I love Lavine as a speculative pick. He played on a talented UCLA squad with a lot of other guys who demand touches in Anderson, Adams, Alford, etc. Mostly scored opportunistically from being set up by others. Apparently he's trying to convince people he's a PG, which he's not. Guy is incredibly quick/fast and bouncy. Reminds me of a young Monta Ellis. We don't know just how good his ballhandling/passing skills are because he didn't get a ton of opportunity at UCLA to show that off. But he is a heck of an athlete who already has a good perimeter shot, is a nightmare on fast breaks, and has a lot of upside and perhaps his value and true skillset are being devalued. Its a gamble but he's got great upside. He will get stronger. He has tremendous upside on defense as well IMO. I'd take him over Stauskas, McDermott, Hood, etc. but I don't think much of those guys.
I've watched each of the guys here 1-3 times in a game during the year, DX videos, interviews, and my own amateur statistical analysis. My college b-ball watching is light throughout most of the year, then it picks up big time around the conference championships and tournament specifically because of the draft.
Chicago Bulls will workout Texas Legends 2014 NBA Draft Prospect SG P.J. Hairston for the 3rd time later this month. Credit: @KenDog0129 on Twitter KenDog0129 provided proof he spoke with Hairston directly twice about his workouts.
If the draft was held today, DraftExpress has us getting Ennis and Young. And at #49, Cristiano Felicio A PF/center that averaged 6 pts 6 boards a game.
Chicago Bulls drafting Rodney Hood/T.J. Warren are possibilities. Still surprised they didn't draft Tim Hardaway Jr. Mailbag: K.C. Johnson We could have used the shooting skills of a Tim Hardaway Jr. this past season.
Chicago Bulls are [still] trying to move up and offering the #16 + #19 Picks to the Denver Nuggets for their #11 Pick. Chicago Bulls if they move up, Gary Harris or Nik Stauskas will be the guy, with them likely leaning toward Stauskas. As I stated last week, the Bulls have been trying to move up in the draft to get an elite shooter. Their target has been Denver, with an offer of the 16th and 19th picks for 11. If they get there, Gary Harris or Nik Stauskas will be the guy, with them likely leaning toward Stauskas. Payne is another elite shooter, though he's a big man who stretches the floor a different way. The fact that he can also play some 5 is another huge bonus. Also don't count out Rodney Hood here. He had a series of really good workouts and it's unlikely that the Bulls will be able to get him, or a similar shooter, a few picks below. Source: Chad Ford
Something like Payne/Hood would be my wet dream but packaging one or both picks to make a Melo or Live thing happen works for me.
Yeah, three times is pretty serious. Sounds like they like his game. It makes sense....he's an all around player and his shooting stroke is probably up there with McDermott and Stauskas as best in the draft. They're probably terrified of what's going on upstairs, so are checking and double checking.
This coming from the team that dumped JR Smith for nothing without even giving him a chance to play. Another piece of evidence that the Bulls are more Gar Forman and Tom Thibadeau and less John Paxson, which is a very good thing.
Kenneth King @KenDog0129 @BullsSource Myself with #NickStauskas and #DougMcDermott really cool guys both just had workouts for the Bulls.... pic.twitter.com/7BlGXjByIS Well the secrets out. We want either one of them and want to trade up to get one.
Chicago Bulls will workout for 1st time Michigan State Spartens 2014 NBA Draft Prospect PF Adreian Payne on Monday. Source: Shams Charania
The Bulls may trade both of their first-rounders (#16 and #19) for future firsts Alex KennedyVerified @AlexKennedyNBA Source: The Bulls may trade both of their first-rounders (#16 and #19) for future firsts, to free up cap space for Carmelo Anthony pursuit.
I hate to see us do this sort of thing. The guys we draft this year could be really good. Hopefully we would trade #16 and #19 for #15 and #18 or better, though.
I see that DraftExpress.com has Embiid dropping to #4. SST, as I recall you have this guy as a potential HOFer. Should something as simple as a stress fracture really change things that much? Put another way, if you had the #1 pick, would you still take Embiid?
Is he Sam Bowie or Blake Griffin? That's the gamble. I don't know I'd have taken him #1 if he were healthy. I would take Wiggins, period.
How do you guys rate the top 3? The word out of Cleveland was that Embiid had a number of medical red flags before he fractured his foot, right? So I'm not sure any of us are in a position to make predictions without more information on his medicals. If word from the doctors was that the broken foot was a full-season or less setback but they expected him to be fine, I'd take Embiid with the first pick and not look back. These GMs seem to put too much of a premium on drafting guys who can step on the court on day one. Valanciunas slipped to 5 and he looks like he has a decent chance at becoming the best player in his draft. He's definitely better than picks 2-4. Noel was picked five spots lower than he was projected, though obviously none of us have seen him play yet and we don't know if injuries influenced where he was selected. I think it might be one of those situations where GMs are more conservative than what's best for their teams because if they draft a player who never suits up, there's a real possibility that they're getting fired. I think I'd go Nick Stauskas at pick 2 and Jabari Parker at pick 3. I get why so many people are head-over-heels about Wiggins, Denny. My feelings about him are consistent with that long write up they have on the news feed at RealGM. He has all the physical gifts in the world, and that's so important. He looks like he's also going to be a very good defender unlike Parker. For me it's about that line from Moneyball: if Wiggins is such a good player, why isn't he a good player? His traditional statistics are decent but his efficiency numbers are awful. I don't like his handle, I don't like his shot, I hate his feel for the game. All of that will probably improve and I could see him easily becoming an allstar. I just don't have the confidence in his game that I have in Embiid, Stauskas, and Parker's. I'm not including Exum in this because I don't have a real feel for his game.
It takes a few seasons in the NBA before the great players figure out the need for the drive. The kid is 19 years old. What does he want to be when he grows up?
I don't. I claim ignorance based on the fact that I've seen nothing of Exum, almost no game action of Embiid and no more than a handful of games of the rest of the top prospects. Frankly, more people should go the "I dunno" route, but they can't seem to help themselves from having irrationally strong opinions.
If the draft was held today, and not Thursday, DE has us picking T.J. Warren @ 16 and Tyler Ennis @ 19, and lastly #49 Cristiano Felicio A center. Averaged 6.8 pts a game and 6.6 rebounds a game
