Official 2013 Draft Thread - Part VII

[gambitx777]

From wiretap, via Chad Ford:

"The Orlando Magic are prepared to select Nerlens Noel with the second overall pick if the Cleveland Cavaliers pass on him at No. 1.

The Cavaliers are reportedly undecided on whether to select Noel.

"If the draft was held today, Noel would be our first choice," one source from the Magic told ESPN.

The Magic scouted Noel closely during the season and have been doing extensive background work on him over the past few months."


As always, you never know what you can believe at this time of year, but this one seems pretty credible, IMO. If that's the case, then we can stop worrying about who to draft if Noel and Porter both fall to us. It appears that the only way we're getting Noel is if we trade up, which seems pretty doubtful as well.

We're clearly getting Porter.

Thank the lord. Let them have him, Let's take porter and hope he plays the way we think he will.

Huh? I am starting to believe many of you are simply playing the attachment game on some of these picks, and not what's best for the Wizards.

I was attached to the OP draft as well being that he is the star from GT. but lets drop that for a moment and look at who is best for the Wizards, not simply who we are attached to the most emotionally to be a Wizard.

Noel is not nor will he ever be whats best for the team, to many red flag to be taken at the 3, I don't care if he pans out hes not worth the risk, i would rather take Porter, Len, or Oladipo or trade the pick than take Noel. Even if he stays healthy, I doubt he will developed any where close to the hype that is on him. I would rather be wrong and have him go to another team and do well than be right and we get stuck with A bust.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Not to beat a dead horse, but for the Olynyk fans - what did you think of Nick Fazekas when he was at Nevada, and why is Olynyk going to be much better than Fazekas - who's barely gotten a cup of coffee in the NBA?

Fazekas in the NBA has a career PER of 19.6 and a career WS/48 of .148. He averages 14.3 points and 11.9 rebounds per 36 minutes. Career .561 FG. Career ORTG 115.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... kni01.html

He did shoot well in his stint with the Clippers and in the D-League, where he was one time an all star. After two seasons cut short by injury, he recently averaged 21/12 in 28 minutes over 50 games in Japan.

http://basketball.realgm.com/player/Nic ... ummary/343

Fazekas has not stuck in the NBA but his numbers suggest better-than-average rebounding with high FG percentage shooting--just what I and IIRC docklinkin (he mentioned Nick Fazekas first) thought he would do as a pro.

Try again to say he's why Olynyk will stink.

(No, I wasn't wrong about him. See Brandan Wright and Earl Clark's first few seasons. Wright luckily stayed around on a guaranteed deal until his breakthrough season. Fazekas was a round two white player--who just lacked a guaranteed deal. He's better by a good bit than Jan Vesely, even if he's not in the league. Check ALL his stats. ).

[nate33]

I don't remember the Pecherov/Armstrong rumors, do tell!

I don't remember all of the details. From what I recall, it was in the way EG omitted Pecherov's name. Maybe he was naming the guys he was working out and suspiciously omitted Pecherov from the list - something like that. I remember doclinkin picking up on it and proclaiming Pecherov to be EG's target.

[dobrojim]

Webster killed it this season. He was a great mentor to Beal and Wall. The guy is inspirational. His ORTG 115 and his WS/48 .138 both were team highs.

They need him back IMO.

fans gotta love a guy that led the league, I believe by a significant margain, in 4 pt plays.

[popper]

Holy cow. Nbadraft.net and dx have Dieng falling into the twenties. I would make the Illyasova trade. We get a long defensive-minded center with a good midrange shot and a proven stretch 4 who rebounds (also on a long-term reasonably priced contract). Resign Webster and pickup a nice combo guard and we're locked and loaded.

