He is probably the most well-rounded player in this class. He doesn't really do anything bad, but he doesn't excel at one thing either. In any other draft, he would be 5-10 range and an amazing value.
I'm not interested in helping ourselves this year. Whatever help we would get would cement our mediocrity. I say trade the pick for a #1 next year.
I just don't see a scenario that would give us a decent pick next year. And I don't think that a non lottery pick next year will be any better than #10 this year. As good maybe, but not better. I can see trading down and getting two picks in the first round this year, but not out of it completely. It seems to me there are good SG's this year in the mid teens that would be just as good as what we can get at 10. But I want to try moving up first.
What, trade our pick this year for some team's unprotected #1 next year? Which team that might go for that will definitely be bad enough to make that a worthwhile deal?
I may have to refine this. My super sleeper/value pick is vaulting himself into a late lotto pick: Shane Larkin
McLemore is a mistery to me, I've seen him play once and didn't even notice he was on the court for many minutes. According to most reports he has amazing ability/talent, this might be true, but he definitely tends to disappear, at least according to that one game I've seen of his team.
There's a guy that isn't even on really the mock draft radar right now that I could see slipping into the second round - Christian Watford. With the emergence of Oladipo, he really got locked into the role of a third option last year on Indiana, but I'd take him over most mid-to-late second rounders as a stretch four. I don't get why he wasn't even invited to the combine. Yeah, there are questions about his ability to play the four (and three for that matter) on the NBA level, but shit, how many guys in the 2nd round conversation have similar problems? At the end of the day, the guy's just a solid basketball player and great shooter for his size that showed he can play a complimentary role the last two seasons at IU. Everyone remembers his big shot at the end of the UK game, but he played great the entire game against the future NBA frontcourt of Terrence Jones, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, and Anthony Davis - [video=youtube;IbWSeRbK-cI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbWSeRbK-cI[/video] Here's a video of his draft workouts. A 6'8'"/6'9" PF that can stroke it like that? (And the videos aren't cut when he's just draining those NBA threes throughout the video... you can see Oladipo standing next to him the whole time) Not to mention he's been both the go-to option of a major program before as well as a complimentary 2nd and 3rd option. The guy's just a great basketball player. If you get too caught up on position, you miss out on guys like Draymond Green. [video=youtube;Ov6ysqL9WNk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ov6ysqL9WNk[/video]
Well I think I have settled on a few choices I would like and a few that I am warming up to. My guys whether we can get them or not: Oladipo Len McCollum Muhammad Dieng Hardaway Jr Players Im warming up to: Carter-Williams Schroeder Caldwell-Pope My 2nd Round steals that I think will be good bench contributors: Iverson Mbakwe
Assuming they stay at #10, I think they should go SG... in order: Muhammed - I like his ability to score, his size & physicality, ability to draw fouls, offensive rebounding, post up ability and ability to shoot KCP - Like his shooting, late game big time shot making, good size McCollum - I like his versatile scoring ability (probably best pure scorer of this group), good offensive player, smaller size I think could be an issue, I think he could be a very good 6th man, as starter POR backcourt would be undersized Franklin - I like his aggressive drving ability, his aggressive overall play defensively, seems more well rounded than other players, but similar to what POR already has in Barton, likely better I expect that at minimum 2 of those guys will be there at #10, most likely Franklin and either Muhammed\KCP.... If they don't go SG, and decide to go big, I think a guy like Dieng or Withey make sense, as centers who could come in rather quickly and start, both good defenders... I wouldn't mind seeing POR deal with DAL for that #13, picking up a SG at #10 and then a big man at #13.... 2nd round, I like Desaun Thomas as a Carl Landry type offensive scorer coming pff the bench, Siva as a potential b\u PG. If CJ Leslie was there in the 2nd, I think he would be an intriguing guy to take a flyer on...
Good post. I agree with pretty much everything, but if we did go big I would be temped by Zeller as well. Sure he may never start, but he would play quality minutes as a back up PF. Similar to what you said about McCollum. Granted it would be a boring pick, but I think he would be BPA if Shabazz and McCollum were gone. McCollum may never start but I bet he would finish a lot of games. When we go offense/defense at the end of games I would not mind going small on offense with Lillard, CJ, Wes, Batum and LMA. (One guy in the post, two guys spreading the floor, and CJ and Damian left to pretty much able to score from anywhere)
Like I said earlier, I think Christian Watford has a good chance of getting drafted, and if given a chance, would be a great NBA player. One guy that I think has virtually no chance of being drafted but could work his way up the NBDL/Euroleague ranks is Junior Cadougan. I saw a lot of Marquette games this season, and he was really the main reason that undermanned team got as far as they did in the Big East and in the NCAA Tournament. His game doesn't translate well statistically, but he's a real floor general out there, and physically, he overpowers most opposing players. 8.5 ppg and 3.8 apg seems from a senior seem like some stats that are laughable to talk about in a draft thread, but he definitely passed the eye test. I'd go as far as to compare him to Mateen Cleaves. At the end of the day, the numbers aren't there, but the team wins were, and from watching most of his games at Marquette this season, it was clear that he was responsible for most of the team wins. He played smart, made the right plays, and never tried to gamble like Vander Blue did (who is for some reason in the 2nd round conversation over Cadougan). He was really your consummate offensive QB. I wouldn't be surprised if a team with great management that doesn't just look at the numbers, like San Antonio, pulled him in for a back-up role in the next year or two.
Hilarious discussion about Lasik: [video=youtube;oCkz8Gsisj4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oCkz8Gsisj4#![/video] If we drafted him, I'd have no trouble rooting for him - he seems like a great bloke (Nowitzki fandom notwithstanding). Maybe Flight of the Conchords could do a theme song for him.
So bad that even Rudy Gobert is looking good playing alongside him. But then again, has he been as bad as MCW?
