Draft Thread Continued. 2011 part two...

[Rafael122]

Whos the next best SF prospect after DWill?

Barnes, but if he's not coming out then who?

BTW, are we still assuming Williams is coming out? Because there's been nothing on this guy. At this point, I would take Kanter. Scouts rave about this kid, they say he's NBA ready, or at least his body is. My biggest concern would be his knees, but I would not be surprised if this guy killed it in the workouts. Kanter doesn't scream BUST to me. He doesn't appear to be a stiff, and from reading up on this guy, he's got a high basketball IQ. Calipari doesn't recruit stiffs.

BTW, 2012 draft is going to be stacked.

[tontoz]

Whos the next best SF prospect after DWill?

Barnes, but if he's not coming out then who?

BTW, are we still assuming Williams is coming out? Because there's been nothing on this guy. At this point, I would take Kanter. Scouts rave about this kid, they say he's NBA ready, or at least his body is. My biggest concern would be his knees, but I would not be surprised if this guy killed it in the workouts. Kanter doesn't scream BUST to me. He doesn't appear to be a stiff, and from reading up on this guy, he's got a high basketball IQ. Calipari doesn't recruit stiffs.

BTW, 2012 draft is going to be stacked.

Not if they extend the age limit another year in the new the CBA.

[eitanr]

If that's the case, who or what would be Washington's targets via a trade?

I'd look at Utah who has a plethora of picks available and does need a future PG.

[tontoz]

If that's the case, who or what would be Washington's targets via a trade?

I'd look at Utah who has a plethora of picks available and does need a future PG.

Utah might pick ahead of the Wizards.

[LyricalRico]

Trade it for a 2012 or maybe even a 2013 unprotected pick.

Cleveland's owner seems like the type to make a deal like that. Cleveland's 2012 first unprotected plus the Miami pick for our 2011 lotto pick? That's probably the next best thing to Derrick Williams. Just say no to Kanter.

[fishercob]

Trade it for a 2012 or maybe even a 2013 unprotected pick.

Cleveland's owner seems like the type to make a deal like that. Cleveland's 2012 first unprotected plus the Miami pick for our 2011 lotto pick? That's probably the next best thing to Derrick Williams. Just say no to Kanter.

Why? I understand the hesitancy to endorse the guys since there's so little footage on him and he sat out a year of competitive basketball. But what info could anyone here possibly have to say that he definitely will not be a very good player? It seems like the pendulum irrationally swinging too far back in the other direction...

[Rafael122]

Hypothetical, if the kid blows up (Kanter) in workouts, what would the excuse then be? It's just 1 on 1 workouts and it doesn't count? If the kid is talented, the kid is talented. He's a legit big man, not a 6'99'' tweener, or a 6'7'' guy with an enormous wingspan. He's 6'10'' 250. The guy could bang right now.

[dangermouse]

Whos the next best SF prospect after DWill?

Barnes, but if he's not coming out then who?

Yeah, thats what i meant. No Perry either whom I see as a SF/tweener prospect.

Terrance Jones? Yuck. I took a look at Chris Singleton, he could probably develop into a bigger version of Batum, but it will take him some time so he isnt even a late lotto pick... I'd rather Singleton than Jones because all ive heard about Jones is he isnt the best defender.

[LyricalRico]

Trade it for a 2012 or maybe even a 2013 unprotected pick.

Cleveland's owner seems like the type to make a deal like that. Cleveland's 2012 first unprotected plus the Miami pick for our 2011 lotto pick? That's probably the next best thing to Derrick Williams. Just say no to Kanter.

Why? I understand the hesitancy to endorse the guys since there's so little footage on him and he sat out a year of competitive basketball. But what info could anyone here possibly have to say that he definitely will not be a very good player? It seems like the pendulum irrationally swinging too far back in the other direction...

I'm not saying he definitely can't play. I say no to him for the same reason I've been saying no to Perry Jones - no more projects. I'm pretty much in the "Derrick Williams or bust" camp, with the only exception being Harrison Barnes (or Irving in a trade scenario). Anything short of that and I'd rather take my chances in 2012.

[LyricalRico]

Hypothetical, if the kid blows up (Kanter) in workouts, what would the excuse then be? It's just 1 on 1 workouts and it doesn't count? If the kid is talented, the kid is talented. He's a legit big man, not a 6'99'' tweener, or a 6'7'' guy with an enormous wingspan. He's 6'10'' 250. The guy could bang right now.

Yeah but he still doesn't have the physical gifts of another guy that was taken based on his workout - Kwame Brown. Don't forget that Darko also supposedly wowed in workouts. I'm through with measurements and upside. I want a guy who has already proven that he can play, and Kanter isn't that guy.

[Rafael122]

Hypothetical, if the kid blows up (Kanter) in workouts, what would the excuse then be? It's just 1 on 1 workouts and it doesn't count? If the kid is talented, the kid is talented. He's a legit big man, not a 6'99'' tweener, or a 6'7'' guy with an enormous wingspan. He's 6'10'' 250. The guy could bang right now.

Yeah but he still doesn't have the physical gifts of another guy that was taken based on his workout - Kwame Brown. Don't forget that Darko also supposedly wowed in workouts. I'm through with measurements and upside. I want a guy who has already proven that he can play, and Kanter isn't that guy.

Agree to disagree then. I think we're making a mistake by knocking the guy, but that's just me. He could be the next Pau Gasol for all we know, you'll never know. I'm not as dismissive on Kanter as you are though.

