Building the New War Room- The 2010 Crop

August Us Seazr · Post #1 » by **August Us Seazr** » Sun Sep 6, 2009 8:06 pm

Beware all talk of the playoffs. Beware all talk of the lottery. We have a season to play first. We have holes. If we make the playoffs, or finish out of the bottom 12, our pick belongs to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Those are the facts. Now, how we play the season is one thing, but THIS season, we have to get a draft pick in a good spot, and we have to actually DRAFT a difference-maker at power forward. No nodding off there, guys!

What I would like to do this time, which is EARLY... is to get some information out there. More particularly, who the top 30 players in the draft should be at any given time. I'll keep updating this about every month or so until we hit prime time... say about the time of the conference tournaments. (You can also use this as a tool to see what college games might be worth a look later on...)

My M.O. is to select five mock drafts that do the full two rounds. I put them in a spreadsheet and their position in each poll gets a point. Low man always wins. The five mocks that I used for August are:

Draft Express
NBA Draft.net
NBA Guru (Cammo of RealGM fame, for those who didn't know!)
NBA Draft Press
Draft Empire

I invite your comments/recommendations for better mock drafts that any of you might know of, as I am not that impressed with Draft Empire.

August Us Seazr · Post #2 » by **August Us Seazr** » Sun Sep 6, 2009 8:26 pm

August, 2009 figures for the Composite Top 30-

1- John Wall
2- Derrick Favors
3- Ed Davis
4- Willie Warren
5- Devin Ebanks
6- Donatas Motiejunas
7- Evan Turner
8- Craig Brackens
9- Xavier Henry
10- Cole Aldrich
11- Al-Farouq Aminu
12- Greg Monroe
13- Gani Lawal
14- James Anderson
15- A. J. Ogilvy
16- Solomon Alabi
17- Kyle Singler
18- Jarvis Varnado
19- Avery Bradley
20- DeMarcus Cousins
21- Patrick Patterson
22- Damion James
23- Michael Washington
24- Paul George
25- Jerome Jordan
26- Tyler Smith
27- Sherron Collins
28- Stanley Robinson
29- Kemba Walker
30- Larry Sanders
That's your preliminary first rounders! See anything you like?

(Edited to add:)The guys in blue are in draft positions we can access right now without a trade, provided we don't see playoffs this year or finish in the top two spots OUT of the playoffs. Orange names are in positions only accessed via trade.

Post #3 » by **Paydro70** » Sun Sep 6, 2009 10:26 pm

Ed Davis or Greg Monroe would be sooooooo awesome.

Post #4 » by **fatlever** » Mon Sep 7, 2009 12:43 am

i've never heard of half of those dudes.

i guess i need to so some college bball watching this year.

SWedd523 · Post #5 » by **SWedd523** » Mon Sep 7, 2009 2:08 am

I have a thread on BCP highlighting some of our top targets and such for next year. I'll see if I can copy/paste it on this thread

WaydownSouth · Post #6 » by **WaydownSouth** » Mon Sep 7, 2009 7:51 am

I'd like Monroe, but I think this season we once again become that mid 30 win team, and once again pick late lottery.... again........ Monroe should move up a bit. I think we end up with Patterson or Brackens (if we are really lucky).

I'd kill for a Wall or Favors. Seriously freaking kill for Wall, but I'd only cut someone's leg off for Favors. We jag Wall then I wouldn't care if we traded Felton for a used condom wrapped around a 2nd round draft pick.

Someone needs to take a goat out to a local field and sacrifice it to the ping pong ball gods.

I'm not too sure on the Aussie, Ogilvy. I think Vandy would need a huge run into March for him to go late lottery - mid 1st round.

Don't want anything to do with Cole Aldrich...

doc.end · Post #7 » by **doc.end** » Mon Sep 7, 2009 2:54 pm

Jan Veselý - homer pick, but he is good. I kind of ignore other sites than DraftExpress if I need a good mock. For example Nbadraft.net randomly assign prospect to next tow years, so you would have to search for eligible players in 11' mock too to get better picture who will be available at June (or course some of them won't stay at the draft but that's same for their 10' and 11' mock drafts).

SWedd523 · Post #8 » by **SWedd523** » Mon Sep 7, 2009 4:49 pm

Top 5 Players who will likely NOT be available

1. John Wall, PG -- I know he's a PG, but you simply cannot pass on a player of his caliber; if even for trade rights. Look for him to have a Derrick Rose type of Freshman season next year for Kentucky
2. Derrick Favors, PF -- this kid (he's only 17) is a less athletic Blake Griffin. He finishes everything in the paint offensively and gets just about every rebound defensively. His biggest knock is his footwork, but at only 17 years old.. I'm sure he can work on that.
3. Willie Warren, SG -- arguably the best Freshman in the country this past year and one of my sleeper picks for last year. This kid can flat out score the ball. He's basically a bigger Jodie Meeks
4. Ed Davis, PF -- I want this guy on our team. He has more potential than any other young post player in the country and would have been a top 5 pick had he come out this year. This guy will be talked about A LOT.
5. Cole Aldrich, PF/C -- opened my eyes in the 2008 tournament when Kansas smacked UNC around. He had a great year and has now placed himself in the lottery for next year's Draft. I look at him as a more skilled (re: bigger), but less tenacious Tyler Hansbrough. I don't necessarily think he deserves to be placed this high, but who knows

SWedd523 · Post #9 » by **SWedd523** » Mon Sep 7, 2009 4:50 pm

Top 5 players who may be available

1. Craig Brackins, PF -- My personal "James Harden" pick this year. This is the guy I want, no matter what. This is my current favorite college ball player. He's a 20/10 guy who will only improve next year. The only thing keeping him in our range is playing on a crappy team. Thank God!
2. Tyshawn Taylor, PG/SG -- Didn't get much burn last year for Kansas, but has arguably been the best player on the U19 World Championship team. This kid has been compared to Jrue Holiday, so we can make TheBeagle happy and pick him next year. Taylor makes Ray expendable due to his size and versatility and he really excels on the defensive end--Two things LB loves
3. Avery Bradley, SG -- I'm willing to bet nobody knows about him, but Bradley can flat out SCORE. He willl either attack the rim or use his buttery smooth jumper to shoot it from outside. Raja is on his way out and we need somebody who can put up some volume scoring as Bo doesn't really have that potential
4. Tyler Smith, SF -- NBADraft compares him to Josh Howard. I look at him as a younger Crash with just about the same skills. Smith is an elite athlete and has plenty of size to guard the better wings of the NBA. His offensive game mostly consists of slashing and midrange, but lacks a consistent outside shot (sound familiar?). This guy is made for the NBA.
5. Jarvis Varnardo, PF -- At 6'9", he isn't super tall, but he's long and athletic and has been the best shot blocker in the country over the last few years (Thabeet included). He's not afraid to stay in the paint and get his hands dirty. He's that banger type that would be great coming off the bench for us

Post #10 » by **BigSlam** » Mon Sep 7, 2009 4:58 pm

On the Slam-o-vision:

Evan Turner - Out of a college that shall remain nameless, but a Grant Hill type Mr Everything.
Kemba Walker - Dynamic PG out of UConn.
Al-Farouq Aminu - Wake. Long, athletic, powerful, just needs to grow into his body.
Greg Monre - Big GT dude, loved him all season last year. Something about GT bigs that really draws me in.
Xavier Henry - Memphis, then Kansas. Could be a point scoring freak - could be Martell Webster.
Jerome Jordan - Tulsa. If he can bulk up.............