was 4, and the ceiling was likely 10, expectation was 6-8).

This time around I'd argue that our healthy floor is likely 15th, our healthy ceiling is probably 24th, and my expectation is likely 16th to 18th if healthy. Not healthy, the best I think we can expect is probably a pick somewhere in that 9th-12th range.

So based on the June 2013 rankings, our primary targets at Center and Forward will be:

Center:

1. Willie Cauley Stein
2. Mitch McGary
3. Isaiah Austin

and then 3 guys only mentioned by one website between them (Diop, Harrell and Hammons)

At Power Forward:

1. A. Payne-Michigan State's stud PF
2. Perry Ellis, not the shirt manufacturer
3. James McAdoo, the much loathed UNC prospect
4. Alex Poythress

For now it feels like Center has the better prospects unless Poythress or McAdoo dramatically improve their stock.

Thoughts?

I think someone already thought to do a Draft thread.

Link.