Chicken Littles: Sky done fell! Draft Thread 2011

[Rafael122]

I like that article closg. I liked the fact that out of those prospects, about 3 of them mentioned high basketball IQ, which is what we need.

I'm most intrigued by Perry Jones and Harrison Barnes. Jones needs to put on weight though, is he really 6'11'' 220?

[RickRoll_inDC]

I've really only seen a couple of games from Perry Jones, but he seem to be a more athletic Blatche. Which frankly, sounds pretty good. The bad news is that he is 6'11" 220 or 230.

Harrison Barnes is still over-hyped to me. IMO, he shouldn't even come out after this season. Trust me, the Iowa High School basketball program isn't producing good enough competition for a guy to be prepared for the NBA in just one year. Harrison needs another year at UNC to polish up his game. He has potential, but he just needs to put it all together.

For next years draft, I think that's a lot of what it is- potential. If it was anyone other than Wall as our young super star, a pick on potential would be great. Wall is remotely polished already that taking a player with potential wouldn't necessarily be the best option.

Who knows, maybe Sullinger, Barnes, or P. Jones will emerge in the tournament and become a more solid pick.

[go'stags]

I'm on the record as being intrigued by Perry Jones. That being said, there is no way in James Naismiths's big 94' world that he is 6'11. If he was, he would undoubtedly be the number 1 pick. I'd guess closer to 6'8 or 6'9.

[pancakes3]

perry jones remains the only person of interest in the draft. if we can't draft him, i have no qualms trading it for a joel pryzbilla-type player, or even using it to help unload shart.

i mean, our lineup from 1-5 are all solidly talented. more importantly they're all YOUNG. wall, young, blatche, and mcgee are SUPER young. thornton's a grizzled vet at only 27, and howard is a low mileaged 30-31. we already acquired our young talent. there's no need to infuse the roster with even more inexperience. next season is development time. drafting more rookies just delays the rebuilding process and we'll be no better than the clippers - essentially a farm team for the rest of the league.

[verbal8]

perry jones remains the only person of interest in the draft. if we can't draft him, i have no qualms trading it for a joel pryzbilla-type player, or even using it to help unload shart.

i mean, our lineup from 1-5 are all solidly talented. more importantly they're all YOUNG. wall, young, blatche, and mcgee are SUPER young. thornton's a grizzled vet at only 27, and howard is a low mileaged 30-31. we already acquired our young talent. there's no need to infuse the roster with even more inexperience. next season is development time.

This is how you get stuck in the purgatory like the Pacers(too good to "tank" too bad to do anything in the play-offs).
I think you need 3 great players to make a contending team. The Wizards are counting on Wall to be one of them. Blatche OR McGee could be one of them, but I have my doubts that both will reach that level.

You also need 5 more good players. Nick Young looks like he is a decent starter/6th man. I think Thornton is likely gone, Yi sucks and is gone. Howard(or Hinrich) will be too old to help the Wizards when they are ready to contend. Between Booker and Seraphin the Wizards should end up with one more good player.

It looks to me that the Wizards need 1 more star and 2 more good players. Leonsis believes in "growing stars", so that means another high draft pick(s) is needed. The Wizards could keep Howard around a couple years and find a replacement in FA.

drafting more rookies just delays the rebuilding process and we'll be no better than the clippers - essentially a farm team for the rest of the league.

Right now the Clippers have a decent young core. Their issue is the "Stars"(Kaman and BDiddy) stinking it up and the questionable signings of Foye and Gomes. They haven't been terrible, but they don't add a lot to a rebuilding team.

[rockymac52]

perry jones remains the only person of interest in the draft. if we can't draft him, i have no qualms trading it for a joel pryzbilla-type player, or even using it to help unload shart.

i mean, our lineup from 1-5 are all solidly talented. more importantly they're all YOUNG. wall, young, blatche, and mcgee are SUPER young. thornton's a grizzled vet at only 27, and howard is a low mileaged 30-31. we already acquired our young talent. there's no need to infuse the roster with even more inexperience. next season is development time. drafting more rookies just delays the rebuilding process and we'll be no better than the clippers - essentially a farm team for the rest of the league.

I am SO glad you are not our GM. Just because most of the guys on our roster are young doesn't mean they're all going to develop into stars one day. Seriously.

