Official Speculation Thread (Pt. LV - NBA Draft Edition)

[LC_Magic]

If we somehow got Mclemore/Noel AND Mcollum I'd be SO HAPPY! I want Mcollum badly, I think he's the guy

[Skin]

Doc going to the Clippers. They've offered a future 1st round pick. Details emerging. Bledsoe to Orlando still has legs.

If we ultimately end up trading for Bledsoe, then I think we need to trade down out of #2 and go with Michael Carter-Williams. We need that second distributor with size to play the 2. Or keep #2 and draft Noel... since he has some passing skills. I wish we could resurrect Chris Webber cause his combination of skills and passing were crazy good.

It's a tricky situation. I like Bledsoe because of his athleticism and defense, but he leaves a lot to be desired as a functional point guard. We would need to compliment him with another passer.

[tiderulz]

Exactly. The way I look at it is that you're taking a gamble on everyone. Yes, you might have a guy at 5, 10, 15 or 25 that becomes a superstar at random, but right now, no way to predict. Noel is the type of player that is the rarest of the bunch, so you have to go with him if he's checked out by doctors.

defensive player with serious offensive deficiencies. Why is that so rare?

I love how people downgrade him to just being "a defensive player" like he is a common level defensive player. The guy has elite defensive impact on the defensive end.

Defensively, he is the equivalent to a 20-25ppg "offensive guy.

correction. He showed good defense in college. Still didnt translate to Kentucky even making the tournament. And now he will have to show it against bigger and stronger players. Not saying he cant, but I also just "love" how people assume he can be great at defense in the NBA. We dont know that.

[Neon1]

defensive player with serious offensive deficiencies. Why is that so rare?

I love how people downgrade him to just being "a defensive player" like he is a common level defensive player. The guy has elite defensive impact on the defensive end.

Defensively, he is the equivalent to a 20-25ppg "offensive guy.

correction. He showed good defense in college. Still didnt translate to Kentucky even making the tournament. And now he will have to show it against bigger and stronger players. Not saying he cant, but I also just "love" how people assume he can be great at defense in the NBA. We dont know that.

Seriously??? http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-Spor ... for-season

The young Kentucky team had struggled so far, but Noel's defense was so dominant that he had willed them back into the Top 25 this week. Noel was blocking more than one out of every eight 2-point shots Kentucky opponents had taken, and he was in the top 3 percent of all players in both defensive rebounding and steals. On the offensive end, he was making 59% of his shots.

And Kentucky completely collapsed after Noel went out, THAT is why they didn't make the tournament.

[NEM]

defensive player with serious offensive deficiencies. Why is that so rare?

I love how people downgrade him to just being "a defensive player" like he is a common level defensive player. The guy has elite defensive impact on the defensive end.

Defensively, he is the equivalent to a 20-25ppg "offensive guy.

correction. He showed good defense in college. Still didnt translate to Kentucky even making the tournament. And now he will have to show it against bigger and stronger players. Not saying he cant, but I also just "love" how people assume he can be great at defense in the NBA. We dont know that.

Kentucky didn't make the tourney BECAUSE Noel got hurt... Check the team defensive numbers and do your research before being ignorant. Also, defense and rebounding are two things that are pretty much a lock to translate. Defense is effort and timing, as is rebounding. Those two things are something that said player controls, no one else. Noel has great effort and great timing, he will be a great defender. It's not like when you have a sg who is 6'2" and is ballin in college and gets to the league and can't get off the pine because he either gets shut down by bigger players or they just post him up. And I know you're gonna come at me with the "he will get posted up" garbage, well it didn't stop Marcus camby or Tyson chandler from being defensive forces, it's not stopping Anthony Davis. Didn't stop mutombo or kg either. Hell, Ben Wallace was 6'6" and dominated defensively...

[Skin]

I love how people downgrade him to just being "a defensive player" like he is a common level defensive player. The guy has elite defensive impact on the defensive end.

Defensively, he is the equivalent to a 20-25ppg "offensive guy.

correction. He showed good defense in college. Still didnt translate to Kentucky even making the tournament. And now he will have to show it against bigger and stronger players. Not saying he cant, but I also just "love" how people assume he can be great at defense in the NBA. We dont know that.

