2013-2014 College Basketball / '14 NBA Draft Thread

[6ersfolife]

Franchise Caliber
1) Joel Embiid

All Stars
2) Jabari Parker
3) Andrew Wiggins
4) Dante Exum

NBA Starters
5) Noah Vonleh
6) Marcus Smart
7) Tyler Ennis
8) Gary Harris
9) KJ McDaniels

Role Players with Starter Potential
10) Aaron Gordon
11) Julius Randle
12) PJ Hairston
13) Kyle Anderson
14) Jusuf Nurkic

How's is Julius Randle not a starter? Embiid also is way overhyped.

Agree 100% Julius Randle is a beast and will wind up one of if not the best player in this draft. I would be ecstatic to have him and Noel as our front court anchors.

[Negrodamus]

Wow, Jerami Grant and James Young are better than Julius Randle? Young has no business in the draft and Jerami Grant is a direct beneficiary of Ennis setting him up. Ennis should be higher than those two too.

I wouldnt make a big argument for any of the players from 9 through 14. For me, it comes down to bust potential and ceiling. Julius Randle, while a gifted athlete, does not have a game that will easily translate to the pros. He could be Paul Milsap, which would be very good. But much of Milsaps game is effort, and I have to assume Randle is going to give that kind of effort. I cant assume that, so he has major bust potential, IMO.
I would have Ennis higher than Jerami Grant, but Ennis has a low ceiling. He may be no better than Ray Felton when all is said and done. Grant is one of the 5 best athletes in this draft. I think he has the best defensive potential of all the SF's in the draft outside of Wiggins.
I think James Young is the best pro prospect on Kentucky, and his game will translate to the pros. He has the size a and tools to be a good 2-way NBA SG. He will have to go to a team that will run him off screens and develop him as a catch and shoot player, because he has a weak handle. If he had a handle, I would have no question about him.

I disagree with the James Young assessment, at least for now. But that's just my opinion. A weak slasher at the moment. Athletic enough to finish big at the rim, but just too weak. Overrated shooter. Tends to be weak on defense too.

You don't have to worry about Julius Randle's effort. He seems to be the only one on UK that cares all the time. It's frustrating.

[Negrodamus]

His body needs the most work....great athletic ability and a shooting stroke but he would be eaten alive in the post at the next level.

Depending on his work ethic in the offseason, he could be a 20 ppg scorer next year for UCLA. Make himself a lot of money.

Per WT, Zach Lavine will declare for the draft. He is an intriguing prospect. We wont really contend for 4-5 years so if you see the potential he may be a player to grab with our second pick..

Would you take Lavine or Young if you had a choice between the two?

LaVine at the moment. Wow, I'm surprised. He is really banking on producing enough for that second contract.

LaVine is everything Young is, but just 2 inches shorter and way way way faster, more athletic.

I'm kinda intrigued to take LaVine. Could you imagine how fast an MCW, LaVine, and Wiggins back court would be? Well, at least Wiggins and LaVine. It all depends on what the longterm goal is for this team. Do we want to suck next year too? Then we would basically be redshirting a year with LaVine.

Maybe we should take Embiid and have him sit the season for his hurt back. Then put LaVine in the NBDL. By year 3, we could have a team of future all stars, amirite?

[MRxBLACK]

I'm surprised with LaVine not staying in school.

[AAKing23]

Wow Lavine declared, He is a guy I would really want at the Pelicans pick. He would compliment MCW so well with his athleticism and shooting.


Pairing him with Wiggins or Parker would be beautiful.


