Official Draft Thread 2015-16

[FakeScreenName123]

Wait. So what you guys are telling me -- there's a white center that's supposed to go top 10?

#Fate #Destiny

[Gomes3PC]

Ben Simmons will run away with the 1st draft pick next year after his first and only year at LSU. He's a PG in a Power forwards body. Lebron was the same thing coming out of high school.

A few things:

1. He's not even remotely close to the athlete that LeBron is. He's far more like Kyle Anderson in that regard.

2. He's old for his class relative to other prospects. For example, Brandon Ingram is a full 14 months younger than him.

3. He's not a good defender. Far closer to the Jabari Parker/Jahlil Okafor range than LeBron/Anthony Davis side.

4. If he wants to be a point-forward, he needs to be a decent shooter, and right now he sucks, even for a PF. He's got bad form and gets minimal rotation on the ball.

Simply put, I think he's going to put up a flashy stat line at LSU but scouts are going to see that he's not an explosive athlete, is a fraud defensively, and can't shoot. Maybe he still goes #1 in a relatively soft 2016 class, but as compared to the 2015 class, I would easily take Towns, Okafor, Porzingis and probably even Russell before him. He's also well behind guys like Wiggins, Embiid, Beal and Davis (duh on the last one) as prospects.

[Gomes3PC]

Wait. So what you guys are telling me -- there's a white center that's supposed to go top 10?

#Fate #Destiny

Possibly two - Poeltl and Ellenson are both right in the mix there.

[Gomes3PC]

I think he can play a hybrid 3/4. Look at the best SFs - many are hybrids. Lebron, Draymond, Kawhi, Millsap, Melo, - all of them play both PF and SF almost equally now.

Yeah agreed. But i think more of Millsap of being a PF who moves like a SF, compared to lbj or melo who are 4's but can play the 4.

The only thing is that he's a body of a SF but game of a PF. Idk how that'd translate to the league. Idk. I think he's gonna be a good role player, but just dont see stud potential. Like Harrison Barnes type. Good 14-7 type good role player.

Good points and it makes me think his best potential use in the NBA is actually more of a Dray Green type guy rather than Barnes. I don't think he is as strong as Green and his college rebounding numbers aren't as good.

But I could see that being where he could hit a high potential, ie being versatile like Green on D (but not as good on the big end of things), while potentially being a bit better on offense. They are pretty much similar dimensions in height and wingspan, no posted reach on Hayes yet though.

I want to see how he does as a rebounder without Kaminsky and Dekker around. Both those guys scooped up a fair amount of his rebounds, as Hayes was often out on the perimeter defensively against the best forward the opposition had. With them gone now he may get more opportunities on the glass on both ends.

[2Mas]

Wait. So what you guys are telling me -- there's a white center that's supposed to go top 10?

#Fate #Destiny

http://www.bigeastcoastbias.com/2015/7/14/8953157/get-to-know-a-recruit-marquette-s-henry-ellenson

Pretty solid opinion piece on him. He seems good. Don't know anything about him though.

The Kevin Love/Julius Randle comparison tho? .. Not really into all that. Hopefully the guy doesn't know too much about comparisons lol.

I'm sure Brad would love him. Hopefully he pans out. Seems like a real interesting class.

[Fidel Sarcasmo]

Ben Simmons will run away with the 1st draft pick next year after his first and only year at LSU. He's a PG in a Power forwards body. Lebron was the same thing coming out of high school.

A few things:

1. He's not even remotely close to the athlete that LeBron is. He's far more like Kyle Anderson in that regard.

2. He's old for his class relative to other prospects. For example, Brandon Ingram is a full 14 months younger than him.

3. He's not a good defender. Far closer to the Jabari Parker/Jahlil Okafor range than LeBron/Anthony Davis side.

4. If he wants to be a point-forward, he needs to be a decent shooter, and right now he sucks, even for a PF. He's got bad form and gets minimal rotation on the ball.

