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Official 2011 NBA Draft thread

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Mizzougrad96, May 25, 2011.

  1. 93Devil

    93Devil Well-Known Member

    I still think you need some kind of big man to win it all. But in this day and age all they need to do is rebound and defend the basket - exactly what Chandler does for a living.

    You can get that later in the first round, though.
     
  2. 93Devil

    93Devil Well-Known Member

    You want horrific...

    http://www.basketball-reference.com/draft/NBA_2000.html

    Redo this draft and tell me the top five picks.
     
  3. BrianGriffin

    BrianGriffin Active Member

    What's going to happen is one of these days a true center with legitimate back-to-the-basket skills is going to come along and dominate in such a big way because A. Nobody else has one and B. Nobody else defends one since nobody else has one.

    This guy's going to come in and average 25 and 12, win a championship than everybody's going to want one again.

    Yao was close to being that guy, but he broke down. Howard isn't that guy because he's better at catching on the move from a face-up position, that kind of thing, than actual catching on the block and going to work stuff. Last great true low-post center was Duncan (who most consider a power forward).
     
  4. 93Devil

    93Devil Well-Known Member

    In this order

    Kenyon
    Hedo
    Redd (whose leg is dead)
    Pryzibigodzilla
    Crawford
    and the worst tats in the league, Mike Miller

    Now that's a draft!
     
  5. secretariat

    secretariat Active Member

    This would be my top five:

    Redd
    K-Mart
    Turkoglu
    Q Richardson
    Mike Miller
     
  6. 93Devil

    93Devil Well-Known Member

    Any way you slice it, it still is a turd pie.
     
  7. sgreenwell

    sgreenwell Well-Known Member

    Hollinger once looked at drafting traits, although he did it in 2006 or 2007 in one of his print books, so he hadn't accounted for some of the recent drafts.

    - Teams take far more chances on fringe big men because of the talent distribution in the NBA. It's much easier to find a serviceable guard than a serviceable center, just because there are Nth times as many people 6'2" who can play basketball than 7'1". Also, given two equally valuable players, the tall guy will stick around for longer because 1) height doesn't atrophy with age and 2) it is hardly to replace him with a low cost / younger player.

    - Despite the hate on high school players, they perform much, much better as a group than anyone else. Part of it is selection bias; college seniors have no leverage, whereas high school players generally only came out when they were definitely going to be a number one pick. However, there was also something to the idea that pro coaching and being exposed to a pro system ASAP tended to help players develop to a higher peak.
     
  8. BrianGriffin

    BrianGriffin Active Member

    <<However, there was also something to the idea that pro coaching and being exposed to a pro system ASAP tended to help players develop to a higher peak.>>

    I think this point is arguable and probably worthy of a long discussion on its own thread. I think it's true only if a player is able to quickly adapt to an NBA environment and, possibly, not playing.
     
  9. BrianGriffin

    BrianGriffin Active Member

    Which is why mid-majors make Final 4 runs now. They have seniors just as good as the big school seniors because the best players at the big schools don't make it that far. Of course, Butler got there a year early the first time with a sophomore (was Haywood a sophomore or a junior? I'm forgetting) as its best player, so it's not a PERFECT theory.
     
  10. 93Devil

    93Devil Well-Known Member

    Yep

    Which is why today and college basketball would be more fun if they hung around for at least three years, but that is another thread for another day.
     
  11. 93Devil

    93Devil Well-Known Member

    Looking at past drafts, it seems that if you cannot get the big man you really want, you normally are much better off grabbing the best small player availble rather than messing around with so-so bigs.
     
  12. Captain_Kirk

    Captain_Kirk Well-Known Member

    I'd take Williams in a heartbeat. Based on what I saw this year, which is granted, a small subset of games, he has the range and game to becoming a dominating NBA player. If Minnesota is considering trading him, they're stooopid.

    And I always bristle at the 'he doesn't fit into a 1,2,3,4,5 role. That may be true for some players, but guys who can score like him--there's always a place on the basketball court for them.
     
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