Kentucky didn't make the tourney BECAUSE Noel got hurt... Check the team defensive numbers and do your research before being ignorant. Also, defense and rebounding are two things that are pretty much a lock to translate. Defense is effort and timing, as is rebounding. Those two things are something that said player controls, no one else. Noel has great effort and great timing, he will be a great defender. It's not like when you have a sg who is 6'2" and is ballin in college and gets to the league and can't get off the pine because he either gets shut down by bigger players or they just post him up. And I know you're gonna come at me with the "he will get posted up" garbage, well it didn't stop Marcus camby or Tyson chandler from being defensive forces, it's not stopping Anthony Davis. Didn't stop mutombo or kg either. Hell, Ben Wallace was 6'6" and dominated defensively...

It's not garbage. None of those guys weighed 215 pounds soaking wet.

The good thing is that I feel like the Magic have one of the best strength programs in the NBA.

The bigger problem is his knees.

[Orlando Prodigy]

Soon...

[Neon1]

I love how people downgrade him to just being "a defensive player" like he is a common level defensive player. The guy has elite defensive impact on the defensive end.

Defensively, he is the equivalent to a 20-25ppg "offensive guy.

correction. He showed good defense in college. Still didnt translate to Kentucky even making the tournament. And now he will have to show it against bigger and stronger players. Not saying he cant, but I also just "love" how people assume he can be great at defense in the NBA. We dont know that.

MORE:

This fellow is correct: Nerlens Noel’s 6.5 combined steals and blocks per game last season was elite. As in, once-every-decade elite. As in, All-NBA Defensive Team elite. As in, along with new (old) head coach Mike Brown, could help the Cavaliers buck the trend of ranking 27th, 26th and 29th in defensive efficiency in the last three years, respectively.

In fact, according to Sports-Reference.com, Noel’s 6.5 block-and-steals per game mark was the third-best total dating back to 1999-2000. Among all of the many, many college basketball players since then, only Northeastern’s Shawn James (7.3) in 2005-06 and Alabama A&M’s Mickell Gladness (6.8) in 2006-07 surpassed Noel’s mark. Over this span, the UK center is also one of only 17 players to average at least 2 steals and 2 blocks per game — another very rare feat at any level.

Those statistics above show the historical rarity of a player with Noel’s elite athleticism, defensive awareness and shot-blocking ability. He’s more than just a one-trick pony. On a more efficiency basis, since Sports-Reference.com started tracking this kind of data in 2009, Noel became the first ever collegiate player to play 600 minutes in a season and post a 9.3%+ block percentage (his was 13.2%) and a 3.2%+ steal percentage (his was 3.9%).

http://www.waitingfornextyear.com/2013/ ... l-at-no-1/

And more...

In the vein of possible NBA comparisons, let’s take a look at some of the elite defensive big men prospects of the last several decades and what they produced in the steals and blocks categories per 36 minutes 7 :



First Last Team Yrs Mins STL/36 BLK/36 (S+B)/36
Hakeem Olajuwan Houston ’82-’84 2192 1.8 6.3 8.0
David Robinson Navy ’85-’87 2294 2.0 5.5 7.5
Nerlens Noel Kentucky ’12-’13 765 2.4 5.0 7.3
Shawn Bradley BYU ’90-’91 984 0.8 6.5 7.3
Shaquille O’Neal LSU ’90-’92 1840 1.4 5.8 7.2
Anthony Davis Kentucky ’11-’12 1281 1.5 5.2 6.7
Marcus Camby UMASS ’93-’96 2324 1.1 5.2 6.4
Alonzo Mourning G’town ’91-’92 1051 0.7 5.5 6.1
Bo Outlaw Houston ’91-’93 2034 2.3 3.7 6.1
Dikembe Mutombo G’town ’89-’91 1887 0.6 5.3 5.9



Numbers that rival all but practically Olajuwan and Robinson at the college level 8 ? A profile that mirrors a bigger, more block-prone Outlaw? Nearly equal on blocks and far better on steals than last year’s consensus No. 1 pick Davis? Clearly, the majority opinion is that Noel is a good defensive player. These numbers, and the ones above as well, show that he was an elite defensive star at Kentucky with the chance to be one of the best in the NBA.

AND...He did this at 18 YEARS OLD.

