Official 2017 Draft Thread - Something Positive To Look Forward To

[DayofMourning]

UCLA at 1030
Arizona at 1100

After tonight's games, it'll be Saturday before we get some solid prospects to see.

[Feel_the_Heat15]

If we can't get Jackson, Ball or Fultz then we should really think about drafting Monk. Odds are high that'll he'll drop to 7 or 8 with Tatum and Markkanen being picked ahead of him. Don't know if I'd take Monk over either of them but he has a set of offensive skills that you don't usually see in the lottery from a prospect. At worst, I think he'll be less disappointing than Ben McLemore as a shooter.

[gom]

No love for Porkfingaz and Myles Turner?

I'm not using hindsight on this one. At the time of the draft, based on my personal preferences, I'd have them pretty close to that ranking. I loved Embiid about as much as you could a prospect. The same with Towns. If JJ had a better looking jumper with some smoothed out mechanics, then he could challenge their positioning. That'd be tough though. The top two are the best two prospects.

I didn't have a strong opinion of Kristaps when he was drafted. There was ONE poster on this board that I can remember actually vouching for him, and vouching for him hard. As for Turner, I'm not as high on him as the rest of you, though I would have been content with drafting him at ten if Justise hadn't fallen. Both have some flaws though, but have shown some nice potential thus far.

My bad, didn't thoroughly read the part about it being a' time of the draft' based list

Up early and my head's already spinning

What he's trying to do is very difficult since every season is different and the prospects play against different opposition. Unless you watch college basketball, you'll have a very warped view of things, because NBA folks only start paying attention to draft picks watching highlight reels and maybe the NCAA championship games. I maintain that it is better to compare classes within the programs though.

in 2013-14, Wiggins and Embiid were taking Kansas to the top until they lost to Villanova, so this year's team may finish higher. Note, however, this year Josh Jackson is not carrying the team as much as even Mason is, but we're early on still. Embiid was a historically good center too. His footwork was phenomenal, and JJ plays a different position (G) than Wiggins (SF). That's why Wiggins and Embiid were incredible -> because they were perfect together. The 2014-15 team with Oubre was unspectacular: a third round exit. Last year's team was an elite eight exit, which is only disappointing for Kansas. Perry Ellis, Frank Mason, and Wayne Selden were the best players, imo.

For Duke, this year Giles and Tatum haven't even played that much. The team is very good, but it's Allen, Kennard, and Jackson who are beasting. The only game they have lost was to Kansas. Last year it was Allen, Kennard, and Ingram, and by now they had lost only to Kentucky, but would finish lower, getting knocked out in the Sweet Sixteen. For all the talent, it wasn't a great run at all. The year before Winslow & Okafor took them to the national championship and Winslow had the most rebounds 7 out of the last 8 games in the run. That team also had the then-freshman Grayson Allen, so he's been on all three teams. If you are comparing accomplishments you have to give the group that beat Wisconsin the advantage over Tatum, Giles, and Ingram so far, but there you go: Okafor isn't as highly regarded anymore and Winslow has struggled shooting. College success is no guarantee. I think it's a good argument to keep guys like Quinn Cook and Grayson Allen in mind though. Clearly they have led the team well. Cook is in the D-League.

Kentucky has lost one game this year (to Ball's UCLA). This is a team with Malik Monk, De'Aaron Fox, and Adebayo. Calipari is playing without a center this season. They look very strong. Last year's team was a DISASTER, a second round exit, with Murray, Poythress, Labissiere... Murray getting a top 10 booking here was pretty lucky given his poor outings. The previous year they had Willie Cauley-Stein, KAT, the Harrisons, Kevin Booker, and Dakari Johnson, so riches to rags right? That was one of the strongest Kentucky teams in a long while. How far did they go? They lost to Frank Kaminsky's Wisconsin team in the final four.

Just giving some perspective from a different angle.

[MartyCONLONNN]

I wouldn't worry too much about a JJ/Winslow fit if somehow that panned out. What I think would happen in that case though, would be something a lot of posters on here may consider unpopular.

Because of that defensive versatility, yet very obvious spacing problem it's an almost certainty that Spo will go with a 4 out and have Winslow as a playmaking 4 (JJ would be interchangeable at the 2 & 3). Basically we would need to rely on J Rich and TJ even more as floor spacers and IMO it definitely would not work with Dragic. Whoever ultimately starts at the 1 would be better served as a Mario Chalmers role too btw as to not take away from Winslow and JJs strengths of being playmakers and facilitating the offense.

so hypothetically a lineup of: TJ, J RICH, JJ, Winslow, HASSAN makes a lot of sense. But considering how much money we'd have the next two years maybe you can plug in a versatile wing like Hayward in there. Point being though if we draft JJ, we can't just sign any free agent. Cousins, Wall, Westbrook, even second tier guys like Milsap... all weird fits next to Justise and JJ if they were to be the building blocks (along with Hassan) of our starting lineup

[twix2500]

Interesting that there is little talk about Miles Bridges

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[twix2500]

I wouldn't worry too much about a JJ/Winslow fit if somehow that panned out. What I think would happen in that case though, would be something a lot of posters on here may consider unpopular.

