Five Draft Prospects who the Blazers will target w/poll I am aware Blazers don't have a pick, but a draft day deal could land them possibly in the late first/2nd round territory, especially if Olshey targets a certain guy as he is known to do. I am well aware many fans are against making any moves at all in the midst of all this winning. Stay away from tinkering until the season plays out. If that is the route you prefer this is the post for you. I was thinking about the Spurs with their core, they drafted it all. Not only that but a lot of quality role players all came as a result of "The San Antonio System" of one Gregg Pops. Develop young talent, to eventually have them be a role player next to your upper tier talent. This draft(Free agency is for another day) is supposed to be legendary. There are some prospects projected there right now that could be great NBA players. I'll throw out some kids who have really impressed so far & could be had later in the draft, I've also linked their ESPN profiles on their names. -The prospects- PG/SG: Jordan Clarkson - Mizzou - 6'5" Point guard! Shooting 50% on nearly 20ppg, playing really good defense. Not a great playmaker yet but still young. Not a good from 3 this year but hit 37% on 100+ attempts last year. Downside of a Rodney Stuckey? Sky is the limit if he learned to pass better. With Lillard being an outside guy primarily at this point in his career it would be nice to have an aggressive PG coming off the bench being able to get efficient shots in the paint. SF: Kyle Anderson - UCLA - This guy just went head to head with Jabari Parker in Madison Square Garden. That not enough? 6'8 small forward who can play efficient offense, great passer(6apg), good rebounder, solid defender... Sound like anyone on our roster you recognize? He is like Batum Jr. Which would be ideal long term to have a guy that could mimic Nic while he is on the bench. Look at his team mates face with this flashy pass! PF: Adrian Payne - Michigan State - Sticking with the comparisons, here is LaMarcus Aldridge lite. 6'10", 245lbs. Freakishly good outside shot, solid defender. Unlike Aldridge he has range beyond the arc shooting 46% on 3 attempts per game WHAT? Another difference is he stayed 4 years. 50% from the field. 17ppg, 8rpg with a steal, block & assist thrown in. Like Anderson could be nice to have a guy who could recreate what the starters bring. Also with a long term chance to be eventually(a long time from now) a starter after Aldridge retires a Blazer after 5 straight rings Look familiar? or Mitch McGary - Michigan - Who likes them some meat & taters? That is M&M. Does the dirty work including ferocious screens & mean defense. An intimidator. Compared to Bill Laimbeer said one website(lets not get ahead of ourselves). C: Jordan Bachynski - Arizona State - Introducing your possible center of the future after Lopez. This canadian born giant(7'2", 250) has broken out this year. After not quite having the patience to defend the low block, the game has slown down in his senior year. A meteoric rise is the result. 4.5 blocks per game, 13ppg(66% FG), 10rpg. Whats funny is seeing the size he is I know you expect him to be a slow plodder... He is legit fast for his size & can finish around the basket with authority. Get him behind Lopez for a few years & see if he can develop into our guy. What I like is unlike Leonard he is a seasoned senior & much more likely to be able to make an impact early in his career. Only weakness they said is recovering on more agile big men, but with Stotts system defensively the center stays close to the basket. Could be our primary backup C right away even. He certainly has the hair to pull it off. Of the bunch who would you prefer, vote in the poll! Who are some other players in college right now you would like in a Blazers uni & why?(Aside from the obvious superstar talent below the 20's picks) Lets go Rip City!
Re: An Early look at 2014 NBA Draft Prospects We already have a draft thread going. Since you're new here I'm going to wait a little while before I merge this thread with that one. http://sportstwo.com/threads/239567-The-Official-2014-NBA-Draft-Thread
Re: An Early look at 2014 NBA Draft Prospects I appreciate that instead of it getting lumped in right away. Good on ya.
Re: An Early look at 2014 NBA Draft Prospects I'd look at Jahii Carson before any of them. In 2011 I wanted a change of pace guard who can come in and provide instant offense. I think Jahii could be a lot like Isaiah Thomas. The Kings got an awesome steal with that pick. Any player worth a damn in this draft we're going to have to trade for.
Jahii Carson stock is on the rise. You can't stay in front of him and he is scoring efficiently. The anti-Nate Robinson: 19.9 PPG 3.8 RPG 5.2 APG 60 TS% http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7DgczvyUE6E
Re: An Early look at 2014 NBA Draft Prospects We need bigs, white boy. (or atleast thats what mrs. hcp said)
Re: An Early look at 2014 NBA Draft Prospects OK, I voted for Payne; but he is projected as about the 20th pick, don't know how we could get there. I couldn't find the two jordans in either the first or second rounds as projected by Draft xpress. They have that Kyle Anderson at 35th in the 2nd round so he's a guy we could get.
Re: An Early look at 2014 NBA Draft Prospects this guy Bachynski does look interesting; I guess the knock is that he is 24 and some people think you can't improve much at that age. To tell the truth my soccer game improved a lot even in my 30's so I don't believe that. http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Jordan-Bachynski-19603/
Re: An Early look at 2014 NBA Draft Prospects Sticky threads, no less... In fairness though, this is a more narrowly focused thread/poll than the existing draft thread, so there's an argument to be made that the new thread is valid.
Re: An Early look at 2014 NBA Draft Prospects They are all valid. I just piling on others as others do to me
Re: An Early look at 2014 NBA Draft Prospects I was using "valid" as meaning "should not be merged". Or IOW, a thread that is essentially a duplicate of another is not "valid", IMO.
Re: An Early look at 2014 NBA Draft Prospects Better question. What are the actual odds we can buy a pick in this draft and is it possible to calculate a chance that small?
Re: An Early look at 2014 NBA Draft Prospects I don't think I want the team to add any players at the draft. Between TRob, Meyers, Crabbe, CJ we have plenty of young unproven players with potential. There is only so much room on a roster for developing players. Depending on us keeping Barton or Mo Williams opting to stay in his contract we will only have 1, 2 or 3 roster spots available. We'll have the MLE and bi-annual exemption. I'd use that to bring in veteran role players in free agency.
Re: An Early look at 2014 NBA Draft Prospects well, people have memorized pi out to about 67,000 numbers--so if you just imagine that the first 66,997 or so are zeroes, then there's still a chance.
