2012 NBA Draft

[pancakes3]

put it this way - bynum is spoiled, entitled, and immature and yet most fans haven't heard a peep about the shenanigans that he's pulled. cousins has to be orders of magnitude more spoiled, entitled, and immature given the amount of bad press that's managed to leak out.

[Ruzious]

Me neither. Both guys go about 6'8. Classic tweeners.

That's classic something. They both measured 6'10 with shoes at the Lebron Nike camp with 7'1 wingspans. They're not tweeners by any stretch of the imagination. They're PF's.

'
No way in hell Robinson is 6-10. I gotta see the official measurements to believe that one.

Plus I'm far more interested in their standing reach than their wingspan.

That's well and good, but the fact is that they aren't tweeners, and as far as I know - they haven't had their standing reaches measured. The Lebron Nike camp measurements were published, and Draftexpress.com includes them in their measurements database.

[Ruzious]

Speaking of Cousins, I would rather have him than Sullinger or Robinson from this draft, mental health notwithstanding. Cousins is an even better rebounder than Robinson and he's a far better passer than Sullinger or Robinson.

I am not sure either Sullinger or Robinson will play much C, either.

I don't understand the infatuation with Demarcus Cousins. After suffering through what seems like a decade of knuckleheadedness, people still want to bring on the biggest case in the NBA. I know we need talent, but Cousins really isn't even that good. He's one of the most overrated players by this board. Yes he can average a double-double but he has to take a ton of shots to get there. He only shoots 42% from the field. Not impressive for a post player. He's not that skilled. He gets what he gets by being bigger and stronger than opposing players. And I don't want to have to watch him pout when he DOESN'T get his double-double.

Sorry but I'm taking Sullinger all day every day over Cousins. He's a better person AND player.

The infatuation is that he's a really talented center - and after Dwight Howard, there's a ginormous shortage of those folks that can actually play at a high level. And he put up terrific stats as a frosh at Kentucky - a team that was going for a national championship. And his stats in the NBA are as a 20 year old. It typically takes big men time to develop. I think if he gets in real good shape and gets his head on straight, there's little doubt he can be a top 5 center in the NBA. Those are very big ifs, but the payoff is huge for those who don't mind gambling.

[Zonkerbl]

Didn't people say the same thing about Derrick Coleman?

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Coleman was way more talented than Cousins. Derrick Coleman had the athleticism and fluidity of Lamar Odom but also had big man strength, post skills, and a scorer's mentality when he felt like scoring. Charles Barkley raves about how good Derrick Coleman could have been if he had put the work in. Derrick Coleman had a bit of Kwame Brown in him. He seemed to lack passion for the game and didn't improve much if at all when he got to the NBA.

Cousins is not a good athlete by NBA standards. He is physically strong but does not possess good lateral quickness. He does not jump high. He does not run particularly fast. However, he is an excellent ball handler for a man his size. Demarcus Cousins has perhaps the best post moves of any C. He is an excellent shooter unguarded. His number one skill is next to Kevin Love and Dwight Howard, Cousins is an absolutely dominating rebounder. He understands how to get to where the ball is going to be. He enjoys contact and he is a naturally aggressive, at times scary dude.

Cousins' problems are well documented. Fouls, turnovers, easily frustrated when things don't go right. Enough people dislike him to the point I cannot help but believe he's earned it. The Kings showed faith in him and Evans, however, when they fired Westphal. How much of Cousins' missteps are immaturity and how much is a mindset that won't improve is debatable. Time will tell.

[Ruzious]

Derrick Coleman was a PF; not a center. Cousins is a center - who some (not me) think can play PF.

[pancakes3]

kentucky is winning on sheer unadulterated talent. if any nba team hires coach cal, it'll fail worse than the pitino experiment. anthony davis wrecked. 7/10 shooting, 4 blocks, and led the team with all of 2 assists.

[tontoz]

MKG came up big, 12 rebounds and 12 trips to the foul line.

[queridiculo]

I still think that when it's all said and done MKG will be the best player in whichever draft class he goes. He's just off the charts when it comes to the intangibles.

Would love to see him paired with John Wall.

[kirubel94]

-Very impressed with MKG today, knocking down jumpers , playing tough D, rebounding well, just all-around good player. I would love to pick him.
-Perry Jones had a good day with 19pts, 12 rbs, and a three pointer. No doubt denying the talent but needs to be more consistent , hopefully this was the start.
- Im still not sold on Anthony Davis, he did have an impressive day, but i really havent seen him take a jumper or have a solid post move.
- Saw Drummond play a bit today , Knocked down couple of jumper's but still not sold on him.
- Thomas Robinson had his daily double-double with a three pointer, starting to grow on him more and more.
If we could somehow could manage to land Gilchrist and Robinson??

[rockymac52]

"@Truth_About_It: One interesting tidbit from #Wizards locker room... let's just say John Wall would not be interested in drafting Harrison Barnes."

