Chicken Littles: Sky done fell! Draft Thread 2011

[RickRoll_inDC]

Watching Sullinger against the Illini today... man, he's a great rebounder. Incredibly sticky hands, 6 boards 10 mins into the game. Great passer too.

I'm watching the same game. Mostly to watch OSU go down, but I can't help but picture Jared Sullinger in a Wizards uniform. Absolute BEAST on the glass. Pretty good BBIQ, too.

[sashae]

I have a man crush on Sullinger. He's a PHENOMENAL passer -- hucking full court outlets, great passing out of the post, fantastic rebounder. Man. We likely don't have a shot at him, but putting him on the court with Wall, Young and McGee sure would be fun to watch.

Size-wise, he's got a lot of room to bulk up his shoulders/arms, but he's got an incredibly strong base, really able to hold his position well and displace defenders. Give him 10lbs more muscle up top and he'd be an insanely tough cover.

[fishercob]

Professional stat nerd Kevin Pelton tweeted the following this afternoon:

Want to see some eerie similarity? Compare Kevin Love's stats at UCLA (http://bit.ly/esWfvq) to Jared Sullinger's (http://bit.ly/eaUOB0).
about 3 hours ago via TweetDeck

If Sullinger is the next Kevin Love, then I want his big ass on this team.

[closg00]

Hoops World has an article on draft sleepers, any of you heard/seen any of these guys?
http://www.hoopsworld.com/college/story ... y_id=18533

[pcbothwel]

JV is the Lithuanian right? I haven't seen any prospects, college or international, play one minute, but of what I've read I like him in the 5-10 range.

I want to have a long team that plays defense and he seems to fit the bill.

Trust me, your gonna hear a lot more about this guy soon. If you read the profile at DX you'll see whats to love. He is viewed as "an Andris Biedrins-type rebounder/defender/hustler in the NBA, but he likely has more even potential offensively than the Latvian big man due to his superior hands and touch (he probably has more of a nasty streak too)."
This is the kind of kid that allows us to trade a McGee/Blatche in a year or two with no worries. Also, the possibility of a full or half season lockout could help as he could stay overseas for one more year.
He has some Game IQ and foul problems, but there is no denying his quick feet, length, and williness to mix it up and stay humble in order to improve.
"According to Synergy Sports Technology, Valanciunas has had 52 possessions thus far this season deemed as pick-and-rolls or cuts to the basket, and has scored or drawn a foul on 42 of them. When unable to finish with a dunk, he shows very nice touch around the basket, often using the glass softly." Translation, John Wall's best friend.

[mhd]

Demontez Stitt from Clemson is an NBA player playing college ball if you know what I mean. Good athlete, size, wingspan, and is a PG with good handles. Would be worth a 2nd round pick.

[Ruzious]

I have a man crush on Sullinger. He's a PHENOMENAL passer -- hucking full court outlets, great passing out of the post, fantastic rebounder. Man. We likely don't have a shot at him, but putting him on the court with Wall, Young and McGee sure would be fun to watch.

Size-wise, he's got a lot of room to bulk up his shoulders/arms, but he's got an incredibly strong base, really able to hold his position well and displace defenders. Give him 10lbs more muscle up top and he'd be an insanely tough cover.

Really? I saw one very good outlet pass. And I haven't seen him making any good passes in the halfcourt. He's good, but he's a 6'8 PF, and he has the length of... a 6'8 PF. I see a good prospect - nothing special. And he got a lot of rebounds, but his team got out-rebounded. It tells me he's getting so many rebounds because he's the only guy on his team that's capable.

[closg00]

Givony tweeted this recently about Sullinger:

Jared Sullinger was spectacular. Destroyed the Illini on the glass & w/his back to the basket, sure, but how about the free throw shooting?

Never seen him play, I look-forward to actually seeing some of these prospects during the tournees.

[eltacoman]

Sullinger is a beast !!! i saw that game vs illi he looks and plays way wayyy bigger than he is Dude is a 19 Manchild

Draft Sullinger Top 4
and
Package Blatche n Kirk high 2nd in the offseason for a top 10 pick wish Terrence Jones!!! or Barns slip to it !!!!!

Wall
Young
Terrence or Barns
Sullinger
McGee

High Potential Rebuild Team !!!!! LEts GET It DonE !!!! GOOO WizARdZ!!!!

[Zonkerbl]

Huh, he's got a kind of "I think only about basketball, all the time" look in his google image search.

http://www.google.com/images?q=jared+su ... 52&bih=639

[pancakes3]

we need a center and the only centers in this draft are all euros.

[REDardWIZskin]

I have a man crush on Sullinger. He's a PHENOMENAL passer -- hucking full court outlets, great passing out of the post, fantastic rebounder. Man. We likely don't have a shot at him, but putting him on the court with Wall, Young and McGee sure would be fun to watch.

Size-wise, he's got a lot of room to bulk up his shoulders/arms, but he's got an incredibly strong base, really able to hold his position well and displace defenders. Give him 10lbs more muscle up top and he'd be an insanely tough cover.

