2014 Draft Thread (Early offseason panic edition).

[Dat2U]

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/228586/Sources-Hawks-Likely-To-Tank-If-Howard-Doesnt-Sign

Lots of teams tanking for 2014 lol.

Dont see why the Wizards should also go for a playoff run. seem silly really.

That there are so many teams that will try to be awful is a good reason for us to not try to be awful.

Anyway, as I was saying elsewhere, it's very difficult to be awful during the regular season with an elite guard on the floor:

According to what I could see in a quick glance of Basketball Reference, over the last five years, the only teams with a healthy guard registering a regular season PER over 21 that missed the playoffs were the 2013 Kyrie Irving Cavaliers (he actually missed a number of games though they wouldn't have made the playoffs with him healthy either). I think I'll go over the list again and push it out to 8 years or so, but I believe that's correct (conversely, there's been a good number of highly productive one-way bigs who rebound on terrible teams).

viewtopic.php?f=35&t=1258858&start=75#p36395707

We'll be as good as Wall is healthy. If Wall plays 82 games, I'd put our absolute floor at 40 wins. Our ceiling may be in the 50s if Okafor/Nene stay healthy for the most part & Beal breaks out. If Wall misses a significant chunk of time for any reason, the lottery becomes a real possibility. But for us to be downright awful, Wall would basically have to miss the majority of the season.

[hands11]

Holly jumping the gun Batman.

We don't even have our final roster yet.

Usually the draft thread doesn't start until the Wizards lose their first 5 games of the year.

This has got to be a all time record.

[pancakes3]

Are you kidding me? I'm starting to delude myself into thinking that Poythress would be a great bargain PF next draft already.

[Knighthonor]

Holly jumping the gun Batman.

We don't even have our final roster yet.

Usually the draft thread doesn't start until the Wizards lose their first 5 games of the year.

This has got to be a all time record.

That's when there isn't a loaded draft.

[No-Man]

I really like what I've seen of Noah Vonleh. He's a stud and he'd be a good fit for us. But if he declared, he'd probably go too high for us. You never know though. We might crash and burn again.

I also like what I saw of Dakari Johnson and he's probably the top center in the class. Biggest talent at the position anyway. He's got NBA ready size already and is only going to get bigger. And he moves fairly well, so he won't drop but so far. In any other year, he'd be a legit threat to go #1.

I think him and Cauley-Stein will be a fascinating big man group and they should time share and keep each other from putting up crazy numbers.

Kentucky probably wins this championship in a laugher. Duke, Arizona, and Kansas are all loaded too and have great talent. Indiana, Florida, and UNC are pretty good too. But Kentucky is truly like nothing we've ever seen before. They will have at least 8 or 9 NBA players on that team next season. Lottery type talents too.

Anyone else feel like Jabari Parker is a bit overrated? I get some Carmelo type vibe in terms of his impressive skill level. But he's a bit slow. I would almost definitely take Gordon and Randle ahead of him. Goes without saying Wiggins should go ahead of him too.

Kentucky has 0 shooters

My top25 preseason is...

1. Louisville Cardinals
2. Michigan St. Spartans
3. Duke Blue Devils
4. Kentucky Wildcats
5. Oklahoma St. Cowboys
6. Kansas Jayhawks
7. Florida Gators
8. Michigan Wolverines
9. Ohio St. Buckeyes
10. Arizona Wildcats
11. North Carolina Tar Heels
12. UCLA Bruins
13. Syracuse Orangemen
14. Memphis Tigers
15. Baylor Bears
16. Tennessee Volunteers
17. St.John's Red Storm
18. Indiana Hoosiers
19. Wichita St. Shockers
20. Louisiana St. Tigers
21. VCU Rams
22. Colorado Buffaloes
23. Marquette Golden Eagles
24. Creighton Bluejays
25. Connecticut Huskies

Johnson and Vonleh wont declare next year, Johnson is going to play 15-20 minpg at best

[Higga]

We pick the worst years to tank and the worst years to try to contend.

