RealGM

previous thread
viewtopic.php?f=53&t=1237179


Ok, so now the college season is over, we can start discussing who we want to draft and what spot. Just a FYI, I have watched VERY LITTLE of college basketball this year except a handful of games, so I'm really wanting more opinions from people who have watched it more thoroughly.

Every year though, it seems like there's so much hype around "the next year's draft" just like last year when it was people were saying that picks #2-8 are the same. Now look at Damian Lillard and Andre Drummomnd (Who I said before the draft I would take at #2 mainly because of size and agility, but I'm sure a lot of people said that too) these guys have EMERGED to say the least.

We've also had a lot of 2011 picks emerge as well; Kyrie (obviously), Klay Thompson, Vucevic, Kenneth Faried, Tobias Harris, and even our very own Kemba Walker, have proven to have outstanding talent and possibly future all-stars. So who realistically, should we take seriously and not?
From what I've seen myself and read/heard from other people, these are players of interest:

Nerlens Noel - Seemed sure about this guy because of such hype and always at top of scouting report. I like the size and athleticism more than anything. I wouldn't be terribly disappointed if we took him at #1 or wherever, but not stoked.

Ben McLemore - Like the 6-5 height for a SG. Seems like a solid pick. Scoring, speed

Anthony Bennett - This is the one that intrigues me the most. He is so different from any prospect with a great skillset and is a unique physical specimen. I think there's like a 50/50 chance he could end up being the diamond of the draft or at the least very hard to guard and match up against. Or there's a chance he'll end up like Bismack 2.0 so I'm not too sure how to feel about where and if we should take this kid.

Trey Burke - too small with a SG mentality. Was said about Kemba, so I reserve judgement, but scoring guards who are that small don't usually fare that well in the NBA. All that said, WAAAYYY too talented to be ignored.

Shabazz Muhammad - I remember this kid/man had Wiggins-type of hype coming out of high school, but he left me totally unimpressed in college. Confidence probably played a big part in that, but I tend to think he'll do better in the NBA, but I don't know.

Cody Zeller - Man, this kid was the total package coming into the college season and everything but a lock at #1, but I don't know exactly what happened to him that made him drop so much. Apparently extremely talented around the rim, acceptable mid-range, 7'0 size, athleticism, and high BBall IQ. The complaint against him I've heard is he's "soft". If that's his only weakness, I would be OK with taking him.

Mason Plumlee - Going out on a limb here. I have no specific reserve for either rival NC team, if anything, I would be UNC-Asheville cuz I live here in Asheville. However, I am a fan of everything North Carolina (The state and culture, equal fan of UNC/DUKE/NC State), so while I was living in Cali, I saw this Mason Plumlee kid playing very solid and pretty much coaching and telling his teammates where to go and making his own plays. I have this spider sense feeling that this kid here will be the "sleeper" that everybody wish they took. Would be alright with taking him high in the draft.

Michael Carter-Williams - We have our future PG in Kemba, but this kid was like #1 and 2 in both assists AND steals. 6'6 PG. 6 foot-f*cking 6 for point guard!! Funny if we drafted him as our PG, and let Kemba be SG. 6'6 PG/distributor and 6'1 SG/ scorer could be a first in the NBA and such a crazy, unique dynamic it could change the game for us a little bit. Or it could just lead us to extreme failure and setback another year or so. Just throwin high-ideas around

Off topic. What part of Asheville you live in?

Since we're starting a new thread put me in the McLemore or Noel camp. I really don't want Bennett.

Liver_Pooty wrote:Off topic. What part of Asheville you live in?

South Asheville

James Gatz wrote:Since we're starting a new thread put me in the McLemore or Noel camp. I really don't want Bennett.

I'm starting to think McLemore is more and more of a sure-thing and safe pick. So did Derrick Williams in 2011 though...

I agree that I am in on Noel or McLemore right now.

I am sorry but one thing from the original post still has me confused. When did Drummond emerge? I have been watching him all year because I thought he had potential to be something special. I just don't get how Drummond has emerged and BB is a bust in some peoples eyes.

I would rather trade the pick but since the topic is about the actual prospects i'll offer my opinion......

Dont want McClemore, I see nothing special about him....im not convinced Hendo isnt a better player, Ben Mc is a better shooter, Hendo has NBA experience a good midrange game, and improving jumper and good defense....rather go with the devil I know.

