With Armon being waived, I wanted to check to see if there was an obviously better player we should've taken instead. And while a couple of names suggest themselves (Jeremy Evans, for example) it just became obvious that that whole draft was really sucky. Here it is: Code: 1 Washington Wizards John Wall PG, 6-4, 195 Kentucky 2 Philadelphia 76ers Evan Turner SG, 6-7, 214 Ohio State 3 New Jersey Nets Derrick Favors F, 6-10, 246 Georgia Tech 4 Minnesota Timberwolves Wesley Johnson F, 6-7, 195 Syracuse 5 Sacramento Kings DeMarcus Cousins C, 6-11, 290 Kentucky 6 Golden State Warriors Ekpe Udoh F, 6-10, 240 Baylor 7 Detroit Pistons Greg Monroe F, 6-11, 240 Georgetown 8 Los Angeles Clippers Al-Farouq Aminu F, 6-8, 210 Wake Forest 9 Utah Jazz Gordon Hayward F, 6-8, 200 Butler 10 Indiana Pacers Paul George F, 6-9, 185 Fresno State 11 New Orleans Hornets Cole Aldrich C, 6-11, 245 Kansas 12 Memphis Grizzlies Xavier Henry G, 6-6, 210 Kansas 13 Toronto Raptors Ed Davis F, 6-9, 215 North Carolina 14 Houston Rockets Patrick Patterson F, 6-8, 223 Kentucky 15 Milwaukee Bucks Larry Sanders F, 6-9, 205 Virginia Commonwealth 16 Minnesota Timberwolves [B]Luke Babbitt[/B] (traded to Portland) F, 6-7, 215 Nevada 17 Chicago Bulls Kevin Seraphin F, 6-9, 265 France 18 Oklahoma City Thunder Eric Bledsoe G, 6-1, 190 Kentucky 19 Boston Celtics Avery Bradley G, 6-3, 180 Texas 20 San Antonio Spurs James Anderson G, 6-6, 195 Oklahoma State 21 Oklahoma City Thunder Craig Brackens F, 6-10, 230 Iowa State 22 Portland Trail Blazers [B]Elliot Williams[/B] G, 6-5, 180 Memphis 23 Minnesota Timberwolves Trevor Booker F, 6-7, 240 Clemson 24 Atlanta Hawks Damion James (traded to New Jersey) F, 6-7, 225 Texas 25 Memphis Grizzlies Dominique Jones (Traded to Dallas) G, 6-4, 215 South Florida 26 Oklahoma City Thunder Quincy Pondexter F, 6-6, 225 Washington 27 New Jersey Nets Jordan Crawford (Traded to Atlanta) G, 6-4, 195 Xavier 28 Memphis Grizzlies Greivis Vasquez G, 6-6, 210 Maryland 29 Orlando Magic Daniel Orton C, 6-10, 260 Kentucky 30 Washington Wizards Lazar Hayward F, 6-5, 225 Marquette 31 New Jersey Nets Tibor Pleiss (Traded to Atlanta, then Oklahoma City) C, 7-1, 220 Germany 32 Oklahoma City Thunder Dexter Pittman C, 6-11, 303 Texas 33 Sacramento Kings Hassan Whiteside C, 7-0, 235 Marshall 34 Portland Trail Blazers [B]Armon Johnson[/B] G, 6-3, 195 Nevada 35 Washington Wizards Nemanja Bjelica F, 6-10, 223 Serbia (Red Star Serbia) 36 Detroit Pistons Terrico White G, 6-5, 200 Mississippi 37 Milwaukee Bucks Darington Hobson F, 6-6, 205 New Mexico 38 New York Knicks Andy Rautins G, 6-5, 190 Syracuse 39 New York Knicks Landry Fields F, 6-7, 210 Stanford 40 Indiana Pacers Lance Stephenson G, 6-5, 225 Cincinnati 41 Miami Heat Jarvis Varnado F, 6-10, 210 Mississippi State 42 Miami Heat Butler F, 6-7, 225 West Virginia 43 Los Angeles Lakers Devin Ebanks F, 6-8, 210 West Virginia 44 Milwaukee Bucks Jerome Jordan C, 7-0, 235 Tulsa 45 Minnesota Timberwolves Paulao Prestes C, 6-10, 275 Brazil 46 Phoenix Suns Gani Lawal F, 6-9, 230 Georgia Tech 47 Milwaukee Bucks Tiny Gallon F, 6-10, 302 Oklahoma 48 Miami Heat Latavious Williams F, 6-8, 205 Tulsa 66ers (NBDL) 49 San Antonio Spurs Ryan Richards F, 6-11, 230 England 50 Dallas Mavericks Solomon Alabi (traded to Toronto) C, 7-1, 240 Florida State 51 Oklahoma City Thunder Magnum Rolle C, 6-11, 225 Louisiana Tech 52 Boston Celtics Luke Harangody F, 6-7, 240 Notre Dame 53 Atlanta Hawks Pape Sy F, 6-7, 225 Senegal 54 Los Angeles Clippers Willie Warren G, 6-4, 200 Oklahoma 55 Utah Jazz Jeremy Evans F, 6-9, 190 Western Kentucky 56 Minnesota Timberwolves Hamady Ndiaye C, 6-11, 235 Rutgers 57 Dallas Mavericks Ryan Reid F, 6-8, 235 Florida State 58 Los Angeles Lakers Derrick Caracter F, 6-9, 280 Texas-El Paso 59 Orlando Magic Stanley Robinson F, 6-7, 210 Connecticut 60 Phoenix Suns Dwayne Collins F, 6-8, 238 Miami (Fla.) Seriously, there might not be an all-star in the entire draft (I don't think much of John Wall). Greg Monroe might end up being the best player! I guess Monroe, Wall, Cousins, Paul George and Gordon Hayward are half-decent, although each is seriously flawed. I struggle to find a better draft we could have had. Here's my best shot: Instead of Babbitt: Seraphin (not exactly lighting it up for the Wiz, but at least has size, and could chat with Batum) Instead of Williams: maybe nobody. Jordan Crawford? Instead of Armon: Landry Fields (not a PG, but then neither is Armon)
I remember a lot of people wanted us to take Varnado at the time. I'm not even sure he ever played a game in the NBA. 1-10 of that draft isn't awful. This coming draft is going to blast the last two drafts out of the water easily.