[WizarDynasty]

YOu guys are seriously under estimating ADams intangibles. he has amazing intangibles for a bigman. High motor, the fight and passion in him is off the charts. Outstanding lower body control, scaps, looks for his team mates, sniffs the ball out on the boards like a blood hound. I see alot of Dennis Rodman in steven Adams. He is a top three pick people. No he isn't going to dominate immediately but he will fill and role but he is guaranteed to dominate with his intangibles.
You are going to wait many many many drafts before you find a bigman prospects with his complete set of intangibles, and I mean, Tim Duncan like long. We haven't seen a Duncan like player in nearly a decade and a half. Guys like Marc gasol and Tim Duncan scrappy fire players are invaluable Noah. Let Adams be our scrappy junk yard 7 foot dennis rodman.

[Knighthonor]

I don't think you can get away with a solid defensive center with a guy like D-Will or Bennett as a starting 4. They literally have to be elite to make up for the deficiencies both of those players have defensively.

Hate all you want, but Bennett managed to post a Defensive Rating of 89.3 as a freshman, which is pretty damn good. Steven Adams' DRtg last year was 87, so slightly better than Bennett's. Yet Adams is seen as an elite defensive big man, but Bennett is perceived as very bad on defense. Makes NO sense. Larry Sanders posted a DRtg of 90.8 his junior year of college. Again, these stats have their flaws, but they're still worth noting.

From the chatter here, you'd think Bennett couldn't defend the hoop from a kindergartener with a kickball.

This. Bennett is out the question. Miss Drummonds 2.0

[rockymac52]

YOu guys are seriously under estimating ADams intangibles. he has amazing intangibles for a bigman. High motor, the fight and passion in him is off the charts. Outstanding lower body control, scaps, looks for his team mates, sniffs the ball out on the boards like a blood hound. I see alot of Dennis Rodman in steven Adams. He is a top three pick people. No he isn't going to dominate immediately but he will fill and role but he is guaranteed to dominate with his intangibles.
You are going to wait many many many drafts before you find a bigman prospects with his complete set of intangibles, and I mean, Tim Duncan like long. We haven't seen a Duncan like player in nearly a decade and a half. Guys like Marc gasol and Tim Duncan scrappy fire players are invaluable Noah. Let Adams be our scrappy junk yard 7 foot dennis rodman.

Wait, I'm confused. Do these elite big men prospects that you speak of come every few years or once every 20 years? Because first it was so rare that the last guy who fit the profile was Duncan, but then all of a sudden we're also talking about Marc Gasol and Joakim Noah.

Also, what exactly do you mean by intangibles? And why are you so certain of the existence of these intangibles? Seems very counter-intuitive.

You say Adams is the rare 7 footer who is scrappy and can dominate with his complete set of intangibles (what does that even mean? LOL). I think what you're trying to say is a top notch rim protecting big man, who can also get a lot of rebounds, and score efficiently on the other end of the floor. I'm gonna take a second and list off a few current NBA players that I think fit this description, just so you understand that they aren't as uncommon and rare as you think.

1. Tim Duncan
2. Marc Gasol
3. Joakim Noah
4. Dwight Howard
5. Omer Asik
6. Larry Sanders
7. Roy Hibbert
8. Anthony Davis
9. Serge Ibaka
10. Andrew Bynum (when healthy)
11. Tyson Chandler
12. Kevin Garnett

I didn't even bother listing the guys who aren't as dominant defensively like Love, Cousins, Monroe, Griffin, etc. There's plenty of guys that are capable of doing what you're fantasizing about. You're right that these are all very very good players that are incredibly valuable to their teams, and it'd be nice to get one of them somehow, but it's not a once in a generation type deal. There's probably at least 1 dominant defensive big man in every single draft class.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Not to beat a dead horse, but for the Olynyk fans - what did you think of Nick Fazekas when he was at Nevada, and why is Olynyk going to be much better than Fazekas - who's barely gotten a cup of coffee in the NBA?

I was not a fan. Fazekas looked the part of a stiff. Anyone who watched Fazekas mentioned how terrible an athlete he appeared to be. He moved like a stiff although he was quite effective and had a good skill level. Olynyk simply moves better and is far more agile.

As mentioned before, athletically, Olynyk reminds me of Andray Blatche. Heavy feet with hardly any lift but has good mobility and excellent body control.

This.