Oh well, not like we would have won the Wiggins sweepstakes anyway. I think we got our quota lotto pick in Wall anyway, we need him to pan out and be a superstar. Teams don't get two within a small time period very often if ever.

[Knighthonor]

We pick the worst years to tank and the worst years to try to contend.

Oh well, not like we would have won the Wiggins sweepstakes anyway. I think we got our quota lotto pick in Wall anyway, we need him to pan out and be a superstar. Teams don't get two within a small time period very often if ever.

But when they do they go to the finals. oKc

[DANNYLANDOVER]

Originally this was going to be posted in the Webster thread, but I thought it deserved it's own topic:

Ever since we were rumored to be heavily interested in Porter, and in bringing back Webster, I figured it was a reasonable way of projecting our future team building moves. Trading up for Rice Jr cemented it. With Singleton/Booker/Ves/Seraphin all either being busts, or at best bench depth, I suspect the '14 and '15 drafts will be all about taking the best available big men be they centers, PF, or stretch 4's going forward.

Last year's draft has a decent supply of said prospects, and considering my projection of where our pick will land (between 15 and 19 if healthy and 10-14 if unhealthy), there are several options available.



Projected Center Prospects 5-15:

1. Willie Cauley Stein (Walter 8, Express 15, .net 5)
2. Mitch McGary ( Walter 14, Express 11, 19)
3. Isaiah Austin ( Walter 16, Express 13, .net 30)
4. Ilimaine Diop (Walter 9)
5. Montrezel Harrel (Express 10)
6. Joel Embiid (Express 12)
7. Przemek Karnowski (14 .net)
8. AJ Hammons (15 .net)

Projected Center Prospects 16-30:

9. Kaleb Tarzewski (30 Express)
10. Patric Young (31 Express, 50 .net)
11. Mouhammadu Saiteh (Walter 30)

PF:

Projected PF Prospects 1-10

1. J. Parker (2 Walter, 2 .net, 5 Express)
2. J. Randle (5 Walter,2 Express,4 .net)
3. A. Gordon (4 Walter, 4 Express)

Projected PF Prospects 11-21

5. A. Payne (24 Walter, 23 Express, 25 .net)
6. P. Ellis (17 .net)
7. J. McAdoo (17 Walter, 14 Express, 21 .net)

Projected Power Forward Prospects 22-30:
8. A. Poythress (15 Walter, 26 Express, 33 .net)
9. J. Stokes (28 Walter, 27 Express)
10. D. Powell (25 Walter, 33 Express, 41)
11. Khem Birch (36 Express)

Walter=Walter Football 2014 Mock, Express=draftexpress 2014 mock, and .net=nbadraft.net's 2014 mock

I kinda think chatter about this topic deserves it's own thread. Once we started draft talk last fall it was hard to look back and get a good pic at where the prospects were actually ranked during the summer of '12. You had to use memory to go back and realize Oladipo and Burke didn't even have first round grades, while Otto Porter, Alex Poythress, and James McAdoo were the Forwards I listed as potential targets for us at my projected pre-lottery slot (I believe I said the floor was 4, and the ceiling was likely 10, expectation was 6-8).

This time around I'd argue that our healthy floor is likely 15th, our healthy ceiling is probably 24th, and my expectation is likely 16th to 18th if healthy. Not healthy, the best I think we can expect is probably a pick somewhere in that 9th-12th range.

So based on the June 2013 rankings, our primary targets at Center and Forward will be:

Center:

1. Willie Cauley Stein
2. Mitch McGary
3. Isaiah Austin

and then 3 guys only mentioned by one website between them (Diop, Harrell and Hammons)

At Power Forward:

1. A. Payne-Michigan State's stud PF
2. Perry Ellis, not the shirt manufacturer
3. James McAdoo, the much loathed UNC prospect
4. Alex Poythress

For now it feels like Center has the better prospects unless Poythress or McAdoo dramatically improve their stock.

Thoughts?

Julius Randle??

[doclinkin]

Holly jumping the gun Batman.

We don't even have our final roster yet.

Usually the draft thread doesn't start until the Wizards lose their first 5 games of the year.

