2013 NBA draft prospects chatter

[HornetJail]

Diagnosis is a torn ACL out 6-8 months. The fact he didn't tear everything is a surprise. His knee bent 90 degrees sideways.

[JT2006]

Diagnosis is a torn ACL out 6-8 months. The fact he didn't tear everything is a surprise. His knee bent 90 degrees sideways.

like i said look at the shorts and you'll see the angle is difficult at best. but hell that kind of toughness might be a plus

[countryboi]

i am shocked it was not worse...but still think he is a top 10 propect i just dont think any of the top 5 teams can afford to invest in a guy who most like is not going to play the next season..

the raptors did it though

[amcoolio]

Could have been a lot worse. He isn't a guard so maybe the ACL tear won't have as big an effect on his game. Hoping we can snag him up with another pick

Charlotte Horncats miraculously win the NBA lottery!
Trade #13 overall, #31 overall, Bismack Biyombo for #5 overall
Draft Ben McLemore #1 overall
Draft Nerlens Noel #5 overall
Finish 26-56
Charlotte Horncats miraculously win the NBA lottery again!
Draft Andrew Wiggins #1 overall

PG: Kemba Walker
SG: Ben McLemore /Jeff Taylor
SF: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
PF: Andrew Wiggins /Byron Mullens
C: Nerlens Noel

Somewhere, in some alternate universe, this will happen

[JT2006]

Could have been a lot worse. He isn't a guard so maybe the ACL tear won't have as big an effect on his game. Hoping we can snag him up with another pick

Charlotte Horncats miraculously win the NBA lottery!
Trade #13 overall, #31 overall, Bismack Biyombo for #5 overall
Draft Ben McLemore #1 overall
Draft Nerlens Noel #5 overall
Finish 26-56
Charlotte Horncats miraculously win the NBA lottery again!
Draft Andrew Wiggins #1 overall

PG: Kemba Walker
SG: Ben McLemore /Jeff Taylor
SF: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
PF: Andrew Wiggins /Byron Mullens
C: Nerlens Noel

Somewhere, in some alternate universe, this will happen

I wouldn't trade biyombo for the current noel with no picks included, what the hell

[Bassman]

I don't know why you all think Noel will still enter the draft. His stock was up in a weak draft, but this puts a serious issue in the mind of any good GM. An ACL tear is nothing to sneeze at. Oden never came back from his, and nobody knows if he's able to really play serious minutes again after being out for so long. Noel will need to demonstrate he can play, and hold up physically, to gain the trust.

If he does declare, yes, maybe you take a chance on him with the 13th pick (if you had no success trading it), but I'd never gamble with anything higher.

[BlackOutBuzz]

Honestly, my first thought is to take him anyway. Hell, maybe we can trade down a few spots, get a nice young talent, and still grab him a little later. Or perhaps even trade up a bit from the Portland pick, which looks like we'll just barely get it at 13 or 14. Plus we're tanking anyway, Noel might turn out to be the best talent in this draft and picking him up certainly wouldn't hurt our chances at Wiggins.

At the same time though, I know ACL injuries. It's my personal opinion (as mentioned earlier I've torn mine twice) that most people don't truly "come back 100%" from these things. People will say that medicine has come so far that the recovery time is shorter and all but, the re-tear rate seems high. People like to blame "degenerative knees" but I'm not so sure that's the case. My first tear was blunt force during pick-up football, but since then I've have 2 other surgeries on the same knee after little-to-no contact at all. Panther Thomas Davis has had the injury three times on the same knee.

Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't Barbosa's injury a re-tear? Looked like no contact to me, just dribbling down the baseline. Baron Davis' re-tear last year was also non-contact, dribbling on a fast break. Seems that a lot of initial tears are blunt force (see Noel), but after that it becomes easier to damage it again. There are a lot of guys that do come back from these injuries - I'm not saying that they won't come back at 100% - but once you've had the injury there is a decent chance of a re-tear. There's also the mental/emotional aspect of recovery, which is a whole other obstacle in itself.

On a related note, does it seem like these injuries are becoming more frequent? Noel, Rose, Rubio, Rondo, Barbosa, Davis, all in the last year. Probably others I'm forgetting too. DeJuan Blair is a unique specimen, I hope he never has a meniscus injury because that's likely all that's keeping his knee from buckling like we've seen happen to some of these guys.

[amcoolio]

Although I like Biz, Noel is better at every single facet of NBA, from being taller and more athletic and fluid, to being a better defender, shot blocker, rebounder, better at catching passes, dunking, shooting, and finishing around the rim. He is being seriously underrated, injury or not. I have no idea why people don't think he is the clear #1 or 1A in this draft. He adds 30 pounds of muscle, he is probably one of if not the best center in the league in 2 years

[penquin11]

My concerns with Noel are about his lack of bulk (Bazz outweighs him by like 20 pounds), his lack of offense (which if it ever will exist certainly would be reliant on his athleticism), and whether or not he can recover from that gruesome injury.

[countryboi]

I don't know why you all think Noel will still enter the draft. His stock was up in a weak draft, but this puts a serious issue in the mind of any good GM. An ACL tear is nothing to sneeze at. Oden never came back from his, and nobody knows if he's able to really play serious minutes again after being out for so long. Noel will need to demonstrate he can play, and hold up physically, to gain the trust.

