VCfor3 wrote:jman3134 wrote:VCfor3 wrote:We are getting close to the point where it no longer makes sense for Memphis to use a future 1st to trade into this draft. I trust our FO, but it still is a relief that we aren't burning assets for someone who likely isn't worth it.
I said it to one of the guys, think it was Whole Truth, that this year's class isn't where it is at (when our FO was supposedly trading into this draft). You can get some more ready talent in the back end of the draft, but I'm not impressed by the first round this year.
I don't think it makes sense to trade into this draft unless we get RJ Hampton or Bey. Hampton is criminally underrated in my mind.
RJ scares me a bit but I don't trust my evaluation at all since it is biased and mostly based on him not playing well during the preseason scrimmage last year. Still he'd be a solid get and I like Bey. I still wouldn't use a 1st though simply because I don't think we have any 1sts that are truly late anytime soon. I think our picks will be lottery or not too far outside of it the next couple years. The Utah pick could be very late lottery or just outside of it. The GSW pick could end up quite good.
At his age, the jump up in level means that it takes time to adjust for everyone, with the exception of KG and Lebron. Even Kobe improved dramatically from his first season in the league. As a rule of thumb, you can't rely on overseas production to evaluate 19 year olds. Look at what happened with Brandon Jennings who sat on the bench in Europe, only to thrive in the NBA. The game is also different and RJ Hampton has the speed and burst to thrive in the NBA.
While it is difficult to evaluate guys from high school on an apples to apples basis, I feel like there should be something similar to breakout age (used in the NFL) for the NBA.