I think its too early to grade that draft yet. Most the players taken in the lottery aren't even 21 yet.
Depends if Favors, Evan Turner, Johnson and Aminu can turn it around (seems most likely for Turner, but he better given that he was supposed to be "can't miss"). But that's about as strong praise you can offer. And the drop off after that one is amazing.
Monroe's a borderline All-Star. Would have been an AS if he had anybody worth a damn around him. George is going to be real good. Super young. I'll predict Wall, Cousins, Favors, Monroe and George will all be All-Stars at some point. The rest of the batch outside Udoh will all be solid contributors. He's your typical shot swatting lottery bust. Hayward is underrated.
Explain. There's guys predicted to go in the late teens-early 20's in this coming draft that would have been lottery picks in the past couple drafts.
I think it's just been hyped as a great draft that people start to think of it along the lines of 2003, with multiple FRANCHISE players. #1 options on teams. I like a lot of guys in the draft, I think a lot will be good players in the league, but I think the upside on a lot of guys has been overblown. Don't get me wrong, again, I think guys will play, and do well. And am happy to get extra picks in this draft. Just seems like it got more hyped at last year's draft, when Jones, Sullinger and Barnes all elected to stay in school. Jones still looks like a guy who will frustrate in the pros. Tons of talent. Motor? And not a franchise guy. Barnes coudl be very well him playing alongside Marshall, but seems more and mroe questions come out about being a true #1. And seems to be compared more to a Danny Granger type. A guy who will score, but not be a playmaker and true franchise player. Drummond, who knows? But he might go #2 because of his size. Davis will be a stud in the league. On defense. For sure. Will his offense be there? Is he more Camby than garnett? Again, there's guys who can play, and will stick in the league. I just think it's possible that there's more 2, 3, 4th guys than there are #1s in this draft, but the hype it has gotten would make you think there's 3-4 franchise #1 guys.
That you can say that just shows how incredibly thin the ranks of half-decent centers are these days. He's certainly surprised me. He might be the best. But then again, I don't know about his D. He might be Ricky Davis II. Wall might get there just because everyone feels sorry for the Wiz. And, after all, Steve Francis made an all-star game. Cousins has the talent, sure, but he's got a terrible TERRIBLE attitude and I doubt any coach would vote him on. Favors runs hot and cold. He could be good or he could be Stromile Swift/Amir Johnson. Actually, I think Udoh will be a "solid contributor". In fact, he already is! The Warriors are much better with him on the floor. He could turn out to be a poor man's Joakim Noah.
It doesn't have as much talent at the top as the '03 draft, sure. But, its deeper than that draft. Drummond will go #1 when all is said and done. You can get a guy like Patric Young, Teague or Wroten in the 20's who would have been mid-lottery picks in the last several drafts. There's legit 7-footers, there's pure shooters like Beal, Lamb and Jenkins. The only real knock on this draft is that its light on PG's.
Haha, Ricky Davis in his prime couldnt sniff George's jock as a 20 year old. Udoh's a solid contributor? He blocks shots in like 20 minutes a game. He's no threat whatsoever to score. I scratched my head at that pick when it happened, I still do. Dude is a 10 PER player who can barely shoot 40% from the floor despite most his attempts coming from put backs and gimme's. Solid contributor he is not.
I really wanted this team to trade up for either Paul George or DeMarcus Cousins. I still have hope for E-Will.
Wall is a player! Stuck on a shitty team with no talent around him, but he will be one of the better PGs in the league for awhile.
