2016 NBA Draft

Ranma · Post #1 » by **Ranma** » Wed Jan 13, 2016 10:43 pm

With the latest news in the change in eligibility for NCAA players for the NBA draft, I guess now is as good a time as any to start a thread for more news and prospects watching.

mkwest wrote:On a side note, the Clippers have the right to swap 2nd round picks with the Nets if own pick is between 31-55 (protected 56-60). If the Clippers pick is 56-60, then the right to swap with the Nets is extinguished, but the pick would go to Cleveland. The Clippers currently have the 5th best record in the league, so our 2nd would go to Cleveland if the season ended today. In the event that the West were to stay the same, we would need an eastern team to pass us in the standings in order to swap picks with Brooklyn, which is basically equivalent to a late 1st (33rd pick as of now).

mkwest wrote:Right. We either get Brooklyn's pick because 5 other teams have a better record (or we tie for 5th place team and win the coin toss, which would give us the higher 1st round slot and the lower 2nd round slot) or Cleveland gets our 2nd pick.

For me, it was a silver lining with the rough start, but it definitely is looking less likely now. I'd rather us play and very well and lose out on the pick, than to struggle just to keep it.

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TucsonClip · Post #2 » by **TucsonClip** » Wed Jan 13, 2016 10:54 pm

Great move by the NCAA. Finally using some logic and listening to the players, agents, media, NBA executives, ect. instead of a few college coaches.

Ranma · Post #3 » by **Ranma** » Thu Jan 14, 2016 12:26 am

Theoretically, with younger prospects coming in with better feedback from professional evaluators, the 2016 NBA Draft could be a deeper pool for talent. Hopefully, Doc has learned a thing or two and won't blow another opportunity.

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TucsonClip · Post #4 » by **TucsonClip** » Mon Jan 18, 2016 8:20 pm

Somewhat on topic:

Why the Clippers need a D-League affiliate.

http://clipperholics.com/2016/01/16/clippers-need-nba-d-league-affiliate/

Post #5 » by **og15** » Mon Jan 18, 2016 9:15 pm

We were thinking the Bulls before, but now it looks like Toronto might be the East team that could pass the Clippers in the standings. I'll cheer for anyone in the East to tie the Clippers record or whatever is needed if it will give an early 2nd round pick.

Post #6 » by **QRich3** » Tue Jan 19, 2016 12:12 pm

TucsonClip wrote:Somewhat on topic:

Why the Clippers need a D-League affiliate.

http://clipperholics.com/2016/01/16/clippers-need-nba-d-league-affiliate/

I think the romanticised idea of what the D-League should be says it should make sense, but in reality it doesn't necessarily make a lot of sense. That article makes some valid points IF the D-League was what it assumes it is. But it really isn't.

Have you guys ever watched a D-League game? I laugh my ass off at the "learning the system" speech. It's just a bunch of desperate players trying to chuck and pad their numbers so they can get some press attention and have a chance to try for an NBA. Defense is barely existent and ball movement is null in those games.When I read about Wilcox having good numbers in the D-League I only see that he chucked a lot of shots that went in. Not that he played well or anything like that. The D-League would have to change radically for it to be a good investment, I seriously doubt it has any player development value as of today. The way it is right now, having an affiliate is not much different than assigning your young players to random team X.

Maybe in a few years Silver tries to promote it, and it changes into what's supposed to be. And if that happens, I'm sure the league will make it mandatory, as they did with the SportVU cameras. Meanwhile, it's just some guys chucking shots with no rhyme or rhythm. The only guy I can think of who is a real asset coming from the D-League (as opposed to guy who was already in everyone's radar and happened to play a stint in the D-League) is Covington. And even then, it was not the team who discovered him who made use of him, but another team who had already seen him play in the NBA.

TucsonClip · Post #7 » by **TucsonClip** » Tue Jan 19, 2016 8:51 pm

The problem with the development in the D-League is that guys make no money, so why would any legitimate talent sign there? If thre is no talent, then the stats mean nothing and the development work is done by the affiliate's coaches during practices. Have you ever watch the Valley Vipers games? Its Morey testing strategy and numbers with his affiliate. That said, they do develop them to take the shots they want them to take with the Rockets, but at a faster pace.

