2014 Draft Thread (Early offseason panic edition).

Knighthonor · Post #61 » by **Knighthonor** » Sun Jul 14, 2013 2:47 am

hello Wizards fans, you can kiss your 2014 first round pick good bye.

viewtopic.php?f=35&t=1263850&p=36561287#p36561287

EG been waiting

hands11 · Post #62 » by **hands11** » Sun Jul 14, 2013 4:17 am

rockymac52 wrote:I will continue to urge people to be cautious when buying into the hype of the strength of the 2014 draft. Wiggins may be the next LeBron. Parker or Randle might be all-stars in their own right as well. That alone makes it a fairly strong draft class, but I don't necessarily think it's as DEEP as people are making it out to be. The fact that the guys at the very top of the draft are extremely good does not have any effect on the quality of the players that will be available in the 10-20 range.

Before you get ahead of yourself, do yourself a favor and rewind 2 years. At this time 2 years ago, the 2012 draft class was hyped up to be one of the strongest in recent memory. It's too early to tell for sure, but I don't think it's going to go down as a very strong or weak draft. Seriously, 2 years ago people were freaking out about acquiring 2012 draft picks, acting like mid-1st round picks were going to net teams superstars. I'm warning you, A LOT can change over the course of the college basketball season. Guys you expect to be stars might disappoint. Some guys might choose to go back to school for another year. You'd be surprised. Try to find some posts on here from 2 years ago discussing the upcoming 2012 draft. People were salivating over the likes of Le'Bryan Nash, Perry Jones, and Quincy Miller. All were seen as locks to go in the lottery and were expected to become great NBA players. Nash is still in college, Quincy is on the verge of being out of the league, and Jones isn't far behind. A lot can change in a very short amount of time. Be careful when you buy into the hype of the 2014 draft. It's probably not filled with superstars like you think it is. You'll see.

Exactly the way I see it. Way to early to worry about this kind of thing.

Gotta wait at least until we see what happens this year in college ball.

Come on, its wasn't that long ago everyone was lining up for Shabazz Muhammad.

jangles86 · Post #63 » by **jangles86** » Thu Aug 15, 2013 4:18 am

I don't see the wiz finishing in the lottery. BUT if they do, this draft is slowly shaping up to be the best draft in the last decade talent wise.
Could see alot of teams really tanking hard for ping pong balls. Wiggins Randle Parker Exum Smart Gordan Harrison twins Embiid Seldon all look to be prospects that would have gone easily top 3 the last 4-5 years.

Dat2U · Post #64 » by **Dat2U** » Thu Aug 15, 2013 1:05 pm

Strongest draft since the LeBron draft. A generic comparison of 2014 to 2012 seems a little silly. You have to look at the talent individually. Sure, nothing is written in stone, but there's good reason why teams like Utah & Philly, ones that normally wouldn't tank under any circumstances, are openly tanking this year. Ainge in Boston clearly sees it as well. I think some in the Lakers organization outside of Buss are hoping Bryant takes his time returning so they can rack up the losses (and get D'Antoni fired as well).

doclinkin · Post #65 » by **doclinkin** » Thu Aug 15, 2013 2:38 pm

Dat2U wrote:Strongest draft since the LeBron draft. A generic comparison of 2014 to 2012 seems a little silly. You have to look at the talent individually. Sure, nothing is written in stone, but there's good reason why teams like Utah & Philly, ones that normally wouldn't tank under any circumstances, are openly tanking this year. Ainge in Boston clearly sees it as well. I think some in the Lakers organization outside of Buss are hoping Bryant takes his time returning so they can rack up the losses (and get D'Antoni fired as well).

I suspect the Wiz medical staff will slow-play any injuries to Nene, Okafor, or Wall. Just to be extra cautious you know.

FAH1223 · Post #66 » by **FAH1223** » Thu Aug 15, 2013 3:07 pm

Dat2U wrote:Strongest draft since the LeBron draft. A generic comparison of 2014 to 2012 seems a little silly. You have to look at the talent individually. Sure, nothing is written in stone, but there's good reason why teams like Utah & Philly, ones that normally wouldn't tank under any circumstances, are openly tanking this year. Ainge in Boston clearly sees it as well. I think some in the Lakers organization outside of Buss are hoping Bryant takes his time returning so they can rack up the losses (and get D'Antoni fired as well).

