A couple of good reads on draft PG for this year

Nikolokolus · May 14, 2009

glazeduck said: ↑

No one else is even remotely interested in Johnny Flynn? I think this kid is going to be a beast! Reminds me of Chris Paul.

A shade under 6'0, tough, strong, athletic, smart, great floor general, great leader... Given what we'd likely have to give up for Rubio or Jennings compared to the step down in amount we'd have to give up to get Flynn I think he's the way to go.
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Frankly, I didn't watch Flynn play enough to say anything about him one way or another (once in the tournament and the other in that marathon overtime game with UConn.) From what I remember he's definitely got the jets, but his play style seemed almost more 'playground' than 'pro' to me (he looked really out of control on a lot of his drives, and seemed to go for the really high level of difficulty play versus the 'right' play)

Nikolokolus · May 15, 2009

Chad Ford had an interesting report on Darren Collison, I figured I'd post the transcript here since we're on the topic of point guards (you need Insider to read the full article).
http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/draf...ist=ford_chad&page=InsiderPreDraftTour-090514

Darren Collison, PG, UCLA
Collison has also been an enigma. As a sophomore, a number of teams saw him as a potential lottery pick, but his numbers haven't really improved during his junior and senior years.

On the plus side, he's probably the fastest player in the draft. Even in a situation like the Sand Dunes at Manhattan Beach, Collison can fly up and down the floor. I also think Collison is a good shooter -- he shot 52 percent from 3 as a junior and nearly 40 percent from 3 as a senior.

In the workout with former Hornets assistant coach Dave Miller, Collison was unconscious shooting from everywhere on the floor. Whether he was driving to the basket, shooting the midrange jumper or launching NBA 3s, his shot was perfect. Combine the speed and shooting ability and you have a really interesting player.

On the downside, Collison is pretty small and lacks great strength. However, his strength coach, Tom Vachet, said that Collison has dramatically improved his strength over the past month without compromising his speed. But given the success of Aaron Brooks in the playoffs, I'm not sure that's going to hurt him as much as it may have in years past. Brooks is proving that smaller guards with great speed are unguardable right now, given the league's prohibition on hand checking. Brooks has more of a scorer's mentality than Collison, but Collison has better floor vision and can play at different speeds.

In fact, you wonder if Collison's numbers weren't artificially deflated playing in Ben Howland's grind-it-out offense. Turn Collison loose on a team like UNC and you could argue he would've put up much higher numbers. However the good news about Collison is that, having played at UCLA, he learned how to play lockdown defense and the half-court game. And he says being able to play both ways will come in handy in the pros.

"I feel like I'm the fastest player in the draft," Collison said. "I'm going to use my quickness. That's how the game is played. Whether you're playing up and down or in the half court, you need quickness. Any time I can use my quickness on the court -- either on the offensive or defensive end -- it's going to be real special for the team that picks me up."

Collison is currently in the mix with a number of other top prospects, but ultimately he'll be competing against the other uber-quick point guards like Ty Lawson, Patrick Mills and Jonny Flynn for a spot in the late lottery to mid-first round. Of the three, Collison is the best shooter, the fastest end to end and the best defender. Whether that's enough to put him ahead of the pack remains to be seen -- but having those four in the gym should be a really interesting workout.
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I have to admit I really cooled on Collison since his sophomore year, but after reading this I wonder if he'd be worth it as a third point guard on the team as some emergency depth. Thoughts?

ps. he's projected to go anywhere from 20 to 23 depending on the draft site

MAS RipCity · May 14, 2009

hmm, really the only pg I like is Jrue Holiday. Yes, he will take time to develop, but I doubt we find an impact pg in this draft, so maybe take a high potential guy?
Flynn, Maynor, and maybe Lawson intrigue me some as well.
I am really sold on Bayless though, so i would rather draft sam young or blair out of pitt

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A couple of good reads on draft PG for this year

Nikolokolus There's always next year

Nikolokolus There's always next year

MAS RipCity Mercy, Mercy

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A couple of good reads on draft PG for this year

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Nikolokolus There's always next year

Nikolokolus There's always next year

MAS RipCity Mercy, Mercy

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