The D-League has to change radically, I agree and that is where Silver is trying to take the league. He knows the league isnt going to change unless he can offer at least six figure contracts, something he has said is a major goal towards improving the quality of play and the quality of player in the league. Tying the increased contracts with flex NBA roster spots is the next step and something that is very important to not only the D-League, but the NBA.

Developmentally, players need to be on the floor to develop. While the D-League system isnt going to allow young guys to learn how to become an NBA player by playing against guys making $20k per season, it does have some minimal on-court value, mianly for someone like a Branden Dawson, not a C.J. Wilcox.

Silver has big plans for the D-League and I think that is not only important but exciting.

Post #8 » by **QRich3** » Tue Jan 19, 2016 9:04 pm

I actually tried to watch a game last season for that very reason, cause I read a lot about how Morey was testing some revolutionary scheme that might change the game, and all I saw were guys running a lot and trying to chuck a lot of threes. I didn't see any significant resemblance with what the Rockets run (and why would they, if that's very dependent on personnel and subject to change from year to year). Only thing it works for, is for some sort of broad experiment on what happens if you purposely shoot a lot of threes, and I don't think it's very applicable to the NBA even if it did.

The correlation the article (you?) does with having a D-League team and using analytics is very thin imo and I'm not sure it gives any meaningful advantage for what it'd cost Ballmer.

Now if the D-League becomes what it's supposed to, then I fully agree and by all means, we need to have a team. But I'm sure Silver will make it mandatory for every team to have one, if they expand rosters/allocate NBA income to the D-League.

TucsonClip · Post #9 » by **TucsonClip** » Tue Jan 19, 2016 11:50 pm

QRich3 wrote:I actually tried to watch a game last season for that very reason, cause I read a lot about how Morey was testing some revolutionary scheme that might change the game, and all I saw were guys running a lot and trying to chuck a lot of threes. I didn't see any significant resemblance with what the Rockets run (and why would they, if that's very dependent on personnel and subject to change from year to year). Only thing it works for, is for some sort of broad experiment on what happens if you purposely shoot a lot of threes, and I don't think it's very applicable to the NBA even if it did.

The correlation the article (you?) does with having a D-League team and using analytics is very thin imo and I'm not sure it gives any meaningful advantage for what it'd cost Ballmer.

Now if the D-League becomes what it's supposed to, then I fully agree and by all means, we need to have a team. But I'm sure Silver will make it mandatory for every team to have one, if they expand rosters/allocate NBA income to the D-League.

I dont think the analytics mean much either, I just found it quite interesting that an analytic guy (Morey) was utilizing his affiliate as a testing ground. I think its a much better testing ground (right now) for things the NBA wants to implement such as rule changes.

Overall, I think the D-League is firmly in Silver's eyesight and us getting a team now (when it costs $4-$6 mil to start), seems like an easy decision. We have the resources to do this, can get the team up and running and it provides us an extra opportunity to see if we can find another bench piece we might not have otherwise. I think its well worth the cost right now, and absolutely will be in a few years as the D-League expands, the NBA tv deal kicks in and the CBA changes.

Post #10 » by **og15** » Wed Jan 20, 2016 12:06 am

The D-League player pay is an issue though. It would cost $3 million to have a 12 man D-League roster where every player makes $250k, and of course in reality, the D-League is also filled with players who are draft picks and already making money that is tied to team salary, so a team wouldn't be paying extra salary for those guys.

The first thing they need to figure out is how to increase the D-League salaries because if they can't figure that out, then it will help out in terms of being able to lure some players. There's very little incentive to stay in the D-League for how much it pays. Money is still money, and of course even if it is "only" $3 million, owners don't want to burn that amount on a yearly basis if they don't have to.

Right now in terms of how the D-League is developing players, there also probably isn't enough incentive for owners to want to put in the money. In a perfect world, the D-League would be a league where there is a lot of time allowed for practice and training. Teams would put a lot of money into trainers and skill developers, and it will be in the players contracts to have to work with those people.

