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

[DCZards]

Chad Ford's take on Barnes, which I share for the most part, especially the "perception" stuff.

FORD: With Davis, MKG and Beal off the board, I take Harrison Barnes. His biggest problem is perception. Coming out of high school he looked like he could be the next Kobe Bryant. He hasn't been anything like Kobe.

SIMMONS: You just won the ESPY for "Understatement of the Year."

FORD: The haters have come out of the woodwork for him. But Barnes is a special talent. He's got great size for his position, is an excellent athlete and has a very good jump shot. He's also got a great basketball IQ and isn't afraid to take big shots. He should really benefit playing alongside Irving in Cleveland, or being Charlotte's alpha dog if the Bobcats make a move here. His best comp is probably Indiana's Danny Granger, but I do believe he has more upside.

[tontoz]

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

you must be talking about someone else because I never said he has a poor work ethic. I said he has a poor motor.

His physical tools are nothing special relative to the guys he will be playing against, and when you add in his weak skills/motor the superstar talk is nothing more than wishful thinking.

[TheBigThree]

24 hours to go.

God help us if EG over thinks this. Beal is the player we need and should be the obvious pick.

[mohammed10]

24 hours to go.

God help us if EG over thinks this. Beal is the player we need and should be the obvious pick.

But knowing how Emperor Ernie operates, he'll choose Barnes

[Dat2U]

Chad Ford's take on Barnes, which I share for the most part, especially the "perception" stuff.

FORD: With Davis, MKG and Beal off the board, I take Harrison Barnes. His biggest problem is perception. Coming out of high school he looked like he could be the next Kobe Bryant. He hasn't been anything like Kobe.

SIMMONS: You just won the ESPY for "Understatement of the Year."

FORD: The haters have come out of the woodwork for him. But Barnes is a special talent. He's got great size for his position, is an excellent athlete and has a very good jump shot. He's also got a great basketball IQ and isn't afraid to take big shots. He should really benefit playing alongside Irving in Cleveland, or being Charlotte's alpha dog if the Bobcats make a move here. His best comp is probably Indiana's Danny Granger, but I do believe he has more upside.

That was a good article and found this quote interesting.

I'm judging every lottery pick in this draft by one question: "Could you have played in that insanely athletic 2012 Finals I just watched?" We can't say that's where the NBA might be headed because it's already there — we just saw it. And for MKG, the answer is, "Yes, he would have absolutely fit into that Finals … and maybe even slowed down Durant or LeBron a little." I don't care that he can't shoot yet. He'll figure it out. I agree with you — Pippen is the right comparison here. But it's his competitiveness that really stands out for me. You stick someone on your team who cares that much and everything else will fall into place. Eventually. Naturally, he'll probably drop to fifth because this continues to be the dumbest professional sports league on the planet.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Chad Ford's take on Barnes, which I share for the most part, especially the "perception" stuff.

FORD: With Davis, MKG and Beal off the board, I take Harrison Barnes. His biggest problem is perception. Coming out of high school he looked like he could be the next Kobe Bryant. He hasn't been anything like Kobe.

SIMMONS: You just won the ESPY for "Understatement of the Year."

FORD: The haters have come out of the woodwork for him. But Barnes is a special talent. He's got great size for his position, is an excellent athlete and has a very good jump shot. He's also got a great basketball IQ and isn't afraid to take big shots. He should really benefit playing alongside Irving in Cleveland, or being Charlotte's alpha dog if the Bobcats make a move here. His best comp is probably Indiana's Danny Granger, but I do believe he has more upside.

I give Chad Ford credit for having really good connections. Ford has inside sources who tell him when their deals or picks are imminent. I give him that much. However, statements like this show me whoever he's talked with gave him some bad info. Barnes is not like Granger.

Before Danny Granger was drafted I recall debating on this site. One thing I liked about Granger was that he averaged over two blocks and two steals per game his final NCAA season. He did so while posting good rebounding numbers, too. The knocks on Granger at draft time were New Mexico's level of competition and Granger's history of injuries.

http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/pla ... ger-1.html
http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/pla ... nes-1.html

Granger was better in just about every category than Barnes. Granger was a very complete player coming out of college.

[7-Day Dray]

Man, you'd swear Beal is Jordan by the way people talk him up on this board.

[DCZards]

Man, you'd swear Beal is Jordan by the way people talk him up on this board.

It's not just this board. I'm watching the ESPN draft special with Bilas, Van Gundy, etc. and apparently half the GMs in the NBA have the hots for Beal. I fear someone will trade up and grab him at 2. Oh well.

[Rafael122]

Watching the ESPN draft special. Andy Katz reported the Wizards have fielded calls about the 3rd pick, particularly from teams in the bottom half of the first round, including OKC. Interesting.

Obviously in this scenario, you would ask for Harden.

[gesa2]

Watching the ESPN draft special. Andy Katz reported the Wizards have fielded calls about the 3rd pick, particularly from teams in the bottom half of the first round, including OKC. Interesting.

Obviously in this scenario, you would ask for Harden.

With the contracts we just took on, what would our cap/ lux tax situation be if we made that trade?

