<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Also, the Sonics have brought in 21 players for workouts in preparation for the June 28 draft. The Sonics, who have the 25th pick, will bring in more players in the next week. The players who have worked out so include Martellus Bennett, Will Conroy, Marcus de Souza, Ike Diogu, Sharrod Ford, Deng Gai, Angelo Gigli, Ryan Gomes, Marcin Gortat, Stephen Graham, Mindaugas Katelynas, Linas Kleiza, Jason Klotz, David Lee, Marko Lekic, Rob Little, Aaron Miles, Larry O?Bannon, Robert Rothbart, Uros Slokar and Matt Walsh. </div> <font size="1">Full Story courtesy of Frank Hughes and The News Tribune.</font> That list doesn't include Julius Hodge, but I have read on several sites that he has been in as well. From that, Diogu will be gone by 25, but Gomes, Walsh, Lee and possibly Gigli would all be contenders for our pick. I would be rapt if we took a chance on Stevie Graham in the second round, too.
The biggest name in that list is Ike Diogu but he will be gone when it comes to 25th pick I would probaly pick either one of the Florida boys David Lee or Matt Walsh with the pick.
Just an interesting stat... Despite his slight build, Julius Hodge did 14 reps of the 185 lb bench press in Chicago. This is more than the following players could manage: Andrew Bogut Sean May Marvin Williams Martell Webster Jarret Jack Antoine Wright Chris Taft (equal) Just goes to show that while he may appear slight, he is actually deceptively strong. My current draft board in order of preference: 1) Hodge 2) Luther Head, Ryan Gomes 3) David Lee
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Casual:</div><div class="quote_post">I have a nagging feeling we're going to select Matt Walsh.</div> Face it, we love white guys. Robert Swift Luke Ridnour Nick Collison Peter Fehse Vlad Radmanovic There's all our first rounders (and one second rounder which was our only pick) from the last four drafts. If we're going to take a white guy from Florida, let his first name be Dave.
I'm suprised Hodge got 14 reps. He doesn't look he has a body for benching. And IIRC, Luke couldn't even get one rep at 185 when he came out of college.
pwn3d, a lot of those guys you mentioned were big men with long ass arms. it's hard to lift a lot of weight with long arms. those guys lifting 185 14 times would be amazing.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Seattle.:</div><div class="quote_post">pwn3d, a lot of those guys you mentioned were big men with long ass arms. it's hard to lift a lot of weight with long arms. those guys lifting 185 14 times would be amazing.</div> I understand that, it's generally a guard's activity (although I would expected Jarret Jack to do a bit better). However, Hodge is 6'7 with a 7'0 wingspan, so to lift the bar 14 times is a fair effort.
From Chad Ford ESPN Insider: <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Name, Bench press, vertical jump, Lane Agility, ?-court sprint and Overall rank. Joey Graham/26/36"/10.62/3.05/1 Rashad McCants/15/34?/10.39/3.11/3 Luther Head/14/38?"/11.12/3.21/7 Deron Williams/15/35"/10.83/3.25/10 David Lee/14/32?"/10.80/3.19/11 Marvin Williams/12/35"/11.11/3.17/15 Chris Paul/10/38?"/11.09/3.22/16 Raymond Felton/6/33?"/10.50/3.06/18 Ronny Turiaf/15/33"/11.50/3.23/21 Gerald Green/7/39"/11.2/3.21/24 Chris Taft/14/33"/11.26/3.27/25 Julius Hodge/14/29"/10.89/3.18/26 Sean May/12/33"/11.04/3.29/27 Danny Granger/10/34"/10.84/3.34/31 Channing Frye/19/31"/11.60/3.38/33 Dwayne Jones/15/31?"/11.87/3.25/38 Ike Diogu/21/31"/11.94/3.45/39 Charlie Villanueva/11/31"/10.86/3.3/42 Wayne Simien/11/27?"/11.05/3.35/49 Francisco Garcia/5/31?"/10.63/3.33/51 Jarrett Jack/5/28?"/10.87/3.24/54 Antoine Wright/12/29?"/11.45/3.41/55 Rudy Fernandez/0/35?"/10.48/3.33/56 Martell Webster/7/30?"/11.39/3.39/59 Andrew Bogut/13/33?"/12.06/3?1/60 Hakim Warrick/11/38"/N/A/3.22/61 Monta Ellis/0/31?"/12.13/3.31/70 Martynas Andriuskevicius/0/27?"