I thought Shelden Williams was going to be more than solid as an nba-ready big. What the heck happened to this guy? I thought he was a double double player almost as good as an Emeka Okafor and he just plays kind of crappy so far. I expected him to be a bit better on the offensive end and block more shots with those go-go gadget arms. Oh well, maybe there's something about this guy that has helped Atlanta start better this year. I haven't watched him but tonight he got some nice rebounds. No blocked shots tonight though. Anyone watch Shelden lately? I heard his offense game looks as ugly as it does on the stat sheet. Also, Ronnie Brewer wasn't as killer as I thought, but you know how Jerry Sloan operates... 7 games thus far and the nba readiness factor hasn't kicked in except for Brandon Roy. Also what happened to Foye? Morrison is doing just as I expected as primarily a scorer and secondary distributor. He is scoring the ball, but having trouble on defense and his shot is a bit streaky now. I'm sure he'll get used to the speed at some point maybe like Shelden Williams will.
<div class="quote_poster">Gohn Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Thinking that Murphy and Dunleavy at PF and C would be effective...</div> That was hilarious. It's like scoring on pillows. 7 foot pillows.
I thought Pietrus would end up as good if not better(because of his superb defense) than Carmello Anthony. Hehe...I was pretty optimistic about Pietrus. I thought that Nene would be good, in particular for the Warriors, but also a good player in the NBA. I suppose his legs haven't been helping him though. I also thought Skita and Jiri Welsch would be decent players as well. I remember a lot of people were very high on Reece Gaines. But he has disappeared. I remember Skip Bayless was dying for the Warriors to draft Gaines or Ridnour over Pietrus. I also liked Kendrick Perkins and James Lang out of high school. Perkins seems to be decent for Boston, but I haven't heard anything about Lang. I thought the Suns would be the at the top of the West this season, but now they are at the bottom of the Pacific Division. Bad start to that prediction now...heh.
I probably got as many right as I did wrong over the last few years. I thought Wilcox would be the bomb, but he's okay now I guess. I was high on Joe Johnson since Celtics days. I thought Murphy would become better than he is right now, but he's gotten so slooow and further away from the basket. I thought Curtis Borchardt would actually make it as a top 10 center some day. I was high on Ridnour over Pietrus. Was actually high on Jameer Nelson over Biedrins, but that changed quickly when I saw the combine results on Biedrins and draft hype. I thought Lampe and Tskitisvilli would stick around the league some. Mike Miller would get better and better, which he has some. I thought Hinrich would be awesome. I think Ike and POB will be pretty good to solid players. Granger will be solid. Gerald Green might be a superstar someday if he ever learns how to play ball. I think Bargnani might be a possible bust, but this is probably wrong. Nobody takes a #1 overall with huge question marks. Also, I wanted the Warriors to get guys like James Jones, and Jumaine Jones for small forwards. Plus, I did mention some centers like Etan Thomas, or a few of those Euros that eventually signed with other teams. But we probably could not get those guys... Oh and I thought Fisher would actually be decent for our team. He was in a way... if we had an all-star shooting guard and inside presence. Jrich is not really a shooting guard btw. Watch Brandon Roy, Ginobilli, Ray Allen, Dwade, Gilbert Arenas, Kirk Hinrich. Those guys are shooting guards. Jrich to me is a better version of Desmond Mason or Bonzi Wells or Quentin Richardson.
I'm usually extremely pessimistic with young players. But I was wrong about Chris Paul. I would've said Ben Gordon, but he looks like he's slipping so who knows. I also really liked Granger, we'll see, he may turn out to be something, but I doubt he'll be an all-star.
Granger, like Green, were hard to figure out. They got upside, but there's mixed reviews about their games. Granger can do a little bit of everything, he's got great athleticism, but what does he do well in particular? Could be like a Tayshaun Prince rather than a Joe Johnson and that's probably what scouts argued over. Also, Gerald Green. Great athleticism, can shoot, has one-on-one skills but can he do anything consistent? Could be like Dorrell Wright. Teams need to be patient with him. I remember Boston contemplated sending him to NBDL and he might have been in the NBDL, actually. I thought Al Jefferson would be a bum on draft day I was wrong about Yao a little bit but after 2002 I changed my mind and that he would be top 3 center at least.
One more thing: I'm rooting for Gonzaga's Derek Raivio. I want to see more quick, tall point guards that can pass and shoot in the league. I wonder if he is even on the draft radar? The only problem is he doesn't have impressive assist numbers. But I liked watching him and Morrison play.
I was not impressed with Sheldon Williams at Duke. He reminded me of a poor man's Elton Brand. Then again, I did not think Elton Brand would be this good, so what do I know...
<div class="quote_poster">Warriorfansnc93 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I was not impressed with Sheldon Williams at Duke. He reminded me of a poor man's Elton Brand.</div>Hey, Dunleavy is a poor man's Elton Brand too. It's just that the man happens to be really, really poor. Starving. Destitute.
<div class="quote_poster">HiRez Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Hey, Dunleavy is a poor man's Elton Brand too. It's just that the man happens to be really, really poor. Starving. Destitute.</div> Interesting. Dunleavy really does look like a skeleton too doesn't he?
