2013 NBA draft prospects chatter

[Stun704]

From Bonnell's article on the Bobcats' horrible performance last night:

The Bobcats have burned through 10 lottery picks in nine drafts with remarkably little to show for it. That’s no one person’s fault. But something has to change.

I hope we can change it this year.

I am going to be blunt about the bobcats drafts....i am sick of projects, raw players, flawed players with intangibles, college winners, hometown heros and tweeners...i just want guy that are gifted and can play is that too much to ask? I dont hate MKG or Biz but I think there were players in these last two drafts that were much better fits and would able to contribute more earlier.

The thing is almost every player has some type of flaw coming out of the draft unless you're Lebron James. what your asking for is a generational talent, and that only comes around once in a generation..

[Stun704]

.... okay then, who should we have drafted if we don't allow projects, raw players, flawed players with intangibles, college winners, hometown heroes, or tweeners?


Better yet, what specific category of player doesn't fit into a single one of those?

The Andrew Wiggins category.

Remember with OJ Mayo was hyped as the next Lebron? you want us to tank another season inorder to get a player who would be redundant with MKG?

[Stun704]

People are hating on Biz when they forget a player like Bynum looked like horse **** until around his 4th year. Ben Wallace was trash until he got to detroit. give the kid some time

[countryboi]

I understand that every player has flaws but some are much much bigger than others..IE MKG jump shot is much worse of a flaw than Harrison Barnes ball handling issues.

[Bassman]

The Cat's draft choices were typically made for the wrong reasons:

> Okafor - Can't argue with this choice; at the time he and Howard were considered tops in the class. Mek underperformed at times, but mostly we had to pay him market-level money for average production, and he wasn't worth it.

The disasters that brought us here were laid in drafts after Okafor:

> Disaster #1 - Felton and May: Both players picked for the WRONG reasons (Carolina, sell seats) when there were many better options available. You could make an argument for Felton at 5, but NOT for May at 13 when Danny Grainger was still available. When you consider that we (reportedly) could have traded both pics to move up to 3rd and get Chris Paul, it is really bad.

> Disaster #2 - Morrison - the bust of busts. He was also chosen for all the wrong reasons (to sell seats, he was white, name recognition). Adam never had the athleticism or skill for the NBA game and was a disaster. Rudy Gay should have been the pick here, but it was a weaker draft overall.

> Wright (traded), Dudley: We draft Wright to trade him versus picking Joakim Noah, then make a good later selection of Dudley, only to trade him away after he becomes valuable. Yes the trades helped us aquire some talent, so there was at least some asset value.

> 2008 - draft disaster part 3: We pick a midget PG in Agustine instead of Brook Lopez, despite our desperate need for a big man, then make a trade to get another pick and use it on a project in Alexis Ajinca (sound familiar?). When the other bigs we were targeting there were already gone we pick the french bean over Ryan Anderson who would have been a far better choice. Both players eventually were not re-signed and lost for zero compensation.

We've discussed and continue to discuss the quality of our more recent picks beginning with Henderson, but had we made REASONABLE decisions on players based upon projected ability in the NBA game versus picking names to enhance the brand, or reaches on projects, we'd have a heck of a team now. And don't give me the "Monday morning QB" crap. Plenty of us on here wanted the players I have pointed to instead of the junk selections made, specifically because they had the right stuff to play in this league. None of those we should have picked are superstarts (excpet for Paul) but several all-star games later, they are quality players.

[Eoghan]

I understand that every player has flaws but some are much much bigger than others..IE MKG jump shot is much worse of a flaw than Harrison Barnes ball handling issues.

You can teach MKG how to shoot a basketball, you can't teach Barnes to not play like a ghost most of the game.

"All we ever do is draft projects, I'm tired of it!" That is the funniest thing I've ever heard.
Charlotte 1st round picks:
Okafor
Felton
May
Morrison
Wright (traded)
Dudley
Augustin
Ajinca- project (20th pick)
Henderson
Kemba
Biyombo - project
MKG - project

All of them considered safe, productive college guys except for basically Biz, MKG and Ajinca which at 20th overall wouldn't be worth discussing if we hadn't of traded up to get him.

So in the 2nd year of the rebuild, a bunch of yall are tired of incomplete grades? C'mon guys, re-up on your ADHD meds and chill a bit. Y'all are fretting worse than Royce White standing in line for airplane tickets.

