I grade our draft as a B. Of the guys available to us at #21, we did well in addressing a need. We got a very good guard who played against above average competition in the ACC. He's got 4 yrs experience under the best college coach in America. At #51 we selected Jon Diebler. Long range shooter. Good player. Overall with our position to draft (#21 & #51) we did fine. I also like that we swapped 35 yr old Miller for 27 yr old Felton. He's a player that can get better and didn't cost us (future) core pieces from the team. Obviously, Parker or Jennings would have been sexier acquisitions, but would have cost us additional key players. I'm fine with this draft day deal.
Bad draft. Maybe the worst we've ever had. At least in '84 when we passed on MJ we ended up finding Kersey in the 2nd round. Time will tell. I gave it an "F", of course. I just don't know how you pass on Faried. He looks like he could be a Ben Wallace type of presence (BW in his prime). Our roster remains horribly unbalanced. Our projected front court is Oden/Camby/LA. How long before Oden & Camby are hurt and LA has to play Center? It would be one thing if we got Chris Paul last night. I might survive the PF gap if we received a top tier PG. But R. Felton is our PGOTF? He's a downgrade from Miller, albeit a young version. At least Dre' could post up and finish at the rim. Felton will not fair well here. I wouldn't trade Miller straight across for RF despite the age factor. But the part that stings is everything else we gave up for RF. And Nolan Smith? What need does he fit? True PG to run the team? No. Sharp shooter to spread the floor? No. A superior athlete who can get his own shot. No. He may turn out to be a Wesley Matthews blue collar, hard nosed, overachieving asset. Which would be fine . . . if we didn't already have Wes Matthews! What the hell are we doing? Felton/Smith/Roy/Matthews/Williams/Johnson/Mills/Diebler. How many guards do we need? Or let me put it this way, how many average to below average guards to we need? Not to mention the question marks around each guy. How will Felton do in Nate's slow-it-down offense? (Answer = Not Good) & can he stay in shape? How healthy/effective can Roy be for 82 games? Who the hell knows what Mr. 48" vertical E. Williams can do? Or if he is/can stay healthy? Can Nolan Smith play PG in the NBA? He looks more suited for SG than PG, where we already have Roy/Wes/Williams. Are we ever going to find a b/u PF who can rebound and play defense? Are we ever going to try and balance our roster? Does anybody have a plan? Last night's draft was a huge setback. We didn't add any talent or depth. At best Miller for Felton is a wash, but doesn't make us a better team. And oh by the way . . . we may have just helped our division rival Denver move into the "elite" team status. What a luxary for them to have A. Miller come off the bench. And Faried is a perfect fit for them. Man I wanted that guy. Talk about a perfect compliment for LA. The more I think about it, the sicker I get. Is it bad that I'm now HOPING for a lock-out? At least it delays the inevitable pain of watching yesterdays mistakes unfolding. Epic Fail.
::bump:: Someone should forward this to Paul Allen. S2 fanbase knows talent better than Chad and Nate. We saw this trainwreck well before this season and it started on draft night. As long as Chad is around, even as a scout, it will only prolong this mess. Fire Chad! Fire Nate! Damn, this management makes me miss the Whitsitt days.
Kenneth Faried (F) is having a fairly decent season for Denver and our Nolan Smith is just a bench warmer. What do you suspect, Paul Allen going for another G/PG instead of helping out at the (Forward) spot backing up Batum. Paul Allen and Nate push veteran PG minutes, so whats the point of drafting young PG when they don't get played? Its a fucked up PG/G system that Paul Allen runs.
Bring back the actual draft thread, so we can see who wanted Faried, and who defended Nolan Smith. I, uh, don't remember which side I was on. Ever since management booted Juwan Howard out of here, they just refuse to grab big men, and stock up on guards, because McMillan whines at them for more shooters.