Muscala is a lot more like Fazekas. Both rebound exceptionally well, but when they run they stride like a cross between Friday the 13th's Jason Voorhees and the creepy guy in Phantasm.

[youtube]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nJojkFFUsdo[/youtube]

[Woody Ball]

I think EG is tipping his hand that Porter is the pick just by lack of other scuttlebutt.

If I were EG and was trying to squeeze all of the value I could out of the draft, I'd be leaking infatuation with Oladipo and Len. Maybe you get a team to bite and take your pick. You pick up an asset and still get your guy in the 4-7 range.

Alas, EG doesn't seem to play games like that. Oh well.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Holy cow. Nbadraft.net and dx have Dieng falling into the twenties. I would make the Illyasova trade. We get a long defensive-minded center with a good midrange shot and a proven stretch 4 who rebounds (also on a long-term reasonably priced contract). Resign Webster and pickup a nice combo guard and we're locked and loaded.

I would love that, too.

[Floater]

I like Chad Ford's latest mock. Has us taking Porter, Eric Green and Erik Murphy. A starting SF, backup PG, and stretch 4. It makes a lot of sense but we all know damn well that at least one of those 2nd rounders will be sold or a Euro draft and stash

[pcbothwel]

I think Archie Goodwin could be interesting as a long term project somewhere in the second. He'd be a lotto ticket. But I'm not sure what we'd do with him in the meantime.

i tell ya steve...as much as Archie has disappointed i have a feeling about him. i think most people forget how young he truly is and that most guys would be going into their freshman year of college at his age...Hell, during Archie Goodwin's rookie year in the NBA he will be the same age(2 month difference) as Shabazz Muhammad was when he dominated his Senior year of High School...think about that for a second.

You could basically have Goodwin play his sophomore year and he would be the age of the average 1 and done next year like the Harrison twins, Randle, etc.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

YOu guys are seriously under estimating ADams intangibles. he has amazing intangibles for a bigman. High motor, the fight and passion in him is off the charts. Outstanding lower body control, scaps, looks for his team mates, sniffs the ball out on the boards like a blood hound. I see alot of Dennis Rodman in steven Adams. He is a top three pick people. No he isn't going to dominate immediately but he will fill and role but he is guaranteed to dominate with his intangibles.
You are going to wait many many many drafts before you find a bigman prospects with his complete set of intangibles, and I mean, Tim Duncan like long. We haven't seen a Duncan like player in nearly a decade and a half. Guys like Marc gasol and Tim Duncan scrappy fire players are invaluable Noah. Let Adams be our scrappy junk yard 7 foot dennis rodman.

The fact that Adams projects so low, despite his frame, active body, youth, and demonstrated rebounding and defensive prowess makes me think this is a very good draft.

I don't prefer Adams, but I agree with much to most of what you've said. Instead of Chris Mihm, the more I think he's closer to Robin Lopez. I think his offense is way off but Adams contests shots. He just has too much to learn for my time frame, and I doubt his offense will catch on. I worry about his improving similarly to how I worried about Tyreke Evans over time.

Adams, Tony Mitchell, Jamaal Franklin, Andre Roberson, CJ Leslie, DJ Stephens, and Lorenzo Brown each are very athletic. They have speed, quickness, can rebound and/or block shots. However, they each have MAJOR weaknesses on offense.

Franklin's was shooting discretion. I think his is easily fixed. Roberson with a shot can be a lot like Kawhi Leonard. As it is, he is the Rodman of this draft. Mitchell with an attitude adjustment and consistent effort is maybe a top-7 player. If he can play SF he is a beast.

Stephens is a tremendous wing defender--the best in this draft, perhaps. Belongs in round one. Will be drafted IMO, probably my Memphis.

This draft is highly underrated.

[Ruzious]

Not to beat a dead horse, but for the Olynyk fans - what did you think of Nick Fazekas when he was at Nevada, and why is Olynyk going to be much better than Fazekas - who's barely gotten a cup of coffee in the NBA?