PG: MCW
SG: Lavine
SF: Wiggins or Parker
PF: Thad
C: Noel

[LloydFree]

I wouldnt make a big argument for any of the players from 9 through 14. For me, it comes down to bust potential and ceiling. Julius Randle, while a gifted athlete, does not have a game that will easily translate to the pros. He could be Paul Milsap, which would be very good. But much of Milsaps game is effort, and I have to assume Randle is going to give that kind of effort. I cant assume that, so he has major bust potential, IMO.
I would have Ennis higher than Jerami Grant, but Ennis has a low ceiling. He may be no better than Ray Felton when all is said and done. Grant is one of the 5 best athletes in this draft. I think he has the best defensive potential of all the SF's in the draft outside of Wiggins.
I think James Young is the best pro prospect on Kentucky, and his game will translate to the pros. He has the size a and tools to be a good 2-way NBA SG. He will have to go to a team that will run him off screens and develop him as a catch and shoot player, because he has a weak handle. If he had a handle, I would have no question about him.

I disagree with the James Young assessment, at least for now. But that's just my opinion. A weak slasher at the moment. Athletic enough to finish big at the rim, but just too weak. Overrated shooter. Tends to be weak on defense too.

You don't have to worry about Julius Randle's effort. He seems to be the only one on UK that cares all the time. It's frustrating.

Randle does have a respectable effort right now(although its a bit questionable on defense). But putting your head down and trying to plow through defenders doesn't work in the NBA. And taking one dribble right, and spinning left doesnt work in the NBA. Outside of offensive rebounds, he is going to have a hard time scoring. He can't get clean shots up.

If guys were saying "he's a great rebounder and will be a great complimentary piece on a team, I could see that. But people are of the opinion that Randle is a star, and he absolutely has not shown that kind of potential. I'm not really convinced Randle will be a better pro than Montrezl Harrell, because Harrell will be a much better NBA defensive frontcourt player at the next level.

[Negrodamus]

I wouldnt make a big argument for any of the players from 9 through 14. For me, it comes down to bust potential and ceiling. Julius Randle, while a gifted athlete, does not have a game that will easily translate to the pros. He could be Paul Milsap, which would be very good. But much of Milsaps game is effort, and I have to assume Randle is going to give that kind of effort. I cant assume that, so he has major bust potential, IMO.
I would have Ennis higher than Jerami Grant, but Ennis has a low ceiling. He may be no better than Ray Felton when all is said and done. Grant is one of the 5 best athletes in this draft. I think he has the best defensive potential of all the SF's in the draft outside of Wiggins.
I think James Young is the best pro prospect on Kentucky, and his game will translate to the pros. He has the size a and tools to be a good 2-way NBA SG. He will have to go to a team that will run him off screens and develop him as a catch and shoot player, because he has a weak handle. If he had a handle, I would have no question about him.

I disagree with the James Young assessment, at least for now. But that's just my opinion. A weak slasher at the moment. Athletic enough to finish big at the rim, but just too weak. Overrated shooter. Tends to be weak on defense too.

You don't have to worry about Julius Randle's effort. He seems to be the only one on UK that cares all the time. It's frustrating.

Randle does have a respectable effort right now(although its a bit questionable on defense). But putting your head down and trying to plow through defenders doesn't work in the NBA. And taking one dribble right, and spinning left doesnt work in the NBA. Outside of offensive rebounds, he is going to have a hard time scoring. He can't get clean shots up.

If guys were saying "he's a great rebounder and will be a great complimentary piece on a team, I could see that. But people are of the opinion that Randle is a star, and he absolutely has not shown that kind of potential. I'm not really convinced Randle will be a better pro than Montrezl Harrell, because Harrell will be a much better NBA defensive frontcourt player at the next level.

Well, he is 19. And his upside on offense is infinitely higher than Montrezl Harrell. On defense, you are correct, he is a bit questionable on defense in terms of effort. However, I think it's more due to bad habits and getting lost on switches (to be fair, he's been a lot better at this since the end of SEC play), not so much effort. He struggles to keep his hands up to contest shots. But you cannot deny his effort on defensive and offensive rebounding. Additionally, he's much better than almost every front court player in this draft at finishing from 0-8 feet if he gets it off cleanly. If he gets blocked, or no call fouled, it's a different story. He has been one of the best at finishing through contact on our team though.

