Draft Thread Continued. 2011 part two...

[no D in Hibachi]

IF Washington Drafts 2nd and D. Williams is off the board
-Wiz select Kyrie Irving and package him to Utah for one of the following scenariois:
A. For Derrick Favors (and maybe a future protected pick etc)
B. For their 6th pick (via NJ) and their 2012 GSW pick
C. For their 6th pick (via NJ) and their own pick (should be 12 or so)
D. For their unprotected 2012 pick (huge risk, but if the draft is deep it could be worth it).

Jazz can't trade their 2012 pick under the CBA rules (It's owed to the Timberwolves if the Jazz make the playoffs in the next three years) and won't trade Favors, but I think we would definitely do deal C and probably B if we end up at 5 or 6.

I'm certain the Wiz would never consider moving down from a borderline elite prospect to a position where they're not sure if they're even picking a future starter. If the only options on the table were take Irving and call it a day, or swap him for the 6th and 12th pick, they'll take Irving and find a way to make Wall/Irving work.

[no D in Hibachi]

WOuld Portland consider a deal of Lewis+Lotto pick (say its the 5th pick and they take Walker/Knight) for Camby+Miller+Batum?

Wiz save 10+ million on Lewis in 2012 while getting the young SF who can defend and hit 3s in Batum.

If I were Portland I wouldn't trade Batum for the #3 pick in the draft, let alone taking on Lewis.

[LyricalRico]

The top part of this draft is horrible, I think you would see teams trying to trade down rather than teams trying to trade up.

Everybody except Dan Gilbert, who took on DBiddy's contract to get another lotto pick. I'd offer it to him and see what we can get done.

[closg00]

Biyombo actually moved-up to #7 on DX's mock

[Hoopalotta]

Kanter has already said he wants to play PF.

Does Kanter even have the athleticism to play PF? He looks like a bit of a plodder to me in what little video we have of him. So what if he's athletically he's a C but yet he wants to play PF? That's not a good thing. He might just be a C stuck in a PF's body. And just b/c someone isn't Andray Blatche doesn't mean he's going to be success.

Exactly - Kanter saying he wants to play power forward is bad news as far as I'm concerned being translated as "I'm probably too small to post up starting centers, so let's see how this works". If his athleticism were going to allow him to play a power forward at 6'10" 250, everyone would be raving about his athleticism, which is hardly the case. What position he plays and how he matches up is a huge question mark.

Kemba Walker is listed at 6-0 or 6-1 in most draft profiles. So I'm not sure where this 5-10 height comes from.

That was from Chad Ford standing right next to him at Maui and eyeballing it, though I believe he said 5'11". That's probably solid intel.

[Hoopalotta]

Biyombo actually moved-up to #7 on DX's mock

That's basically where he is on Ford's board once you take off the guys who aren't declaring, which is more significant as Ford doesn't lay out who he thinks should go where, but rather what he's gathered from talking to execs and scouts.

So, according to Ford's interpretation of the collective thinking, Biyombo's now 8th.

[pancakes3]

reading gioveny's biyombo writeup has me pretty darn excited.

[thinker07]

I really find it hard to believe that all of the guys like Sullinger, Barnes, Jones, would stay out of the draft. At this point each of them would be virtually guaranteed being selected in the top 3 or4 in the case of Jones. Even if part of the season is lost to a lockout, a guy picked second or third this year would still make more money the following year than if he stayed in school because he would be at a higher slot.

[Hoopalotta]

reading gioveny's biyombo writeup has me pretty darn excited.

http://acbtv.acb.com/video/3635-lacb-20 ... de_biyombo

[nate33]

Kanter has already said he wants to play PF.

Does Kanter even have the athleticism to play PF? He looks like a bit of a plodder to me in what little video we have of him. So what if he's athletically he's a C but yet he wants to play PF? That's not a good thing. He might just be a C stuck in a PF's body. And just b/c someone isn't Andray Blatche doesn't mean he's going to be success.

Exactly - Kanter saying he wants to play power forward is bad news as far as I'm concerned being translated as "I'm probably too small to post up starting centers, so let's see how this works". If his athleticism were going to allow him to play a power forward at 6'10" 250, everyone would be raving about his athleticism, which is hardly the case. What position he plays and how he matches up is a huge question mark.

Meh. Nobody wants to play center. It's more physical and less glamorous. McGee didn't want to play center. Blatche doesn't want to play center. Jermaine O'Neal didn't want to play center. Tyson Chandler didn't want to play center.

Kanter may start off at PF, but he'll gravitate to center over time. It always happens.

[Hoopalotta]

Kanter looks like an absolutely abysmal athlete at the power forward position from the footage I've seen. That's the important part.