Like the last guy said, that type of mentality is how you end up treading water. Did you really just suggest trading a pick in the 2-7 range for Joel Pryzbilla? Or solely to get rid of 2 years of Lewis? Come on!

We have to hope that Wall will be one of our stars. Blatche/McGee both have the potential to become great players, but I too am skeptical about either making it there. Young is a solid player. But do you really look at our current roster and see these guys as is developing into a championship contender one day? I can't imagine it. Not even close. Even if Blatche and McGee realized a lot of their potential, I still don't think that'd be enough. Let's look at the Bulls. Right now Rose is better than Wall. I think Wall can very easily make it to Rose's talent level in 1-2 years, and I expect him to. Then they've got Boozer and Noah. Boozer is way better than Blatche right now. I see Blatche's ceiling similar to where Boozer is right now. Noah is also way better than McGee right now. I don't see McGee ever developing into a player who's better than Noah is right now. They've got some solid players on the bench, very arguably more solid than ours. And they're playing great. But they still aren't quite on the championship contender level yet. They're almost there. They can beat any team in the league, but let's be real, the Bulls aren't winning the championship this year. If all of our guys realize our potential, maybe this team as is could be as good as the Bulls are right now. Sorry, but I have bigger dreams than that. We're not trading a top 5 draft pick buddy.

[nate33]

perry jones remains the only person of interest in the draft. if we can't draft him, i have no qualms trading it for a joel pryzbilla-type player, or even using it to help unload shart.

i mean, our lineup from 1-5 are all solidly talented. more importantly they're all YOUNG. wall, young, blatche, and mcgee are SUPER young. thornton's a grizzled vet at only 27, and howard is a low mileaged 30-31. we already acquired our young talent. there's no need to infuse the roster with even more inexperience. next season is development time. drafting more rookies just delays the rebuilding process and we'll be no better than the clippers - essentially a farm team for the rest of the league.

While I often agree with you pancakes3, I gotta disagree here.

We have two stable vets locked up next year in Hinrich and Lewis, and by next year I don't think we should label Blatche and Young as "developing" players. They'll be established NBA vets by next year as well. Wall and McGee are still developing, but McGee will be in his fourth season and Wall is a mature 20-year-old. By next year, Flip should be able to trust all the guys mentioned above, with the possible exception of McGee. We'll also probably make some effort to retain Howard (hopefully, on a one-year deal, though it'll have to be an expensive deal to convince him to sign for just one year). And I'm sure EG will find a few veteran minimum salary guys (like Armstrong and Cartier Martin) to fill out the roster.

With a reliable 6 or 7-man core, plus 1 or 2 end-of-bench vets, there's plenty of flexibility to groom another "project".

[Rafael122]

This team needs high basketball IQ players. That article on Bleacher Report mentioning Kyle Singler. I wouldn't pick him in the 1st, but I'd pick him in the second round. 4 year player, not a lot of upside, but solid, and is a smart basketball player.

[dobrojim]

even with the limitations and the stereotype, I doubt Singler lasts
into the 2nd round. That said, I'm venturing into my weakest
area. But I think he could well go much higher than that.

[closg00]

Singler is a solid 4-year player, he'll go in the 1st round somewhere, but below where we are picking. Then-again, look where Hayward got picked.

[nate33]

I figure we already have a better version of Singler on the roster in Rashard Lewis. Singler might have been a good pickup pre Arenas trade as a high-bball-IQ catch-and-shoot SF. Now, I think he's redundant. I'd rather focus on addressing other needs (star scorer and/or a low post bruiser).

[closg00]

BR's Top-30 Prospects.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/5577 ... -prospects

[pancakes3]

come on guys, bigger dreams than what? do you think harrison barnes, jared sullinger, or Jan Vesely are the grade A championship winning talent on par with Duncan, Shaq, or even Dwight? Guys like barnes and sullinger are possible all-stars, and marginal ones at that. these guys don't even possess the star potential that steph curry had much less guys like durant and melo. THOSE are they guys you hitch your lotto hopes to.

not all top 5 picks are created equally. some years you hit the talent jackpot like in 2003. other years like in 2006 you're weighing the strengths of adam morrison vs tyrus thomas vs shelden williams. it's my opinion this year's draft looks rather weak. really. a lot weaker than the allegedly weak 2009 class. in all likelihood, these players are going to Joe-Alexander themselves sooner rather than later.

also in all likelihood we're not even picking top 5. i'm operating under the impression that we'll be in the late lotto when it's all said and done, picks 10-12. if we could parlay that into some solid vet role players? yes. i would do it. if we could unload lewis? yes i would do that as well. turning a late lotto pick into a backup PF/C and then using the 2nd rounder to shore up our backcourt? i think we'll be WELL on our way to becoming the bulls.

also, what separates us from Chi-town isn't boozer>blatche. it's young>bogans. our backcourt next season will be WAY better than theirs, while the frontcourt is arguably close to comparable.

