Official 2011 NBA Draft thread

The SI.com mock draft has Jimmer going to the Jazz at No. 12.

Is that too perfect not to happen or is that like people thinking the Jaguars were going to take Tebow at No. 10 in the 2010 NFL draft?

In the spirit of my Michael Beasley will be better than Derrick Rose declaration from a couple years back I'm going to state that Derrick Williams will be a better pro than Mister Mister Kyrie Irving.

 

Jimmer to the Jazz after Hayward is a bit much. Now if Jimmer were more athletic defensively, maybe he'd be more reasonable at 10. Then again, after loading up with Jefferson, maybe the Jazz are trying to get less athletic.

I agree that Williams will be the best player out of this draft; the diversity of his game, offense-defense/outside-inside/finess-power, is so good.

 

The Jazz love taking white dudes.

 

The SI article said they need someone who will fill seats. I don't think he's too much of a risk at No. 12.

 

Probably true. I feel like Jimmer's a good deal at 12.

 

Wilbon said on TK's show recently that black players don't want to go to the small markets.

 

Jimmer looks way too much like the new Adam Morrison to me. I know he's just 6'2", but he didn't have a single block his senior year, and averaged only 1.3 steals and 3.4 rebounds per game despite playing gobs and gobs of minutes (35.8). He only shot 39 percent from 3-point range, and strikes me as more of a volume shooter vs. a guy who has the efficiency to survive in the NBA.

Weird draft. Not a ton of guys that scream "future superstar" but plenty who seem to project as good regulars. Kanter is the one Top Five guy who seems like he could be a bust, but he's a center, so that's kind of par for the course anyway.

 

I think the second round is going to be a lot of fun because there will be a ton of guys taken that are bigger names, guys like Kyle Singler and Demetrios McCamey. Will be interesting.

 

Its hard for a perimeter player who is asked to do as much as Jimmer was on offense to have the type of efficiency you're expecting.

You talk about how Jimmer only shot 39% from 3, but in the NBA he will never get even half of the defensive attention that he did in college. Just as an example, Stephen Curry only shot 39% from 3 in his last year at Davidson. Both Curry and JJ Redick have hit 3-pointers at a better rate than they did in college despite the farther distance and more athletic defenders against them.

I don't think Jimmer will be as good as Curry, but with his ability to shoot from 3 and the foul line, I think he will be a productive player and with this being a weak draft, I think he's worthy of being picked in that 11-15 range.

The difference with Adam Morrison as compared to the others is that he didn't have a consistent track record as an outside shooter. Yes he shot 43% from 3 as a junior, but he was at 31% in both his freshman and sophomore years. Not coincidently during his time with Charlotte, Morrison shot around 34% from 3.

 

To which everyone should have reponded "Well, duh..."

 

I think it's safe to say Jimmer will be somewhere in between Morrison and Curry.

 

If the Jazz are really going to take Jimmer as a seat-filler, that's a move doomed to fail -- unless they really believe he's great. It puts the whole franchise in an untenable situation. If Tyrone Corbin plays Jimmer, and he sucks, he's going to lose his players. If Corbin doesn't play Jimmer, then the fans will get restless. It also sends the signal that the team doesn't think it can draw based on its own appeal and ability, which I didn't think was a problem in Utah.

I was at the infamous Pacers Steve Alford-Reggie Miller flareup/draft party in 1987, and Donnie Walsh had balls the size of coconuts to come out and tell the fans Alford wasn't coming. That day, he was booed, but to say he made the right move is an understatement, based on both the result on the floor and in the stands.

By the way, Walsh did hometown charity right in 1994 when he picked Damon Bailey with the second pick of the second round (after the legendary William Njoku), gave him a contract, and left him on IR so he could collect a salary (as it turned out, Bailey's knees were shot).

I must say, as a Pacers fanboi looser, I like the idea of Tristan Thompson coming in, as SI's mock predicts.