<div class="quote_poster">Quoting rafy:</div><div class="quote_post">Considering you had; Hinrich, Ford, Sweetney (who has all-star potential, imo), Pietrus, Ridnour, Diaw, Outlaw, Barbosa, and Josh Howard and Mo Williams. Those people are/will be better then Kaman in my opinion.</div> The Clippers in that summer already had young guards Jaric and Quentin Richardson, so they weren't looking at point guards. Brand was already their stud power forward, so drafting a similar player in Sweetney wouldn't work either. The other guys simply weren't worthy of being drafted at sixth. Josh Howard and Mo Williams are looked upon as steals now, but any GM who drafted them at sixth would have been torn apart by critics. Kaman, meanwhile, is a fundamentally sound big man who can rebound, shoot, and handle the ball, while also being able to run the floor. Seeing that Michael Olowakandi was also a free agent that year, drafting Kaman was a no-brainer.
Kirk is going to be an all-star, in my opinion. And could easily be shipped out for much more than Kaman. Yes, I said, Kaman is a good player. But considering you could have gotten Kirk, and a bunch of other guys with much more potential, I can't see why you would draft Kaman. It's exactly like when we drafted Hoff. We needed a center badly so we drafted him, when we could have had Iggy.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Considering you had; Hinrich, Ford, Sweetney (who has all-star potential, imo), Pietrus, Ridnour, Diaw, Outlaw, Barbosa, and Josh Howard and Mo Williams. Those people are/will be better then Kaman in my opinion.</div> Kaman was not a reach at his position, he was predicted in that range the whole time. Araujo was a reach, he was predicted late-lottery to mid first round. Kaman was predicted mid-lottery and would've been a steal in the late first. The Clippers were not planning on bringing Olowkandi back, and had no other C. With all the players you named, none of those guys except Hinrich have really outperformed Kaman. Considering the value of a C, the only player that has been better is Hinrich, and the Clips had PG's then. TJ Ford is better, but he's been injured one year. The Raptors situation was an unsigned MoPete, an older Jalen, and then Vince at the wing positions. The Clippers had young players at PG, SG, SF, and PF with [Jaric and Dooling] [Q-Rich] [Maggette] [Brand, Wilcox, Ely] Josh Howard was the last pick in the first round and passed on by 28 other teams, and the Clippers had Corey Maggette anyways and it would make Howard lack value to the team. Barbosa would basically be the same as Keyon Dooling was on the team, an undersized 2 guard playing PG. He's played well this season, but outside of that, Kaman has been better, and Barbosa was the 21st pick, suggesting they should've drafted him is just stupid. If they had done that, you wouldn't hear the end of the criticism, Barbosa was not considered a more talented player. Jaric was also a good PG when not injured. Outlaw as in Travis Outlaw has yet to do anything in the NBA, so I don't know what that's supposed to prove. He was also drafted 23rd, and was far from being a lottery pick, many suggested he should've gone in the 2nd round. Diaw again is a SF/SF/PG, all positions they didn't need, especially a big PG which is a replica of what Jaric was. Diaw also isn't as valuable as a starting C on a team like the Clippers, and most teams. Ridnour is not even that great, when you already have a PG, I think a 9 points, 7 rebounds, 1-2 blocks starting C is as or more valuable than a 10 points, 7 assists PG. Pietrus hasn't done anything yet, while he's fairly good, again, they had Corey Maggette and Q-Rich, and he isn't more valuable than Kaman in any way. Mo Williams was a second round pick and passed on by a lot of other teams, and I don't know how he's more valuable than Kaman either. He had one good season, played good in the system, but isn't a star player or anything. Mike Sweetney is the a less athletic poor man's version of Brand, and the Clippers had 3 PF's already, who were all 24 or younger. To even suggest that they draft a PF is insane, especially since he wasn't even ranked higher than the C. Kaman potential is a 11-14 points [depending on how good the team is offensively], about 9-10 rebounds, and 2 blocks player as a starting C playing 33-35 MPG. None of those guys you mentioned except Hinrich and Ford really match or exceed that in value. Considering that, there's no need to stack at a position you're very young in when you can get a player that is considered just as valuable, but without as much star potential. Iguodala was ranked above Araujo, so were many other players. All these guys you're mentioning were not ranked above Kaman. Many people even thought Miami could possibly take Kaman over Wade because they needed a C, had Eddie Jones at SG, and Wade wasn't really a PG. Many also though the Raptors could take Kaman at 4th. Araujo was considered a bad pick as soon as he was drafted, Kaman right now is still not considered a bad pick, and was a good pick when he was drafted.
If I remember correctly, some analysts were expecting us to draft Kaman instead of Bosh too, so he wasn't a reach like Araujo. I think og15 basically addressed everything else.
A lot of people projected Kwame really high, yet today he’s considered a bad pick. Same with the Kandy Man. I’m sure the Wizards would have drafted Gilbert at #1 if they could go back on the draft day. So where you are projected, and where you are drafted – is completely irrelevant. A bad pick is a bad pick. We had a massive hole at the 5, incomparable to our 2’s and 3’s. Our 5 made us look like we had Kobe, Tmac, and Lebron. We drafted Hoffa, and people wanted to fire Babs. It doesn’t matter who you need, because you can easily trade someone, who is almost at an all-star level like Hinrich for someone much better then Kaman. Again, it doesn’t matter whatsoever where they are taken, and where they are projected. I never said they should have drafted him, I’m saying he is going to be better. Right now, he isn’t. But he definitely will be. Outlaw has the potential to be better then Ricky Davis, imho. All I am saying is Diaw is better then Kaman, I never suggested they drafted the worse players that I mentioned; I’m saying they are better then Kaman. Ridnour is a brilliant young PG, not that great? Honestly, he could easily be a toned down version of Steve Nash. He is, and will be much better then Kaman. Pietrus, right now, isn’t as good as Kaman. However I do suspect from him next season, to have a stellar year. Maurice, is not as good as Kaman. However, look at his &. .460 from the field, .500 from 3pt, and 88 from the stripe.14 ppg, 1 steal, and 4 assists, 1 TO/game. Not bad in 26 or 27 minutes. Mo is also playing the off guard I believe, while TJ is point, so his assists went down. Mike Sweetney is better then Kaman, I never “suggested” they should draft him, but imho he will be, and is better then Kaman. Hinrich, Ford, Ridnour, and Howard, are all by far, much better then Kaman. That is BS, it doesn’t matter where you are projected, or picked. If Hoff turn out to be a Brad Miller, everyone is going to feel like an asshat. In all honesty, I always thought Wade would be this good, but going back on draft day, I still would have taken Chris. If Miami took Kaman, then it would be a horrendous pick, would it not? They needed a C like you said, but they drafted an undersized SG. This actually proves my point quite well. Quite honestly, I don’t care what they think, because Hinrich, Ford, Ridnour, and Howard, are a lot better, and will be a lot better. On draft day, I’m not sure about what people thought of them picking Bowie ahead of MJ, but I’m certain people thought Sam would be much better then Jordan. Now is the most notorious draft blunder in the history of the NBA. You draft the player you think will be the best, not who you need.