If he does declare, yes, maybe you take a chance on him with the 13th pick (if you had no success trading it), but I'd never gamble with anything higher.

No way that kid comes back so he can get picked apart by critics and watch his stock continue to drop. at least oden got paid for his rehab. its purely a business decision, telling him to stay in school just poor advice.

[amcoolio]

My concerns with Noel are about his lack of bulk (Bazz outweighs him by like 20 pounds), his lack of offense (which if it ever will exist certainly would be reliant on his athleticism), and whether or not he can recover from that gruesome injury.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCKE-P0C1gg

Noel has "it", including offense. He catches the ball cleanly and dribbles and flushes all in one motion, better than Tyson Chandler. He also had a natural looking Dwight hook.

The bulking up is a given considering the kid is 18 and will almost assuredly bulk up when drafted by any NBA team. Biz was a beanpole once too.

[TheKingofSting]

Could have been a lot worse. He isn't a guard so maybe the ACL tear won't have as big an effect on his game. Hoping we can snag him up with another pick

Charlotte Horncats miraculously win the NBA lottery!
Trade #13 overall, #31 overall, Bismack Biyombo for #5 overall
Draft Ben McLemore #1 overall
Draft Nerlens Noel #5 overall
Finish 26-56
Charlotte Horncats miraculously win the NBA lottery again!
Draft Andrew Wiggins #1 overall

PG: Kemba Walker
SG: Ben McLemore /Jeff Taylor
SF: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
PF: Andrew Wiggins /Byron Mullens
C: Nerlens Noel

Somewhere, in some alternate universe, this will happen

Wiggins can't play PF.

I don't know why you all think Noel will still enter the draft. His stock was up in a weak draft, but this puts a serious issue in the mind of any good GM. An ACL tear is nothing to sneeze at. Oden never came back from his, and nobody knows if he's able to really play serious minutes again after being out for so long. Noel will need to demonstrate he can play, and hold up physically, to gain the trust.

If he does declare, yes, maybe you take a chance on him with the 13th pick (if you had no success trading it), but I'd never gamble with anything higher.

No way that kid comes back so he can get picked apart by critics and watch his stock continue to drop. at least oden got paid for his rehab. its purely a business decision, telling him to stay in school just poor advice.

Come out now or wait and come out with Wiggins, Parker, Harrison's, Randle? Seems like a pretty easy decision. However if he did go back UK will be near unbeatable!

[ohara]

I really hate this for Noel. He might stay another year now at KY. If he comes out, most surely will not be Top 3 anymore. Imagine if he fell to our Portland pick tho? Would that not be awesome if we could grab MacLemore AND Noel? But alas, it wont happen.

[Big_C_KU]

Noel will be dumb not to enter the NBA draft. It's ACL injury and players come back from the ACL injuries damn near 100% anymore. May take a couple years for NBA players to get back from Chris Paul shows you can come back healthy. Blake Griffin tore his ACL his freshman season and came back and dominated his sophomore season but he also wasn't projected to be #1 after his freshman season. And even though they don't do as much jumping as NBA players, Adrian Peterson and Jamaal Charles in the NFL this past season showed you can come back from ACL injuries.

I don't think he'll go #1. Whether it's you guys or someone else no one is going to take him #1 with the injury. If teams had known Oden has such knee issues or Griffin had hurt his knee his sophomore season they wouldn't have taken them #1.

With his performance Monday night on primetime TV and the Noel injury McLemore may be running away with the #1 pick now.

[Badd_Intentions]

If he was my top ranked player I'd still pull the trigger. Especially seeing as outside of the top 3 no one really moves me.

[Snidely FC]

Looks like POR has decided they want to keep their pick and gone into full out tank mode.

[MasterIchiro]

Chad Ford's Big Board has Noel still a top 3 pick. It will be interesting to see who falls to 13 if we get that pick from Portland.

Rk Name Pos. From Stock
1 Ben McLemore SG Kansas
McLemore getting some Ray Allen comps More »
2 Anthony Bennett PF UNLV
Bennett is a beast inside and outside More »
3 Nerlens Noel C Kentucky
Will Noel be the next Anthony Davis? More »
4 Marcus Smart PG Oklahoma State
Jan 30 Update: Smart gets this high on ... More »
5 Shabazz Muhammad SF UCLA
The second coming of Michael Kidd-Gilc ... More »
6 Alex Len C Maryland
Len has the size/athletic ability to b ... More »
7 Otto Porter SF Georgetown
Do it all forward. More »
8 Cody Zeller C Indiana
Skilled, efficient big man More »
9 Michael Carter-Williams PG Syracuse
Big, slithery combo guard More »
10 Victor Oladipo SG Indiana

[BlackOutBuzz]

Tired of seeing that "Second coming of MKG" stuff with Shabazz. Ford likens Polythress to MKG as well, but that's mainly because he's at Kentucky.

[[RCG]]

Shabazz is nothing like MKG. In fact they're close to opposites. Shabazz has a well-rounded offensive game with little effort on the defensive end. MKG has a more raw offensive game with great effort all-around.

[MasterIchiro]

If Ford's top 10 holds true then here's a list of possible players at 13:

Willie Cauley-Stein
Isaiah Austin
Mason Plumlee
CJ McCollum
Archie Goodwin
Trey Burke
Glen Robinson III