FURTHERMORE, missing one draft doesn't mean i'm ready to go to war with this squad. i'm just saying that adding another raw project who probably won't pan out anyway is really an exercise in futility. we can win games, and a lot of them, if we would just play our existing talent, and assemble journeymen to provide a steady lockerroom presence, and make sure our starters can create a lead, and bench players that can keep a lead. that's all. jared sullinger helps with... none of those things.

[nate33]

come on guys, bigger dreams than what? do you think harrison barnes, jared sullinger, or Jan Vesely are the grade A championship winning talent on par with Duncan, Shaq, or even Dwight? Guys like barnes and sullinger are possible all-stars, and marginal ones at that. these guys don't even possess the star potential that steph curry had much less guys like durant and melo. THOSE are they guys you hitch your lotto hopes to.

not all top 5 picks are created equally. some years you hit the talent jackpot like in 2003. other years like in 2006 you're weighing the strengths of adam morrison vs tyrus thomas vs shelden williams. it's my opinion this year's draft looks rather weak. really. a lot weaker than the allegedly weak 2009 class. in all likelihood, these players are going to Joe-Alexander themselves sooner rather than later.

also in all likelihood we're not even picking top 5. i'm operating under the impression that we'll be in the late lotto when it's all said and done, picks 10-12. if we could parlay that into some solid vet role players? yes. i would do it. if we could unload lewis? yes i would do that as well. turning a late lotto pick into a backup PF/C and then using the 2nd rounder to shore up our backcourt? i think we'll be WELL on our way to becoming the bulls.

also, what separates us from Chi-town isn't boozer>blatche. it's young>bogans. our backcourt next season will be WAY better than theirs, while the frontcourt is arguably close to comparable.

FURTHERMORE, missing one draft doesn't mean i'm ready to go to war with this squad. i'm just saying that adding another raw project who probably won't pan out anyway is really an exercise in futility. we can win games, and a lot of them, if we would just play our existing talent, and assemble journeymen to provide a steady lockerroom presence, and make sure our starters can create a lead, and bench players that can keep a lead. that's all. jared sullinger helps with... none of those things.

I just think we already have enough veterans in the locker room (particularly if Howard is retained). I don't see the value in adding a Joel Pryzbilla type at the expense of a lotto pick. Heck, why not just use the MLE to add more vets if that's what you think is needed. Do we really need to sacrifice a lotto pick?

[rockymac52]

What's with the hate on Sullinger? I guess he's no Pryzbilla.

I really hope thee Wizards can strike gold in the draft or at least come up with a better plan than to take our existing talent and assemble some journeymen. Jeez how depressing does that sound? Sorry I don't want to have the ceiling of the Indiana Pacers or the Milwaukee Bucks.

And I'm sorry, I try to be an optimist on all things Wizards, but our frontcourt is in no way close to comparable to Chicago's.

[pancakes3]

maybe it's boring. maybe it's depressing. maybe i'm just too easily placated in that a 45-55 win team that doesn't win a championship is fine by me as long as we're exciting to watch. most of all i guess it's just a realistic view of things. it's how the hawks operate. it's how dallas is operating. nuggets? hornets? thunder? all of them just built around a solid core of a tier 2 star (dirk and cp3 arguably tier 1) and some 2-3 really good, fringe all-stars. they win a few games, get a few nationally televised games, and make some playoff noise from time to time. that's all i want. i'm not holding my breath that JARED FREAKIN SULLINGER (i don't hate the kid. i just don't think he's any good) is going to come in and elevate us the way magic or bird did. after all, wasn't that what john Wall was supposed to do?

[Dat2U]

maybe it's boring. maybe it's depressing. maybe i'm just too easily placated in that a 45-55 win team that doesn't win a championship is fine by me as long as we're exciting to watch. most of all i guess it's just a realistic view of things.

