I think the 3 steals of the draft were : 1. Jammer Nelson - solid PG to come in with the 1st pick and give this team a boost 2. Andre Iguodala - best overall athlete in the draft that slipped pretty far 3. Emeka Okafor - because he is a better player to start a francise with
Bulls got a steal with Deng at 7, they didn't expect him there and were prepared to take Luke Jackson, but they took Deng immediately when they found out he had not been drafted yet.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting pgrudo00:</div><div class="quote_post">I think the 3 steals of the draft were : 1. Jammer Nelson - solid PG to come in with the 1st pick and give this team a boost 2. Andre Iguodala - best overall athlete in the draft that slipped pretty far 3. Emeka Okafor - because he is a better player to start a francise with</div> Gotta agree with you on your 1st two, people have no idea what they're missing out in Nelson, great player both physically and mentally as a specimen. Iguodala is gonna really help the Sixers because he has everything teams like that need. They will probably do a lot better than they're doing right now I imagine. Defense, Rebounding, Scoring, the two only lack size, seeing as they aren't exactly C's which the teams also drastically need.
It's gotta be Nelson. I can't believe he fell that late. The Bulls gotta be the winner of this draft. They got Gordon who can play both guard position, Deng who'll fill their need for the SF slot and Duhon who can provide consistency as a back up of Kirk. Young team they have here, they'll be contending for the playoffs in 2-3 years.
The Bulls got the steal of the night by getting Gordon,Deng,Duhon but the Magic a steal of the draft by getting Nelson for a Future 1st ruond pick
The Nuggets were lucky enough to pick up Nelson, so that was a steal...but then they ended up trading him, so Orlando got the better end of the transaction. I think the Jazz were lucky to get Kirk Snyder so late in the draft, and also the Lakers picking up Sasha Vujacic, who I think is underrated...
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TMac_OwNz:</div><div class="quote_post">Jameer Nelson of course..what was Miami thinking...anyways I think the winners of this draft(Besides the Bobcats) are the Chicago Bulls...wow they got Ben Gordon,Loul Deng, Vroman and Duhon? whoa...Congrats to both Bulls and Bobcats.</div> Yes, I think the Bulls did the best in this draft.... BEN GORDON rocks!
The second-round had quite a few steals. 1: Peter John Ramos (32)-He was projected to be a late first rounder in many mocks, and has a mountainful of potential to be one of the premier big men in the league in the future. Getting him in the second round is a huge steal. 2: Royal Ivey (37)-I watched this guy a lot with Texas and he has to be one of the best defenders of this draft. For the defensively poor Hawks to get him would be very helpful. I think he can play an important role right away since he is NBA-ready, going into the draft after a full four years at the great Texas system. 3: Romain Sato (52)-He is a great athlete and was projected to be picked in the 40's range, but slipped to 52. The Spurs made a great choice in selecting him.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Trip:</div><div class="quote_post">The second-round had quite a few steals. 1: Peter John Ramos (32)-He was projected to be a late first rounder in many mocks, and has a mountainful of potential to be one of the premier big men in the league in the future. Getting him in the second round is a huge steal. 2: Royal Ivey (37)-I watched this guy a lot with Texas and he has to be one of the best defenders of this draft. For the defensively poor Hawks to get him would be very helpful. I think he can play an important role right away since he is NBA-ready, going into the draft after a full four years at the great Texas system. 3: Romain Sato (52)-He is a great athlete and was projected to be picked in the 40's range, but slipped to 52. The Spurs made a great choice in selecting him.</div> Sense you are going second round, let me go late first early second... Kevin Martin... this kid could be the next Rip Hamilton, he is the second leading scorer in the nation... And when people say that the level of competition wasn't good... he played three big time basketball schools and put up more points against team than his average... L8
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Wade05:</div><div class="quote_post">Sense you are going second round, let me go late first early second... Kevin Martin... this kid could be the next Rip Hamilton, he is the second leading scorer in the nation... And when people say that the level of competition wasn't good... he played three big time basketball schools and put up more points against team than his average... L8 </div> Delonte West. He will learn the PG slot and give the offense and defense a steady point guard. Kinda like what Tony Parker gave the Spurs.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Trip:</div><div class="quote_post">The second-round had quite a few steals. 1: Peter John Ramos (32)-He was projected to be a late first rounder in many mocks, and has a mountainful of potential to be one of the premier big men in the league in the future. Getting him in the second round is a huge steal. 2: Royal Ivey (37)-I watched this guy a lot with Texas and he has to be one of the best defenders of this draft. For the defensively poor Hawks to get him would be very helpful. I think he can play an important role right away since he is NBA-ready, going into the draft after a full four years at the great Texas system. 3: Romain Sato (52)-He is a great athlete and was projected to be picked in the 40's range, but slipped to 52. The Spurs made a great choice in selecting him.</div> Another guy I would add to that list is Luis Flores...from the limited times I've seen him, he has looked really good...
I gotta agree with everyone that Jameer Nelson was the biggest steal in the draft. My other steals from the draft were David Harrison at #29 (getting a 7 footer who is pretty much NBA ready with the last pick in the first round) and Peter John Ramos at #32 (dominating in Purto Rico and he is only 18). The main thing about why Harrison and Ramos were such good picks is because the NBA is lacking size and to get 7 footers who look like they will be able to contribute in the late first/early second round is amazing. Worst picks were Igoudala and Josh Smith (I know I am going to take a lot of heat for this). Both of these guys are athletic guys with huge verticals. However, neither really have much of a shot or ballhandling skills. Also, Igoudala did not have the numbers in college to be #9 pick worthy. He had good numbers, but if you get taken in the top 10 you usually have star potential. If Igoudala was not such a standout in college, how is he going to be a standout in the NBA (sure it has happened before, but rarely). Josh did dominate in high school, but that was high school. Had he not entered the draft he would have gone to North Carolina and player behind Felton and Mccants and only had decent numbers. In the NBA he will also be playing bahind two great guards (Terry and Childress) so expect him to put up decent numbers at best. One last thing... Jameer Nelson was such a steal he went just 4 picks before Delonte West. It was clear that without Nelson, West would pretty much be off the radar. West was simply cashing in on Nelson's greatness. When you think about St. Joes from last year the first name that pops into your head in never Delonte West, it is always Jameer Nelson. Also, West was not taken too early, it is simply Nelson being take too late. Nelson and West are not on the same level and for them to be taken that close to each other shows how far Nelson dropped.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting pillagers:</div><div class="quote_post"> Josh did dominate in high school, but that was high school. Had he not entered the draft he would have gone to North Carolina and player behind Felton and Mccants and only had decent numbers. In the NBA he will also be playing bahind two great guards (Terry and Childress) so expect him to put up decent numbers at best. </div> I agree with everything your saying, but Josh Smith was going to Indiana. Which would have meant he would have gotten to be the number one option for a year and then go into the lottery!
I think Utah got a big steal in Kirk Snyder at 16. He is arguably the most NBA ready rookie, along with Okafor, and will fit in Jerry Sloan's system right away, as he is very tough both physically and mentally. They have filled their two guard spot for the next 5-10 years and didn't even have to use their lottery pick.
My bad, I mixed up Josh and JR, JR was going to go to North Carolina. But even with Josh going to Indiana, I think he will put up decent numbers, but i think his numbers would have been weak enough to show the NBA how over-rated he is.
Pillagers, do you know what Peter Ramos's stats we're in the National World Games? Or the last time the NBA players got together and lost.
