ESPN's Best 23 & under article....

IEcelticfan · Post #1 » by **IEcelticfan** » Tue Apr 1, 2008 9:51 pm

(sorry, hope it's not a repost)

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/stor ... er23-Intro

hmm...rondo received ONE "Others receiving wild-card votes".

hmmm...that's ok. as long as he's flying below the radar (ala the Spurs) and is productive in postseason play and helps us win #17 that's all that matters to us fans.

i'm also surprised al thornton is not on the list. me personally, i'd take thornton this season over durant. kid is fearless

AWalkerREMIX · Post #2 » by **AWalkerREMIX** » Tue Apr 1, 2008 9:59 pm

I wonder if those guys realize Al Jefferson is 23.

Jammer · Post #3 » by **Jammer** » Tue Apr 1, 2008 11:00 pm

AWalkerREMIX wrote:I wonder if those guys realize Al Jefferson is 23.

Big AL is listed in the 6th paragraph, right up near the top of the article.

And for once those writers don't have blinders on (like they did when predicting where the Celtics would finish this season after James Posey was signed as a free agent).

What I mean is, they are smart enough to include Thaddeus Young of Philadelphia in their list of potential franchise players.

MalReyn · Post #4 » by **MalReyn** » Tue Apr 1, 2008 11:42 pm

The writers listed their top 5 and 1 WC vote.

A bunch of good players in addition to Big Al didn't get votes, like Rudy Gay, LaMarcus Aldridge, Al Horford, etc. Easy to see why Al didn't sneak onto any of the ballots.

My voting would probably be:
1) Lebron
2) Paul
3) Howard
4) Carmelo
5) Deron
WC) Oden

DynastyInTheMaking · Post #5 » by **DynastyInTheMaking** » Wed Apr 2, 2008 1:04 am

IEcelticfan wrote:(sorry, hope it's not a repost)

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/stor ... er23-Intro

hmm...rondo received ONE "Others receiving wild-card votes".

hmmm...that's ok. as long as he's flying below the radar (ala the Spurs) and is productive in postseason play and helps us win #17 that's all that matters to us fans.

i'm also surprised al thornton is not on the list. me personally, i'd take thornton this season over durant. kid is fearless

I really hope you are not trying to imply that Rondo is better than ANY of those guys with the exception of Noah.

cloverleaf · Post #6 » by **cloverleaf** » Wed Apr 2, 2008 1:15 am

Chris Palmer gave Rondo his wild card vote with this comment:

"Gets overshadowed but everything he does helps his team win. This generation's Terry Porter."

TheCelticTruth · Post #7 » by **TheCelticTruth** » Wed Apr 2, 2008 1:36 am

rondo is definitely better than noah

i think palmer was talking about long term potential as well

BrokenLeftyJumper · Post #8 » by **BrokenLeftyJumper** » Wed Apr 2, 2008 4:20 am

I think its a good list, my only beef is that I don't see how Big Al or Rudy Gay is listed below Monta Ellis. I like Ellis and I think he's a fabulous player, but I don't think there are many GM's in the league who value Ellis over Big Al or Rudy Gay. Ellis is nasty, but in the end, he's an undersized two guard who doesn't provide much except incredible scoring. And I think he benefits greatly from being the 3rd option behind Davis and Jackson on the Warriors. Could he be a successful teams #1 option? I don't think so. I would think Al Jefferson and Rudy would be more valuable than Ellis league-wide.

Datruth345 · Post #9 » by **Datruth345** » Wed Apr 2, 2008 4:47 am

i agree with the list

i personally love Monta, so i don't have any problem with him being 10, but i also think Big Al is special and could have cracked the top 10

IEcelticfan · Post #10 » by **IEcelticfan** » Wed Apr 2, 2008 5:35 am

DynastyInTheMaking wrote:-= original quote snipped =-
I really hope you are not trying to imply that Rondo is better than ANY of those guys with the exception of Noah.

not at all...i was just thinkin that rondo perhaps deserved more than just 1 honorable mention-like votes. just saying.

I_Bleed_Green · Post #11 » by **I_Bleed_Green** » Wed Apr 2, 2008 12:36 pm

That list just made me think about how insane it would be to have a 1-2 punch of Kevin Durant and Michael Beasley.

BrokenLeftyJumper · Post #12 » by **BrokenLeftyJumper** » Wed Apr 2, 2008 2:23 pm

That list just made me think about how insane it would be to have a 1-2 punch of Kevin Durant and Michael Beasley.

It would be a poor mans versions of the A.I-Melo combo in Denver. Ho-hum. If Seattle gets the first pick, they should take Derrick Rose. I think his overall impact on a team will be higher than Beasley's.

Egregious Blunder · Post #13 » by **Egregious Blunder** » Wed Apr 2, 2008 2:31 pm

is thad young that good?
i havent been paying attention to the 6ers too much.

Jammer · Post #14 » by **Jammer** » Wed Apr 2, 2008 11:34 pm

Egregious Blunder wrote:is thad young that good?
i havent been paying attention to the 6ers too much.

Yeah.

He could easily be the best player in the 2007 draft class.

Perhaps the reason that he was drafted #12 after one year at Georgia Tech is that his pre-draft camp measurement was 6' 5.25 inches without shoes. Given his speed, he's a very athletic, strong small forward who rebounds and also makes shots. Obviously no one realized he had the potential to dominate or he would have gone much higher.

In terms of NET PER, your offensive PER minus the PER of the man that you are guarding,
19 year old Thad Young is -0.8, which is among the highest NET PER's of any rookie
(there all negative with a few exceptions).

Overall, Philadelphia's small forward NET PER is the third best in the NBA, behind the Cavaliers and Celtics. Iggy & Young are the third best tag team out of 30 teams in the NBA.

Datruth345 · Post #15 » by **Datruth345** » Thu Apr 3, 2008 1:53 am

i have had my eye on thadeus young for a while about 3 years ago is when i first started reading about him and seeing footage, i always wanted the celtics to draft him when he came out, back in the dark ages...lol...remember those days

he was really heralded coming out of high school, and if it wasn't for the one year rule he would have come right out of high school

he is extremely talented and will be a great player in the league

DynastyInTheMaking · Post #16 » by **DynastyInTheMaking** » Thu Apr 3, 2008 4:43 am

A 2/3 combo of AI2 and Thad Young will have Philly battling in the east for years to come. With the very underrated and someone who is a top 10 leader in this league Dre Miller at PG and Dalembert starting every game this season, while averaging a double double, they have surpassed expectations this season. Thad Young has a lot to do with that.

He made Korver expendable, he stepped in front of Carney on the depth chart and he is easily a top 5 rookie in this draft. I see only Durant, Horford and Thornton receiving more ROY votes.