Ugh.

[rockymac52]

maybe it's boring. maybe it's depressing. maybe i'm just too easily placated in that a 45-55 win team that doesn't win a championship is fine by me as long as we're exciting to watch. most of all i guess it's just a realistic view of things. it's how the hawks operate. it's how dallas is operating. nuggets? hornets? thunder? all of them just built around a solid core of a tier 2 star (dirk and cp3 arguably tier 1) and some 2-3 really good, fringe all-stars. they win a few games, get a few nationally televised games, and make some playoff noise from time to time. that's all i want. i'm not holding my breath that JARED FREAKIN SULLINGER (i don't hate the kid. i just don't think he's any good) is going to come in and elevate us the way magic or bird did. after all, wasn't that what john Wall was supposed to do?

You realize we already have Wall, Blatche, and McGee playing for us this season, right? And our record is terrrrrible. Dallas, CP3, and KD are all tier 1 stars IMO. Not to mention that their supporting casts are wayy better than ours.

Dirk has Butler, Haywood, Kidd, Marion, Terry, Chandler, Barea, Beaubois... so much more talent than we have.

KD has Westbrook, Green, Ibaka, Harden, Thabo... not a mindblowingly good supporting cast, but solid nonetheless.

CP3 doesn't have nearly as much support, but he's still got Okafor, West, Thornton, Ariza... good players.

Sorry but you must be severely overrating just about all of the players on the Wizards. I have no idea where you're coming from here...

[Hoopalotta]

Sorry but you must be severely overrating just about all of the players on the Wizards. I have no idea where you're coming from here...

Here are the OFFICIAL prognostications...

50 wins: Pancakes
49 wins:
48 wins:
47 wins: JWizmentality
46 wins: Plotintelli, nuposse04
45 wins: dobrojim
44 wins: hands11
43 wins: Wizards2Lottery, Shanghai Kid
42 wins: JonathanJoseph, GilArenas88, Joe_Wiz, Illuminaire
41 wins: WizStorm, Scabs304, 1974onWizFan, Tyrone Messby, AceDegenerate
40 wins: Ruzious, Pine, The Fax, Gil_Kills, sportsshooteral
39 wins: YiOF, Induveca, wizfan1984, miller31time, Rafael122, RT31
38 wins: DallasShalDune, CrankyTodd, MF23
37 wins: darealhibachi, zaRdsAndZeRos, CCJ, TheGreatWall, eitanr, montestewart, JAR69, bulletproof_32
36 wins: bgroban, jimij, wermolwermol777, Donkey McDonkerton, go'stags
35 wins: AnotherFinn, REDardWIZskin, Zonkerbl, Severn Hoos, lupin
34 wins: KevinFCheng, dangermouse, sfam, tikunit, KiNgSbOi, BigA, Verbal8, long suffrin' boulez fan, AlohaWiz
33 wins: Hoopalotta, Floydfan29, wiz99, Nigel Tufnel, fishercob, Halcyon, LyricalRico
32 wins: Gesa2, dandridge10, closg00, greendale, nate33
31 wins: Consiglieri81, doclinkin
30 wins: Pollinator, Benjammin, MJG
29 wins: hermitkid, Dat2U
28 wins: willbcocks
27 wins: Nivek, no D in Hibachi
26 wins: fugop
25 wins:
24 wins:
23 wins: Visigoth

[pancakes3]

haha, i guess? so i'm optimistic and pessimistic at the same time then? i dunno. i guess i'm in the extreme minority (of basically myself) that thinks wall/blatche/mcgee/young is a very talented 4some and that our record notwithstanding, we'll be pretty darn good next season (or even later this season). durant posted back-to-back 20-win seasons before exploding with a 50-win season last year. dirk/nash had a rough 19-win rookie season, then a 40 win season before establishing dallas as a perennial 50 win team. just saying... our team right now is that young, promising team that other teams wish they had. i can bet NJ would swap rosters with ours in a heartbeat despite having 1 more win than us. philly too probably. indy as well...

::sigh:: ... anyway i guess i'll put a kibosh on this discussion. i retract all statements of me thinking that our nucleus is good enough to compete, or that this draft contains no gamers, or that next season we'll be competitive with/without.

you won't see me in this thread again until we're mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. (probably not though)