Simply put, I think he's going to put up a flashy stat line at LSU but scouts are going to see that he's not an explosive athlete, is a fraud defensively, and can't shoot. Maybe he still goes #1 in a relatively soft 2016 class, but as compared to the 2015 class, I would easily take Towns, Okafor, Porzingis and probably even Russell before him. He's also well behind guys like Wiggins, Embiid, Beal and Davis (duh on the last one) as prospects.

Your the only guy throwing the Kyle Anderson label on him. UCLA Kyle? lol. I personally think that's insulting to his athleticism. Kyle Anderson is super scrawny and he's got defensive holes in his game. Simmons will fill out to 250 in his prime. Kyle will never sniff that.

[ddb]

Ben Simmons will run away with the 1st draft pick next year after his first and only year at LSU. He's a PG in a Power forwards body. Lebron was the same thing coming out of high school.

A few things:

1. He's not even remotely close to the athlete that LeBron is. He's far more like Kyle Anderson in that regard.

2. He's old for his class relative to other prospects. For example, Brandon Ingram is a full 14 months younger than him.

3. He's not a good defender. Far closer to the Jabari Parker/Jahlil Okafor range than LeBron/Anthony Davis side.

4. If he wants to be a point-forward, he needs to be a decent shooter, and right now he sucks, even for a PF. He's got bad form and gets minimal rotation on the ball.

Simply put, I think he's going to put up a flashy stat line at LSU but scouts are going to see that he's not an explosive athlete, is a fraud defensively, and can't shoot. Maybe he still goes #1 in a relatively soft 2016 class, but as compared to the 2015 class, I would easily take Towns, Okafor, Porzingis and probably even Russell before him. He's also well behind guys like Wiggins, Embiid, Beal and Davis (duh on the last one) as prospects.

I disagree. People LOVE to pick apart these kids....But let's remember that he's still a kid. Ben Simmons, my friends, is going to be an NBA star. Please click on the link and fast forward to the 1:20 mark as exhibit A. Then fast forward to the 4:05 mark, my favorite sequence as exhibit B. That's all you need to see. His size, vision and smarts is off the charts. You can teach defense. You can improve as a shooter. You can physically get stronger with hard work...But to be steps ahead of your competition IQ wise is something that cannot be taught.
For me it's Ben Simmons or Skal all the way. both have perennial All-Star potential. Hands down. Not even going to argue about it. I've been studying Simmons for 3 years. I'm completely sold and once you see him at LSU I'm confident you will as well.

His Floor is a prime/sober Lamar Odom. His ceiling is something we haven't seen before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfBBHayglPc

[Curmudgeon]

Wait. So what you guys are telling me -- there's a white center that's supposed to go top 10?

#Fate #Destiny

Not just one but potentially three: Ellenson, Poeltl and Bender.

[Gomes3PC]

Ben Simmons will run away with the 1st draft pick next year after his first and only year at LSU. He's a PG in a Power forwards body. Lebron was the same thing coming out of high school.

A few things:

1. He's not even remotely close to the athlete that LeBron is. He's far more like Kyle Anderson in that regard.

2. He's old for his class relative to other prospects. For example, Brandon Ingram is a full 14 months younger than him.

3. He's not a good defender. Far closer to the Jabari Parker/Jahlil Okafor range than LeBron/Anthony Davis side.

4. If he wants to be a point-forward, he needs to be a decent shooter, and right now he sucks, even for a PF. He's got bad form and gets minimal rotation on the ball.

Simply put, I think he's going to put up a flashy stat line at LSU but scouts are going to see that he's not an explosive athlete, is a fraud defensively, and can't shoot. Maybe he still goes #1 in a relatively soft 2016 class, but as compared to the 2015 class, I would easily take Towns, Okafor, Porzingis and probably even Russell before him. He's also well behind guys like Wiggins, Embiid, Beal and Davis (duh on the last one) as prospects.