My personal faves are Otto Porter, MCW, Smart and Muhammed with Noel being a 5th choice I could live with.....anything other than any of those and Im gonna be disappointed

Noel or McLemore, but McLemore is a bigger project than some think. He struggled creating his own shot off the dribble in college, let alone against NBA defenders.

Noel, Bennett, or trade down for a quality PF/C. That's where I'm at with it.

Well it comes down to who does Cho love and who is a tweener and who is a no. He's got 7-8 scouts out in hoop land and even one flying around the world trying to locate the next George Murasan or Yoa Ming.

Cho will be at the combines entering data into his laptop and then the program will rank best available player by position and we pick him. Right? We know that we are going to pick either 1,2, or 3. Don't need the computer for that decision just cause we suck so bad. We need luck. Actually, I hope we pick 2 and Orlando takes Mclenmore at 1, leaving us Noel at 2 to trade to Phoenix for Oladapo at 3 and Olynyk at 14. Phoenix is still high Tempo and Noel fits their roster. and we get 2 decent bench players. Who knows they both may be starters down the road.

My top two overall prospects are Smart and Oladipo... neither on the list. You SHOULD trade down. But if you don't and pick need over BPA... it will bite you. The bobcats do not draft well. They need to call the Thunder or Jazz and make some kind of deal here.

once we get the lottery results in may and we know exactly where we are picking we can create individual threads for each candidate similar to how we did it last year.

zeller is officially in

As is Michael Carter Williams.

@attitude ajusta - you gotta add oladipo and smart to your list

fatlever wrote:@attitude ajusta - you gotta add oladipo and smart to your list

And take Mason Plumlee off of it. I feel like I'm reading hieroglyphs when Bobsbuddy posts.

dont draft syracuse players

please

DY_nasty wrote:dont draft syracuse players

please

Especially not one that lead that nation in turnovers and shoots a sub 40% in field goals.

pickIBL wrote:My top two overall prospects are Smart and Oladipo... neither on the list. You SHOULD trade down. But if you don't and pick need over BPA... it will bite you. The bobcats do not draft well. They need to call the Thunder or Jazz and make some kind of deal here.

We drafted pretty well two years ago and at worst last season is still up in the air.

Put me in the Noel camp - only guy that has potential to be a game changer in this draft.

Let's put it this way - we have to suck next year too. We have to get a top pick in next year's draft. How can we suck next year? By drafting the guy who probably won't play next year. So in 2014 we would add both Noel and someone like Wiggins to our team of Kemba, MKG, and Biz.

Kevin Pelton on what WARP stats say about some top prospects: http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/ ... -overrated
http://www.sonicscentral.com/warp.html

Nerlens Noel, C, Kentucky
Big board rank: 1 | 4.0 projected WARP (1)
Before his ACL injury, Noel scored far and away as the best prospect in this draft. The difference between his WARP projection and the No. 2 prospect (Georgetown's Otto Porter) is as large as the gap between Porter and No. 7.

Victor Oladipo, SG, Indiana
Big board rank: 6 | 2.0 projected WARP (9)
Oladipo's athleticism shows up all over his statistics, nowhere more than at the defensive end. Only one other player in my database (Renaldo Balkman) had a combination of a steal rate better than 3.0 and a block rate better than 1.5. And Oladipo is a much better offensive prospect than Balkman, the infamous Isiah Thomas selection taken one pick ahead of Rajon Rondo.

Otto Porter, SF, Georgetown
Big board rank: 4 | 3.1 projected WARP (2)

Porter's all-around game will ease his transition to the NCAA. Compared to other small forwards in my database, Porter is among the top 25 percent in six key categories and does not have a single statistical weakness (among the bottom 25 percent). Plus Porter is nearly seven months younger than Muhammad.

Marcus Smart, PG, Oklahoma State
Big board rank: 3 | 2.5 projected WARP (5)
Rebounding is a surprisingly important indicator for point guards because it demonstrates the athleticism to excel at the position. Smart is great on the glass and has the best steal rate of anyone in this year's draft, another positive marker.

Ben McLemore, SG, Kansas
Big board rank: 2 | 1.7 projected WARP (19)
As a scorer, McLemore should be just fine in the NBA. The numbers don't suggest he'll develop the all-around game to justify a top-five selection, and he's already 20.