/11.94/3.42/73 Ersan Ilyasova/2/30"/11.59/3?6/74 So who was helped and hurt by the testing? WINNERS Deron Williams -- Scouts have been questioning his quickness and athleticism all year. Now that he's lost some of that body fat, that no longer seems to be an issue. He's not as fast as Raymond Felton and doesn't jump as high as Chris Paul, but he's clearly in the same league athletically. Joey Graham -- It doesn't come as a huge surprise that Graham came out on top. If you've seen him play much, you know he's an unbelievable athlete. Still, finishing on top of the heap should guarantee he gets selected in the lottery. Will Bynum -- He was the last guy invited to Chicago and played extremely well, especially on the defensive end. A few scouts believe he might be a better prospect than Nate Robinson (the guy who tested as the top athlete in Chicago last year). I doubt he gets selected ahead of Nate, but he's definitely in the second-round mix now. Rashad McCants -- There are still questions about his attitude, but it's rare to find such a great shooter who can also test off the charts athletically (just look at Martell Webster and Antoine Wright). Someone's going to ignore the baggage and take him in the late lottery to mid-first round. Channing Frye -- He's stronger and more athletic than scouts have given him credit. The 19 reps on the bench press will turn a lot of heads. David Lee -- Athletically, he tested as the top power forward in the draft. His lane agility scores are what really stand out. Lee has very quick feet, which will really help him defensively in the pros. Combine that with his strong play in Chicago and Lee seems like he's another step closer to securing a spot in the first round. Marcin Gortat -- He had just a so-so camp, but he tested out as the most athletic center in the draft. He could be off the board in the first 10 picks of the second round if he decides to stay in the draft. Sean May -- His numbers don't jump out at you, but he showed a better vertical jump and more agility than his main competition: Ike Diogu, Wayne Simien and Chris Taft. Maybe that will balance out the fact that he measured smaller than all of them. LOSERS Andrew Bogut -- He's been trying to dispel the "great white stiff" myth for the past few weeks. This doesn't help. While his vertical leap is actually above average for a guy his size, his lateral quickness and sprinting speed were just awful. That will hurt him defensively. Wayne Simien -- Simien finished well below the other top big men in almost every area. Especially shocking is his lack of explosion jumping off one foot. His one-step vertical was only a half inch more than his standing vertical. That was, by far, the worst in the camp. Antoine Wright -- Scouts have been warning that Wright looks more athletic than he actually is. At the combine, he was significantly below Francisco Garcia, a guy almost every scout in the league has knocked for his lack of athleticism. Had he not benched an impressive 12 reps, he would have landed close to the bottom. That's going to come back to haunt Wright. Jarrett Jack -- He has great size and toughness, but athletically, he tested well behind most of the point guards in this draft. With Roko Ukic making a strong push, it could cause him to slip. The High Schoolers -- Monta Ellis, Martell Webster and Brandon Rush all tested terribly. That's partly because of their age and partly because guys like Ellis and Rush might not have been training for these particular tests the way some players do. We knew that Webster was just an average athlete but Ellis was a huge shock. For an undersized 2-guard to be successful in the League, he has to be long, quick and explosive. Ellis is none of the above. There's been talk that Minnesota is flirting with taking him at No. 14. It's pretty hard to justify that after seeing these numbers. The Internationals -- They always struggle every year. With the exception of Gortat, they all were near the bottom of the heap. Most of them have never lifted weights before (which hurts their bench press numbers) and most are bigs lacking any real explosion or quickness.</div>
There are strong rumours that Jack will pull out; it's been put behind the excuse that there could be a lockout, but my guess is he may have slipped on a lot of team draftboards and by going back for his senior season, can come out in 2006 when the point guard crop shouldn't be nearly as strong. A shame, for he would be terrific value at 25 (still can't see him getting past the Celtics or Grizz if he does stay in, though).
And right on cue, Chad Ford's latest Insider mock has the Supes taking Jack at 25. Of course, it also has Frye going 6th, Felton 13th and Taft going in the second round, so who knows.