[Skates]

Lavine is an insanely talented athlete and will excel in workouts I imagine, but he has a ton of growing to do in his game and body. It will be interesting to see where he goes. He is the kind of guy someone grabs in the mid-teens, hoping to get an elite prosepct, albeit with tremendous bust potential, like Milwaukee did last year with Giannis.

[MRxBLACK]

Kyle Anderson declaring too.

[freshie2]

Glenn Robinson and McAdoo aren't even unfinished athletes/backups??

McAdoo is terrible. He should not be drafted in the first round. I have followed him now for 3 years...You do not want to draft this guy

Agree on first-round, which is why I indicated 2nd round.

[freshie2]

Does Lavine make it to round 2??

[Negrodamus]

I don't believe LaVine makes it past 20 in this draft. There are only two scoring guards in this draft with that kind of speed, LaVine and Exum. LaVine has the shooting ability, but is painfully skinny and has close to zero production for where he projects to go. He also cannot be a point guard. He needs to work on his dribbling and staying under control. He is certainly intriguing to me though. Like a predicted a few pages back, he'd be a potential 20 ppg player for UCLA next year with Adams and Anderson gone. That would certainly put him in the top 10, even top 5 in next years draft. But since he didn't do that, all we have is this raw prospect to project at the next level. I'm not a huge fan of taking him at 10, but I'd completely understand why the Sixers would.

[Skates]

Someone will take a chance on Lavine long before the second round unless something horrible comes out of his interviews or workouts. Sounds like he is in to stay, not happy with UCLA. Interesting to see his dad being quoted on where he might go in the draft, hopefully not a basketball version of Lindros.

[thenbaman]

Embiid
noel
young
?
mcw is a pretty nice team to grow together,seven footers with talent
like embiid don't come along to often.

[Mik317]

It will be tought to pass on all that potential...but dude was invisable for the last bit of the season.

[Skates]

It will be tought to pass on all that potential...but dude was invisable for the last bit of the season.

Which is why he will fall to a place where the risk/reward ratio is more acceptable for Lavine, but I think someone gets blown away by him in workouts and gives hima guarantee. The Bulls with two picks in the late-mid portion of the round seem likely.

[42uptop]

Wow, Jerami Grant and James Young are better than Julius Randle? Young has no business in the draft and Jerami Grant is a direct beneficiary of Ennis setting him up. Ennis should be higher than those two too.

If Randle was a great athlete or a great shooter I could buy your argument. But right now he relies way too much on outmuscling college kids who will never sniff the NBA while getting an escort to the free throw line. Combine this with his short wingspan and difficulties finishing over length, and you have a red flag.

I agree that James Young should not enter the draft yet but his talent is clear. When he has one of his good games, like against Wichita, there are flashes of greatness. Is there something you saw when watching Young that indicates a bust?

[Hardcore6erFan]

I see a ton of Gerald Green in Zach Lavine. Dude is so athletic

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdtQLPdbQ64[/youtube]

[LloydFree]

It will be tought to pass on all that potential...but dude was invisable for the last bit of the season.

Which is why he will fall to a place where the risk/reward ratio is more acceptable for Lavine, but I think someone gets blown away by him in workouts and gives hima guarantee. The Bulls with two picks in the late-mid portion of the round seem likely.

The Bulls don't pick high beta players. They pick upperclassmen, players from championship teams, and players from Duke. Going on their history, I would say Hood, Payne and McDermott are high on their board.

[Skates]

It will be tought to pass on all that potential...but dude was invisable for the last bit of the season.

Which is why he will fall to a place where the risk/reward ratio is more acceptable for Lavine, but I think someone gets blown away by him in workouts and gives hima guarantee. The Bulls with two picks in the late-mid portion of the round seem likely.

The Bulls don't pick high beta players. They pick upperclassmen, players from championship teams, and players from Duke. Going on their history, I would say Hood, Payne and McDermott are high on their board.

That is when they are picking players to surround their core, but right now the center of their core may be crumbling as D Rose's troubles continue. They cold very easily look for one solid, safe pick and take a flyer on the other since Tom T and the rest of the supporting cast won't allow them to tank all the way for quite some time.