True, but I think this draft has really good value right around that range. Guys like McDermott, James Young, Rodney Hood, some of the euros are all overrated in this draft IMO. It makes some pretty damn interesting prospects available in that mid-first round area. IMO Levine is a top 10 prospect, easy. Hes a gamble but I'd jump all over him at 16 and even try to move up to get him, but with two picks I'd DEFINITELY put a chip down on this guy. Payne's an interesting prospect. His physical tools are pretty good for a PF and he's got legit 3 pt range, was a 4 year player for Michigan St. Yet he's inconsistent, certainly doesn't look like hes a star in college and likely does not have star potential, hes kind of raw still and I question his bball IQ (and I give Michigan St. players the benefit of the doubt). Hes got the tools to start at PF and be a + on defense while stretching the floor and possibly being a pick and pop nighmtare. But is he really a good defender? Is he a rim protector? He didn't put up great rebounding numbers last season while drifting from the hoop. I'd love to have him on my W's just because of the floor spacing and size combo. But he could be Brian Cook or Mo Speights just as easily as he could be David West. IMO in this draft hes a late lotto to mid-first pick, possible every day starter. Kyle Anderson is an odd player, could be a very interesting fit alongside Derek Rose. I think he's pretty high risk because he would get murdered defensively at either forward spot. But if you can mask him or if he puts on weight and can play PF adequately he could be a really unique and valuable player.
The thing I like about Levine, as compared to say Harris and Hood, is that you can point to an aspect of his game that's going to be a strength in the NBA. Levine is a great athlete and the right size. If nothing else, he has that to rely upon. Payne was reportedly dealing with undiagnosed mono since January. If this is the case, it goes a long way to explaining his somewhat erratic play, doesn't it? I understand what you're getting at though. Even if Payne's problems this season were not caused by the mono I think there's reason to be more bullish on him as a prospect than you are. He looked like the real deal during stretches this season, and it takes forever for big men to learn how to play. Even as a college senior he has another eight seasons or so before he's going to reach his peak. He's the right size; he has some nice skills; he puts himself in the right positions a good amount of the time -- that's not a bad place to start from as a rookie.
Haven't seen him play. My college ball watching was pretty erratic this past season. I became obsessed with Joel Embiid pretty early so I basically almost only watched Kansas through most of the season. That guy is going to be a brilliant pro if his back holds up. I watched a fair amount of Michigan State and UCLA too I guess. I don't have a great feel for McGary's game either.
I've seen a couple of people mention this. I'm not certain it's right. Can't you just sign a big name free agent that takes you up to the cap and then use the MLE or the mini-MLE on Mirotic? What am I missing?
This is basically how I feel as well. Hood has never done one thing on the court that makes me think he's an NBA player. He seems o have maintained his first round draft stock simply by having a reputation, physical tools, and playing for Duke. Levine has a lot of gaps in his game that need to be addressed but you're starting off with a guy who is an elite athlete, good SG size, pretty darn good shot for a prospect that young, and you see flashes of how dynamic he can be. Like I said, he's kind of a strange prospect. Hell of a fascinating skillset, but I just have a hard time seeing him develop as a go-to scorer. Wish I was more sure of his rim-protecting abilities. I'm a big believer in Izzo guys, but I'm not sure how smart this guy plays. I like him as a prospect, I would definitely take him in the 10-14 range, I just think his upside is limited and that may be why his stock is low for a guy with those tools. Saw a healthy amount of McGary last season. I like him as a late first/early second. Hes got very nice hands and touch around the rim. Hes pretty mobile for a guy who looks like hes pretty close to a legit 6'10 and 265 lbs. Not a leaper though. He doesn't have much in the way of one on one scoring moves, but I do see a lot of upside on offense. He sort of reminds me of an early David Lee- his offense relies on garbage buckets, being set up rolling to the hoop, cutting to the rim and showing deft hands and finishing ability. IMO his jumper could become a strength and he could add some post moves and be a pretty decent player. He isn't a rim protector at all on defense. Hes got the quick feet and girth to be a decent interior defender but I haven't really seen him tested enough in that regard to say hes a good or bad defender. Someone on the PDX board said McGary reminds them of Pekovic. I think thats a good comparison for his game. McGary is a bit smaller and I think he'll be more of a jump shooter and less of a post-up player than Pek, but I do see some similarities there. Pek is probably closer to McGary's ceiling though.
My understanding is that you can only use the MLE if you're already over the cap. If you're under the cap you can use the room MLE (which is less) to go over it, but nothing more besides vet min contracts. So if we have cap space and plan to sign Mirotic, then (Cap Space - Mirotic = Room to Sign Other Player) Which inhibit our ability to make a competitive offer.
You add salaries, cap holds, and MLE and BAE to see if you're over the cap. If so, you get MLE and BAE. I think we have MLE for sure. If the Bulls amnesty Boozer, they'll be far enough under that they get no MLE or BAE. Room MLE though. Basically Boozer amnesty gets them $4M more to spend or offer a Mirotic. They have trade exceptions, cap holds, etc., that take up part of Boozer's $16M salary wiped from the books. If they do amnesty Boozer, the Bulls will likely have a payroll barely above the CAP.
