The OFFICIAL Rookie impressions thread

[Jazzfan12]

It's amazing how people can believe a random internet rumor with 0 meat to it, just so long as they want to believe it. There wasn't even a guy that posted San Antonio wanted Valanciunas. Someone "leaked" that the Spurs were interested in Parker for #5 (something I have a hard time believing), that's all there was - and then the internet tweeter was speculated maybe they wanted Valanciunas with the Spurs Euro history.

The Spurs are targeting the No. 10 pick (Milwaukee) or the No. 12 pick (Utah) to move up from their spot at No. 29.

The Spurs are offering reserve point guard George Hill as bait to see if there’s a chance they can get a higher pick and choose center prospect Jonas Valanciunas, who is expected to stay overseas with a tricky contract buyout situation. The Bucks, who already have Brandon Jennings as their starting point guard and veteran Keyon Dooling as a backup, aren’t interested in this deal. The Jazz may still be weighing such an offer.

From David Aldridge on NBA.com before the draft.

http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2011/06/2 ... ef:nbahpt2

What's the hottest place to be right now in the NBA draft? It appears to be the mid-lottery.

The Pistons, Bobcats, Bucks and Warriors are getting flooded with calls from teams looking to move into that range.

Among the teams that have made calls? The Rockets (who are offering picks Nos. 14 and 23), the Pacers (No. 15 and Brandon Rush), the Knicks (No. 17 and Toney Douglas) and the Spurs (George Hill).

Sources say the Rockets and Spurs are interested in Jonas Valanciunas if he ends up sliding. The Spurs also are eying Washington State's Klay Thompson, according to sources. The Knicks are looking at both Thompson and Jimmer Fredette with that pick. For the Pacers, it's Fredette.

From Chad Ford right before the draft.

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_ ... trade-zone

[fart]

Waiters on fire tonight vs the Bulls

[JungleCat022]

Dion Waiters 18 points in the 4th quarter, 4-4 from 3, 7-10 overall

[Dr Positivity]

Well, the only one I remembered was the "Tony Parker for #5 to draft Valanciunas" rumor, so it appears I was wrong about nobody actually singling out a source as saying that's who they were after

Still, nobody should believe in information leaked out of San Antonio. San Antonio flat out doesn't leak info.

[bullsnewdynasty]

Waiters on fire tonight vs the Bulls

He's being guarded by Nate Robinson.

[fart]

Waiters on fire tonight vs the Bulls

He's being guarded by Nate Robinson.

good point

[SolidSnake008]

Dion Waiters 17 points in the 3rd quarter, 3-3 from 3, 7-10 overall

there we go Dion....prove them wrong lol

[CBB_Fan]

Ya he needs to find himself as a PF and not try to be tweener. If he becomes a double double machine with an occasional jumpshot then he is star material. Seriously this rookie class is great.

Definitely. The worst thing that could happen to him would be to force him to play SF, because he'd have to learn two different offense sets. Even the best SF in the game right now is just starting to really adapt PF aspects to his game, so I don't think it would help Robinson's development to do everything at once.

Robinson needs to focus on abusing what makes him good, which is energy and speed on the floor. That means defense and rebounding right now, along with quick, brutal post moves. Pop a jump shot every now and then. If he focuses on just those 3 and a half things, he'll have the chance to be a star.

And yes, this class is great. Out of the 30 people drafted in the first round, as many 10 could be adequate starters this year and 20 probably have a chance in the next 3 years. I'm not going to say it was studded with superstars like 2003, but solid production guys throughout the draft.

[bullsnewdynasty]

I mean, he's shot it well and been impressive, but you have to take into account that he's being guarded by a midget.

[FlipTSO]

I mean, he's shot it well and been impressive, but you have to take into account that he's being guarded by a midget.

always helps

[Hoop-la]

Well, the only one I remembered was the "Tony Parker for #5 to draft Valanciunas" rumor, so it appears I was wrong about nobody actually singling out a source as saying that's who they were after

Still, nobody should believe in information leaked out of San Antonio. San Antonio flat out doesn't leak info.

LOL

You truly are one of the worst posters on this website.

You call out Choker for a very small part of his paragraph and start this uncalled for rant without doing any sort of research yourself. Thank you Jazzfan for finding those links and showing us how it should be done.

I usually don't post but I find it hilarious when posters like yourself feel the need to be so judgmental and have the need to accuse others without having any sort of knowledge on the topic.

[Shkodran_Plako]

Well, the only one I remembered was the "Tony Parker for #5 to draft Valanciunas" rumor, so it appears I was wrong about nobody actually singling out a source as saying that's who they were after

Still, nobody should believe in information leaked out of San Antonio. San Antonio flat out doesn't leak info.

