2012 Draft, Part VI (Draft Week is Here!)

[The Consiglieri]

And yet Beal still has a flawless storke, absolutely killed it with team USA, and shot the lights out every time he was ever asked to beyond some early struggles with Florida while playing out of position.

The only concerns with Beal, period, are height, and the ceiling in terms of his pure athleticism. Shooting is not a concern. Period.

No no concerns about Beal's ability to get to the hoop consistently? And sorry, but shooting is a concern for a person who's most idenifiable strength is his shooting and was an average shooter throughout a majority of the college season. Shoot-around shooting isn't game shooting. He might turn into a great game shooter but its not a slam dunk.

No, Beal's a much better finisher than Barnes, he's not fantastic at it, but he shouldn't have any major issues doing so. As for shooting, I don't think there's any concern whatsoever, I understand you disagree and can point to two months of mediocre shooting, but i look at his entire body of work screaming, "elite shooter", and a 2 month aberration, and pass it off as playing out of position with two chuckers while getting used to college. Once he got at ease in Feb, his numbers started improving across the board, and exploded when he got the green light in the tourney. He also shot the lights out with team USA (apparently 60% from 3). Not worried at all about his shooting. I think the sample size of issues is tiny compared to his history as a jump shooter. It was and is his calling card, I'm just not gonna take a 18-20 game stretch, and say it means a hellvalot more than anything else he's ever done as a shooter, particularly considering his situation at Florida which wasn't remotely ideal, particularly for a freshmen.

[Halcyon]

The fact that respected front offices like the Thunder and Spurs want to trade up for Beal bodes well. That also scares me into thinking that Beal being at #3 is becoming less and less likely.

[payitforward]

What is more interesting is Beal went 19th on the players mock,

Not really. Take a look at some of the other picks they made.

[Ruzious]

I'll bite. What exactly was it in UNC's system that held back Harrison Barnes?

You can blast me for expressing my opinion, but I don't know how anyone watching UNC over the last 2 years couldn't see his obvious shortcomings. He was in virtually the perfect situation to shine.

Sharing the ball with 3 other NBA prospects?

Yeah, it's terrible to have good teammates - especially the top pure point guard in the college game.

[payitforward]

One way I could talk myself into drafting Harrison Barnes in the top 5 would be to view him as a SG. I don't think it's far-fetched at all that he could play SG in the NBA. He's average length for a drafted SG, and his combine scores in the athletic tests were all above average for a SG.

I wouldn't draft a guy #3 hoping he can change positions! And he doesn't have the handle, penetrating ability, etc. for the position. Lets just hope he can play the 3 -- let alone a new spot -- for whoever picks him (not us; please not us...).

[Ruzious]

His agility time was excellent -- just a bit slower than Boozer, Jackson Vroman, Nene, Miles Plumlee, and more than a full second slower than Josh Harrellson.

Most impressive, sir!

[MF23]

Sarcasm, great! You asked the question and I answered it logically. Sharing the ball with his teamates did limit his touches.

[Illuminaire]

....it's not the number of touches that is the problem with Barnes. It's what he did with the touches he had.

[Ruzious]

Sarcasm, great! You asked the question and I answered it logically. Sharing the ball with his teamates did limit his touches.

Sorry if I offended, but It probably didn't limit his touches, and it gave him a better chance to be efficient - particularly by having arguably the best pure point guard in college basketball.

[Illuminaire]

Sarcasm, great! You asked the question and I answered it logically. Sharing the ball with his teamates did limit his touches.

Sorry if I offended, but It probably didn't limit his touches, and it gave him a better chance to be efficient - particularly by having arguably the best pure point guard in college basketball.

Exactly. Barnes had opportunities to both "play within himself" and carry the team on his back.

In the former, he underwhelmed. He was OK. Average. Mediocre efficiency, absolutely no other outstanding skills at all.

In the latter he looked terrible. Below average. In over his head. He wasn't able to achieve anything resembling a passable offensive game without his PG, which isn't a good sign for a wing.

It's a very simple argument with Barnes: we have two years of data proving that he's not a dynamic player, not a great rebounder, not a great playmaker, and not a particularly outstanding defender. The only thing left is his shooting, which was.... not great. There is nothing wrong with taking a jack (or ten... maybe an eight) of all trades in the draft, but there is absolutely nothing to indicate that Barnes will be more than an OK player at the next level.

That's not good enough for the #3 pick.

[The Consiglieri]

I'm not going to copy and paste quotes from this because it would take for freaking ever, and probably potentially violate copyright laws so I'm just gonna provide the link to a fantastic mock draft between Chad Ford and Bill Simmons over at Grantland, it provides a ton of interesting quotes on the whole MKG or Beal or Barnes or whatever thought process:

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/810 ... vs-simmons

[payitforward]

if our 2nd rounder and a player could get us to 20 or so, I'd do it because i freaking love the talent available from 8-24 or so. I just think we should give it a real long and hard look at who were giving away as a part of that deal, and realize what we're doing before we do it.

If the player is Crawford, count me in -- that's addition by subtraction. If it's Singleton, I'm ok w/ that as well (depending a bit on who's still on the board at the spot we trade into). Not Booker.

One guy who'd be a risk maybe worth taking w/ a late Round 1 pick is Royce White. Absent his anxiety disorder, he'd be a top 7 pick in this draft. Certainly a better risk in the 20s than Drummond anywhere in the top dozen!