I disagree. People LOVE to pick apart these kids....But let's remember that he's still a kid. Ben Simmons, my friends, is going to be an NBA star. Please click on the link and fast forward to the 1:20 mark as exhibit A. Then fast forward to the 4:05 mark, my favorite sequence as exhibit B. That's all you need to see. His size, vision and smarts is off the charts. You can teach defense. You can improve as a shooter. You can physically get stronger with hard work...But to be steps ahead of your competition IQ wise is something that cannot be taught.
For me it's Ben Simmons or Skal all the way. both have perennial All-Star potential. Hands down. Not even going to argue about it. I've been studying Simmons for 3 years. I'm completely sold and once you see him at LSU I'm confident you will as well.

His Floor is a prime/sober Lamar Odom. His ceiling is something we haven't seen before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfBBHayglPc

This is all the same stuff that people said about Anderson. He's a better athlete than Anderson, no doubt, but far more in the Anderson/Jabari Parker level of athleticism than a LeBron or even Melo. And no, you can't teach defense. The number of guys who go from bad defenders to good ones is extremely limited.

I'm not saying I hate Simmons - Odom is a decent upside comp, though he again lacks that footspeed/wingspan Odom has (just a 6-11 wingspan vs. Odom's 7-4) to be a good defender. I just don't see a two-way impact player, which means he needs to be transcendent offensively. Unless he becomes a knockdown shooter, he's not going to be a complete enough player for him to be a cornerstone piece for a franchise.

[ddb]

^^^ time will tell. I can tell you that Simmons out dueled Rabb head to head last year. This draft class is pretty good at the top.

[165bows]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/Mike_Schmitz/status/638790350417592322[/tweet]

Jaylen Brown video. Guy is projected top 5ish pick as SG/SF at Cal.

[peachbucket]

A few things:

1. He's not even remotely close to the athlete that LeBron is. He's far more like Kyle Anderson in that regard.

2. He's old for his class relative to other prospects. For example, Brandon Ingram is a full 14 months younger than him.

3. He's not a good defender. Far closer to the Jabari Parker/Jahlil Okafor range than LeBron/Anthony Davis side.

4. If he wants to be a point-forward, he needs to be a decent shooter, and right now he sucks, even for a PF. He's got bad form and gets minimal rotation on the ball.

Simply put, I think he's going to put up a flashy stat line at LSU but scouts are going to see that he's not an explosive athlete, is a fraud defensively, and can't shoot. Maybe he still goes #1 in a relatively soft 2016 class, but as compared to the 2015 class, I would easily take Towns, Okafor, Porzingis and probably even Russell before him. He's also well behind guys like Wiggins, Embiid, Beal and Davis (duh on the last one) as prospects.

I disagree. People LOVE to pick apart these kids....But let's remember that he's still a kid. Ben Simmons, my friends, is going to be an NBA star. Please click on the link and fast forward to the 1:20 mark as exhibit A. Then fast forward to the 4:05 mark, my favorite sequence as exhibit B. That's all you need to see. His size, vision and smarts is off the charts. You can teach defense. You can improve as a shooter. You can physically get stronger with hard work...But to be steps ahead of your competition IQ wise is something that cannot be taught.
For me it's Ben Simmons or Skal all the way. both have perennial All-Star potential. Hands down. Not even going to argue about it. I've been studying Simmons for 3 years. I'm completely sold and once you see him at LSU I'm confident you will as well.

His Floor is a prime/sober Lamar Odom. His ceiling is something we haven't seen before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfBBHayglPc

This is all the same stuff that people said about Anderson. He's a better athlete than Anderson, no doubt, but far more in the Anderson/Jabari Parker level of athleticism than a LeBron or even Melo. And no, you can't teach defense. The number of guys who go from bad defenders to good ones is extremely limited.

