Official 2014 NBA Draft Thread (the race to the bottom)

[TheBossman]

Sixers is a bad team now with a bright future.

Rookie of the year, noel, two picks In the top 10, and cap money to sign 2 Max free agents, Thad young is a trade peice. fuck you talking about?

Actually sixers are In a Better spot than the celtics. They don't have a max player who they will have to move at some point in time.

Im an honest man. I forgot they had NO's pick.

Still, i wouldnt use the word 'bright' for their future. Their cupboard is bare and i believe Noel is just Dalembert 2.0. MCW's ROY waa more the sign of a bad draft class

All depends where that pick lands. If they're lucky and the NO pick moves up to top 6 or 7, they're in business. If its 10 or lower, who cares

And money for 2 max free agents doesnt mean much when theres nothing there to entice quality players. Thats when u end up overpaying for a Josh Smith

Philly is in the same position as when they drafted Evan Turner just 3, 4 ys ago. They had turner, holiday, iguodala, young, lou williams, etc. Nothing.

His rookie stats across the board was on par with only magic and Bron, when it came to rookie years.

You can't fault mcw for being selected 11th in the Draft, other Gms just fucked up.

 

[af.r.i.c.a.]

Sixers trying to move MCW is retarded.. Unless they tryna make a power move and get 2 top 5 picks. They have the assets to get it done.. Not sure anyone is willing to budge on their pick tho. Imagine if Philly or Orlando gets a combination of Parker/Embid/Wiggins/Exum. Wow..

 

[S2J]

Apparently they're open to trade MCW b/c they love Exum. Philly's coach has ties to Australia and Exum's dad.

Makes no sense to me, and i'm convinced that Exum wont end up playin PG anyway. (see livingston, tyreke evans, jalen rose)

 

[TheBossman]

Apparently they're open to trade MCW b/c they love Exum. Philly's coach has ties to Australia and Exum's dad.

Makes no sense to me, and i'm convinced that Exum wont end up playin PG anyway. (see livingston, tyreke evans, jalen rose)

Yeah I agree with this, mcw is a true point guard, exum is a combo guard.

It won't happen tho, no team in the top 5 will do it.

 

[#1hiphopjunki3]

@S2J‌

I agree The Bucks are kind of in no man's land but teams like the Kings, Cavs & Pistons are in a bad spot because they are going to have to over pay or let walk a lot of the talent you are claiming to be building blocks sooner than the Magic, 76ers and Lakers which is why I think some of the other guys are saying they are in better shape than the teams you mentioned.

Not to mention 2 of the 3 teams you mentioned are already overpaying guys which is hurting their cap flexibility. Orlando, Philly and the Lakers don't have many people on big deals so they can spend in Free-agency if need be to build around the young cheap talent ( Lakers don't really have any) they already have.

 

[S2J]

@S2J‌

I agree The Bucks are kind of in no man's land but teams like the Kings, Cavs & Pistons are in a bad spot because they are going to have to over pay or let walk a lot of the talent you are claiming to be building blocks sooner than the Magic, 76ers and Lakers which is why I think some of the other guys are saying they are in better shape than the teams you mentioned.

Not to mention 2 of the 3 teams you mentioned are already overpaying guys which is hurting their cap flexibility. Orlando, Philly and the Lakers don't have many people on big deals so they can spend in Free-agency if need be to build around the young cheap talent ( Lakers don't really have any) they already have.

But how long do you do the 'stock up on young talent' thing? I think the Wizards are a good example of enough is enough, eventually u gotta say fuk it lets win some games.

I think Sac is prepared to do that. They have a core of Cousins, Thomas, Gay, and Mclemore. Who else do they need to pay?

The Cavs have a star. A good vet coach can make Irving and Waiters work. They'll let Deng walk. Thompson is solid. Varajao who knows what they're gonna do w/ him but they also can win now.

Pistons def fuked up payin Josh, but now they lettin Monroe go and have drummond and smith, jennings is your pg, caldwell pope, stuckey. They can win now. I dont see them havin a dilemma

LA, Orlando, and Philly have all that space but no real players. They are like the 2000s Clippers who at 1 point had Odom, Miles, Q, Maggette, etc. If their guys turn out to be KD and Westbrook, then you're right. If not, you just have a bunch of young guys learning bad habits from other young guys.

I think a lot of these teams are followin the Pacers as a more accurate and feasible model than OKC. Groom a young star (George), but you dont just wait on him and lose while he grows. Have a vet to help along the way (Granger), draft well with non-lottery picks and get a steal (Hibbert,Stephenson), grab a key FA (West), bam. GSW followed the same model: Curry the star, Jarret Jack the vet, Thompson the steal, David Lee and Bogut the FAs, etc

 

[TRILLip Brooks]

https://twitter.com/ESPNStatsInfo/status/467361541818298368
https://twitter.com/ESPNStatsInfo/status/467351171720421376

 

[MarcusGarvey]

@"TRILLip Brooks"‌ meaningless stats

 

[#1hiphopjunki3]

@S2J‌

Golden State like you said is a good example. They got rid of bad deals drafted solid and build around the strengths of the young guys with the money they had using free agency and trades.

