Rafael122 wrote:Earth2Ted wrote:7-Day Dray wrote:Chad Ford just tweeted that Washington would take Beal as high as #2.
Sullinger played well last night too.
I am trying to figure out of Chad has a Wizards source on this or if he is just pulling it out of his posterior. Ernie certainly has been telegraphing his punches the last couple years- he did on Vesely, and I think even going back to that #5 for Miller and Foye deal.
I just hope that Ernie (and my sense is that Ted is probably keeping him around
) doesn't just think Nene is the center of the future, and that Nene, Seraphin, and Vesely will morph into some sort of championship caliber front line. But he probably does.
I wouldn't take a big unless it's Anthony Davis. I like what I saw from Beal, efficient scoring, played a smart game and he doesn't play like he's 6'3''. REALLY liking this kid now.
They called it last year on draftexpress and other sources, the kid has everything we need at the 2. Great BBIQ, selfless player, high motor, contributes across the stat line, great jumper, good 3, plays D. The only issue with him is size, he's a little small for a 2. But he's rugged and muscular, and plays much bigger than he measures. At the very least, I think he'll be a very good player at the next level. He may actually have the potential to be a star. A month ago he was in that 6-12 area, 2 weeks ago in that 5-8 area, and now he looks like 2-8 area and it's ALL based on production since he started putting it all together in February. He has EVERYTHING we want, if we go for a shooter instead of a big and in my view, will contribute a great deal more than Barnes.
Barnes, btw, was featured in the latest Atlantic Monthly. He's apparently exceptionally smart, and really talented (musical prodigy perhaps?).
Link:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc ... ller/8911/"....Barnes, now a sophomore at UNC, has lived up to the hype, both on and off the court. A 6-foot-8 small forward with a silky jumper and a knack for hitting game-winning shots, he’s also widely touted as college basketball’s most cerebral star since Bill Bradley. But where Bradley devoted his analytical abilities to hoops and academics, Barnes has added a third area of interest: the business of basketball. Barnes’s business acumen is what brought him to UNC—and accounts for the fact that he’s still there.
After his freshman season, Barnes would have been a certain top-five pick in the NBA draft. But he decided to pass up the league and return to college. Part of his rationale for doing so was the prospect of an NBA lockout. He also genuinely likes school. But a big reason he came back to UNC was that he believes remaining in college for at least one more year will eventually increase his endorsement potential. “The longer you stay in college,” Barnes explained, “the better a brand you build.
....That morning, he’d attended three classes at UNC’s highly regarded Kenan-Flagler Business School (including his favorite, Entrepreneurship), and he looked more like a college student interviewing for a job at an accounting firm than a soon-to-be-multimillionaire sports star. His manner was similarly restrained, one might even say businesslike. He sat bolt upright in his chair and paused carefully before each answer.
“The NBA is a business,” Barnes told me, elaborating that players are akin to pieces of inventory that, if they don’t produce, get replaced by other pieces that do. “But on the brighter side,” he added, “you do gain a lot of capital, and you have a platform from which you have avenues to do just about anything you want to do.” Indeed, Barnes seems amazed that more basketball players don’t take advantage of those avenues. “I think if anybody has an opportunity to play professional basketball,” he said, “to not transcend that into off-the-court endeavors is really a waste....”
