Draft Results: Damian Lillard, Meyers Leonard, Will Barton.

[monopoman]

Lillard blew me away with his pace and change of speed moves. Each game he seemed to show me something different. His on court demeanor he has and plays with reminds me so much of drose. I expect big things from him in the future and wouldn't be shocked if the ROY trophy ended up in his hands after all is said and done

I would be shocked, but probably for the wrong reasons. Lillard getting the ROY would mean that Davis suffered a serious injury, and I don't want to see that. I saw him play some minutes against DOM in the Olympic tune ups, andI was very impressed with him. He's going to be a force.

You're right about the change of pace moves, though. He controls an offense like no one I've seen since Roy was injured. Like Roy he can shoot. Unlike Roy he seems to be able to make passes that aren't just kickouts.

Well there is also a chance that Lillard just flat out puts up better all around stats than Davis unlikely though that may be.

I'm sure Davis is a hell of a player but the house favorites at the beginning of the year got beat out by Brandon Roy especially after the mid-point of the season.

[Butter]

So many people on this board wanted Waiters too. I've been saying all along that he was the most overrated player in the draft. The fact that he was taken at number four is just silly.

Maybe Lilliard vs. Waiters will turn out like Roy vs. "The Stach".

[Shem]

Lillard named co mvp of sl lol. Maybe we get co Roy this season as well.

http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2012/07/2 ... d-co-mvps/

[Shem]

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/blog/eye-o ... pectations

[swede]

One thing you notice is that all of the rookies are really well spoken. Barton sounds like Neil Olshey in this SL interview http://www.nba.com/summer-league/games/ ... einfo.html

[PToastMan]

If Mr. Ver-si-tile doesn't catch as Barton's nickname, I'm going to be one disappointed ToastMan.

[TBpup]

Player.....PPG.....Rebs....Assts....Stls....A/T.....FG%...3-pt
Barton....15.0......4.4......2.2.....1.0....1.8/1.. .444.. .313 (4,3,1,2,1,2,2)
Barnes....16.8......5.6......0.4.....1.8....1/3.5.. .395.. .571 (3,1,5,1,5,4,1)
Lamb......20.0.....4.4......0.8......1.0....1/3.0.. .467.. .296 (1,3,4,2,4,1,4)
Beal.......17.6.....4.6......1.8......1.0....1/1.2.. .418.. .300 (2,2,2,2,2,3,3)
Ross.......14.4.....3.6......1.4......1.0....1/1.5.. .371.. .250 (5,5,3,2,3,5,5)

With the assigned ranking of 1-5 for each player in each category, the players have an overall ranking of the following with the lower the numbrer, the higher the ranking:

Barton: 2.14
Beal:... 2.28
Lamb:.. 2.71
Barnes: 2.85
Ross:... 4.00

Of course there are a lot of other factors that can be thrown in but from merely a numbers analysis, Barton more than holds his own after a very poor shooting start. In his last two games he shot .643 from the field and .400 from 3-pt range. Of course a good game or bad game can greatly sway the results but with a limited sample size, all the players were under the same large swings from game to game.

In addition, Barton was in my opinion the best defensive player of the group while playing out of position almost the entire schedule. It is just Summer League but since that was the case for all for the draft picks, thought it was an interesting comparison.

One player I forgot to add was Dion Waiters. That probably happened because his performance was almost forgetable. 12.3 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, did manage to have a positive A/T ratio (barely) and shot an abyssmal .300 FG% and .167 from 3-pt range.

Beal #3
Waiters #4
Barnes #7
Ross #8
Lamb #12
Barton #40

Again, it was just Summer League but so far for the opportunity given, he has shown quite comparably.

[JasonStern]

So many people on this board wanted Waiters too. I've been saying all along that he was the most overrated player in the draft. The fact that he was taken at number four is just silly.

Maybe Lilliard vs. Waiters will turn out like Roy vs. "The Stach".

