Re: NBA Draft & Offseason Thread

[Banedon]

Lets begin with a trade....

 

The Minnesota Timberwolves have agreed, pending league approval, to send the 18th pick in the 2012 NBA draft to the Houston Rockets for Chase Budinger and the draft rights to Lior Eliyahu, two league sources confirmed to ESPN.com.

[Smack]

Sullinger was not invited to attend the draft in person. Apparently that's after the teams were polled and he won't be in the Top 15, or possibly even the first round.

[Cubswin11]

I'm not that surprised by Sullinger not being invited/not being considered a top 15 pick. I don't see his ceiling being more than a Dajuan Blair/Big Baby type. He doesn't have much of offensive game or jumper and is way undersized for the center position and probably to slow to play forward. I basically see him as a decent-good bench player to come in and foul guys hard/take up space/get rebounds for 15-20 minutes a game.

[SouthSideRyan]

He was pretty much a lock top 10 last year.

[Derwood]

Sullinger was red-flagged by several team doctors after his physical

[Cubswin11]

He was pretty much a lock top 10 last year.

I would guess that was more on projectability than anything, teams saw a freshman who was solid in the post but had no jumper/offensive game that would need to move to the PF in the league if he were to become a starter/main player on a team. Then he came out this year and really didn't show he got better in the areas he was weak and was a year older. Him getting hurt and missing time didn't help either.

[Magnetic Curses]

if sullinger fell to 29 i'd take him in a minute

[Splendid Splinter]

Lets begin with a trade....

 

The Minnesota Timberwolves have agreed, pending league approval, to send the 18th pick in the 2012 NBA draft to the Houston Rockets for Chase Budinger and the draft rights to Lior Eliyahu, two league sources confirmed to ESPN.com.

 

 

So Rockets will have 14th, 16th, and 18th pick? That'll be interesting...

[Brian]

article I read has them trying to get lottery picks to make a run at Howard.

[imb]

if sullinger fell to 29 i'd take him in a minute

 

hopefully he doesnt get past 28

[imb]

I think bradley beal and jeremy lamb will be the 2 best non-davis players in the draft.

[apete6]

Lets begin with a trade....

 

The Minnesota Timberwolves have agreed, pending league approval, to send the 18th pick in the 2012 NBA draft to the Houston Rockets for Chase Budinger and the draft rights to Lior Eliyahu, two league sources confirmed to ESPN.com.

 

Not that it matters, but if the season started tomorrow, all of the TWolves starters could/would be White/Hispanic:

 

Love

Budinger (if he started over Wesley Johnson, which he probably should)

Rubio/Barea

Pekovic/Milicic

Ridnour

 

That probably hasn't happened in the last 25 years.

[imb]

man, the wolves. everyone said williams would be a bad fit style-wise (he was) but that he was BPA and they had to take him because the draft was weak, etc, etc. Now he's been there a year, is OBVIOUSLY a terrible fit, and they either have to move him for junk or just keep playing him off the bench and out of position.

 

Meanwhile, they could have just taken Kawhi Leonard and that would have been perfect but noooooo, fit be damned, you have to take the highest ceiling guy.

[SouthSideRyan]

I think bradley beal and jeremy lamb will be the 2 best non-davis players in the draft.

 

I think Beal and Kidd-Gilchrist will be better than Davis

[Derwood]

Apparently Davis has trademarked "uni-brow" or "fear the brow" or some such thing

[Tracer Bullet]

Brow down, fear the brow, and raise the brow. Just filed applications at this point. Spent about $6,000 just in filing fees.

[Magnetic Curses]

I think bradley beal and jeremy lamb will be the 2 best non-davis players in the draft.

 

I think Beal and Kidd-Gilchrist will be better than Davis

 

shareef abdur-rahim. he'll have a pretty nice 10-12 year career but never be a real superstar.

[Vanilla Ice]

I think bradley beal and jeremy lamb will be the 2 best non-davis players in the draft.

Beal, yes.

 

I'm not very high on Jeremy Lamb, though.

[rawaction]

A lot of people are calling Damian Lillard the best G in the draft. Kinda reminds me of a poor man's Derrick Rose.

 

And I agree, J. Lamb and Beal are probably going to be 2 of the 3 best players in this draft class. And I do really like Kidd-Gilchrist, be interested to see if he's more Scottie Pippen or Anthony Mason.

 

And I hope Austin Rivers goes to the worst situation possible!

[SouthSideRyan]

Brow down, fear the brow, and raise the brow. Just filed applications at this point. Spent about $6,000 just in filing fees.

 

He hasn't been hurting for cash since high school.

[Vanilla Ice]

I think one of the big guys is definitely going to end up being better than Lamb. There are some really good high-ceiling big guys between Perry Jones III, Thomas Robinson, and Andre Drummond. I've got to think at least one of them pans out. That doesn't even mention some of the safer big guys like Zeller or Sullinger.

 

I just don't see it with Jeremy Lamb. What is it about him, other than his length?

[Vanilla Ice]

Very good article on Grantland about Royce White.

[illiniguy]

Meyers Leonard is the guy I think with the most upside in this draft. That said he could easily bust too.

[rawaction]

 

I just don't see it with Jeremy Lamb. What is it about him, other than his length?

 

That's really all there needs to be, when you look at his ability. Legit 2G size, good shooter with mid-range and deep game. Elite jumping ability, can handle, has great quickness, good rebounder for his size. I think he has some James Harden potential in the NBA, but also has the ability to come off of screens like Rip Hamilton (to use the easy comparison from UConn, very skinny). He's probably not going to be a 25ppg scorer, but I think he's a guy that can give you 16-18 right away at the 2-guard with a good PG to get him the ball off screens and on the break. Ultimately, I think he can be a low 20s scorer, who gives you 5 rebs and 5 assists every night. A very good player.

[rawaction]

I think one of the big guys is definitely going to end up being better than Lamb. There are some really good high-ceiling big guys between Perry Jones III, Thomas Robinson, and Andre Drummond. I've got to think at least one of them pans out. That doesn't even mention some of the safer big guys like Zeller or Sullinger.

 

I just don't see it with Jeremy Lamb. What is it about him, other than his length?

 

I guess I shoulda quoted my last 2 posts together. But the NBA isn't a big man's game anymore. Granted PJ3 isn't a tradition C or PF anyway. The game is now won on the wings, with elite scorers who can shoot the jumpshot and drive to the hoop to finish. The last few NBA finals have proven this with Lebron, Wade, Dirk, Durant, Westbrook, and Kobe starring for their finals teams, with big men who play supporting roles. So, it's tough for me to say the big guys will pan out. There's such a huge range of results for young big men in the recent NBA. Kwame Brown seems like more of the norm that not at this point.