This has got to be a all time record.

Yes but we signed Eric Maynor, therefore we are going to lose Lose LOSE LOSE LOSE!!!!1111!!!1!

Clearly you have not been paying attention.

[montestewart]

Holly jumping the gun Batman.

We don't even have our final roster yet.

Usually the draft thread doesn't start until the Wizards lose their first 5 games of the year.

This has got to be a all time record.

Yes but we signed Eric Maynor, therefore we are going to lose Lose LOSE LOSE LOSE!!!!1111!!!1!

Clearly you have not been paying attention.

Maynor's on board with the tank. The player option sealed the deal.

[Deeptu McPullup]

Maynor's the clincher! I'm Wiggin' out over here!

[gambitx777]

There are some really nice bigs that will be around in the 15-25 range next year. I hope we keep the pick !

[Knighthonor]

get Wiggins and this bleep is over.

[gambitx777]

There are other players in next years draft not named Wiggins and Parker that are going to be very good players.

[doclinkin]

I'm liking the prospect of Aaron Gordon, who was playing really well at the Under-19's in international play. High energy Big with the skills of a SF but a frame that can take the weight to bulk at PF. Good passing, rebounding, ups, high motor. And can he get up?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0k-dmIVy5k[/youtube]

A little bit.

Check Billy Donovan:

The level of competition is a step up from both high school basketball and AAU, Gordon said, but the biggest adjustment he's had to make is mental: Trusting his teammates and their growing chemistry. The rest – working hard to improve every day and playing 20.8 minutes a game (second-most on the team) – has come naturally.

In doing all that, he's gained an admirer in U.S. head coach Billy Donovan.

"A lot of guys are really talented and athletic," Donovan said Thursday. "What makes him so different is his effort, his energy. … There are things he's got to get better on – he doesn't necessarily have this great scoring skill, in terms of a low-post game yet or he's not this great 3-point shooter.

"I think he's got such an incredible ceiling because the things I'm talking about, he can get better at those things. What you can't teach, and I think is so important, is an incredible motor. He really has an incredible motor."

Donovan paused before launching into a rather flattering comparison.

"I don't mean to say he's the same kind of player, but in terms of coaching him, he reminds me in a lot of ways of Joakim Noah (a two-time NCAA champion and 2007 lottery pick)," Donovan said. "He's got that energy and that kind of passion."

Link.

[The Consiglieri]

Are you kidding me? I'm starting to delude myself into thinking that Poythress would be a great bargain PF next draft already.

That's one consolation with losing out on the best draft in a decade. There is such an amazing surplus of talent in that draft, that it's guaranteed to push players typically expected to go 6-12, into that 13-20 area we'll probably slot into. It's helpful to know that we're likely to be slotted into an area where we can find some quality C and PF prospects . Poythress, McAdoo and the like could play their way into consideration.

[spaceman_E]

We pick the worst years to tank and the worst years to try to contend.

Oh well, not like we would have won the Wiggins sweepstakes anyway. I think we got our quota lotto pick in Wall anyway, we need him to pan out and be a superstar. Teams don't get two within a small time period very often if ever.

But when they do they go to the finals. oKc

Or maybe get to 45 wins in the next 5 years (CLE)

[MikeTheKid]

There are other players in next years draft not named Wiggins and Parker that are going to be very good players.

Julius Randle will be the superstud of this draft, he was actually the original number 1 player in the class of '13 before Jabari Parker won 3 straight Mr. Basketball awards in Chicago and Wiggins reclassified. Randle is versatility, high motor and hustle all in 1!!!

[Ruzious]

Gordon won MVP of the U19 tournament, but he looked a bit mechanical when I saw him. Jarnell Stokes and Jahlil Okafor are both wide-bodied beasts near the basket - I was impressed by both - especially Okafor. Both will score and rebound in the NBA. Okafor's a bit taller and looks like the better defender.

[gambitx777]

So, Jahlil Okafor could be the next emeka Okafur?
I jsut do not want to trade away this pick when there are going to be so many good PF's and Centers that we could grab in the 15-25 range.