I'm not saying I hate Simmons - Odom is a decent upside comp, though he again lacks that footspeed/wingspan Odom has (just a 6-11 wingspan vs. Odom's 7-4) to be a good defender. I just don't see a two-way impact player, which means he needs to be transcendent offensively. Unless he becomes a knockdown shooter, he's not going to be a complete enough player for him to be a cornerstone piece for a franchise.

I think he is right on par with Melo athletically...Anderson is an absolutely horrible comp.

[BfB]

I disagree. People LOVE to pick apart these kids....But let's remember that he's still a kid. Ben Simmons, my friends, is going to be an NBA star. Please click on the link and fast forward to the 1:20 mark as exhibit A. Then fast forward to the 4:05 mark, my favorite sequence as exhibit B. That's all you need to see. His size, vision and smarts is off the charts. You can teach defense. You can improve as a shooter. You can physically get stronger with hard work...But to be steps ahead of your competition IQ wise is something that cannot be taught.
For me it's Ben Simmons or Skal all the way. both have perennial All-Star potential. Hands down. Not even going to argue about it. I've been studying Simmons for 3 years. I'm completely sold and once you see him at LSU I'm confident you will as well.

His Floor is a prime/sober Lamar Odom. His ceiling is something we haven't seen before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfBBHayglPc

This is all the same stuff that people said about Anderson. He's a better athlete than Anderson, no doubt, but far more in the Anderson/Jabari Parker level of athleticism than a LeBron or even Melo. And no, you can't teach defense. The number of guys who go from bad defenders to good ones is extremely limited.

I'm not saying I hate Simmons - Odom is a decent upside comp, though he again lacks that footspeed/wingspan Odom has (just a 6-11 wingspan vs. Odom's 7-4) to be a good defender. I just don't see a two-way impact player, which means he needs to be transcendent offensively. Unless he becomes a knockdown shooter, he's not going to be a complete enough player for him to be a cornerstone piece for a franchise.

I think he is right on par with Melo athletically...Anderson is an absolutely horrible comp.

Ya, he's an above average NBA athlete, Anderson was a horrible comp.


That being said, Simmons has an absolutely broken shot and has shown no defensive tenacity. He's soft, but extremely skilled with the ball in his hands. If he's allowed to play with the ball in his hands he will attack the rim and get to the FT line.

I don't like him as a superstar player though, not a complete player, magical with the rock as he may be.

[ddb]

This is all the same stuff that people said about Anderson. He's a better athlete than Anderson, no doubt, but far more in the Anderson/Jabari Parker level of athleticism than a LeBron or even Melo. And no, you can't teach defense. The number of guys who go from bad defenders to good ones is extremely limited.

I'm not saying I hate Simmons - Odom is a decent upside comp, though he again lacks that footspeed/wingspan Odom has (just a 6-11 wingspan vs. Odom's 7-4) to be a good defender. I just don't see a two-way impact player, which means he needs to be transcendent offensively. Unless he becomes a knockdown shooter, he's not going to be a complete enough player for him to be a cornerstone piece for a franchise.

I think he is right on par with Melo athletically...Anderson is an absolutely horrible comp.

Ya, he's an above average NBA athlete, Anderson was a horrible comp.


That being said, Simmons has an absolutely broken shot and has shown no defensive tenacity. He's soft, but extremely skilled with the ball in his hands. If he's allowed to play with the ball in his hands he will attack the rim and get to the FT line.

I don't like him as a superstar player though, not a complete player, magical with the rock as he may be.

I think his shot will improve. what will make or break Simmons as a Star is if he's able to break down NBA defenses, or over power perimeter defenders and get to the rim. If he can do that then he'll be awesome. If he struggles with that,then he'll be another Odom

[165bows]

Stole this pic from the draft board. Dragan Bender is the tall guy next to Vitor. Pretty good size for a PF.

[165bows]

Wait. So what you guys are telling me -- there's a white center that's supposed to go top 10?

#Fate #Destiny

Not just one but potentially three: Ellenson, Poeltl and Bender.