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Wow, those college games were horrible last night. I watched UNLV mostly b/c I figure Kansas is a lock to go deep in the tourney but Bennett struggled a lot too. Fresno St swarmed on him in the paint. Did learn something interesting though, one of the announcers said that he has asthma. That explains the suspect hustle and stamina concerns. As a fellow asthma sufferer, I find this disconcerting enough that Bennett takes a back seat to Shabazz, McLemore and Noel on draft day.

[Badd_Intentions]

I will say for some post guys it can be tough to get clean looks in college ball b/c of the rules teams are allowed to clog the paint. I didn't see the game, but just throwing it out there. not all that high on Bennett myself though. I have Bazz on the top of my board and will try to catch the ucla game hopefully after state beats dook...

[BlackOutBuzz]

@Dave^^Not to make light of the condition (my fiancee has it), but I find it interesting that asthma is a "red flag" to you yet you wanted White...who's condition(s) seem(s) to be a much greater obstacle (or at least have been thus far). Either way I'm not really in the Bennett camp.

Maybe this isn't the right thread, but I just listened to WFNZ's Zarzour and James speak on the Bobcats on my drive home. Zarzour actually seemed like he had some grasp on what we're doing here, but wouldn't outright oppose James' ignorant opinions.

"If the Bobcats had just held on to Felton, Chandler, Wallace, Jackson, and Diaw they'd be in the running for the 6-7 seed right now." Ya think?

"If you could go back to the 2011 draft I think you take Brandon Knight and Kawhi Leonard." Hard to argue with Kawhi, but Knight?

He pretty much wants us to go all out the offseason in doing whatever it takes to get back on the treadmill. I'm sure he has no knowledge of the prospects in the 2014 draft.

[Liver_Pooty]

@Dave^^Not to make light of the condition (my fiancee has it), but I find it interesting that asthma is a "red flag" to you yet you wanted White...who's condition(s) seem(s) to be a much greater obstacle (or at least have been thus far). Either way I'm not really in the Bennett camp.

Maybe this isn't the right thread, but I just listened to WFNZ's Zarzour and James speak on the Bobcats on my drive home. Zarzour actually seemed like he had some grasp on what we're doing here, but wouldn't outright oppose James' ignorant opinions.

"If the Bobcats had just held on to Felton, Chandler, Wallace, Jackson, and Diaw they'd be in the running for the 6-7 seed right now." Ya think?

"If you could go back to the 2011 draft I think you take Brandon Knight and Kawhi Leonard." Hard to argue with Kawhi, but Knight?

He pretty much wants us to go all out the offseason in doing whatever it takes to get back on the treadmill. I'm sure he has no knowledge of the prospects in the 2014 draft.

I don't mind the losing, but its the way we lose. Losing like the Cavaliers, Pistons, or Raptors do most of the time in a good half decent game is just fine to me in a rebuilding effort, but we've now lost 9 or 10 games the past season and a half by 30+ points. Thats just unacceptable.

[BlackOutBuzz]

I'd definitely prefer to be more competitive, but honestly it doesn't bother me that much anymore. If this continues after the 2014 draft then I'll likely be fed up, but for now I'm good with staying the course and getting a top prospect for the next 2 years.

[Kembastockton]

Got to be patient guys we have been a bad team for awhile. No need to get frustrated now that we have a positive direction. We have a young star and a potential, three future picks, and cap space. We will likely loose in all honestly for the next two years. Our young guys have to gain experience, and we have to aquire depth. If you seriously want this team to be competitive soon you might as well join the Heat or Thunder bandwagon, because it is not going to happen. However this team is going to be very good when the page finally turns.

To the guy who insists Barnes ball handling is less serious than MKG's shooting, have you played basketball before? Ball handling and shooting are both all about muscle memory, and shooting requires less mechanics.
I don't understand why you guys are so high Barnes anyway. He isn't performing better MKG anyway even though he is older.

[HornetJail]

Got to be patient guys we have been a bad team for awhile. No need to get frustrated now that we have a positive direction. We have a young star and a potential, three future picks, and cap space. We will likely loose in all honestly for the next two years. Our young guys have to gain experience, and we have to aquire depth. If you seriously want this team to be competitive soon you might as well join the Heat or Thunder bandwagon, because it is not going to happen. However this team is going to be very good when the page finally turns.

Thank you. This entire board in general needs more reason in this matter.

