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Snidely FC wrote:The way the game is being played right now - drive&kick, shoot 3s, protect the rim - we can't have enough guys like this on our team.

Perfect fit alongside Kemba, MKG.

penquin11 wrote:I would cry myself to sleep if we traded #4 for Henson.

I wouldn't mind us going for Favors- but even then I wouldn't want it to be #4 for Favors straight up.

In fact, I can't think of anyone that any team would be willing to trade that I would want to trade the #4 pick for straight up..... Unless the Pistons suddenly caught a case of the stupids and decided to trade Andre Drummond or Monroe to us....

This draft class isn't THAT bad. I would be fine with us getting Oladipo or McLemore. I think both have solid potential. I still side with McLemore because I see where, if he improved select areas of his game, he could become one of the most dangerous scorers in the NBA.

also in response to comments in the last thread:

Go back and watch any game. Your pick and you still won't find one where he dribbles well. He gets knocks on your favorite draft express for creating offense because he can't dribble and shooting off the bounce again because dribbling is so weak.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzUi7M_iYVA[/youtube]
He does some good things in this game- once again, note that I'm not saying he is a great handler- but hell he isn't as bad as you make him out to be.

I'm sure I could reference more If you would like.

You are making the assumption that his dribbling is average. You have 0 support to back this up as he is knocked on the sites for it and there is no evidence he is a decent dribbler anywhere. I say this because he did not use it enough to support being average and when he did dribble he was prone to turnovers.

I said he was a "below-average" ball handler, but that you guys were exagerrating how bad it was. Once again I will point at Klay Thompson- who comming out of college had even WORSE handles then McLemore. Who was docked for his "inability" to create a shot off the dribble, and who is far less athletic- while not shooting at the efficiency that McLemore did last season.... Klay Thompson- who once again, is less athletic, and who is in the same tier of shooting as McLemore, has been great for the Warriors. At the very worst I expect that McLemore will be able to have a Klay Thompson-like impact for us....

I do not overlook his athletic ability. He has tons which will help him on defense but since we established his dribbling was subpar against weaker competition he will suffer more on offense at the next level. Oladipo have the same athletic ability as Ben plus more strength and better dribbling. JJ was less athletic but uses screens and off ball movement to get open plus dribbles better too. JJ scores some of screens inside but he is limited in there by size he has to use the dribble to create some space at time, which Ben can't do right now.

Kansas doesn't play only bad teams. McLemore played well in most games. Fine: He was a non-factor against UNC, and had a terrible game against Oklahoma State. But for the most part he was solid most nights. He had great games against Ohio State, Iowa State, and Michigan. He played well against Michigan State. He went for 24 on Baylor. He played well against Colorado... The list goes on....

Also, by god, please don't EVER say that JJ dribbles well. There was an ongoing joke at one point in a game thread that every time JJ took more than 2 dribbles it was a turnover.... McLemore reads screens like a book, and has the speed + agility to take advantage of them. He can shoot in traffic, and can convert contact drives, especially when near the basket. All the other things will come in time.

Offensively, Westbrook’s biggest source of production (nearly 30% of his offense) curiously comes in transition. He plays a fairly small role in UCLA’s half-court offense (only 8% of his offense comes from either pick and roll or isolation plays) , mostly as a complimentary piece—moving off the ball trying to find holes in the defense to get to the rim with his tremendous strength and leaping ability, or shooting wide open jumpers. It’s pretty clear when breaking down his footage that he lacks quite a bit of polish on this end of the floor, even if he is extremely effective at the few things he does well.

The above is from Draftexpress's scouting report on Russell Westbrook before he was going to get drafted. It should ring a bell- as McLemore has similar strengths. People forget that Westbrook was a turnover machine when he entered the league, and those that didn't watch him in college wouldn't know that he was utilized in the same fashion as McLemore. But there is more....

Westbrook’s ball-handling skills are fairly limited, as he has the ability the beat players off the dribble with his tremendous first step going left or right, and is solid getting to the rim in a straight line, but he struggles when trying to do much more than that. He lacks the advanced dribbling skills needed to create his own shot and change directions sharply in the half-court (for example at the end of a shot clock), and thus often looks a bit out of control when dribbling in traffic, forcing him to flip up some awkward shots at the rim. It’s not uncommon to see him called for various violations in the rare occasion that he tries to go out and make something happen on his own, be it traveling calls, palming or offensive fouls.

If you have watched McLemore, you can't deny the similarities.

Deja Vu Anyone?