I wish we could have that 5-28 start this fall... but a John Wall hungry to make the postseason with a couple of Eastern conference teams bowing out of the playoff race spells disaster for us. It means Ernie will keep his job for another 2 seasons atleast and we'll be a middling seed team until the 2014 class matures and then those organizations will make leaps into the next great era of basketball which Washington won't be apart of. This sucks.

If Wall reaches super stardom I guess that helps a bit but management never changing means no chance in hell at an O'Brien Trophy.

jangles86 · Post #67 » by **jangles86** » Thu Aug 22, 2013 9:39 am

Would of been nice lucking into a top 3 pick THIS draft.

dangermouse · Post #68 » by **dangermouse** » Thu Aug 22, 2013 10:22 am

Havent we been tanking for like 10 years now

Can we playoffs pls... pls Wizards...

Dat2U · Post #69 » by **Dat2U** » Thu Aug 22, 2013 2:50 pm

dangermouse wrote:Havent we been tanking for like 10 years now

Can we playoffs pls... pls Wizards...

Playoffs means little to me if there's no chance of advancing. Getting swept or losing in five really doesn't feel all that good to end a season. It's even worse when you don't have the talent to improve much beyond that. I don't want to ride another treadmill of mediocrity like we did during the Gil/Twan/EJ era. IMO, that's the direction we appear to be heading in.

I'd love to see a sneaky tank this year. But with a healthy Wall, I have a hard time seeing how that happens. Most likely, we'll either squeak in and be first round fodder for Chicago or Miami OR we'll just miss the playoffs but the season will be labeled a success by Ted & EG because of the improvement record wise.

rockymac52 · Post #70 » by **rockymac52** » Thu Aug 22, 2013 2:53 pm

Dat2U wrote:
dangermouse wrote:Havent we been tanking for like 10 years now

Can we playoffs pls... pls Wizards...

Playoffs means little to me if there's no chance of advancing. Getting swept or losing in five really doesn't feel all that good to end a season. It's even worse when you don't have the talent to improve much beyond that. I don't want to ride another treadmill of mediocrity like we did during the Gil/Twan/EJ era. IMO, that's the direction we appear to be heading in.

I'd love to see a sneaky tank this year. But with a healthy Wall, I have a hard time seeing how that happens. Most likely, we'll either squeak in and be first round fodder for Chicago or Miami OR we'll just miss the playoffs but the season will be labeled a success by Ted & EG because of the improvement record wise.

The direction we appear to be headed in is UP. More wins. AKA what we need.

You might be surprised to find out that it is extremely rare that teams go from a bottom 10 team to a top 5 team in one season. You almost always have to take a few steps along the way, which will involve being a 7 or 8 seed and getting swept 1st round most likely. It's not the end of the world.

Dat2U · Post #71 » by **Dat2U** » Thu Aug 22, 2013 3:09 pm

rockymac52 wrote:
Dat2U wrote:
dangermouse wrote:Havent we been tanking for like 10 years now

Can we playoffs pls... pls Wizards...

Playoffs means little to me if there's no chance of advancing. Getting swept or losing in five really doesn't feel all that good to end a season. It's even worse when you don't have the talent to improve much beyond that. I don't want to ride another treadmill of mediocrity like we did during the Gil/Twan/EJ era. IMO, that's the direction we appear to be heading in.

I'd love to see a sneaky tank this year. But with a healthy Wall, I have a hard time seeing how that happens. Most likely, we'll either squeak in and be first round fodder for Chicago or Miami OR we'll just miss the playoffs but the season will be labeled a success by Ted & EG because of the improvement record wise.

The direction we appear to be headed in is UP. More wins. AKA what we need.

You might be surprised to find out that it is extremely rare that teams go from a bottom 10 team to a top 5 team in one season. You almost always have to take a few steps along the way, which will involve being a 7 or 8 seed and getting swept 1st round most likely. It's not the end of the world.

Oh really? I did not know that. I thought bad teams made the jump to contender overnight.

And thanks for pointing out were going UP, I actually thought we were headed DOWN. :roll:

Post #72 » by **Ruzious** » Thu Aug 22, 2013 3:30 pm

Dat2U wrote:
dangermouse wrote:Havent we been tanking for like 10 years now

Can we playoffs pls... pls Wizards...

Playoffs means little to me if there's no chance of advancing. Getting swept or losing in five really doesn't feel all that good to end a season. It's even worse when you don't have the talent to improve much beyond that. I don't want to ride another treadmill of mediocrity like we did during the Gil/Twan/EJ era. IMO, that's the direction we appear to be heading in.