[misterglover]

I dont mind the losing either, but its how we lose and I just dont see very much potential on this team at all and I was listening to both the Frank Garcia & The Drive on the radio as well today and seems thats how alot of folks feel...we just have no talent and even though we are rebuilding none of our young guys really look that promising. So where's the hope thats whats most disappointing to me

[penquin11]

Im tired of the Bobcats being so terrible, its not just that we fail at drafting, its also been about poor coaching for the last few years. I know that the current Bobcats squad is bad, but there is no way that we should be getting absolutely killed by a team like the Cavs who are missing their 2nd best player and are just as young as we are. Heck, for most teams beating the Cavs is easy- force Kyrie to be his teams entire offense and exploit the Cavs general lack of Defense- but we couldn't even do that, and really with the way we played Im not even sure that they needed Kyrie to beat us in the first place. That is pathetic.

With that stated I think that the Bobcats should go big or go home, and Im not talking about a Biyombo like pick, Im talking more about a Drummond like selection- a guy who clearly has an NBA body to go along with great Athleticism and who has shown the capability to play at a NBA Caliber level (aka- not Biyombo). In this draft, if we are lucky enough to nail a top 2 pick, there are 2 players who clearly fit that description; McLemore and Bazz. Both are good shooters (with McLemore being a great shooter) who have displayed great athleticism and who are oozing with potential.

What I don't want to see the Bobcats do is settle for an overrated bigman with a top 2 selection. Zeller doesn't strike me as a guy who has the potential to be an NBA all-star, he could very well be a solid starter, but if we have a top 5 pick we need to be looking for a franchise changer- not a solid starter (I preach the same strategy for football drafting; dream big or don't dream at all). However, given the lack of obvious talent in this years draft, I wouldn't be too upset if we ended up grabbing Zeller with the 4th or 5th pick.

Noel could become a franchise changer, but he doesn't have the strength to be a Center right out of college and certainly seems like he is miles away from being an offensive presence, all in all I see him as being too much a risk to draft. That stated I would rank Noel as the 3rd best player behind Bazz and McLemore for the sole fact that he has a ton of upside and is a great defender.

Marcus Smart plays PG, which is our area of strength, however even given his talents he doesn't strike me as being fast enough to be an NBA-allstar, and he isn't a great shooter either. That stated Smart could very well turn out to be a Jrue Holiday clone one day- a guy who is a solid starting PG, but we already have Walker who I like even more.

Anthony Bennet- a 6'7 tweener who is a highlight threat. My issue with him is that he is short for a PF while not being a great rebounder or defender either. I wouldn't be too disspointed if we selected him with a top 10 pick, but I would be pissed if we did with a top 3.

[Kembastockton]

I dont mind the losing either, but its how we lose and I just dont see very much potential on this team at all and I was listening to both the Frank Garcia & The Drive on the radio as well today and seems thats how alot of folks feel...we just have no talent and even though we are rebuilding none of our young guys really look that promising. So where's the hope thats whats most disappointing to me

Talk about the glass is half empty! None of our guys look that promising? Okay fella. No Kemba is looking down right mediocre. Even though he is currently having a better season than Raymond Felton, Darren Collison, Jeremy Lin, Ty Lawson, and DERRONE WILLIAMS. Naaw that's not promising at all for a second year point guard.

Penguin, no offense Kidd, but you are tripping about the Cavs. The Cavaliers have a franchise player, a pure scorer at the two, and two bigs who actually have post games. A great pointguard and a big who can score can be a lethal combination. Just because you wish we were better doesn't mean that you should over look the strides that the Cavs have made. And do keep in mind that they began their rebuild before we did. I agree with you that we need impact players regardless of the position. But at the same time we have to build our bench as well. The best starting five in the nba doesn't play their starters 48 minutes, 82 games per year. That is one of the reason that Cho drafts the bpa regardless of position. Someone brought up the Adam Morrison draft earlier. The Adam Morrison draft is another great example of why you draft the bpa regardless of position. We drafted Adam, because we had Gerald Wallace, and planned to play Adam at the two. We ended up drafting a player who could not make it in the nba, because the player we should have picked played the same position as our best player. To quote Cho, " We draft for talent and trade for need." The point is that this could take time. Everyone is so goo goo eyed over the Clippers. Everyone has forgotten that they were bad consistently for almost twenty years!

[penquin11]

I will say that what Kemba is doing this year has been terrific. He clearly is a much better player than last year and if he is to make the same jump from this year to next year then he will be an NBA-allstar.

[JMAC3]

I know people want to say every shooting guard that has top 5 potential has Dwyane Wade potential, but I never seen that with Beal or even McLemore who are more shooters then scorers. If there is one player in this years draft that compares to Wade it is Marcus Smart.

