Giles won't be a top 10 pick due to his knees. I seen him dropping in the mocks right around 17 pick.
Robert Williams was projected to go in the 30's just a couple of months ago. Now he is up to #12 on DraftExpress. Another guy no one had heard of that D69 said I should look at when no one knew who he was. http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Robert-Williams-89995/
We fell into the same trap many other teams fell into i.e. we had a lot of money so felt we needed to spend all of it. We did not and without $50M spent on Crabbe, Turner and Leonard we would be able to lure a good player this Summer because half the league have already spent their allowance this year.
I have been reading up on him the past week, looks very interesting. First yr in a while I am gettin pysched for the draft!
Big game of the Night: (as far as Portland is concerned) New Orleans Pelicans @ Memphis Grizzlies. A win by the Pelicans (and a loss by the Blazers) would put New Orleans just 1/2 a game behind the Blazers.....and Portland within a 1/2 game of the the #7 spot in the Lottery. It would also move Memphis down (or up) a spot in the overall league standings which helps since we own their pick. Other big games: DAL @ DET (Dallas is currently #8 in the Lottery) and the Knicks at OKC (NY is currently in the #9 spot with POR just 1/2 game back) Hey, I've got to have something to cheer for.
The 'Big Game of the Night'....the Pelicans vs the Grizzlies played out perfectly. NOP won thereby getting to within a 1/2 game of the Blazers and the Grizzlies lost which is good for the Blazer pick. Win-Win!!
Here's my scouting notes I had on Williams after watching a couple games of his.... Robert Williams Positives: Length Quick and Explosive Leaper Shot Blocking Insincts Quick Hands (Generates Steals) Shows Potential as a Spot Up MR Shooter Potential to be Both PNP & PNR Threat Negatives / Question Marks: Fundamentals on Defense (Undisciplined) Inconsistent Effort (Needs to get in Better Shape) Footwork in the Post Overall Skill Level Feel and IQ Ability to Guard in Space? (Plays Upright) Strictly a Run and Jump Athlete? Bad Hands? Does he Develop 3pt Range? New Age Tweener? (Possible Agility Issues at 4, Strength and Mentality Issues at 5) Bust Potential: 4/10 Most Likely NBA Role: Back-Up Energy Big (PNR Finisher / Off Rebounder) Game Changing Development: 3pt Range
I think we may draft high enough to get our hands on Tatum if Olshey blows this baby up here in the next week.
Or even Josh Jackson/Jonathan Isaac. If you are 5th or 6th in lottery prediction you actually have a great chance to make top 3. It's rare that top 3 consists of only teams who were tipped to make top 3, I think. Tanking is the way from here. Getting blown out by Warriors and swept in 4 is no way to go.
Weird. I didn't see this thread when I made my thread. I'm glad I'm not the only one who is intrigued by Williams.
Justin Patton is still my pick unless we sneak into the top 5-6. Only big I've seen in this class that has a reasonable chance to become a long-term starter. He's not NBA ready from a strength / conditioning respect, but there is just so much to work with with this kid. Josh Jackson would probably be the guy I'd be most excited to luck into.
If we get a top 5 pick, I'd be very scared to trade it. I'd hate to regret turning down a future star.
It will be interesting to see if this can either win or lose on a more consistent level. If Dame can heal, and get out of the funk he is in, despite Neil's best efforts, we may land low lottery, or first round fodder.
Only 26 games left. A lot of them against teams with poor record or home games, so I would not be surprised to go slightly above .500 from here. We are 23-33 now, even if we go 14-12 now it's going to leave us 37-45 - should be good enough for 10th place in lottery but not much more. If we go 10-16 and end 33-49 it'll get us closer to 7th/8th. A lot of teams who have worse record than us right now will be trying to get into playoffs: Miami and Dallas in particular but also New Orleans and Minnesota (maybe New York). The only tanking ones will be Lakers, Phoenix and obviously not taking but too crap to be anything but the worst team in the league, Brooklyn Nets.
The difficulty in getting a better pick in the Lottery at this point is not that Portland will continue to loss it's fair share of game...but rather that the teams behind them have to win 2-3 more games over the next 26. They are playing so poorly that getting that many wins while Portland gets even less than that seems unlikely. Portland wouldn't have to continue just losing most of their games, they would have to go on a serious losing streak like they did the year before they drafted CJ.
So, it's unrealistic to catch teams ahead for better seeding because those teams won't lose enough and it's unrealistic to catch teams behind for better draft slot because those teams won't win enough. Well, maybe they should just quit then! Oh. That might actually help. Yeah, do that, guys.
The guy I see would be good for us is Tatum. But right there few that could fall to us between 10-15.