I'd love to see a sneaky tank this year. But with a healthy Wall, I have a hard time seeing how that happens. Most likely, we'll either squeak in and be first round fodder for Chicago or Miami OR we'll just miss the playoffs but the season will be labeled a success by Ted & EG because of the improvement record wise.

I generally follow that line of thinking, but it's past the tipping point, and with smart management (uh oh), they don't need to tank. They have enough assets - including next year's cap room - that they can build a contender.

doclinkin · Post #73 » by **doclinkin** » Thu Sep 19, 2013 12:25 am

Benjammin · Post #74 » by **Benjammin** » Thu Sep 19, 2013 1:35 pm

Rev up the panzer division friends. ;-)

verbal8 · Post #75 » by **verbal8** » Thu Sep 19, 2013 5:29 pm

Benjammin wrote:Rev up the panzer division friends.

Unfortunately it is looking more like a "9th seed" or bust season

Benjammin · Post #76 » by **Benjammin** » Thu Sep 19, 2013 5:38 pm

verbal8 wrote:
Benjammin wrote:Rev up the panzer division friends.

Unfortunately it is looking more like a "9th seed" or bust season

Nah, just one more injury will drag us down farther than that.

Severn Hoos · Post #77 » by **Severn Hoos** » Fri Sep 20, 2013 3:07 pm

Assuming the season's not a complete disaster/tank that would land us in the top 5, I'm still intrigued by Mitch McGary. Not that it would be much of a consolation, but a season ending with a pick in the 10-14 range is pretty much the worst-case scenario. And that's where McGary currently projects. So I know who I'll be following this year....

The Consiglieri · Post #78 » by **The Consiglieri** » Mon Oct 7, 2013 3:35 am

I'm looking at the guys projected 8-15, basically where I think we'll fall (more likely 9th-12th), and the players available there, probably would have gone 4th-10th in '12. We are likely to get a legit piece if we miss the playoffs this year, and maybe even if we make them so long as EG doesn't go EG '9/'11/'13 again.

Post #79 » by **Ruzious** » Mon Oct 7, 2013 5:46 am

Severn Hoos wrote:Assuming the season's not a complete disaster/tank that would land us in the top 5, I'm still intrigued by Mitch McGary. Not that it would be much of a consolation, but a season ending with a pick in the 10-14 range is pretty much the worst-case scenario. And that's where McGary currently projects. So I know who I'll be following this year....

If I was going to compare him to someone who played in the NBA, I'd compare him to the most unheralded key guy on the Bullets' champeenship team - Mitch Kupchack. There are 2 other underrated bigs I like. One is Cory Jefferson of Baylor - a late bloomer - but not too late, imo. I rate him ahead of much more heralded teammate Isaiah Austin. And he showed surprising shooting range at the end of the NIT championship run. He's ranked 40th now by draftexpress.com. The other I like is ranked 30th - beefy 6'9 PF Jarnell Stokes - I believe he's going to Tennessee - Ernie's college. He played really well in the 18 and under games when given a shot - runs the court surprisingly well and is a very good low post scorer. If he was just a little taller, he'd be a lotto pick.

hands11 · Post #80 » by **hands11** » Mon Oct 7, 2013 1:13 pm

Ruzious wrote:
Severn Hoos wrote:Assuming the season's not a complete disaster/tank that would land us in the top 5, I'm still intrigued by Mitch McGary. Not that it would be much of a consolation, but a season ending with a pick in the 10-14 range is pretty much the worst-case scenario. And that's where McGary currently projects. So I know who I'll be following this year....

If I was going to compare him to someone who played in the NBA, I'd compare him to the most unheralded key guy on the Bullets' champeenship team - Mitch Kupchack. There are 2 other underrated bigs I like. One is Cory Jefferson of Baylor - a late bloomer - but not too late, imo. I rate him ahead of much more heralded teammate Isaiah Austin. And he showed surprising shooting range at the end of the NIT championship run. He's ranked 40th now by draftexpress.com. The other I like is ranked 30th - beefy 6'9 PF Jarnell Stokes - I believe he's going to Tennessee - Ernie's college. He played really well in the 18 and under games when given a shot - runs the court surprisingly well and is a very good low post scorer. If he was just a little taller, he'd be a lotto pick.

Yeah, I'll be watching Cory Jefferson again this year. He was someone I posted about lots in the last draft thread who caught my eye when I was watching Pierre Jackson. He has a great build for a PF. Should be interesting to see how his skills develop.