New Bill Simmons Article...

[WaydownSouth]

Which big man drafted after Alexis has really blown you away enough to call that a mistake after one season?

How bout DeAndre Jordan??

He didn't have a tonne of huge games stats-wise, but he showed enough that he would of been a better pick than Ajinca.

[Bassman]

Obvoouosly I wanted Lopez and it didn't go that way. Chalmers was projected to be a late 1st or early 2nd, so yes he was expected to be available at our later pick.

Since we picked DJ, I was lobbying hard during the draft for taking Arthur, who was sliding down due to some bogus rumor about his kidneys. If not him I wanted Anderson. Either player would have been a better pick than the french string bean. Ironic that both he and Lopez went to the Nets and had very good rookie seasons. I get wacked for having serious doubts about Ajinca, but I've based my observations on his performance and his physical limitations. Hopefully I'm wrong but it doesn't happen often when I evaluate basketball players .

FWIW, I still have no hero worship for DJ either. He had an OK rookie season, showed some stuff, but also demonstrated some key limitations that he will have to get past to achieve consistent success in this league. He certainly looked better in his rookie year than Morrison did. But DJ is not our answer at the point long term.

Felton, for his warts, is a good PG. He will get better, and become pretty good, possibly very good with the help of LB. He must be re-signed.

[W_HAMILTON]

He certainly looked better in his rookie year than Morrison did.

Understatement.

Outside of Okafor, Augustin has been the most impressive rookie we've ever had.

He also probably has the highest "reachable" ceiling of any rookie we've ever drafted.

[thruthefire]

Felton DEFINITELY needs to be resigned. I like DJ, but he is clearly not a better player than Felton is right now.

[BigSlam]

Felton DEFINITELY needs to be resigned. I like DJ, but he is clearly not a better player than Felton is right now.

I personally don't see it as that cut and dry and I don't see it as Felton needing to be resigned because of DJ.

[thruthefire]

Felton DEFINITELY needs to be resigned. I like DJ, but he is clearly not a better player than Felton is right now.

I personally don't see it as that cut and dry and I don't see it as Felton needing to be resigned because of DJ.

I agree.

I'm not saying DJ isn't a capable starter, but I like Raymond starting and DJ coming off the bench. We're already thin, so I don't think we can afford to lose Felton.

[BigSlam]

We're already thin, so I don't think we can afford to lose Felton.

Totally. We can't afford to go back to a starting calibre PG and a back up PG like McMinus or the Midget.

It is a great luxury to have two starting calibre PG's on the roster right now - but we have to be VERY careful with how we spend our money IMO.

[Rich4114]

I assume and hope they will resign Felton this summer. I just hope it doesn't drag on.

On the flip side of things, it would be interesting to see what would become of this team if DJ were the starting PG and Ray was gone. I guess the fun in coming back to tell some of you guys "I TOLD YOU SO" wouldn't be as rewarding as making the playoffs with Felton as our PG.

DJ is a good basketball player, but he's shown very little in terms of being able to run a team. I guess you can't expect it from a rookie, but at the same time he's just as if not more trigger happy than Ray and I figure we'd be having this same conversation about our new PG and resigning DJ 3 years from now if we screw up this summer.

[BigSlam]

I assume and hope they will resign Felton this summer. I just hope it doesn't drag on.

On the flip side of things, it would be interesting to see what would become of this team if DJ were the starting PG and Ray was gone. I guess the fun in coming back to tell some of you guys "I TOLD YOU SO" wouldn't be as rewarding as making the playoffs with Felton as our PG.

DJ is a good basketball player, but he's shown very little in terms of being able to run a team. I guess you can't expect it from a rookie, but at the same time he's just as if not more trigger happy than Ray and I figure we'd be having this same conversation about our new PG and resigning DJ 3 years from now if we screw up this summer.

I guess the difference is that DJ isn't a liability when he shoots?

[Dexmor]

Yeah but isn't his size a liability on the defensive end?
Were a very small team which makes the pick that much more surprising. I would think they would have picked Bayless if they were going for a pg. DJ really surprised me. Not saying Bayless is better.