Official Raptors 2011 NBA Draft Thread, Part 5

[Dr Positivity]

Assuming all four are still on the board for our pick, and BC wants to go with a small forward, who's the man, pre-workouts?

Barnes? Perry? T. Jones? D-Will?

Derrick Williams but I don't think he's on the board for us unless we land top 3. I think Washington has him #1 on their big board and Cleveland has him #1 or #2 and Minnesota and Sac have him top 2. Makes it very unlikely he falls below 3. In fact right now I think he has the conch for the #1 pick. You watch... guys get picked #1 for their athleticism, strength and overall toolbox, not bball IQ and vision. Derrick Williams fits much more with the history of #1 picks than Irving

[bboyskinnylegs]

Assuming all four are still on the board for our pick, and BC wants to go with a small forward, who's the man, pre-workouts?

Barnes? Perry? T. Jones? D-Will?

for me, right now the order I'd pick those guys in is Perry, D-Will, Barnes, T.Jones (really don't like him at all though, I think he could end up like another Marvin Williams). A lot could change once the combine and draft workouts are underway though.

[God Squad]

Assuming all four are still on the board for our pick, and BC wants to go with a small forward, who's the man, pre-workouts?

Barnes? Perry? T. Jones? D-Will?

I think B.C would go with Barnes. He dose the things a SF should do. But after workouts I might learn PJ.

[5DOM]

Perry Jones for sure. I'd swing for the fences every single time until we hit a HR (top 5-10 talent in the NBA).

[anj]

Id pass on Kanter. A big guy with knee issues at that age is a red flag.

+1. I'd rather take Valanciunas if we're looking at a big man with our pick. Not that anyone cares, but unless there's a giant revelation between now and the draft, my board is set at:

Irving
Barnes
Valanciunas
Knight
P Jones
D Williams

I figure (hopefully) we won't drop below sixth pick which means we're guaranteed one of the above, which is pretty reassuring (provided they all declare). Outside of the above, I'm not interested in the Raptors adding any other players in this draft.

I feel like it should be our priority to grab either Irving or Barnes, but that's easier said than done.

I don't think D Williams can play the three, but I love the way that he competes, and the fact that he's just a good basketball player. If he had a definite position I would probably have him third.

P Jones has more of a chance than D Williams to play the three, IMO, but I still see "athletic 4" when I watch him play. It may just be his height deceiving me, though.

[Rhettmatic]

Marc (Montreal)

Chad, your mock draft has the Raptors taking Perry Jones right now (shameless plug). I like him, but he also terrifies me. Do you think he projects as a 3 or a 4? And isn't it most likely he ends up Anthony Randolph v. 2.0?

Chad Ford (2:37 PM)

He intrigues and terrifies everyone. He's a better prospect than Randolph. Doesn't have some of the same personality issues, is a better shooter, more skilled. But he's going to have to find a position in the pros (he thinks he's a guard, his college coach thought he was a center), and his motor worries me. He's a really nice kid. But does he have the mental makeup to dominate? But on straight up talent + upside, he's an A list prospect.

[Rhettmatic]

Ty (Atlanta, GA)

Will Kyrie Irving leave Duke for the draft Chad?

Chad Ford (2:37 PM)

All signs point to yes.

[Reignman]

Man, I'm actually starting to get stoked again for this draft. For a little while there I felt a bit "meh" but now the excitement has returned.

Some impressive late season / tourney performances from the top picks have me feeling good about it.

Give me any 1 of Irving/Barnes/Knight/Jones/Kanter (or Val) and I think I'd be fairly happy.

[Rhettmatic]

Man, I'm actually starting to get stoked again for this draft. For a little while there I felt a bit "meh" but now the excitement has returned.

Some impressive late season / tourney performances from the top picks have me feeling good about it.

Give me any 1 of Irving/Barnes/Knight/Jones/Kanter (or Val) and I think I'd be fairly happy.

Same here. There's no top prospect that I hate, and a bunch who intrigue me.

That said, there's no one (other than Irving) whom I love either. But it's an exciting time, either way.

[Reignman]

yeah, Irving would be the prize but I think the gap has been closed somewhat. Then again, I think if KI played the whole season it might not have been close.

[FluLikeSymptoms]

Assuming all four are still on the board for our pick, and BC wants to go with a small forward, who's the man, pre-workouts?

Barnes? Perry? T. Jones? D-Will?

