Roy Hibbert with our 1st round pick.
Here is what they say:
NBA Comparison: Joel Przybilla
Strengths: Center with great size and strength ... Has soft hands, excellent touch on his shot ... Strong rebounder ... Very good free throw shooter, (around 80%) which is especially important for a center ... Post moves are developing well ... Smart player, has a good understanding of his role and what to do on the court ... Strong character guy ... Hard worker, has shown great improvement in his skill level, body and conditioning in his time at Georgetown ... Has transformed himself into a legitimate prospect ... More athletic than he appears ... His quickness in decision making has improved ... Body strength and agility seems to still be developing, his upside is very intriguing considering how much he improved in the past year ... Good vision and passing ability ... Calm demeanor, never gets out of control or loses his cool ... Has the size to block shots inside without jumping ...
Weaknesses: Limited athletically: Lacks quickness, speed in the open floor, and explosiveness ... Has trouble against big and athletic centers, must work on ball fakes and becoming less predictable offensively ... Runs very stiff, slow transitioning from half to full court ... Has decent shot blocking skills due to his size, but lacks great quickness and reflexes vertically ...
Aran Smith - 3/2/2006
They say that we'll take Goran Dragic 6-4 180 PG Slovenia with our 2nd round pick.
I like both of these picks. Dragic is a star!!!! How he will manage to drop that far to us I have no idea, but I will say this: The kid is a demon running the court, and makes plays that will make you do triple-takes! The same site lists his defense as a weakness...but I have watched about 30 of his games, and although he isn't a "stopper," I definitely wouldn't say that his defense is a weakness! He needs some coaching...but with his intelligence (A++ basketball IQ), he will learn VERY fast! IF we manage to acquire this kid in the second round, I will flat-out jump for joy. There is not a single pg in the NCAA right now that is nearly as gifted as this kid! There are some that are more athletic, stronger, and more aggressive, but none that is better. He will go down as the best player ever drafted in the second round if he does indeed drop that far! Check out his YouTube highlights for a VERY,VERY,VERY small sample of what he can do.... also, keep this in-mind: He had a broken nose, a sprained ankle and a jammed right thumb during the game they take most of the highlights from.
As for Roy Hibbert: I have been hoping since last year that Roy would fall to Cleveland. He is the perfect player to take Zydrunas's place. He is the same size (Ilgauskas is 7'2 although he is listed as taller), and Roy is a lot stronger...BUT he shoots as well a Zydrunas does (80% FT) and doesn't get pushed off his spot very often. NBADRAFT.NET mentions that Roy has problems against bigger,athletic big men. That is pretty-much true, but he is competitive and with coaching, I believe that will change. Many people like Javale Mcgee from Nevada (predicted to go #15 to PHO), and although I like him too, I think that Hibbert is the better choise right now, as he can come in and help IMMEDIATELY! Roy is the best center in the nation...and I watch a TON of college ball. Brook Lopez is considered the best... but Brook is not going to be a great center in the NBA. He may be a good PF...but not a center (just my opinion...we'll see if I am right)
Anyways.... goto the NBA.NET link (top of page) and then click on either of these guys' name. They have a youtube link for highlights.
If we get both of these players, we will be absolutely STEALING them!!!
In a perfect world, we'd get both of them, and be able to buy another pick to get Javale...because I really like his potential, and he'd be an AWESOME side-kick for both Roy and LeBron!
Can you imagine a line-up that looked like this:
C: Roy Hibbert/Zydrunas Ilgauskas*
PF: Ben Wallace/Javale Mcgee/Dwayne Jones (assuming Varejao is traded)
SF: LeBron James/Devin Brown (or FA)
SG: Sasha Pavlovic/Daniel Gibson**
PG: Goran Dragic**/ Delonte West**
* This line-up is in the future...maybe 2010. For next season, "Z" would start.
** The role of PG could be started by any of these three. However, Goran is the most talented and I'm assuming that he would win the job. Delonte and Gibson could be the main back-up for either the SG or PG spots. And if their was an injury ANYWHERE, look how flexible we'd be!
This is a pipe-dream, I know...as there is no way in hell we get all three of those players...but if we could.....WOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
