Opinions on winners and losers? Poor Griffin. I don't hate him personally and I certainly wish his ACLs the best. But I simply can't get excited about this crop. Ricky Rubio looks like the lost Jonas brother. The 6 foot PG from Syracuse who doesn't have an outside shot as a lottery pick??? I see the Knicks drafter another Arizona big man (they picked up Channing Frye in 2005). He'll be a career backup. Thoughts?
Sad day when an Aggie gets drafted but no Horns Honestly, it was about what everyone expected. Harden isn't going to help Durant much in OKC, but it's a step up from what they got. Thabeet is like a poor man's Mutombo. He'll average 9 points/game because it's impossible to miss from 1 foot away every time, but he'll get some insane block numbers eventually. Minnesota should have gone after both Rubio and Curry. I know they would have some contract issues signing both, but that would be one hell of a combo. And then Lawson on top of it... it's like they want to start a "future star training camp" so that they can go 20-62 for the next 3 years and then lose to free agency. Blair to SA is a good steal. He'll provide some of the inside youth/strength they've been missing. And I know AJ Price fell so low because of his size, but I also think he's worth a pick. Good team player and can make any shot.
I didn't watch the draft but can anyone explain to me why the Timberwolves picked 5 guards in the first round?
It was 4 guards, wasn't it? Ellington to provide good size and shooting at sg. Rubio because they wanted him. Flynn maybe because they weren't certain Rubio could resolve the buyout in time for the start of the season? Lawson for an already worked out trade.
The Timberwolves are out of their minds. First off, Rubio and Flynn are both pure PG's without great shots and will not mesh well together. Second, Rubio is most likely not going to step foot on the floor for them. He will stay in Spain and force them to trade him. If their plan was to trade Rubio all along (which it has to be, even if they won't admit it), then why not just take someone like Curry or DeRozan. I guess Ellington was a good pick up, but they could have helped themselves in so many ways by taking someone other than Flynn or Rubio. At least they traded away Lawson and Calathes. I did like the Mavs picking up Calathes, but did not like the Mavs trading away Mullens who could have really helped them (it's always good to add athletic 7 footers).
Harden to OKC was a great pick. His style of play will compliment their young nucleus of players perfectly. It would have been nice for them to add immediate size and defense like Thabeet could have provided (more so than Mullens) or another long range shooter, but that's not how the cards fell. I would be very happy with this pick.
As a Spurs fan, I was amazed and thrilled to see Blair available in the 2nd round. I thought there was no way he'd last to the Spurs as the 2nd round began. For the 37th pick in a draft where 70% of the players will never turn out to be impact players, getting him at 37 is definitely a steal.
Agree with the DeJuan Blair analysis. At 6'7", 277 lbs, he's a beast and an excellent value pickup in the second round for the Spurs. Earlier in the week, I was a bit worried about the Spurs' loss of Kurt Thomas and Fabricio Oberto. I'm optimistic Blair can come in and provide some immediate heavy lifting on the boards. Together with the acquisition of Richard Jefferson, I've very pleased with what the Spurs have done through free agency and the draft.
Can the two early entries from Syracuse that didn't get drafted return to school? Can't remember what the current rules are.
If they didn't sign with an agent, yes. This loophole will be closed for those who declare early next year, and the period in which to withdraw will be much shorter -- early or mid-May, can't remember for sure.
Several people much wiser than me regarding such things are saying Harden will be a star in the league.
Haha, Harden and Roy have very little in common aside from being good players and basic height. Roy is a shooting guard who can play the point well, Harden is a pure SG. I don't care how old he is, the point is that his game is refined now and there isn't room for dramatic improvement. It's absolutely fine if you like the pick, you are entitled to that opinion of course. Personally I don't like it because I think Harden's role in the NBA is as a solid but not spectacular player, something I hate taking at 3. Your throwing out some BS stats that don't exist as a reason why it was a good pick by the Thunder is completely ludicrous. I didn't call you stupid, but that was a terrible point...
Actually, at the same stage in their careers (2 college seasons), Harden has had more ball handling responsibilities than Roy. Roy may have developed into a better ballhandler later on, but the comparison is pretty apt if you compare them at similar ages.
rubio is a douche for handling himself the way he is, dejuan blair= tractor traylor. Mavs failed again and james harden was a very good pick for the thunder.
Thunder should have gotten Curry. They have nobody on their team, aside from Durant, who can spread the floor by knocking down threes.
Well, I don't want to start a fuss about this, but Roy was not the primary playmaker for the Huskies until his senior year. Will Conroy was their point guard before that. When Roy was a junior, he wasn't even the second option at point. That year Conroy and Nate Robinson shared playmaking duties, and Roy was used as a wing 90% of the time. I don't necessarily disagree with your assessment that Harden may not develop into a real playmaker in the NBA, and his ability to take the ball from the wing and penetrate lends itself more to him getting his own shot than getting an assist unless the defense forces the pass, but that's true for most wings/shooting guards/whatever. With the Thunder having Westbrook, Harden may be asked less to act in that role and be more of an option to finish than begin the scoring effort. To that end, I would point out his shooting numbers are far better than Roy's were in his freshman and sophmore years. I don't know if OKC made the right pick. Of course, it's the NBA, so I pretty much don't care. I can't stand to watch that crap.
the word out of OKC was that Westbrook was not going to be thrilled about drafting a PG and being forced to slide to SG. for better or for worse, I think this contributed to going with Harden. I think Blair was a great pick...even with the injury concerns, I'm shocked he fell so far. to me...the jury is still out on a lot of these guys. I just have a hard time seeing Rubio, Flynn or Curry being bona fide studs in the NBA.