So a player would spend a good chunk of his time working on the weaknesses in his game and improving their skill level, and they would play 1 or 2 games a week. Right now they play 50 games and they even have back to back games. While playing games is important in learning and improving, skill development is even more important and that happens outside the court, and some players can't be trusted to do it properly on their own during the off-season. If the league was set up in a manner where players are put into sort of a "forced" skill development position, then it might become a more beneficial thing. Teams have shooting coaches and just skill coaches in general, and it isn't an optional thing for a guy like Dawson just to give a Clippers example to be working 2 hours a day on non game days with his shooting coach, it is mandatory. Cut down the amount of games to 35 or 40 in order to have more times for practice and skill development.

...but I don't know, I'm just throwing out ideas.

TucsonClip · Post #11 » by **TucsonClip** » Fri Apr 15, 2016 8:20 pm

TucsonClip wrote:Somewhat on topic:

Why the Clippers need a D-League affiliate.

http://clipperholics.com/2016/01/16/clippers-need-nba-d-league-affiliate/

http://upsidemotor.com/2016/04/15/d-league-team-clippers-bakersfield-expansion-2016-17-affiliate/

Like I said, it was only a matter of time... Glad the cat is officially out of the bag.

Post #12 » by **og15** » Fri Apr 15, 2016 8:37 pm

Excellent, I hope this goes through

nickhx2 · Post #13 » by **nickhx2** » Fri Apr 15, 2016 8:41 pm

Forte IV · Post #14 » by **Forte IV** » Fri Apr 15, 2016 9:48 pm

[tweet]https://twitter.com/DanWoikeSports/status/721092374860943361[/tweet]

ejftw · Post #15 » by **ejftw** » Fri Apr 15, 2016 11:05 pm

Perfect place for Jankovic

But really, hope Doc actually plays whoever we end up with.

Forte IV · Post #16 » by **Forte IV** » Fri Apr 15, 2016 11:56 pm

Knowing Doc he'll draft another shooter

nickhx2 · Post #17 » by **nickhx2** » Sat Apr 16, 2016 12:03 am

"you can never have enough shooters"

Post #18 » by **og15** » Sat Apr 16, 2016 3:10 am

If the Clippers can somehow get a guy like Taurean Prince, that's the type of player that could be valuable as a two way wing and who can contribute right away. If he can be had with the 25th pick, that would be great, then with the 33rd pick the Clippers can look at someone like Brice Johnson or on of the other bigs, or even another wing like DeAndre Bembry. I'm a big fan of guys who can become great role players with picks like these as opposed to trying to find the next star and getting a guy that doesn't contribute.

Another thing I like about Prince from what I'm reading is that he's got a "mature" body, and he has a good mix of size and length where he can play as a small ball 4 and will not be overpowered. I don't know much about him in terms of personality and such though, so that could be a factor.

On another note, I saw Dejounte Murray currently ranked 33rd, and is it just me or does the description of him and the video footage remind anyone else of Jamal Crawford? lol

Anyways, continuing, I'm a bit partial to the other guys who will be more ready to contribute though while still having some upside. That's why I like Prince and also Bembry as young wings who can mix it up on the glass and have potential on defense and solid potential two way wings. They don't have any star potential, and maybe they are "safer" picks, but that is not a bad thing necessarily.

Another guy that seems interesting is Petr Corneli as a big who can shoot and is also mobile and "shows great potential defensively", but with his thinner frame and foul prone nature, he seems like a guy that will need more time.

I like the plan of trying to stock pile the wings, but the problem is that based on the current rankings, those are the only two wings I'd really want the team to get. The other guys don't intruige me as much when it comes to defensive potential.

Dynamix · Post #19 » by **Dynamix** » Sat Apr 16, 2016 3:53 am

nickhx2 wrote:"you can never have enough shooters"

In the D-League.

Don Tommy · Post #20 » by **Don Tommy** » Sat Apr 16, 2016 6:11 am

I tried watching D League games, but like what was said earlier, there is no system, just chucking up shots hoping to inflate numbers. Maybe we can break that trend by actually working with the team to implement some of our defensive strategies. We have no offensive strategies, just let CP3 create or Jamal shoot the ball.
Run different versions of the pick and roll, set good screens, learn how to get open for a good three point shot and the rest is easy.