Fazekas in the NBA has a career PER of 19.6 and a career WS/48 of .148. He averages 14.3 points and 11.9 rebounds per 36 minutes. Career .561 FG. Career ORTG 115.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... kni01.html

He did shoot well in his stint with the Clippers and in the D-League, where he was one time an all star. After two seasons cut short by injury, he recently averaged 21/12 in 28 minutes over 50 games in Japan.

http://basketball.realgm.com/player/Nic ... ummary/343

Fazekas has not stuck in the NBA but his numbers suggest better-than-average rebounding with high FG percentage shooting--just what I and IIRC docklinkin (he mentioned Nick Fazekas first) thought he would do as a pro.
Are you sa
Try again to say he's why Olynyk will stink.

(No, I wasn't wrong about him. See Brandan Wright and Earl Clark's first few seasons. Wright luckily stayed around on a guaranteed deal until his breakthrough season. Fazekas was a round two white player--who just lacked a guaranteed deal. He's better by a good bit than Jan Vesely, even if he's not in the league. Check ALL his stats. ).

Okay... why do you think Fazekas has played a grand total of 26 NBA games - with under 300 career minutes? Is it because you are smarter than every GM in the NBA or because every team has a racist (against white 2nd rounders) GM?

I did check all his stats. I don't think his time in the NBA gives anywhere near enough of a sample size to make any claims about him. And I wouldn't have brought him up if his other stats weren't impressive. That's the point. Are you saying Fazekas is basically the same as Olynyk? That was my question - and still is.

And fwiw, I've said several times I don't think Olynyk will stink (or stynyk, btw). I said he should be a decent scoring big off the bench that I wouldn't want starting. Again, I have him as a late 1st who you and Dat way overrate. Hence my question. Dat's response was well reasoned.

[pancakes3]

Webster killed it this season. He was a great mentor to Beal and Wall. The guy is inspirational. His ORTG 115 and his WS/48 .138 both were team highs.

They need him back IMO.

fans gotta love a guy that led the league, I believe by a significant margain, in 4 pt plays.

and (my personal theory) helped Beal to get a couple too.

[sfam]

Thank the lord. Let them have him, Let's take porter and hope he plays the way we think he will.

Huh? I am starting to believe many of you are simply playing the attachment game on some of these picks, and not what's best for the Wizards.

I was attached to the OP draft as well being that he is the star from GT. but lets drop that for a moment and look at who is best for the Wizards, not simply who we are attached to the most emotionally to be a Wizard.

Noel is not nor will he ever be whats best for the team, to many red flag to be taken at the 3, I don't care if he pans out hes not worth the risk, i would rather take Porter, Len, or Oladipo or trade the pick than take Noel. Even if he stays healthy, I doubt he will developed any where close to the hype that is on him. I would rather be wrong and have him go to another team and do well than be right and we get stuck with A bust.

This sounds like a terrific strategy for ensuring we become the next Atlanta Hawks. We can be a 5-7 seed for the next 6 years!


No taking risk = no championships

[GhostsOfGil]

Lots of good stuff on the new BS repot:
http://espn.go.com/espnradio/play?id=9421591

Chad says all reports say that Noel's knee is a non issue moving forward.
Says Cavs are still undecided.
Both Bill and Chad, LOVE Oladipo.

Chad says Noel is very smart. Very coachable. Showed massive improvement. High motor. Compares KD to Noel in terms of character and motor.

Chad says Orlando WILL DEFINITELY take Noel at 2 if the Cavs pass on him.

Chad says there is a lot of buzz about the Wiz trading their pick.
Both Chad and Bill have serious concerns about Porter. Red flag = he doens't have that 1 go to skill.

[Rafael122]

Ford's mock draft:
#3 - Porter
#38 - Erick Green
#54 - Erik Murphy

Would be a nice haul, would basically mean you'd get your small forward of the future, probably your backup point guard and a stretch four in the same draft. We'll see though.

Mannix has us taking Porter at 3.

Ernie in his presser said he has no pressure to pick local guys and that whatever happens in the draft has no bearing on what they will do w/Webster, which to me means it's going to come down to $ w/Martell.

[closg00]

In Mock 6.0, Zeller could go as-high as 2 or 4.