[whataknight301]

Wiz should draft MKG.Why,? cause this dude is versatile, lebron like athleticsism, attacks the rim with fearless ferocity much like lebron, and a team leader and character guy.
He is a hard worker, good rebounder and masterful defender. His defense is leeps and bounds above barnes and beal, nba ready D. He is willing to improve on his shooting, he will get better shooting the rock.
I can imagine a Wall MKG combo for many years. He is a winner, He can play the 2,3,even 4 if called upon. Draft him.

[payitforward]

I wonder if the Cats would swap picks for us if we gave them Crawford? Probably not, but I'd count that as a plus!

Actually, no pick swap is required -- just take the guy! Please!

[whataknight301]

MKG & RG3 FTW

[Mizerooskie]

MKG can't play the 2 or 4. He's a pure slasher 3.

[Rafael122]

Watching the ESPN draft special. Andy Katz reported the Wizards have fielded calls about the 3rd pick, particularly from teams in the bottom half of the first round, including OKC. Interesting.

Obviously in this scenario, you would ask for Harden.

With the contracts we just took on, what would our cap/ lux tax situation be if we made that trade?

It's basically a wash, Blatche makes $6.5 million, Harden makes $4.6 million, but include their first round pick and second round and its basically the same salaries.

[jivelikenice]

But can we absorb Harden's extension?

[Nivek]

Chad Ford's take on Barnes, which I share for the most part, especially the "perception" stuff.

FORD: With Davis, MKG and Beal off the board, I take Harrison Barnes. His biggest problem is perception. Coming out of high school he looked like he could be the next Kobe Bryant. He hasn't been anything like Kobe.

SIMMONS: You just won the ESPY for "Understatement of the Year."

FORD: The haters have come out of the woodwork for him. But Barnes is a special talent. He's got great size for his position, is an excellent athlete and has a very good jump shot. He's also got a great basketball IQ and isn't afraid to take big shots. He should really benefit playing alongside Irving in Cleveland, or being Charlotte's alpha dog if the Bobcats make a move here. His best comp is probably Indiana's Danny Granger, but I do believe he has more upside.

I give Chad Ford credit for having really good connections. Ford has inside sources who tell him when their deals or picks are imminent. I give him that much. However, statements like this show me whoever he's talked with gave him some bad info. Barnes is not like Granger.

Before Danny Granger was drafted I recall debating on this site. One thing I liked about Granger was that he averaged over two blocks and two steals per game his final NCAA season. He did so while posting good rebounding numbers, too. The knocks on Granger at draft time were New Mexico's level of competition and Granger's history of injuries.

http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/pla ... ger-1.html
http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/pla ... nes-1.html

Granger was better in just about every category than Barnes. Granger was a very complete player coming out of college.

I agree, CCJ. MKG is not like Granger.

I disagree with Ford that Barnes's problem is perception. His problem is his lack of production at North Carolina. His problem is not improving from freshman to sophomore year. I'm not saying that the guy will be a bad pro -- like many prospects he has the ability to be terrific or to be bad once in the NBA. The question is whether he'll work hard and smart on his weaknesses. If he does, he could be great. If he doesn't, he'll be a bust.

Saying he suffers from a perception problem is incredibly inaccurate. There are real issues with his play that can't be dismissed by saying criticisms of him are really based on Barnes not being as good as people thought he'd be.

[payitforward]

I'd like Barnes fine - as a mid first rounder. He'd be a good fit here, but he's not a good enough player to pick with the 3rd pick.

You may be right about Barnes not being worth the 3rd pick...but then again you may be wrong. ...Barnes had sunk to maybe a 8-10 pick. Now, ...Barnes is back on a lot of folks radar screen, including my own. I expect Barnes to be a very good NBA...he may even end up being worthy of the third pick. We'll see.

Of course! But this is not about abstract rankings; the question at hand is which is the better choice -- not which will be the better player somewhere down the road. If it was possible to see that with clarity/certainty, there'd be no reason for GMs to be involved in the draft; just have the league dole the players out in reverse order of where their games will be in 3-5 years.

But, even though we can't see the future with clarity, we can see the past that way! Hence, the single best measure of player strength is performance (against equivalent level of competition). Not the only measure, and not a perfect measure. Just the best single measure.

Using that measure, Beal and MKG are both quite a bit better than HB. If you think you have a crystal ball, then you'll use it supplant that measure. Then again, if you really do have a crystal ball, you should be able to make some serious money using it -- and not just from NBA teams!

[payitforward]

If Dray had work ethic, he'd be an All-Star. You don't know how good Drummond work ethic is.

How can you possibly write these sentences one after the other, and think that they argue for picking Drummond? Amazing.

I won't even bother asking how you know what Dray would do if he "had work ethic." Well... answer is simple: you don't.

[Rafael122]

But can we absorb Harden's extension?

Nate or Nivek can answer this better for me, but the short answer is yes I think. He's due for an extension in 2013, Wall is due for one in 2014 but by that point the only contract on the books would be Nene's. The first year of Harden's extension might leave us with minimal cap space, but after that we could absorb it.