I think this is the most wide open I've seen a draft in a long time (after the first 3-4 picks). And Jack seems like a solid player - my only problem with him is he looks a little too much like Steph, especially in that GA Tech uni. I mean he just looks like he's going to fling up a 25 footer
Draft Express have us taking Chris Taft, Tiras Wade and Sean Banks with our three picks. I would be happy with that sort of a draft, but not the way they have it panning out (they have the Supes passing Gomes and Robinson to take Tiras at 48). Draft.net is slightly worse though, as they have us passing up Diogu, Simien, Gomes, Hodge and Jarrett Jack to draft Monta Ellis, and then Jawad Williams and Amir Johnson in the second. If Nate is on the board at #48 and we pass on him, I am guessing there will be riots in the Key.
According to David Locke, we are Jarrett Jack's backstop - in other words, in the unlikely event he drops to 25, he won't drop any further.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Pwn3d!:</div><div class="quote_post">According to David Locke, we are Jarrett Jack's backstop - in other words, in the unlikely event he drops to 25, he won't drop any further.</div> I read that as well. It doesnt seem like we would be the latest he could drop. I would be absolutely shocked if we drafted a pg in the 1st round to keep him.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Coolguy777:</div><div class="quote_post">I read that as well. It doesnt seem like we would be the latest he could drop. I would be absolutely shocked if we drafted a pg in the 1st round to keep him.</div> I disagree - at 25 you've got to go best player available, and there's a very good chance that would be Jack if he dropped. He's a big, strong point guard who can play D, and with AD looking likely to be gone, I think it's a good fit.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Pwn3d!:</div><div class="quote_post">I disagree - at 25 you've got to go best player available, and there's a very good chance that would be Jack if he dropped. He's a big, strong point guard who can play D, and with AD looking likely to be gone, I think it's a good fit.</div> I guarantee you Nate doesnt want a rookie to backup Luke Ridnour. thats a good place to have a vet. If we draft him I highly expect a trade..because he may be the best player available that may be reason to take him but not sure its reason to keep him.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Coolguy777:</div><div class="quote_post">I guarantee you Nate doesnt want a rookie to backup Luke Ridnour. thats a good place to have a vet.</div> I agree to an extent, but what is out there? Luke has to be taking a bigger role this next season and he will, and while I'm sure we'll sign some veteran help in the backcourt, Jack could potentially be a very valuable piece. So much depends on Ray Allen right now.
I think that it is foolish for us to draft a point guard in the first round. I believe this not because I think that we couldn't upgrade at the point/back up point, but b/c I think that sends a terrible message to Luke that he is not trusted to run the position full time and for years to come. Luke's confidence is already shaky and for us to use our only first round pick to get a point guard two years removed from Luke would indicate that the organization doesn't have full confidence in Luke. It may give Luke extra motivation to continue to improve, but it also may cause the mild mannered player to feel slighted and unappreciated. I don't think that Luke would thrive in such a position. Granted I'm not the biggest Luke fan in the world, but if we are going to commit to him being our starting point guard, we don't need to bring in another point guard with our first round pick. Bring in a veteran free agent and pick up a point w/ one of our second round picks. Luke isn't the toughest minded player in the world. I'm still advocating drafting Ryan Gomes. At pick #25 you aren't going to find too many role players that are capable of making an immediate impact at more than one position.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Seattle SuperSonics picked a good time to have the 25th pick in the NBA Draft. The general consensus is that the 2005 Draft crop that the Sonics and the 29 other NBA teams will choose from next Tuesday is deeper than any other in recent memory. That opinion was reinforced by Sonics General Manager Rick Sund and Director of Player Personnel Dave Pendergraft when they briefed the Seattle media on their draft preparations Friday. "This is an opportunity that might not come along again, in terms of having the amount of talented players, regardless of position, at 25," said Pendergraft, who heads the Sonics amateur scouting. "Without a doubt, I think we'll get an asset, a guy you won't throw back in the pond, at 25. I feel very confident that with our second-round picks, we'll find guys who are keepers." "You're going to get a pretty good player at 25, potentially, but the player at 48 might be as good as the player at 25," said Sund. "The guy at 25 might be as good as the player at 10. It's one of those type of drafts, I think, which doesn't happen very often. Which means there may be a lot of players from this draft who may be in the league five or six years from now." In addition to their first-round pick, 25th overall, the Sonics also have picks 48 and 55 in the second round. And with the depth of talent available, potential changes stemming from the new NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement and the nine incumbent Sonics expected to become free agents, it's possible all three picks could make the Sonics roster next season.</div> <font size="1">Full Story courtesy of Draft Express.</font>