Because of that defensive versatility, yet very obvious spacing problem it's an almost certainty that Spo will go with a 4 out and have Winslow as a playmaking 4 (JJ would be interchangeable at the 2 & 3). Basically we would need to rely on J Rich and TJ even more as floor spacers and IMO it definitely would not work with Dragic. Whoever ultimately starts at the 1 would be better served as a Mario Chalmers role too btw as to not take away from Winslow and JJs strengths of being playmakers and facilitating the offense.

so hypothetically a lineup of: TJ, J RICH, JJ, Winslow, HASSAN makes a lot of sense. But considering how much money we'd have the next two years maybe you can plug in a versatile wing like Hayward in there. Point being though if we draft JJ, we can't just sign any free agent. Cousins, Wall, Westbrook, even second tier guys like Milsap... all weird fits next to Justise and JJ if they were to be the building blocks (along with Hassan) of our starting lineup

I wouldn't be too concerned about the drafting of a complimentary piece. Remember we drafted Wade who didn't compliment the roster at the time. Likely the Heat will draft the player that they feel has the most potential.

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[MartyCONLONNN]

Interesting that there is little talk about Miles Bridges

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drooling to think of what Spo and the staff could do with this guy. Seems like a classic Heat build and I generally like Izzos taste in players. DX has him as the 14th pick, which is right around the range of something we'd get if we flipped Dragic.

[Bishop45]

If we can't get Jackson, Ball or Fultz then we should really think about drafting Monk. Odds are high that'll he'll drop to 7 or 8 with Tatum and Markkanen being picked ahead of him. Don't know if I'd take Monk over either of them but he has a set of offensive skills that you don't usually see in the lottery from a prospect. At worst, I think he'll be less disappointing than Ben McLemore as a shooter.

Love Monk, wouldn't be disappointed at all. A wing, forward, Center, PG, doesn't really matter which position we cater to in our position, just as long as it's BPA

[QUIZ]

Since he hasn't played yet, although tourney hasn't happened yet, does Ben Simmons still land top 5 in this draft? Never really was in love with him, I think he'd be a 4+

IDK but this past draft class is looking really bad right now.

I think it's way too early to judge how Simmons will turn out. In college, he was quite good. In this draft, he would be seen as the same kind of player as Josh Jackson, but better, so yeah, definitely top 5. Probably 2 or 3, depending on how you rank the others.

I think in general people overvalue picks and put too much pressure on the young players to succeed. They are all question marks until they show they can survive in the league. Every season we see duds.

I just think relative to last years draft this years class has been very underwhelming. Kinda like the 13 draft class.

[QUIZ]

IDK but this past draft class is looking really bad right now.

I think it's way too early to judge how Simmons will turn out. In college, he was quite good. In this draft, he would be seen as the same kind of player as Josh Jackson, but better, so yeah, definitely top 5. Probably 2 or 3, depending on how you rank the others.

I think in general people overvalue picks and put too much pressure on the young players to succeed. They are all question marks until they show they can survive in the league. Every season we see duds.

I've actually got JJ and Fultz ahead of Simmons. Simmons was an elite rebounder and very good ballhandler, but an average defender and worse shooter than JJ.

Off the top of my head, over the past few drafts, I'd rank the prospects at the time of the draft something like this:

Embiid
Towns
JJ
Fultz
Simmons
Wiggins
Ball
Ingram
Russell
DSJ

Might tinker with that to some degree on the mid to lower end, but that top three feels pretty solid to me.

What do you think JJ's floor/ceiling is?

[DayofMourning]

Spoiler:

I think it's way too early to judge how Simmons will turn out. In college, he was quite good. In this draft, he would be seen as the same kind of player as Josh Jackson, but better, so yeah, definitely top 5. Probably 2 or 3, depending on how you rank the others.

I think in general people overvalue picks and put too much pressure on the young players to succeed. They are all question marks until they show they can survive in the league. Every season we see duds.

I've actually got JJ and Fultz ahead of Simmons. Simmons was an elite rebounder and very good ballhandler, but an average defender and worse shooter than JJ.