Man, you just know everything. Don't you?

Sent from my SGH-T989D using Tapatalk 2

[TwentyOne920]

Well, the only one I remembered was the "Tony Parker for #5 to draft Valanciunas" rumor, so it appears I was wrong about nobody actually singling out a source as saying that's who they were after

Still, nobody should believe in information leaked out of San Antonio. San Antonio flat out doesn't leak info.

And whatever leaks do come out of SA are pretty much CIA Pop.

[Dr Positivity]

Well, the only one I remembered was the "Tony Parker for #5 to draft Valanciunas" rumor, so it appears I was wrong about nobody actually singling out a source as saying that's who they were after

Still, nobody should believe in information leaked out of San Antonio. San Antonio flat out doesn't leak info.

LOL

You truly are one of the worst posters on this website.

You call out Choker for a very small part of his paragraph and start this uncalled for rant without doing any sort of research yourself. Thank you Jazzfan for finding those links and showing us how it should be done.

I usually don't post but I find it hilarious when posters like yourself feel the need to be so judgmental and have the need to accuse others without having any sort of knowledge on the topic.

The only instance of calling out a poster or ranting is the one quoted in this post.

[orangeparka]

I seriously am so pissed at our FO for picking Waiters. He can't shoot, he's 6'4, he's not a great defender, he's not good off the ball... I seriously hate when they pick guys based off advanced metrics rather than team fit. I get the logic, it's great to have a secondary shot creator, but there are so many guys that are not only better fits with higher upsides, but are also prototypical-sized prospects for their position like Barnes, Lamb and Drummond...

I thought you would pick Barnes, so on behalf of Warriors fans, thanks for that. h/t

IIRC the Cavs have been super interested in Barnes since last year. They finally had the chance to draft him but still didn't...

Not hating on Barnes but there's gotta be a reason for that. I doubt the entire Cavs FO is stupid.

[mrmsix6]

The problem with Barnes is that the only thing he did really well in college was shoot, and he wasn't even that efficient doing that. He has prototypical SF size, yes. But he was a mediocre defender, poor rebounder, awful off dribble, a non-factor as a distributor/playmaker, and a below average ball-handler. He was abysmal in a wide variety of advanced stats.

He sure looks the part of an NBA SF, but he had gigantic holes in his game at the college level that unless he vastly improves upon will prevent him from becoming an elite NBA SF.

[OneWhoKnocks]

Oh wow didn't know Tyler's little bro got signed to the Pacers too. Wonder if he makes the team. A sibling rivalry within an NBA team would be pretty awesome (even though Tyler is a lot better).

[SaiCLE]

I seriously am so pissed at our FO for picking Waiters. He can't shoot, he's 6'4, he's not a great defender, he's not good off the ball... I seriously hate when they pick guys based off advanced metrics rather than team fit. I get the logic, it's great to have a secondary shot creator, but there are so many guys that are not only better fits with higher upsides, but are also prototypical-sized prospects for their position like Barnes, Lamb and Drummond...

I thought you would pick Barnes, so on behalf of Warriors fans, thanks for that. h/t

IIRC the Cavs have been super interested in Barnes since last year. They finally had the chance to draft him but still didn't...

Not hating on Barnes but there's gotta be a reason for that. I doubt the entire Cavs FO is stupid.

I don't know If this would answer anything, but check out this podcast they are interviewing windhorst. He was in the cavs war room that day, basically talks about what the cavs originally had planned for the draft and other interesting things.

http://mooheadradio.com/mp3/moohead-2012.10.10.mp3

[Muggsy Bogues]

The problem with Barnes is that the only thing he did really well in college was shoot, and he wasn't even that efficient doing that. He has prototypical SF size, yes. But he was a mediocre defender, poor rebounder, awful off dribble, a non-factor as a distributor/playmaker, and a below average ball-handler. He was abysmal in a wide variety of advanced stats.

He sure looks the part of an NBA SF, but he had gigantic holes in his game at the college level that unless he vastly improves upon will prevent him from becoming an elite NBA SF.

Well, having seen him a couple of times in person this preseason, I'm guessing he's well aware of his weaknesses, because he looks to have been working on them all summer. His handle looks a lot better, he's pretty good driving to the basket, seems to be better at looking for teammates and looks at least average in man to man D (and above average on help D). I don't know how much of this will carry into the regular season, but both he and the coaches seem pretty committed to patching up the holes in his college game.

[Lucky Striker]

Barnes is looking like a great post-up SF that plays big, can create space to score, will stick the open shot and can defend a bit, too.

I think he's got a lot of Jamal Mashburn to his game.


Mashburn: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwszyn3BMTc
Barnes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1NmiutacZs