Official Draft Thread 2015-16

[greenroom31]

Hield has to be judge within his consequences, you take Dunn and plug him in OU instead of Hield and he would run away with POY honors, not even close.

Your credibility is plummeting.

I kind of agree, a Dunn/Cousins back court would put up crazy points. Cousins might be the best three point shooter in Div 1, you putt Dunn on the team anud the floor opens up so much more

Dunn put up 5-20 last night against 8-14 Depaul. Meanwhile you know who else might be the best 3 point shooter in Div 1? Buddy Hield. He's shooting 51.7% on heavy volume (8.3 attempts per game). I'm sorry but the argument that Dunn would run away with POY and that it wouldn't be close based on the quality of teammates can only be held if you're a Dunn super-fan.

Dunn shoots under 70% from the FT line, so it's not like he's some champion shooter that gets held back by his teammates (who, by the way, beat #18 Butler a couple of weeks ago despite Dunn's 3-8 for 9 point performance, along with beating #4 Villanova a week ago despite Dunn's 5-10 for 13 point showing).

Hield meanwhile shoots almost 90% from the FT line, and hasn't really had a bad game ALL SEASON. His worst performance was in a blowout over Wisconsin when he shot 5-16 for 12 points on November 29.

[No-Man]

Seriously no one is making the case for Dunn been a better shooter than Hield, just that Hield plays in the best shooting team in the nation and it is not only him they have 4 starters over 40% and 2 over 50%, from 3.
Dunn is the best shooter in his team when you consider the volume, he plays with two bigs that shoot less than 30% from 3.
If you switch them, Dunn would run away with POY and win the whole damn thing, Dunn with that type of spacing would be putting even bigger numbers.

[greenroom31]

Seriously no one is making the case for Dunn been a better shooter than Hield, just that Hield plays in the best shooting team in the nation and it is not only him they have 4 starters over 40% and 2 over 50%, from 3.
Dunn is the best shooter in his team when you consider the volume, he plays with two bigs that shoot less than 30% from 3.
If you switch them, Dunn would run away with POY and win the whole damn thing, Dunn with that type of spacing would be putting even bigger numbers.

OR the ball would be in his hands too much, the team would be worse and his numbers might not even be that much better. Part of the reason the spacing IS better in OK probably has to do with the fact that no one is dominating the ball the way he does.

Also, simply saying that better floor spacing would make Dunn a runaway POY winner is only a supportable claim if you start by believing that Dunn is the best player and then work backwards to "he's being held back due to poor spacing". Just saying it doesn't make it true.

[24istheLAW]

Derozan didn't know WTF he was doing a lot coming into the league too. To his credit, he's a gym rat and learned the game in the NBA. Not common, but if Brown has similar love of the game / work ethic, he can develop that aspect. Not sure I'd risk the 3rd/4th pick on that though unless I was CERTAIN of his effort to improve himself a la Smart.

Mad respect for DeRozan for going from a raw athlete to a polished player who scores 20 ppg without a 3 point shot. But that's the last thing I want to place a bet on. I'm with BfB, I think the NBA game is going to be too fast for him.

[Gomes3PC]

Derozan didn't know WTF he was doing a lot coming into the league too. To his credit, he's a gym rat and learned the game in the NBA. Not common, but if Brown has similar love of the game / work ethic, he can develop that aspect. Not sure I'd risk the 3rd/4th pick on that though unless I was CERTAIN of his effort to improve himself a la Smart.

Mad respect for DeRozan for going from a raw athlete to a polished player who scores 20 ppg without a 3 point shot. But that's the last thing I want to place a bet on. I'm with BfB, I think the NBA game is going to be too fast for him.

Which is exactly what I said - that's a high-risk decision.

[Murta]

Would anyone here trade Simmons and DAL pick for Bender and Russel if we get pick #1 and Lakers get #3? I know I would.

[Edug27]

Would anyone here trade Simmons and DAL pick for Bender and Russel if we get pick #1 and Lakers get #3? I know I would.

Lakers would probably prefer giving up Randle instead. Simmons and Randle may not make the best pairing. Unless they just move Randle. Idk.

[Gomes3PC]

Why would you do that? What do we need Russell for?

[Murta]

Why would you do that? What do we need Russell for?

I just think Russell is a pretty good talent. There's a lot to hate about his game and there's a lot to love. He's only 19, he will improve. At the end of the day, Russell is a nice NBA player.

If someone thinks Simmons is the next LeBron, then there's no way that person does the deal. But I think he's more in line with Blake Griffin. So I'd gamble on trading Blake Griffin and mid-1st pick for poor man's healthy Kyrie and a 3rd pick.

[Edug27]

Why would you do that? What do we need Russell for?

I just think Russell is a pretty good talent. There's a lot to hate about his game and there's a lot to love. He's only 19, he will improve. At the end of the day, Russell is a nice NBA player.