Off the top of my head, over the past few drafts, I'd rank the prospects at the time of the draft something like this:

Embiid
Towns
JJ
Fultz
Simmons
Wiggins
Ball
Ingram
Russell
DSJ

Might tinker with that to some degree on the mid to lower end, but that top three feels pretty solid to me.

What do you think JJ's floor/ceiling is?

Hmmm. He reminds me of guys like McGrady and George in some ways.

He's a good rebounder, nice facilitator, top notch defender, and very capable scorer. That last bit is the one piece of his game that we haven't had a chance to see at Kansas. Due to the team he's on, he doesn't get the volume scoring opportunities. I'd love to see him get a chance to let loose and just wreck people at the college level. His ability to distribute the ball and find opportunities for himself is pretty rare at this size.

With his intellect, skill set, and aggressive nature I think he will meet expectations. I just don't see him failing. As far as definitive floor and ceiling, its hard to say. I think he will be George level as a baseline. He's a very well rounded player. He plays well with the ball, without the ball, offense, defense, etc.

Was checking his stats, and per 36 he's averaging 19 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks. If he was shooting better on threes and frees he'd be averaging over 20 a game as a freshman. Pretty good.

For comparison, per bkref, Wiggins shot the ball at 44% his freshman year. JJ's shooting it at 54%. Per 40 minutes, Wiggins averaged a rebound less, 2 assists less, and roughly 1 block and 1 steal less than JJ's per 36 numbers.

[leoshes]

I would trade everyone not named Whiteside for any of Ball, Jackson, Fultz, Smith jr, & maybe even Giles.

Would you trade Whiteside for 2 of those guys?

No i would not. They are great prospects, but unknown commodities. They could become stars, just as easy as they can become D William/M Beasley. Whiteside is already one of this leagues best rim protectors, rebounders, & shotblocker, + he is only 27. During the time of the big three we all were dying for someone like Whiteside, & now that we finally got him, we are going to trade him? No thats ok, he is the defensive anchor we need. Now we need better perimeter players.

[twix2500]

Watch on YouTube

Robert Williams of Texas A&M a player that not getting a lot of attention right now that the Heat should keep an eye on. 6'10 long athletic very good freshman big man who can play the 4 and 5

[Duke4life831]

Ill post this here as well. Gary Parrish released his draft board. This is his top 5 for those that dont want to click the link

1. Tatum
2. Fultz
3. Jackson
4. DSJ
5. Giles

Read on Twitter

[DayofMourning]

Thanks for posting D4L.

I'm thinking that we ought to get used to the sound of Lauri Markkanen.

[Duke4life831]

Thanks for posting D4L.

I'm thinking that we ought to get used to the sound of Lauri Markkanen.

I dont think thats a bad thing to be quite honest. He gives you guys some needed shooting and offensive skill, should fit extremely well next to Whiteside, his two biggest holes are rim protection and rebounding, Whiteside does plenty of that.

[Duke4life831]

I will say as an outsider I have always liked posting here in the Miami board. Been posting here every once in awhile since you guys picked up Justise and its always a good solid discussion. Plus you guys have a legit open draft discussion which I like. I wont name the teams board but some places can just be an echo chamber. One person says something and everyone just follows suit even if they barely know the player theyre talking about. Love a good open discussion.

[Bishop45]

Actually had someone tell me Tatum was a better prospect than JJ a few days ago, didn't bother arguing because I don't know these kids that well but I thought it was interesting

I like Lauri's skillet but I don't want unless he's BPA

[Duke4life831]

Actually had someone tell me Tatum was a better prospect than JJ a few days ago, didn't bother arguing because I don't know these kids that well but I thought it was interesting

I like Lauri's skillet but I don't want unless he's BPA

I personally think hes a better prospect but more than willing that could just be my Duke bias on that one. I can totally understand why someone will like Jackson over him. I just think Tatum's skill set is unlike anyone Ive seen at this age. The jumper is pure, has great handles for a 6'9 guy and is just one of those guys that can make tough contested shots. Hes also a good defender which I dont think many people realized. Not the defender Jackson is though.

As long as no one slides, if you pick up Markkanen Id say 8th or later its a good pick. Anything higher its a reach.

[gom]

Ill post this here as well. Gary Parrish released his draft board. This is his top 5 for those that dont want to click the link

1. Tatum
2. Fultz
3. Jackson
4. DSJ
5. Giles

Read on Twitter

Tatum has played 73 minutes in his 3 games. He does lead the team in my favorite stat: ws per 40 mn.
Giles has not stepped onto the court.

I think I'll reserve judgment for now.