But... I really want a Round 2 pick, I have to say. I'd hope to make the deal w/ at least a mid-low 2d round pick coming back. Going to be rotation players down there.

[The Consiglieri]

I think everyone would deal Crawford and 32 to move into say 20th or 16th or something, but i dont think anybody's doing that deal, I think we'd need to add Singleton to it, or add Booker or Ves which is where the problems come in. If we deal up, which I dont think we're gonna do, but we should, we would probably have to move an asset we probably shouldn't move like Booker, or Ves, or hell even Singleton who is a hevllaot better defensively than he showed last year (i dont think he'll ever be better than slightly below average offensively, and that's if we're lucky).

I just really hate that our multipick drafts were in the very weak '10 and '11 classes, and now that there's a ton of depth, we only got the two picks. I definitely think people should quit thinking Crowder's gonna be the pick at 32, how freaking often do we nail the 2nd rounder? Almost never. Who knows who the pick is gonna be, probably a foreign guy, a reach, or a faller, with a 50/50 to 60/40 chance of "ehhh" like Mack last year, and guys like LaRon Profit in the past.

[7-Day Dray]

If Dray had work ethic, he'd be an All-Star. You don't know how good Drummond work ethic is. I'm pretty confident Drummond's work ethic is better than Dray's Drummond reportedly lost 20 lbs since the college season ended. Dray hasn't shed a lb in two years. I can understand you questioning his on-court demeanor, but not work ethic. For all we know, Drummond could make a gigantic leap next yr. No comparison.

Any player could make a big leap next season. I don't see how pie in the sky hopes have any relevance when evaluating draft picks.

So Drummond lost 20 pounds after the season ended. That means he was 300 during the season. I dont see that as evidence of a strong work ethic. I am sure Calhoun would probably be thinking wtf, assuming this is actually true which it probably isn't.

I know he's not the only one that can make a big leap next yr. I just brought that up because of the ridiculous accusations that he has a poor work ethic. No one knows how good his work ethic is at this point, so to call it "poor" is unprecedented.

Yeah, him losing 20 lbs doesn't add up, but his body fat % was pretty good though. Just saying that Blatche wouln't even bother losing any weight

[TGW]

I'm not going to copy and paste quotes from this because it would take for freaking ever, and probably potentially violate copyright laws so I'm just gonna provide the link to a fantastic mock draft between Chad Ford and Bill Simmons over at Grantland, it provides a ton of interesting quotes on the whole MKG or Beal or Barnes or whatever thought process:

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/810 ... vs-simmons

They came to the same conclusion I did...MKG is the second best prospect in this draft. Not second best player...second best prospect.

He's the player I draft, point-blank-period. He's the guy I have the least worries about when it comes to the physical/mental demands of the NBA. He's like Battier without the jumpshot, but a much better ball handler, passer, and finisher at the rim.

[DCZards]

No, but based on your posting style lately, I'm expecting that you will.

I think your problem with my "posting style" is that I've been disagreeing with you lately.

[The Consiglieri]

I would too. I'm really confused about why so many are obsessing about filling a hole with a guy that would fill it effectively instead of infusing the team with the best talent with the most upside possible which is in our view MKG, but admittedly not the view of some (apparently 70% of F.O.'s have Beal #2 according to Ford). I don't care about the presence of Ariza, getting a player that has the chance to be special and would totally transform the mentality of the franchise, and the fans view of the franchise is his floor really, if he doesnt develop a great offensive game. How is that bad? Far too many people seem to think he's a pretty good defensive player, and a rah rah nice kinda leader. He is much much more than that, though I understand the concern because you can't quantify everything he contributes right now with metrics.

[sashae]

I'd be very happy if we end up with MKG. Very happy.

[mohammed10]

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/22 ... p_For_Beal

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but we can throw a bit more fuel on the fire...

#3 for Harden? Rico? Anyone?

[penbeast0]

Interesting take as always over at http://hoopsanalyst.com/ . . . . here's his top 5 players in the draft, and it's as unique for the rest of the group but with at least reasons other than that everyone seems to be hopping on a particular bandwagon.



1.Anthony Davis PF-C, Kentucky: The sky is the limit for Davis. Everything about him says he’ll become a legendary player.
2.Dion Waiters G, Syracuse: Someone has to be #2. I went with Waiters because of upside. He has star ability and might even be able to play some point. In 5 years it might seem really silly to have Waiters at #2, but I suspect most other current mocks will look just as silly. Know that the gap between Davis and Waiters is greater than the gap between Waiters and Jesse Sanders at #60.
3.Andrew Nicholson PF, St. Bonaventure: I don’t envy teams drafting in spots 2-5. Nicholson seems like a reach here and he is. But other than Davis he was the best big guy in the nation for the final 3 months of the season. That’s why I have him ahead of Robinson.
4.Thomas Robinson PF, Kansas: He reminds me of Jordan Hill from a few years ago. Like Hill his numbers scream journeyman despite that high-revvin’ motor of his.
5.Brad Beal SG, Florida: Beal would be the safe choice at #2. I feel he’ll become a pretty good SG, possibly a borderline all-star. I’m just leery about using too high a draft pick on any SG other than a Wade or Kobe clone.