Derrick Williams but I don't think he's on the board for us unless we land top 3. I think Washington has him #1 on their big board and Cleveland has him #1 or #2 and Minnesota and Sac have him top 2. Makes it very unlikely he falls below 3. In fact right now I think he has the conch for the #1 pick. You watch... guys get picked #1 for their athleticism, strength and overall toolbox, not bball IQ and vision. Derrick Williams fits much more with the history of #1 picks than Irving

If we land #2 and Kyrie is gone, I'd immediately call #3 and see what I could get to swap spots. Somebody will be drunk on the Derrick Williams Kool-Aid but I'd rather have Barnes in a second. Ideally it would be Minnesota, and Memphis makes the playoffs and fork over their pick to the Wolves and have that available(or Rubio), or Cleveland and we can get the Clippers' pick to trade down, though that could be a high price. My point is, if somebody thinks DWill is a sure-shot and nobody else is after him, we really could cash in on picks or established players.

[Reignman]

Assuming all four are still on the board for our pick, and BC wants to go with a small forward, who's the man, pre-workouts?

Barnes? Perry? T. Jones? D-Will?

Derrick Williams but I don't think he's on the board for us unless we land top 3. I think Washington has him #1 on their big board and Cleveland has him #1 or #2 and Minnesota and Sac have him top 2. Makes it very unlikely he falls below 3. In fact right now I think he has the conch for the #1 pick. You watch... guys get picked #1 for their athleticism, strength and overall toolbox, not bball IQ and vision. Derrick Williams fits much more with the history of #1 picks than Irving

If we land #2 and Kyrie is gone, I'd immediately call #3 and see what I could get to swap spots. Somebody will be drunk on the Derrick Williams Kool-Aid but I'd rather have Barnes in a second. Ideally it would be Minnesota, and Memphis makes the playoffs and fork over their pick to the Wolves and have that available(or Rubio), or Cleveland and we can get the Clippers' pick to trade down, though that could be a high price. My point is, if somebody thinks DWill is a sure-shot and nobody else is after him, we really could cash in on picks or established players.

Same here.

[Rhettmatic]

Freddy (Los Angeles)

Out of all the prospective international big man, who has the best shot of going #1 overall or in the top 5 for sure come draft night?

Chad Ford (2:51 PM)

Valanciunas is the most highly rated. But there are some serious questions about his contract situation. If he can't come play in the NBA for a couple of years, his stock drops. At that point,Enes Kanter or Jan Vesely is the first international player off the board. Both go somewhere in the Top 10, but I doubt either goes in the Top 3. Nikola Mirotic and Bismack Biyombo are sleepers.

Sorry to keep quoting the Chadster. But this is the first I've heard of contract problems with Valanciunas. Does anyone know more?

[Dr Positivity]

Perry Jones for sure. I'd swing for the fences every single time until we hit a HR (top 5-10 talent in the NBA).

Well I think D Will has as much perenniel all-star/VC and Bosh upside as PJIII and obviously is more of a sure thing upstairs.

OT: I think we so often mess up who's the risky picks and who's the sure thing. There's been tons of low upside sure things who've been complete busts, lots of low upside sure things who've been the all-stars in the draft, and lots of risky picks who've ended up the not a star but solid starter and contributer guys.

I mean look at last year. Aldrich, Henry were the sure things and they look like the biggest busts in the lotto other than the WTF Udoh pick. Paul George was the risky pick and right now he's a sure thing in the sense that at the least, he's athletic enough to defend and hits 3s. Monroe was supposed to have less upside than Favors but right now it looks like Monroe is the all-star and Favors is Amir Johnson 2. Patrick Patterson was supposed to be a low upside solid starter and right now I honestly think he could be a perenniel all-star. The guy has a 17 PER right now and everything I look for in a PF. Evan Turner was the biggest sure thing we've seen in a top 5 pick in years. Oops.

So I think for all our pandering, we don't know as much about risks and sure things as we'd like to think. I think the biggest common denominators for players that make it is a head for the game/fluidity and work ethic.

[Rapsfan07]

Assuming all four are still on the board for our pick, and BC wants to go with a small forward, who's the man, pre-workouts?

Barnes? Perry? T. Jones? D-Will?

That's a hard one....I think I'd have to go Barnes. With Barnes, I'm sure of where he plays, he seems to rebound and play defense at a good level collegiately and shoots the 3 well.

One thing I should say though is that to me, there are no sure-fire prospects just yet. Workouts will dictate a LOT for me especially with Perry Jones III and Kemba Walker and his is because I really am concerned about their ability to defend. I think PJ III has the most upside but the reports on this defense don't impress me. Of course this could be because he was guarding Cs so this is why workouts become important. If PJ shows the ability to defend NBA SF's though, I'm definitely drafting him. His upside is crazy, IMO. T. Jones makes me think of Wilson Chandler for some reason. He can his the three from time to time, play great defense and rebound but I just don't see that "closer" mentality. Looks like he'll be a good piece in the future though but just not a star. D-Will is in the same boat at PJIII. They need to show me they can guard their positions at the next level or I'm going with Barnes.

