Official 2011 NBA Draft thread

[sgreenwell]

Hollinger's Draft Rater is back, and it's generally pretty good. If you have Insider, you can find it here:

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/draft2011/insider/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=draftrater-110620

Kylie Irving, assuming he can stay healthy in the pros, is the best PG prospect since Chris Paul, and of the other 12 comparables, only Frank Williams wasn't at least an average player. Kemba Walker and Kawhi Leonard are also low-bust candidates. Hollinger's summary:

• Marshon Brooks, Josh Selby and the two Morrises appear overvalued.
• Brandon Knight, Jimmer Fredette and Jan Vesely are overvalued, but not as strongly.
• Kyrie Irving and Derrick Williams are, rightly, the top two players on the board.
• Tristan Thompson and Tobias Harris are undervalued.
• Jon Leuer, Norris Cole and Greg Smith are your sleepers.

 

[93Devil]

Is there any truth to Gasol to the T-Wolves for Love and the #2 overall?

F'ing Lakers, that would be a hell of a deal if they could pull it off.

 

[melock]

Is there any truth to Gasol to the T-Wolves for Love and the #2 overall?

F'ing Lakers, that would be a hell of a deal if they could pull it off.

That would be an awful deal for Minnesota. Awful.

 

[floridanewbie31]

1. Jimmer isn't Mormon

2. He's a lot better a player than you guys are giving him credit for. Offensively, he'll be fine. How he plays defensively is the question

 

[sgreenwell]

Is there any truth to Gasol to the T-Wolves for Love and the #2 overall?

F'ing Lakers, that would be a hell of a deal if they could pull it off.

That would be an awful deal for Minnesota. Awful.

Yeah, no idea why Minnesota would do that, since 1) Love probably isn't going to lose value and 2) Gasol is in his 30s and doesn't really fit with their youth movement. They're not one player away.

The deal would be a coup for the Lakers, although I think it would probably hurt them in the short term. Gasol is still underrated to me, in that I think he's only slightly less valuable than Kobe.

 

[Liut]

Heard Williams on the Herd this morning. Seemed like a fairly well-grounded fellow.

 

[93Devil]

Heard Williams on the Herd this morning. Seemed like a fairly well-grounded fellow.

Well-grounded is not the way I would describe his playing style.

The kid is an athletic monster.

 

[qtlaw]

Sometimes the NCAAs are not the right barometer for pro value but the way Williams played showed me more breadth in his game than .....well I cannot recall in the past 35 years. You can only dominate where you play and he dominated.

 

[SportsHack1818]

1. Jimmer isn't Mormon

2. He's a lot better a player than you guys are giving him credit for. Offensively, he'll be fine. How he plays defensively is the question

Uh, yeah, he is.

 

[DanOregon]

What is the point of ESPN putting it's NBA mocks behind a paywall on draft day? I get it two or three months out, but why go out of your way to push people over to SI.com and YahooSports?

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Fredette could be a great fit on the Kings.

Personally, I think that's too high to take him and there's no way you take him there if Walker, Leonard or (god forbid) Knight is still available.

 

[BrianGriffin]

Who's good in this draft? Everybody has major defects, particularly for the spots where they are likely to be picked. For example, Irving is a no-doubter lottery pick but a No. 1 overall pick? Williams is a talent but is he a tweener? All kinds of guys like that on the board. No LeBron (oh wait...he sucks. I forgot), no Rose.

Of course, we'll revisit this thread in five years when half of this draft class is playing in the All-Star game and we'll discuss how stupid I am...

 

[DanOregon]

It is kind of a weird year. You figure a "weak draft" would prompt more people to come out early, and yet because of the NBA labor situation they probably figure they should stay in school since any new deal that will affect rookie contracts next year, will also be in effect this year - and I figure not as many agents are willing to advance unsigned rookies until their deals get done.

 

[BrianGriffin]

Dan I agree, but who is returning to college who would have been a top pick in this draft. Remember, drafts are generally evaluated on the impact players, not the depth of mid-range players or serviceable players. Who's going back to school that's better than a future mid-range or serviceable player?

I'm not saying there aren't any. I'm just not thinking of them off the top of my head.

 

[dreunc1542]

Dan I agree, but who is returning to college who would have been a top pick in this draft. Remember, drafts are generally evaluated on the impact players, not the depth of mid-range players or serviceable players. Who's going back to school that's better than a future mid-range or serviceable player?

I'm not saying there aren't any. I'm just not thinking of them off the top of my head.

Harrison Barnes, Jared Sullinger, Terrence Jones and Perry Jones are all guys off the top of my head who people talked about as lottery picks. John Henson's another guy who was on the fringe because of his upside.

 

[BrianGriffin]

I guess I should have phrased the question, who is back in school who's better than the players coming out. I think Barnes is the only one that I'd say it was likely, but we'll never know where his stock would be right now if he went through the series of individual workouts and all the other pre-draft stuff.

Sullinger jumps at me as a possibility, but he's still a 6-8 post (they say 6-9 in shoes), which makes him short at even the 4 in the NBA, and he's a 5 in college right now. I like T. Jones, but he's in that tweener category too, only for him it's between the 3 and the 4.

Do you think there would be a significant change in high-end quality if everybody came out? I think Barnes might be the guy that would be hyped as a future all-star. I'm not sold on Sullinger yet because the tweener thing. Terrance Jones I think will be a monster next year, but not sure on a him being a future all-star pro.

 

[dreunc1542]

I think a top five of Irving, Williams, Barnes, P. Jones and T. Jones would be looked on much more favorably than the five that will end up getting picked.

 

[BTExpress]

During the 90s our paper would do a story every year on how "because there are so many non-seniors coming out, this draft is especially deep."

That may be true for the first 1-2 years this started happening, but beyond that it's just another draft. If John Wall coming out three years early "helps" the 2010 draft, then his not being there in 2013 "hurts" the 2013 draft.

 

[dreunc1542]

During the 90s our paper would do a story every year on how "because there are so many non-seniors coming out, this draft is especially deep."

That may be true for the first 1-2 years this started happening, but beyond that it's just another draft. If John Wall coming out three years early "helps" the 2010 draft, then his not being there in 2013 "hurts" the 2013 draft.

That's true. It's just interesting to note because this year more guys who were projected lottery picks decided to stay than was normal in the past half-decade or so.

 

[BrianGriffin]

I think a top five of Irving, Williams, Barnes, P. Jones and T. Jones would be looked on much more favorably than the five that will end up getting picked.

But if Irving isn't toppled from No. 1, then the main problem of this class doesn't change. I keep hearing about Irving that he's good, but not as good as Rose, Paul and some of the other young stars. Williams is good, but he's a tweener. OK. So they aren't projecting to be sure-fire stars.

Well, adding more players out of the freshman class doesn't change that. But I do agree, it's a deeper draft if everybody's out, but still a draft without signature talents. Would you agree with that?