Interesting...

[DaRealHibachi]

"@Truth_About_It: One interesting tidbit from #Wizards locker room... let's just say John Wall would not be interested in drafting Harrison Barnes."

Interesting...

Why the hell not...??? Of course I don't know the context in which this was said, but still, step up your game before making any demands dude... If he's the BPA, why not..???

[dangermouse]

I wonder why?

He'd fit in well, I would imagine.

Luckily though, I think we'll be picking too high to draft him.

[Wone]

i want perry jones. i think he has superstar potential. keep a lookout for this guy.

[Ruzious]

Speaking of Barnes, UNC got absolutely destroyed yesterday by unranked FlaSt. HarBar's opponent, Deividas Dulkys - who hadn't scored in double figures the last 9 games - scored 32 points on 12-14 shooting - including 8 made 3's. It might be that Barnes is not... the next Shane Battier defensively. Dulkys is a senior averaging about 7 points a game. I think you can call that a career day. Roy's team is probably still in a daze wondering what hit them.

[rockymac52]

i want perry jones. i think he has superstar potential. keep a lookout for this guy.

I'm worried he's too raw and that he doesn't have the killer instinct an NBA star needs. He is too content letting his teammates take shots, especially late in the game. He can be the most physically gifted kid in the world, but if he doesn't take control and lead his team to victory, then he's never going to be a force in the NBA. He also hasn't progressed hardly at all from last season as far as I can tell.

Maybe I'm being harsh, but I just can't help but be terrified of getting stuck with a raw, project player who's never going to develop into a star. It's players like Jones that end up being complete busts IMO. Ones where you'll look back 5 years from now and say how it was so obvious and we should have seen it coming that he was all potential and physical gifts, but he just wasn't good enough at the actual game of basketball.

Not to mention he's a stick and a real tweener IMO. I can't help but think about Anthony Randolph every time I watch Jones play. I'm terrified that we'll end up with a top 5 pick this season and waste it on Anthony Randolph 2.0. Jones might not be that guy, he might end up great, but there's just something that really rubs me the wrong way about him.

I'd prefer to take a guy like Sullinger, whose ceiling might not be as high, but is much more ready for the NBA immediately and is also much more likely to be solid enough to stick around in the NBA. I don't want to see a top 5 pick go to a "potential" player who turns into a "project". We don't have time for that, we need NBA ready talent, and quick.

[rockymac52]

Furthermore given the current state of the Wizards, in terms of the attitudes around the locker room and the culture of losing, I firmly believe this is the worst possible place to try and groom a "project" player. I'm imagining Jones being inserted into our locker room as is, and I can't help but feel he'd lose focus and pick up all of our team's bad habits. Our team simply has no professionalism and no maturity. I can't see Jones succeeding with the Wizards organization. We need a no nonsense player who has the drive and dedication to get better and win basketball games, and to challenge our current players who have lost sight of why they're here in the first place. If we can't get one of the top two or three picks, then I'd strongly prefer taking a guy like Sullinger or Robinson with the pick than a guy like Jones.

[Wone]

perry jones has skills, he's not raw at al. he might be one of the if not the most skilld player offensively projected to go lotto in this year's draft.

he can handle the ball and really finish and he's very mobile/fluid for such a tlal guy at 6'11".

[rockymac52]

perry jones has skills, he's not raw at al. he might be one of the if not the most skilld player offensively projected to go lotto in this year's draft.

he can handle the ball and really finish and he's very mobile/fluid for such a tlal guy at 6'11".

See, that's the thing. Yes, he has incredible ball handling skills and he moves very well for someone who is 6'11". And even though he's lanky, he still manages to get rebounds as well. But I think far too often people/scouts fall in love with players who have skills that you wouldn't expect from someone of their size or position.

Yes, I'd rather have a 7 foot center who can dribble the ball well than a 7 foot center who can't, all other things equal. But it's not as simple as that.

I don't want Jones to be handling the ball if he ends up on the Wizards. We have a point guard for that. And if our point guard doesn't have the ball, we have a shooting guard, and then a small forward. Let them do the ball handling. Jones' ball handling skills are largely irrelevant to me (just my opinion) as long as he's a PF. If he was a PG or SG who had great ball handling skills and happened to be 6'11" then I'd be interested. But since he's not, I don't like to focus on his skills in areas of the game that he won't frequently be using. If we draft him we're drafting him to be a PF (or maybe a SF because he's a bit of a tweener), so we'll be expecting him to do things that a good PF does. All the other stuff are just bonuses, and they're all secondary to the main skills needed to be a post player.

[go'stags]

I'd just like to point out that Thomas Robinson is averaging 12 rebounds a game in just 30 minutes, in college basketball. Why can't he average 14 boards a game in the NBA? Those numbers are sick.