[Def Swami]

Paul Coro of azcentral.com/sports, who only reports based on intel he's received rather than conjecture like I do, wrote yesterday/this morning:

"If the Suns draft one of those players or perhaps a point guard surprise like Lehigh's C.J. McCollum or Michigan's Trey Burke, the choice likely will be more of a building block than a blockbuster in the rebuilding work.

...

The Suns will take a best-player-available approach into this year's draft, not even ruling out a point-guard selection with Goran Dragic under a long-term deal and Kendall Marshall and Diante Garrett coming off rookie seasons."

See how he just innocuously slipped that in there?

Last week, radio host John Gambodoro (plugged into the Suns front office at the highest levels) tweeted that the Suns love Michael Carter-Williams.

That's how teams prep their fans for a surprise. They sprinkle out an unattributed rumor in a good light through the beat reporters. Then later in the week it becomes something more substantial, but by that time the fans have had time to digest the idea. By draft day, it's even more clear.

http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2013/ ... guard-with

Michael Carter-Willi ‏@MCW1 19m
On my way back to Phoenix #5HEnergy #draftdreams

Suns doing call-backs?

[Howard Mass]

The question would be is what The Magic would give with Aaron Afflalo?

If they can figure out that gap, Eric Bledsoe will be a member of The Magic and a point guard will be ruled out for this Draft.

[ezzzp]

Adrian Wojnarowski ‏@WojYahooNBA 23s
Clippers, Celtics are agreeing upon a 2015 unprotected first-round pick, league source tells Y! Rivers, Clippers still finalizing contract.

[IGotDaMagicInMe]

1. Oladipo
2. Noel
3. BMac
4. McCollum
5. Burke

Thats where I stand right now

[Def Swami]

NBA Legion ‏@MySportsLegion 57s
DONE DEAL: Clippers will send a 2015 first round draft pick to the Celtics in exchange for Doc Rivers.

Waiting for Woj to confirm.

[Skin]

With Bledsoe:

1. Noel
2. Oladipo
3. MWC

Without Bledsoe:

1. Burke
2. Oladipo
3. Noel

With Bledsoe and a Midround pick:

1. Oladipo/Mitchell
2. Noel/Ledo

Without Bledsoe and a with a Midround pick

1. Burke/Mitchell
2. Oladipo/Mitchell
3. Noel/Schroeder

[IGotDaMagicInMe]

With Bledsoe:

1. Noel
2. Oladipo
3. MWC

Without Bledsoe:

1. Burke
2. Oladipo
3. Noel

With Bledsoe and a Midround pick:

1. Oladipo/Mitchell
2. Noel/Ledo

Without Bledsoe and a with a Midround pick

1. Burke/Mitchell
2. Oladipo/Mitchell
3. Noel/Schroeder

Do you like schroeder better than larkin and mccollum or do you just think they wont be there?

[Neon1]

If we get Bledsoe, the type of SG you need is a guy like Ricky Ledo.

Personally, that is the (Noel/Ledo) combo is the one i want if Bledsoe for Afflalo is a done deal.

Sent from my SPH-D710 using RealGM Forums mobile app

[Noonskadoodle]

If we get Bledsoe, the type of SG you need is a guy like Ricky Ledo.

Personally, that is the (Noel/Ledo) combo is the one i want if Bledsoe for Afflalo is a done deal.

Sent from my SPH-D710 using RealGM Forums mobile app

YUP.

If we get Bledose I pray we go after Ledo.

He adds much more play making & creating to our squad.

Just so many ways Henny can go right now & I have complete faith in whatever way he decides to go.

[Zephyrballs]

Sources confirmed on Sunday that the Clippers will sign Rivers to a three-year, $21 million contract. They will send a first-round pick as compensation for the Boston Celtics, who have agreed to release the coach from the three years, $21 million he has remaining on his deal with the club.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/94152 ... ources-say

[laVal03]

Does this Bledsoe for Afflalo deal have legs?? Who reported this?

[dsg2021]

Edit: It seems Doc is getting to coach Lac with or without KG.

I don't like drafting around needs at all much but it looks pretty good for drafting sharpshooter and good passing McLemore with Bledsoe potentially along too. I just don't know or think to guess that it'll be McLemore over the whole rest of the field, especially with Burke and Noel if he drops (and ofc 'Dipo, Porter, rest).