[bboyskinnylegs]

Freddy (Los Angeles)

Out of all the prospective international big man, who has the best shot of going #1 overall or in the top 5 for sure come draft night?

Chad Ford (2:51 PM)

Valanciunas is the most highly rated. But there are some serious questions about his contract situation. If he can't come play in the NBA for a couple of years, his stock drops. At that point,Enes Kanter or Jan Vesely is the first international player off the board. Both go somewhere in the Top 10, but I doubt either goes in the Top 3. Nikola Mirotic and Bismack Biyombo are sleepers.

Sorry to keep quoting the Chadster. But this is the first I've heard of contract problems with Valanciunas. Does anyone know more?

here's something I found regarding Val's situation:

Valanciunas is under contract with Lietuvos Rytas but, taking in consideration some of his agent’s latest comments, it doesn’t seem to be an air tight deal. In an interview for krepsinis.net, Valanciunas’ agent made it clear that the youngster’s future is uncertain; “We‘ll make a decision about Valanciunas in the spring. He wants to keep all the opportunities open for now… there are ways we could go – staying with Lietuvos Rytas,, moving to another Euroleague side or go to the draft this year. Everything will depend on the player, but if he feels he will not get the playing time, there’s no reason for going. The buyout that an NBA club will have to pay Lietuvos Rytas will depend on how high he’s picked, so they’re interested in giving him as much playing time as possible."

http://www.sportpost.com/blogs/view/NBA+European+Draft+Prospects+Jonas+Valanciunas

still not very specific

[SDM]

Freddy (Los Angeles)

Out of all the prospective international big man, who has the best shot of going #1 overall or in the top 5 for sure come draft night?

Chad Ford (2:51 PM)

Valanciunas is the most highly rated. But there are some serious questions about his contract situation. If he can't come play in the NBA for a couple of years, his stock drops. At that point,Enes Kanter or Jan Vesely is the first international player off the board. Both go somewhere in the Top 10, but I doubt either goes in the Top 3. Nikola Mirotic and Bismack Biyombo are sleepers.

Sorry to keep quoting the Chadster. But this is the first I've heard of contract problems with Valanciunas. Does anyone know more?

We should take a look at Bismack. He'd fit in well on this sinking ship.

[dagger]

Freddy (Los Angeles)

Out of all the prospective international big man, who has the best shot of going #1 overall or in the top 5 for sure come draft night?

Chad Ford (2:51 PM)

Valanciunas is the most highly rated. But there are some serious questions about his contract situation. If he can't come play in the NBA for a couple of years, his stock drops. At that point,Enes Kanter or Jan Vesely is the first international player off the board. Both go somewhere in the Top 10, but I doubt either goes in the Top 3. Nikola Mirotic and Bismack Biyombo are sleepers.

Sorry to keep quoting the Chadster. But this is the first I've heard of contract problems with Valanciunas. Does anyone know more?

I've read that, but not heard it confirmed. His US agent, Leon Rose - yes that Leon Rose - has been known to work these things out. It will cost him significant dollars, and that's why he needs to go top 10 and lock that in for a summer-of-2012 buyout. The advantage in signing with CAA is that they have the capacity to loan him the money for a buyout without going to a bank.

[Mr.Raptorsingh]

Here's a scenario to ponder:

What if everything checks out fine with Enes Kanter health-wise, and he skyrockets back up to top-5 pick status, and we're sittting at 4th...A)would you take him, and B)would you consider moving Ed Davis to a team like WAS for their pick, for Kanter's practice teammate at Kentucky, Brandon Knight?

We walk away from the draft with Knight and Kanter, the latter of whom is NBA-ready in terms of his physical profile (assuming he's 6'10ish).

Knight
DeRozan
Johnson
Bargnani
Kanter

Yay or Nay?

[Rhettmatic]

Here's a scenario to ponder:

What if everything checks out fine with Enes Kanter health-wise, and he skyrockets back up to top-5 pick status, and we're sittting at 4th...A)would you take him, and B)would you consider moving Ed Davis to a team like WAS for their pick, for Kanter's practice teammate at Kentucky, Brandon Knight?

We walk away from the draft with Knight and Kanter, the latter of whom is NBA-ready in terms of his physical profile (assuming he's 6'10ish).

Knight
DeRozan
Johnson
Bargnani
Kanter

I'd much rather pair Kanter with Ed Davis than with Bargnani, so no.