My friend a celtics fan claims next years class will have best talent in years. anyone else hear this??
Just add 5 or 6. If you have a top 5 pick, you have a chance at an all star. If you have the 10th pick, it'll be like having the 4th or 5th pick in this years draft.
wiggins and jabari parker have legit superstar potential at this point, marcus smart, all the kentucky kids...it should be pretty loaded in the top 10 or so we will see how this season in ncaa bb plays out though if wiggins and parker were available to be drafted this year, they would have went #1 and #2 without question
When we hear over a year in advance how great a draft class is, all it means is that the draft contains a couple of Oden/Durant superstars at its top. Down in the mid-1st round, the quality may be the usual. This weak 2013 draft wasn't so bad once it passed the top 10 or so.
I'm actually leaning towards Randle over Parker myself. The only times I've seen of them is in All-Star games, so that's not worth much, but at least in those settings, Randle seemed like a better prospect. I didn't really see what the big deal was with Parker, but shit, those were just All-Star games, so what do I know? The NCAA season could really shake things up though. Shabazz Muhammad was heralded as one of the next great wings until he was forced to play a year at UCLA. We also don't know if guys will come back for another year. Hell, Marcus Smart could have been the #1 pick this year and went back to school. Who's to say he wouldn't make it three years at Oklahoma State? Jabari Parker's family has also been talking a lot about the importance of academics. He's not a sure fire one-and-done either. The 2014 draft looks deep as hell on paper, but it's dicey because most of the top prospects are coming out of high school.
Shit, let's just rename this thread "The Official 2014 Draft Thread." Carlito got the ball rolling... I agree with this being one of the strongest draft classes in recent memory on paper, but it's just that... on paper. We've got 365 days of basketball for players to under/overachieve, players to decide to stay longer in college, and players to get injured. I can realistically see both Parker and Smart staying in school, Randle has an injury history, and who knows how any of the other UK guys will develop, because as good of a recruiter as Calipari is, he sucks at developing talent. I could see this class rivaling the '03 class, but I could also see it shaping up to be just "above average," as the thread's title suggests. It really varies because most of these high profile guys are high schoolers. I'm sold on Wiggins, but after that, each prospect has something that could either keep them out of the '14 draft or make them drop.
I think with this many quality players, I'm going to make more of an effort to watch more college ball, just not my Ducks. Wonder how soon the tank jobs will start, because there is some strong talent coming next June.
Man, I'm jealous... I watched more NCAA ball than I've watched all my life this season, but I'm starting law school next month and am essentially going to take myself off the grid for it... don't think I'll even get to see most MSU games. I'm going to miss what's looking like one of the best NCAA seasons in the last 10 years. Not only is this a historically great HS class coming in, but teams like Michigan State, Kentucky, and Oklahoma State have tons of draft prospects coming back to play college ball. Some players will flop, but some players will overachieve (ala Oladipo)... either way, this is looking like a very entertaining NCAA season.
Parker is sublime IMO, he just plays so lucid, he's not a stat guy in the all star games but you can see the plays he makes he could make them whenever he wants Agreed he might go 2-4 years at duke tho