[closg00]

Not-ready to write-off Kanter yet either, we need to take a very close look at Kanter. I hear Rico on not taking-on anymore raw projects though, we already have Seraphin and Hamady who aren't playing much.

[NbdyBeatsTheWiz]

What exactly qualifies Kanter as a project? It's close to impossible to qualify him as anything at this point. I'm not about to write him off because as weak as this draft class is he could have as much promise as anybody. He may not have played college ball like Kwame, but he did start playing professionally at 16, and he led Turkey to a Bronze Medal in the U18 tourney, averaging 18.6pts / 16.4rebs. It's not like he hasn't played competitively, and I don't see how he's any more of a 'project' than any of this year's underwhelming underclassmen coming out of college after one or two years.

And I'm ecstatic we landed Crawford, but I think his presence makes adding Kemba or another guard that high in the draft superfluous. Wall/Young with Crawford off the bench backing both of them up seems as decent a guard rotation as any, and I'm not against adding to it elsewhere in the draft, but I'd like to use our top pick on a bigger need.

[FAH1223]

Kanter is more skilled than any big man on our roster.

[Hoopalotta]

Hamady actually isn't under contract for us and I'd strongly suspect he's gone.

I don't know how encouraged I'd be if Kanter was 6'10" and 250 if he's a pure center as that's a bit undersized which is likely crippling when coupled with mediocre athleticism. If his arms end up being so-so, I'd be very hard pressed to muster any enthusiasm there.

[Rafael122]

Hamady actually isn't under contract for us and I'd strongly suspect he's gone.

I don't know how encouraged I'd be if Kanter was 6'10" and 250 if he's a pure center as that's a bit undersized which is likely crippling when coupled with mediocre athleticism. If his arms end up being so-so, I'd be very hard pressed to muster any enthusiasm there.

9 foot standing reach, 7'1' wingspan. It's not like this kid has alligator arms.

[Dark Faze]

The draft is still happening before the outcome of the CBA. This draft is officially terrible now for a team selecting 4th or 5th and in need of starters. That's probably where we'll end up. There is a possibility of a sophmore limit being in the new CBA. If that happens we'd be looking at probably finishing at the 4th or 5th spot again next year, if not better, and looking at the same faces like Barnes and Sully who decided not to enter. It'd be the same situation and the result would be two years worth of losing while getting almost zero value. That's horrifying.

As noted, that's my thinking too; we'd be outright fools to center our plans around the 2012 draft if the CBA is going to force guys to play two seasons of college ball and it's Sullinger-Barnes-Jones-Henson and whomever developed from this past year's freshman class.

But it's too early to endorse the trade of an unprotected 1st; you'd really want some more legit inside information on the one-and-done thing before speaking on that as 2012 is probably a great draft if they maintain status quo.

I will say I'd cough up our whole 2011 draft (5th?) and Booker for the rights to Derrick Williams. I'd also consider trading the pick under the right circumstances. Beyond that I'm not really sure.

I definitely wouldn't mind trading everything and Booker for Williams right now.

But as far as the 2012 unprotected: I think you're right that it's a fair bit of gambling and may be a bit soon, but I think we're going to win more games than we did this year. We're talking about a team that lost almost every game on the road that they played, had as many injuries as you thought a club could possibly have going down the stretch and we're looking to finish 4th or 5th worse right now. I really think we can be a 30 win team next year regardless of who we pick up, and such a record would likely not give us a gamechanger.

The good news is that regardless of where we finish we should have the tools to get the player we want. I think teams would be willing to deal Williams for picks and a project. If we walk away from this draft by just selecting the best available (likely not even Kanter or Williams) then I'll be mad as sin.

[NbdyBeatsTheWiz]

It'll be interesting to see if Kanter has PF skills, enough so at least to play minutes alongside McGee. His knee problems with his already less than ideal speed don't bode well for that though.

NBADraft.net compares him to Horford, who in my mind is playing out of position at center. If he's got Horford's J that's big for him...

...shoot if ATL gets swept embarrassingly in the 1st round again find some way to trade for Horford (yeah, I know, ain't happenin')...

[20MexicanosIn1Van]

I am certainly in favor of trading whatever pick we get this year so long as it is not 1st for some crappy team with no future's 2012 1st round pick straight up. The 2nd overall pick in this years draft is a worse asset than the 7-10th pick in next years draft. If EG can somehow weasel another asset (which he has been excelling at recently) I would be a happy man.

[pcbothwel]

I think we have done a great job since the deadline of last year and we have built up a lot of young assets. We have enough youth on this team that we do not need to add more unless the player has superstar potential. Crawford, Booker, and our ATL pick will give us 3 guys that can be rotational players on contender (with the possibility that our early 2nd and/or seraphin could also be a piece).

Our focus needs to be on adding 2012 picks and 2013 picks. Those are gonna be very talented drafts and we need to get another superstar to support Wall. If we cant get Williams and Kanter does not impress us enough, we need to trade out for future picks. I think our #5 pick this year for a top 10 protected 2012/unprotected in 2013 + young vet would sound good to some team with a glimmer of hope. Then look to trade Blatche at the deadline next year or the 2012 offseason for another pick.

My ideal scenerio (if Barnes goes back and we dont get Williams) would be to trade the rights of Irving/Walker and get back a future pick and a mid lotto pick to draft and stash Valanciunas for a year or two. If McGee steps his game up over the next year or two, we would have a 25 y/o All-Star caliber Center will also carrying the rights of the top European Big man who will be only 20.