Detroit overpaid for Jennings & Smith and now will have to make a decision on what to do with a younger smarter offensive player in Monroe. They also have to figure out what to do with Stuckey and Will Bynum because they are both gonna be free agents. Pistons have two damn near un-tradable contracts, might lose their draft pick in this draft and only one young player who is legit under contract. They are in a shitty situation unless Stan can make some moves to get rid of Jennings or Josh Smith. Maybe if they don't lose this draft pick and hits on a player in the draft or Drummond turns into an offensive dynamo they are gonna be a middle of the pack team due to the previous bad free agent moves.

The Kings are in a similar situation as the Pistons. They have 1 really (head case) good player, a solid player about to get paid (if they truly believe in Thomas) and a guy who is overpaid massively in Rudy Gay. Their salary cap situation isn't as bad as the Pistons but they are in a tougher conference than the Pistons and they have a huge decision to make with Rudy Gay and Thomas coming up soon. Cavs are also in this boat because they have to figure out if they are gonna pay Kyrie and Deng. If Waiters and Kyrie can co-exsits, if Anderson Verejao, Spencer Hawes & Tristan Thompson are worth paying and if they wasted a #1 pick on Anthony Bennett.

Orlando & Philly don't have a lot of money tied into their roster and have draft picks, solid vets on great deals and young prospects to build around or use to help build. They can choose a myriad of ways to build there team because they have flexibility in doing so with young prospects to trade for vets or more draft picks, signing free agents or going the long route and drafting.

 

[The Iconoclast]

@MarcusGarvey Agreed fam, but that does speak volumes about their athleticism. It's nice to see.

Speaking of which, here are the new just evaluated NBA combine measurements:draftexpress.com/nba-pre-draft-measurements/?year=2014&sort2=DESC&draft=0&pos=0&source=NBA%20Draft%20Combine&sort=13

Few notes:

According to this Noah Vonleh, Aaron Gordon, Zach Lavine and Marcus Smart are ridiculously fluid athletes and shined in front of the NBA scouts at the NBA combine via Draftexpress.

Doug McDermott shocked the world, by unleashing a 36.5 vertical jump.

Giannis Antetokounmpo(of the Bucks) is officially the 2nd freakiest athlete in his family, his brother Thanasis Antetokounmpo measured out statistically as the best athlete in this year's draft at the SF spot(Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker didn't participate fyi).

Dante Exum and Rodney Hood didn't live up their athletic reputation but according to NBA scouts there they've proven to be 'game athletes' and shined in the NBA drills.

Marcus Smart is historically one of the strongest at his position ever -
https://twitter.com/DraftExpress/status/467373892470718464

Cautionary tale alert - Cody Zeller last year posted stats in the NBA combine that was historically one of the best ever at center position(including a vertical jump higher than Dwight Howard and Deandre Jordan) but his unreal athleticism, fails to translate into an actual game, which has been noted by NBA scouts/GMS this year.

Freakish in-game athleticism >>> freakish off-court athleticism but when you get the rare specimens who have both ala MJ/Lebron/Vince Carter that's a sight to behold.

 

[TRILLip Brooks]

@"TRILLip Brooks"‌ meaningless stats

I know, just shedding light on what we'll be working with

 

[S2J]

Verticals are meaningless now? Interesting.

The other player with a vert comparable to Gordon was Tyrus Thomas.

Yes...verts are rather meaningless

 

[af.r.i.c.a.]

Apparently McDermott has a better vertical then KJ Mcdaniels and and Dante Exum. That was surprising to say the least.

 

[S2J]

Verticals are meaningless now? Interesting.

The other player with a vert comparable to Gordon was Tyrus Thomas.

Yes...verts are rather meaningless

I wouldn't place a ton of emphasis on them but to completely throw them out would be a little much to me in a sport that requires a ton of jumping

Rrright, trust me it means nothing. Im sure Desmond Mason had as high or higher vert than Kobe Bryant, Terrence Ross has a higher vert than James Harden...whats Ray allen's vert? Its meaningless. Less meaningful than 40 times in football

 

[TheBossman]

Tonight is the night.

 

[Max.]

Just give us the #1 pick

 

[af.r.i.c.a.]

Tonight is the night.

If our pick lands outside the top 4 I might catch a body tonight

 

[S2J]

Can't wait.

From a general fan perspctive, i hope:

-Utah gets a top 3 pick: Burke, Hayward, Parker/Wiggins, Favors, Kanter..mean young team

-The Bucks pick 2nd b/c they'd pick Embid: my feelings on him are well documented lol

-I hope Philly lucks up and pulls a top 3 pick and the other pick magically ends up in the top 5 or 6. The east desperately needs a new young team to rise up

-Detroit and/or Sacramento pull top 5 picks. I think both are on the cusp of turnin the corner

-Hope Boston and LA get the lowest picks possible. Shyt aint fair, b.

-Cleveland dont deserve a high pick with all the wasted picks and talent. Hope they drop out of top 10

 

[TheBossman]

Highest pick the sixers can get from the pelicans is 6th. Cant be top 5.

 

[S2J]

Highest pick the sixers can get from the pelicans is 6th. Cant be top 5.

Oh ok. Man, in this draft its a huge difference between 6 and say 10. You talkin maybe a shot at Marcus Smart vs a Doug Mcdermott