Denny's got it right...if they don't amnesty Boozer, they have no cap room to sign a free agent, but get the MLE and BAE. If they amnesty Boozer, sign their two picks and renounce Hinrich and the cap comes in at $62mil, I estimate that they'd have about $11mil for a free agent plus the new "Room MLE" which is something like $2.7mil.
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/2014-nba-mock-draft--lottery-edition-021401275.html What a haul! It's not "wait until next year!" as usual... It's "wait until Kristaps gets over here!"
I may be of a minority here, but I would not be upset if we signed Harris. I saw him play early, he can play!
I'm with TrueBlue on this one. If we get Gary Harris at #16 and a EuroStash at #19 I'll be pretty pleased. Harris was hurt a little by his combine measurements, but not so much that he stops being a good value at #16. There figure to be a lot of unique euro prospects in the back half of this draft that look interesting, and it gives us more cap space in the offseason. Much more concerning to me is nbadraft.net's mock draft, which as us taking Jerami Grant and Shabazz Napier.
And Tony Snell was the steal of the last draft. nbadraft.net's profile says this about Harris: http://nbadraft.net/players/gary-harris While being a very solid prospect without a sizable basement, his ceiling is not as great as some other prospects ...
nbadraft.net's mock has two players I'd rather have going after our picks: http://nbadraft.net/players/glenn-robinson-iii Not to be confused with NFL's RG3, "GR3" is an above the rim athlete with star potential ... Smooth. Makes everything look easy. Wing player who attacks the basket and makes highlight finishes ... Quick, explosive leaping ability. Gets to the rim in a hurry ... Has a good feel for the game and solid perimeter skills ...Versatile wing with the ISO ability to create shots off the dribble as well as the vision to find teammates ... Runs the floor well and has the fluidity and body control to make acrobatic plays at the rim in transition ... Surprising all around skills for a freshman ... NBA ready body. Focused. Shows strong maturity, both mentally and physically, for a first year college player ... Good decision maker ... Very efficient scorer. 59% from the floor ... Competitive ... Unselfish. Team player. Excellent form on his shot, and shows range to knock down the college three ball consistently. Father was known for being a deadly pull up shooter, and GR3 shows potential to develop the same skill ... Understands spacing. Adept scorer with the ability to find cracks in the defense and moves well to get open ... Solid defender. Gets low, good fundamentals and effort ... Slashes to the basket well for rebounds. Understands positioning and boxing out ... Physical strength and explosiveness allow him to out-rebound bigger opponents. Good anticipation. Very good second leaper allows him to grab a board and make a follow up dunk ... Good length. Wingspan likely in the 6'10 range ... AND http://nbadraft.net/players/tyler-ennis OR http://nbadraft.net/players/adreian-payne
Denny, I like all three of those guys better as well. The hype around GRIII has deflated quite a bit since the end of last year, but his tools are perhaps the best of any wing player outside Andrew Wiggins. And while his play disappointed, it's not like he went belly up. I wouldn't mind the pick. Ennis looks like he'll be good but a little unexciting. Payne seems like a sound pick as well, but we've talked about him before. Two other guys I wouldn't mind us picking up are TJ Warren and Jarnell Stokes. Warren has questionable defense and outside shot but undeniable instincts for scoring the ball. He plays a lot like Antawn Jamison. What makes me like him is that even if he doesn't shore up his weaknesses (which are definitely real, and their improvement not guaranteed) I can easily see him continue to do what he does well. He's completely mastered the in-between game, which is something most guys take years to do. I can see him being a centerpiece of a new bench with his scoring ability and nose for getting up shots: [video=youtube;YG4UR065r44]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG4UR065r44[/video] And there's also Jarnell Stokes. He's mentioned as a second-round guy but I could easily see him being taken higher than that. [video]http://search.draftexpress.com/profile/Jarnell-Stokes-6282/#ooid=hmbmcwbjrkY0jsR06Q5O1jxZZ8MijCPT[/video] PS - Denny, how do you embed videos inside of replies to posts? I ask because I've tried several methods and can't get them to show up. Methods attempted: - Copying youtube URL into video tags - copying embed code directly into post - copying embed code into video tag - copying embed code into html tags It seems like sometimes I can do this and sometimes I can't. Could you offer some advice for how to do this? Is this also possible with DraftExpress Videos which DON'T use YouTube and instead rely on their proprietary video hosting (which also has embed codes)?
On the editor is a filmstrip button. Click that and copy/paste your YouTube URL in the pop up window. We are using AME for vBulletin. It likely doesn't support DX videos. I can look into it though. YouTube went from http type URLs to https ones. AME didn't support https, but I recently fixed that.
Denny, Okay. Fixed. FWIW the issue is that I was using the shortcode provided by YouTube that had a truncated URL, which is why it wasn't showing up. When I pasted the URL from the address bar it showed up just fine. Thanks.
Chicago Bulls will workout Duke Blue Devils 2014 NBA Draft Prospect Rodney Hood on Wednesday. Source: Jeff Goodman
Chicago Bulls will workout Florida Gators 2014 NBA Draft Prospect Scottie Wilbekin (2nd Rd Pick) sometime this week. Source: Jeff Goodman