I liked waiters at #11, but I doubt many people wanted to draft him at #6.

the real debate stemming from this year's draft would be whether lillard and batum end up being a better use of #6 and the cap space than, say, barnes or drummond and dragic/hawes/etc.

and while it's just summer league, so far the blazers look like they made the right choice.

[sabi]

I hope people refrain tom posting in the lillard thread in the g&d board. Trolls like to bait just to call you a Homer afterwards so just let them post whatever.

[Shem]

http://www.nba.com/rookie-ladder/?ls=iref:nbahpt1

[Shem]

I hope people refrain tom posting in the lillard thread in the g&d board. Trolls like to bait just to call you a Homer afterwards so just let them post whatever.

What does "g&d" stand for?

[sabi]

I hope people refrain tom posting in the lillard thread in the g&d board. Trolls like to bait just to call you a Homer afterwards so just let them post whatever.

What does "g&d" stand for?

Just the general discussion board

[Goldbum]

Barton Will be a stud glue guy.

[Mr Odd]

Barton Will be a stud glue guy.

Like Mark Eaton!??!

[KarlHeinzRiedle]

I thought Meyers Leonard would be picked by th pistons at 9th if Drummond didnt fall.

I like his potential, great value pick at 11th

[d-train]

the real debate stemming from this year's draft would be whether lillard and batum end up being a better use of #6 and the cap space than, say, barnes or drummond and dragic/hawes/etc.

and while it's just summer league, so far the blazers look like they made the right choice.

No, the Blazers did _NOT_ choose to use cap space on Batum instead of Dragic or Hawes. The Blazers just chose not to use their cap space on Dragic, Hawes, or anyone other than the attempt at Hibbert. The Blazers didn't need any cap space to re-sign Batum. However, re-signing him will cost cap space in the future and whether Batum is worth that loss is an open question. The Blazers could have made an offer to Dragic immediately after they secured Hibbert and could have retained Batum.

Not signing Hawes was obvious. That was the right choice there is no open question. Not signing Dragic is a choice that can be debated. I'm fine with the choice because Dragic will never be better than a mediocre starter and with Batum and Matthews or roster is already too heavily committed to mediocrity. We need the flexibility to improve.

The most impressive thing so far in the rebuilding of the Blazers is that Olshey has demonstrated an understanding that he needs star players to build a team. He needs to build the opportunity to get a couple of star players. Using up salary cap dollars on mediocre talented players is a losing plan. Olshey resisted the temptation to sign players just because he had money and they players were available.

[Downtown]

d-train, that's a good post.

Hibbert was the only big salaried free agent they went after and preserving cap space for the "right" free agent only got derailed because of the big match to keep Batum.

And in hindsight JasonStern is correct in my opinion. After all the debate and discussion that were on these boards leading up to the draft it's hard to argue that Portland didn't make good decisions on draft night. Remember the talk about drafting the best player available versus the drafting for need? The Blazers may have combined both with their picks. Time will tell.

[PDXKnight]

Consider me still furious about the Lillard pick. Lillard is slow and more than anything, I think once a team learns to stop him he will not adjust to it because of his athletic insufficiencies. I suppose I say this at the risk of being called out, but even with his SL performance I still feel very uncomfortable with drafting Lillard when Barnes was clearly the better player (plus I'd rather have Dragic + Barnes than Lillard + Batum hands down). Hopefully Lillard enjoys this season because he'll be headed straight to the bench by the time he's a sophomore.

[DeBlazerRiddem]

Lillard was the fastest guy I saw in Summer League

[PDXKnight]

Lillard was the fastest guy I saw in Summer League

I saw otherwise, and even if he was the fastest in the SL he's far from being as fast as Rondo, Rose or Paul let alone Deron Williams. We'll be lucky if he makes a good 8th man, frankly I think some people get more upset with Lillard than Felton considering how often he turns the ball over (at least judging by summer league.;.).