Edit --> My issue is just that I think he's a center who probably doesn't have any particular physical advantages for the position. If he ends up being larger/longer than expected, that's something, but if he's smaller than the average starter and average or below athletically, he's going to have to do everything with skill/hustle/guile. That's a tall order, hard to justify at the top of the lottery and I'm having a hard time seeing that work out defensively.

The power forward discussion just seems like a huge red herring unless he's reinvented his body. Looks to me like most everyone who's projected at two positions is actually going to end up playing at the larger slot (i.e. Williams is a 4, Biyombo's a 5, etc.)

Edit again --> Actually, the funny thing is that, with all that said, I still have Kanter as our choice with the third pick as of now.

That's how screwed we are.

[Geaux Wiz]

Seeing as how our chances at getting Williams are dismal and P. Jones is staying at Baylor for some godforsaken reason, hoping we can trade our pick for a 2012 unprotected pick and then possibly get a third team involved so we can move up the ATL pick to late lotto so we can get Kawhi Leonard.

I'm also against Kanter, haven't seen enough from him to be confident in him along with imo lacking the size to be a C and the athleticism to be a PF.


Also what do you guys suppose Blatche's value would be?

[SUPERBALLMAN]

At this point, if we dont't get in the top 3, I might go with SF Terrance Jones.

He is physically NBA ready, athletic, can handle, defend, score & rebound, & played at a big program.

I mean, he may be worth revisiting... a pretty safe pick with upside.

[SUPERBALLMAN]

At this point, if we dont't get in the top 3, I might go with SF Terrance Jones.

He is physically NBA ready, athletic, can handle, defend, score & rebound, & played at a big program.

I mean, he may be worth revisiting... a pretty safe pick with upside.

[Dat2U]

Terrence Jones as the 3rd pick in this draft?

Wasn't he like the 5th best player for Kentucky over the last 2-3 months of the season?

If Jones or Kanter are considerations for a top 3 pick in this draft, my goodness we are in deep deep trouble.

Can we just trade our pick for Steph Curry and be done with it?

[TGW]

Kanter is an abysmal athlete for the power forward spot? I'm not buying that. Not in a league where Dirk Novitski and Zach Randolph have their way every night. Heck, even Pau Gasol and Chris Bosh aren't the greatest of athletes, and they're both considered elite power forwards.

If a bigman is skilled and tall, athleticism is not that important. History has proven this -- there are so many bigs that weren't athletic at all, and had their way in the paint. This even applies in today's NBA.

If Kanter is as skilled as advertised, I have no problem taking him. I don't want to get stuck with the next Kwame.

[dangermouse]

Bismack or Bust!

[Hoopalotta]

Kanter is an abysmal athlete for the power forward spot? I'm not buying that. Not in a league where Dirk Novitski and Zach Randolph have their way every night. Heck, even Pau Gasol and Chris Bosh aren't the greatest of athletes, and they're both considered elite power forwards.

If a bigman is skilled and tall, athleticism is not that important. History has proven this -- there are so many bigs that weren't athletic at all, and had their way in the paint. This even applies in today's NBA.

If Kanter is as skilled as advertised, I have no problem taking him. I don't want to get stuck with the next Kwame.

I don't think Kanter can handle it away from the basket based on reaction time and foot speed against NBA power forwards unless he's quicker now than what I've seen.

My perspective is that functional NBA centers generally have unacceptable "athleticism", or really "mobility", to play the 4 (I should have said mobility rather than athleticism). But if you can't start, stop and glide quickly enough, the face-up fours can just pick you apart with teams game planning for it and going back to that matchup again and again. Plus, Kanter will get dragged way out (just covering his guy or on the PnR) and then he's going to have a hard time recovering for any sort of help defense or board work - MIA, play after play. Guys like Bosh, Dirk and Randolph are actually quite respectable from a mobility standpoint.

I think he's a 5. It's hypothetically possible that he could even be a respectable defensive center, but I have a very hard time seeing him getting regularly dragged out to 20 feet and being anything but a major liability. He looks like a guy who's going to make his living and register 90% of his positive plays right around the cup.

[verbal8]

Bismack or Bust!

It could be both.

[Ruzious]

Kanter is an abysmal athlete for the power forward spot? I'm not buying that. Not in a league where Dirk Novitski and Zach Randolph have their way every night. Heck, even Pau Gasol and Chris Bosh aren't the greatest of athletes, and they're both considered elite power forwards.

If a bigman is skilled and tall, athleticism is not that important. History has proven this -- there are so many bigs that weren't athletic at all, and had their way in the paint. This even applies in today's NBA.

If Kanter is as skilled as advertised, I have no problem taking him. I don't want to get stuck with the next Kwame.

Not to mention arguably the best PF/C of this generation - Tim Duncan. If you're big, strong and skilled enough to impose your will on your opponent, you'll do well. Btw, Bosh is easily the most athletic of those you mentioned, and he is the least effective.