Poeltl/Bender could actually be amazing in more ways than one lol.

[Gomes3PC]

I think he is right on par with Melo athletically...Anderson is an absolutely horrible comp.

Ya, he's an above average NBA athlete, Anderson was a horrible comp.


That being said, Simmons has an absolutely broken shot and has shown no defensive tenacity. He's soft, but extremely skilled with the ball in his hands. If he's allowed to play with the ball in his hands he will attack the rim and get to the FT line.

I don't like him as a superstar player though, not a complete player, magical with the rock as he may be.

I think his shot will improve. what will make or break Simmons as a Star is if he's able to break down NBA defenses, or over power perimeter defenders and get to the rim. If he can do that then he'll be awesome. If he struggles with that,then he'll be another Odom

You keep saying that, but Odom was a good defender. With his mediocre wingspan, unspectacular hops and Charmin-level toughness defensively, he's just never going to contribute like Odom did on that end. At his peak, Odom was an awesome two-way player, if a bit of a headcase. Simmons IMO is far more likely to develop into a Dirk-like player if his jumper improves than anything else - a truly great passing/scoring PF who is good on the glass and just passable enough defensively.

[Nell]

Ya, he's an above average NBA athlete, Anderson was a horrible comp.


That being said, Simmons has an absolutely broken shot and has shown no defensive tenacity. He's soft, but extremely skilled with the ball in his hands. If he's allowed to play with the ball in his hands he will attack the rim and get to the FT line.

I don't like him as a superstar player though, not a complete player, magical with the rock as he may be.

I think his shot will improve. what will make or break Simmons as a Star is if he's able to break down NBA defenses, or over power perimeter defenders and get to the rim. If he can do that then he'll be awesome. If he struggles with that,then he'll be another Odom

You keep saying that, but Odom was a good defender. With his mediocre wingspan, unspectacular hops and Charmin-level toughness defensively, he's just never going to contribute like Odom did on that end. At his peak, Odom was an awesome two-way player, if a bit of a headcase. Simmons IMO is far more likely to develop into a Dirk-like player if his jumper improves than anything else - a truly great passing/scoring PF who is good on the glass and just passable enough defensively.

Simmons has great hops for a 6'10 guy.

[Nell]

Simmons screams superstar future. It's not like Harden or Curry or even Cousins are dominant two way players.

and the Lamar Odom comp is insufficient because Simmons is much more aggressive offensively, and will put up much higher scoring numbers, even if he never develops a good jump shot. His combination of size, strength, shooting/dribbling/passing skills, and scoring mentality is just about unmatched in the NBA.

[Gomes3PC]

I think his shot will improve. what will make or break Simmons as a Star is if he's able to break down NBA defenses, or over power perimeter defenders and get to the rim. If he can do that then he'll be awesome. If he struggles with that,then he'll be another Odom

You keep saying that, but Odom was a good defender. With his mediocre wingspan, unspectacular hops and Charmin-level toughness defensively, he's just never going to contribute like Odom did on that end. At his peak, Odom was an awesome two-way player, if a bit of a headcase. Simmons IMO is far more likely to develop into a Dirk-like player if his jumper improves than anything else - a truly great passing/scoring PF who is good on the glass and just passable enough defensively.

Simmons has great hops for a 6'10 guy.

I would definitely not call them great hops. Blake Griffin has great hops. Ben Simmons ain't Blake Griffin.

Clearly, I have a divisive view on the kid. He's the #1 prospect, so many love the guy. Just because I disagree does not mean I cannot possibly be right. The beauty is we will get to enjoy watching the kid play the next 4-5 years to see how he does pan out ultimately.

The Kyle Anderson comp was clearly too harsh - he's not that bad of an athlete. I just don't put him in the Towns, Davis, Griffin category of recent top pick big men. He's a good enough athlete, and he's incredibly skilled, but the modern NBA PF needs to be more than just skilled. It's probably the most demanding position in the NBA today.