If someone thinks Simmons is the next LeBron, then there's no way that person does the deal. But I think he's more in line with Blake Griffin. So I'd gamble on trading Blake Griffin and mid-1st pick for poor man's healthy Kyrie and a 3rd pick.

He's a better passer and ball handler than Griffin. I really hate that comparison. Just because he's tall, dunks, and doesn't have a 3ball.

[CeltsfanSinceBirth]

Would anyone here trade Simmons and DAL pick for Bender and Russel if we get pick #1 and Lakers get #3? I know I would.

I wouldn't, only because I don't know much about Bender. Could be like Porzingis....or he could be like Darko/Nikoloz Tskitishvili.

[Gomes3PC]

Bender's stats are pretty underwhelming, and I don't think Ainge seems inclined to take a big risk on a foreign prospect - just hasn't been his thing. Russell also just adds to the logjam we have at combo guard.

If the C's get the #1 pick, only thing I'd be willing to do is trade down to #2 if someone falls in love with Simmons, then "settle" for Ingram plus whatever sweetener the team trading with us needs to throw in to get Simmons.

[Homerclease]

Bender's stats are pretty underwhelming, and I don't think Ainge seems inclined to take a big risk on a foreign prospect - just hasn't been his thing. Russell also just adds to the logjam we have at combo guard.

If the C's get the #1 pick, only thing I'd be willing to do is trade down to #2 if someone falls in love with Simmons, then "settle" for Ingram plus whatever sweetener the team trading with us needs to throw in to get Simmons.

If the celtics get 1 and Philly 2 and they were to offer a kings randsom to drop a spot id jump all over it. I'm higher on Ingram than some but if the celtics could squeeze a high pick to move down I'd be hard pressed to say no

[Wes-J]

Assuming we land somewhere in the top 5, taking a foreign player at that spot doesn't seem like something Ainge would pull the trigger on. It's not every year you're fortunate to have a luxury pick like this and boy I just can't see him risking using the pick on a kid that would be difficult to project IMO.

[peachbucket]

Assuming we land somewhere in the top 5, taking a foreign player at that spot doesn't seem like something Ainge would pull the trigger on. It's not every year you're fortunate to have a luxury pick like this and boy I just can't see him risking using the pick on a kid that would be difficult to project IMO.

I definitely wouldn't rule it out. Jackie Mac already mentioned they are taking a hard look at Bender. Despite AInge's history of foreign aversion, he did draft a raw Al Jefferson right out of high school based strictly on talent. One thing I'm sure of is that Ainge will be swinging for the fences with the Brooklyn pick.

Considering what he was willing to give up for Winslow, I think we could very well end up with Brandon Ingram on draft night...even if we drop down to 5th.

If Philly ends up with #2 and we end up with #5 then I don't think Philly will say no to a pick swap and adding the 2018 Brooklyn pick. Sixers have entered win now mode with Colangelo and an NBA ready Dunn makes more sense for them than waiting for Ingram to put on 25 lbs.

[skywalker33]

Sixers in a win-now mode ?? Do agree with the Dunn pick/trade as 76ers need a PG in the worst sort of way.

[greenroom31]

Sixers have entered win now mode

I think you meant the Sixers are in "Win?? NOW???" mode

[Kenhov]

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=14701707

I don't know about you guys but this kid is SPECIAL.

If we get the number 1 pick and get BEn Simmons its a game changer for the prospects of Dynasty.

[DoubleHappiness]

Yeah Bender is the big hang up in that proposed trade. Does anyone else know much about him besides stats: how comfortable he looks, if he has tendencies that make him want to dominate, how he does in traffic or in big moments?

D'angelo to me isn't really like Kyrie. Kyrie is and probably always will be a better scorer while D'angelo is a better passer and has better vision -- even right now imo. But I get the sentiment as far as the comparison goes (and they are both good, although slightly different pick & roll player)s.

D'angelo is only 5 months younger than Simmons too. I don't do that trade specifically because I don't know enough about Bender, and I haven't seen enough of Simmons, only seen two or three LSU games -- in which he was unimpressive. I have missed all the explosion games so I can't tell how he would translate. However, I think it is safe to say that D'angelo has a very good chance of being a high impact player -- unless B. Scott completely screws it up.

[DoubleHappiness]

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=14701707

I don't know about you guys but this kid is SPECIAL.

If we get the number 1 pick and get BEn Simmons its a game changer for the prospects of Dynasty.

Just looked up his advanced numbers. Pretty good stuff. Not as good as Towns were but still quite high. Does anyone know what advanced stats in college correlate well to NBA success?

I remember reading something specifically about steals, and I am surprised Ben Simmons steal numbers are so high (1.8/gm)(8th in SEC in steal pct). What other stats should we be looking at?