I think we should either draft a point this offseason, or go after Ramon Sessions who will likely be available.
with out track record of scouting/drafting PG's that would be a huge mistake IMO. In fact besides changing our coach which I would like to do I think out talent/scouting needs changes as well, and a "real GM" might be nice as well with all the likely changes coming.
We will. 2004- Telfair 2005- Jack 2006- Sergio 2007- Koponen 2008- Bayless 2009- Patty 2010- Armon, and Elliot to an extent 2011- Nolan ugh.
Many of those were late round picks though. But our drafting over the last 10 years has certainly not secured many good players for us. LA and Batum are the only rotational players we drafted. Rich Cho, who supposedly wanted to tear this team apart, is probably laughing at us.
I say it over and over again - insert Armon Johnson to the rotation. Give him 15 minutes behind Felton and most of our problem is solved. Crawford shouldn't play PG and shouldn't play these many minutes, make him a half-time SG behind Wesley. There was a time last year when Armon was considered a huge promise. I personaly haven't seen him lose all that credit, maybe disappointing two or three times but didn't lose all his credit with me at least. Give him some time, try him! we tried Nolan Smith as a 10th player, at least give Armon a chance as a 10th player. I honestly think he'll be a big surprise and even if he stinks it up at least we know for sure we can let him go. Him being a low-cost big-success investment for another team after we just didn't let him play and after me repeating this "Armon" chant in almost every post I write would be just painful.
Crawford behind Mathews? No thanks. Mathews has been terrible lately. His shot mechanics are just plain terrible.
Ugh indeed. But let's see if there were better PGs to be had after those players were picked (glossing over, for the sake of our sanity, that we traded down in 2005 to avoid having to draft D-Will or Chris Paul) (PGs in bold, better players overall listed) 2004: Code: 14. Utah Kris Humphries 15. Boston Al Jefferson 17. Atlanta Josh Smith 18. New Orleans J.R. Smith 19. Miami Dorell Wright 20. Denver [B]Jameer Nelson[/B] 24. Boston Delonte West 25. Boston Tony Allen 26. Sacramento Kevin Martin 27. Lakers Sasha Vujacic 28. San Antonio [B]Beno Udrih[/B] 30. Orlando Anderson Varejao 37. Atlanta [B]Royal Ivey[/B] 38. Chicago [B]Chris Duhon[/B] 43. New York Trevor Ariza 50. Dallas [B] Vassilis Spanoulis[/B] (the Tracy McGrady of Greece! Or so he informed Van Gundy...) 2005: Code: 26. Detroit Jason Maxiell 27. Portland Linas Kleiza 28. San Antonio Ian Mahinmi 30. New York David Lee 33. New Orleans Brandon Bass 34. Utah C.J. Miles 36. Milwaukee Ersan Ilyasova 37. Lakers Ronny Turiaf 40. Golden State [B]Monta Ellis[/B] (okay, not really a PG, but I'd play him at there over Jack!) 45. Philadelphia [B]Louis Williams[/B] (ditto) 56. Detroit Amir Johnson 57. Phoenix Marcin Gortat 2006: Code: 30. Portland Joel Freeland 32. Houston Steve Novak 36. Minnesota Craig Smith 42. Cleveland [B]Daniel GIbson[/B] (I actually like Sergio better than Boobie, but the latter is at least still in the NBA) 47. Utah Paul Milsap 2007: Code: 31. Seattle Carl Landry 35. Seattle Glen Davis 37. Portland Josh McRoberts 38. Philadelphia Kyrylo Fesenko 48. LA Lakers Marc Gasol 49. Chicago Aaron Gray 52. Portland Taurean Green (hey, you forgot one of our PGs. Who we picked over...) 56. Milwaukee [B]Ramon Sessions[/B] (wasn't this Nate's call?) 2008: Code: 24 Seattle Serge Ibaka - PF 25 Houston Nicolas Batum - SF 26 San Antonio [B]George Hill[/B] - PG 35 Clippers DeAndre Jordan Texas A&M - C 36 Portland Omer Asik Turkey - C 37 Milwaukee Luc Richard Mbah a Moute UCLA - SF 45 San Antonio [B]Goran Dragic [/B]Slovenia - PG Crappy draft, that one. 2009: you can't fault Patty at 55, so I'll focus instead on Claver at 22: Code: 25. Thunder [B]Rodrigue Beaubois[/B] PG 26. Bulls Taj Gibson PF 33. Trail Blazers Dante Cunningham PF 37. Spurs DeJuan Blair PF 39. Pistons Jonas Jerebko SF 41. Bucks Jodie Meeks SG 43. Heat Marcus Thornton SG 44. Pistons Chase Budinger SG 45. Timberwolves [B]Nick Calathes [/B]PG (not in the NBA yet, but that's because he's with Panathanaikos, one of the best non-NBA teams) 46. Cavaliers Danny Green SF 55. Trail Blazers Patrick Mills PG 2010: Code: 28 Memphis Grizzlies [B]Greivis Vasquez [/B]G, 6-6, 210 Maryland 34 Portland Trail Blazers Armon Johnson G, 6-3, 195 Nevada 39 New York Knicks Landry Fields F, 6-7, 210 Stanford 52 Boston Celtics Luke Harangody F, 6-7, 240 Notre Dame 55 Utah Jazz Jeremy Evans F, 6-9, 190 Western Kentucky (wow, the Jazz have always killed in the second round) Pretty sucky draft also. 2011: Code: 22. Nuggets Kenneth Faried PF 23. Rockets Nikola Mirotic SF (THIS is the one we will regret most in a couple of years, I predict) 24. Thunder [B]Reggie Jackson [/B]PG 25. Celtics Marshon Brooks SG 28. Bulls [B]Norris Cole [/B]PG (this hurts right now, although I'm not sure Nate would give him any more time than he has Nolan) 33. Pistons Kyle Singler SF 38. Rockets Chandler Parsons SF (grr....) 40. Bucks Jon Leuer PF 41. Lakers [B]Darius Morris [/B]PG (not getting minutes for the Lakers, but I still like him, and he's an ACTUAL POINT GUARD) 44. Warriors Charles Jenkins PG 46. Lakers Andrew Goudelock SG 49. Grizzlies Josh Selby PG 51. Trail Blazers Jon Diebler SG (why did we draft this guy instead of either of the following: 55. Celtics E'Twaun Moore SG 60. Kings [B]Isaiah Thomas [/B]PG (getting more minutes than the Jimmer) Overall, I have to say, there's not that many obviously better PGs that we could have had. Except for Ramon Sessions, and I remember hearing that our front office wanted him over Taurean Green, but Nate interceded. Anyone else remember that?
Taking out 05, the 09 draft was a disaster. There were so many PGs to be had with teams just giving up guys like Lawson, and we were too afraid to trade guys like Rudy to get them. Claver was taken at 22, but look at the five picks ahead of him.
I don't know what to say about Batum. When even a homer like Wheels noticed today that in the first half "he gave absolutely nothing", there is a problem. He had absolutely no focus and intensity in the first half and in the first half is when we lost that game. The guy needs to prove that he can be consistent with 25 minutes a game before he gets 35 minutes a game.