Really? I saw one very good outlet pass. And I haven't seen him making any good passes in the halfcourt. He's good, but he's a 6'8 PF, and he has the length of... a 6'8 PF. I see a good prospect - nothing special. And he got a lot of rebounds, but his team got out-rebounded. It tells me he's getting so many rebounds because he's the only guy on his team that's capable.

Agreed, add to those points the fact that he can't get off of the floor or run the floor well and will probably have weight issues. Playing against guys like Milsap, Boozer, Blair who are just a strong as he is then it could really minimize he what he looks like now playing against college talent.

[REDardWIZskin]

I think Terrance Jones would be a better pick for us and a good prospect long term at SF, dude used to be a pg and had a growth spurt. Plays with a lot of intensity and has good size. He kind of reminds me of Caron Butler before he fell in love with shooting from outside.

[pcbothwel]

Irving (if he comes out) and sullinger are gonna be top 2-3 picks. I am holding out hope we get either T. Jones, D. Williams, or my personal sleeper, J. Valauncias.

[Ruzious]

I think Terrance Jones would be a better pick for us and a good prospect long term at SF, dude used to be a pg and had a growth spurt. Plays with a lot of intensity and has good size. He kind of reminds me of Caron Butler before he fell in love with shooting from outside.

I concur - his best position is going to be 3; not 4. He's not super-athletic, but he's got a ridiculous unconventional 1st step that's seems almost impossible to defend - seems to put him a step ahead of everyone else. Very good instincts. And he gives you an extra rebounder at the 3. I think he goes 3rd in the draft - after Perry Jones and Irving (really hoping Irving enters the draft - I don't want to see him at Duke next season. ).

[RickRoll_inDC]

Hoops World has an article on draft sleepers, any of you heard/seen any of these guys?
http://www.hoopsworld.com/college/story ... y_id=18533

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Renardo Sidney is most familiar to me. He had some ridiculous game last year in the SEC championship or something along those lines. Ridiculous wing span for a guy 6'10". Maybe a possibility in the 2nd round, but has some serious character issues and such.

[Rafael122]

We have to remember that rebounding translates well in the NBA. Blair, always at the top in terms of rebounding is averaging like 7-8 boards per game, and seems to be racking up double doubles on a nightly basis. Kevin Love as well. Sullinger seems to have a nose for the ball.

Dude is 6'8'' with a 7'1'' wing span. He probably will grow an inch or two more. He's only 19 years old. Reading DX's profile on him, he seems to have a high basketball IQ, which is what we need. I think Jones and Sullinger are my top 2 picks.

Be interesting to see what guys like Ed Wood and Dat have to say, but as far as I've seen, those two guys are my top prospects. We have no use for Irving.

[pcbothwel]

A few years ago Sullinger would be a mid lotto pick, but GM's have seen the Love, Milsap and Blair success story's and he will definatly go top 3 unless he post some really poor measurements/ athletic test.

I think Seraphin will show by the end of the season why he was taken at 17. His strength, footwork, touch and length will make him a regular contributer in this league. This will provide us more depth next year and not force our hand with our pick.

Two of Sullinger, T.Jones, J. Valanciunas, P. Jones, D. Williams, and E. Kanter will probably show their not worth a top 5 pick, leaving at least one of the other 4 to us. This draft is shaping up to be very weak with no clear-cut top talent, but the top 7 guys listed all seem to have strong skill-sets. Most importantly, they all seem to have the John Wall/Derek Favors work ethic and not the Demarcus Cousins head/attitude problems.

The worst thing that could happen is if we pick out of top 6 or 7. Players like T. Tompkins and T. Honeycutt do not impress me and I just assume we trade that pick to move back and pick up a future unprotected pick from a "going nowhere soon" team like Indiana or Phoenix

[closg00]

Jeff Adrien, Rio Grande Valley Vipers - Adrien's numbers are impressive, but the best indicator of his worth to the Vipers is their 10-0 record since the former UConn forward joined the lineup. He's racked up 11 double-doubles in his 15 NBA D-League games and looks set to return to an NBA roster soon. He's also a very efficient player, shooting 50 percent from the field and committing only four turnovers in his last five games.

Is Sullinger better than Adrien? What about signing Adrien to a cheapie contract and targeting Perry Jones or another top-5 pick? We continue to develop Kevin and try to trade Booker for draft and stash pick.

[VictorPage44]

I would hope that Sullinger is significantly better than Jeff Adrien if he's being considered a top five pick. Adrien is a nice hard-working, garbage play type, but he has no hands and no size- which will make it difficult for him to be effective in the half court on either end. I've only seen Sullinger play a couple times but he looks like a much more complete offensive player as a Freshman than Adrien was as a senior.

I still like Terrence Jones the most in the whole draft. He's a competitive, bouncy wing with a great stroke and the ability to make tough shots. What's not to like?

I said last season that Kris Joseph was a better NBA 3 prospect than Wes Johnson and I stand by that. Joseph's ability to but the ball on the deck is elite. He has a great offensive skill set, and I would love him on the Wiz. Another good wing is Jordan Hamilton from Texas.

Also, Shabazz Napier of uconn is a great looking freshman PG. He reminds me a lot of Marcus Williams, who I thought would have a nice NBA career. hopefully Napier will have more success in the NBA than Williams has had.