Smart is 6-4 225 with what appear to be long arms. He has the handles and playmaking ability of a point guard, but the strength and scoring ability of a shooting guard. Watching him play reminds me of Wade because he is a great shot blocker for his size, can rebound over big men, and is dangerous in open court. He is also a really good defender and is averaging almost 3 steals a game.

His offensive game needs more work, but he has the handles and confidence that a guard needs in the NBA and the size and athleticism to finish in the paint. He needs to work on his shot, because he is streaky, but the mechanics look good and he can create his own shot whenever he wants.

I see him as Kyrie/Wade combo.

[misterglover]

I dont mind the losing either, but its how we lose and I just dont see very much potential on this team at all and I was listening to both the Frank Garcia & The Drive on the radio as well today and seems thats how alot of folks feel...we just have no talent and even though we are rebuilding none of our young guys really look that promising. So where's the hope thats whats most disappointing to me

Talk about the glass is half empty! None of our guys look that promising? Okay fella. No Kemba is looking down right mediocre. Even though he is currently having a better season than Raymond Felton, Darren Collison, Jeremy Lin, Ty Lawson, and DERRONE WILLIAMS. Naaw that's not promising at all for a second year point guard.

Whats your problem with someone having a different opinion than you....Kemba is a average at best player on a horrible team, somebody has to put up stats...they call those empty stats. You take off your rose colored glasses and tell me how you can look at this team and see any player that looks that promising?? We dont have one player on our team who should be starting on an NBA team right now unless its Sessions and he's our backup PG just signed to a 2yr deal...So who as an organization has the bobcats developed?? And whats so promising about a PG chucker, a big man that cant score, post properly or catch the ball and a SF that has a game built off energy w/ no jumper to speak of....you are blinded by your love of the bobcats. I refuse to sugarcoat something if it stinks and this stinks....

[penquin11]

I know people want to say every shooting guard that has top 5 potential has Dwyane Wade potential, but I never seen that with Beal or even McLemore who are more shooters then scorers. If there is one player in this years draft that compares to Wade it is Marcus Smart.

Smart is 6-4 225 with what appear to be long arms. He has the handles and playmaking ability of a point guard, but the strength and scoring ability of a shooting guard. Watching him play reminds me of Wade because he is a great shot blocker for his size, can rebound over big men, and is dangerous in open court. He is also a really good defender and is averaging almost 3 steals a game.

His offensive game needs more work, but he has the handles and confidence that a guard needs in the NBA and the size and athleticism to finish in the paint. He needs to work on his shot, because he is streaky, but the mechanics look good and he can create his own shot whenever he wants.

I see him as Kyrie/Wade combo.

I don't see it. Smart isn't the re-bounder that Wade was and isn't nearly as efficient. Reading the scouting report I see him as a Rodney Stuckey like player who can actually pass the ball- which means he is essentially Jrue Holiday.
I don't see McLemore as Wade, and I never came close to seeing Beal as Wade (or Allen for that matter), but I will say that McLemore is an extremely efficient scorer and a great athlete. He isn't a great passer by any means, but he isn't as terrible as everyone is making him out to be at the same time. I haven't watched him enough to see how good he is off the ball and haven't payed much attention to his D, but I will say that there aren't many holes in his game- and where there are holes they are very slight.

To the guy who insists Barnes ball handling is less serious than MKG's shooting, have you played basketball before? Ball handling and shooting are both all about muscle memory, and shooting requires less mechanics.
I don't understand why you guys are so high Barnes anyway. He isn't performing better MKG anyway even though he is older.

Ball handling is easy to teach, unless the guy just lacks hand strength it is more reliant on hand-eye coordination then it is Muscle memory. I would argue that with ball handling bad habits are easier to break then with shooting, but that is just my opinion.

[Eoghan]

@Dave^^Not to make light of the condition (my fiancee has it), but I find it interesting that asthma is a "red flag" to you yet you wanted White...who's condition(s) seem(s) to be a much greater obstacle (or at least have been thus far). Either way I'm not really in the Bennett camp.

Great question, I never really thought about comparing the two. The big difference is I wanted White who I considered a top 5 talent in the late 1st or the 2nd round. The reward outweighs the risk. Bennett will probably go in the top 5, so he needs to display a lot more talent IMO to validate the risk/reward of a top 5 pick. White's mental illness actually makes him a better basketball player according to him. Asthma doesn't make anybody a better athlete. White has no problem with his illness while actually playing basketball, it's the basketball-related NBA lifestyle stuff that he was upset about because there was no mental health protocol.

Looking forward to this Indiana Illinois game. Brandon Paul is kind of underrated.