Draft Central (Updated)
Bynum's stock
is soaring
Sunday, June 26, 2005
Bynum's stock
is soaring
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Bynum's stock
is soaring
The second half of the Draft Preview should be up tomorrow over at WhatifSports.com, so it seemed like a good time to refresh the draft chatter. Trade rumors are flying, promises are being made to awful players, and the Blazers and Clippers both appear poised to screw things up (again). Weigh in with all opinions, questions, and debates right here.
All NBA ... Some of the time.
Contact
Archive
-
▼
2005
(65)
-
▼
Jun 2005
(14)
- Big Beltran News!
- Draft Central (Updated)
- NBA Finals Wrap Up
- The Robert Horry Game
- NBA Finals: Games Three and Four
- Draft Central
- NBA Finals: Game Two
- In the Year 2000
- NBA Finals: Game One
- Get Your Finals Predictions!
- Consistency is a Virtue
- Best of times or worst of times?
- The Face of Baseball
- Lee for MVP
-
▼
Jun 2005
(14)
Bynum's stock
is soaring
Labels
- 2007 NBA Playoffs (90)
- College Football (4)
- College Football: Heisman Poll (7)
- College Hoops (16)
- College Hoops: Big Dance (34)
- Fantasy Sports (2)
- Media (13)
- MLB Playoffs (9)
- MLB: Regular Season (28)
- NBA Awards (13)
- NBA Draft (21)
- NBA Playoffs (35)
- NBA: Offseason (22)
- NBA: Regular Season (67)
- NBA: The Khoub Report (4)
- NFL Draft (6)
- NFL Playoffs (6)
- NFL: Regular Season (14)
- Olympics (4)
- Pepperdine Baseball (1)
- Predictions (18)
- Totally Random (3)
Links
- Veritas GMAT Prep
- Adam's BlogCritics Page
- Pop Culture Nomad
- The Mother Ship
- Wayward Folk
- Stump Town Sports
- True Hoop
- Guerilla Sports
- Rotowire
- Deadspin
- The Big Picture
- YAY Sports!
- Dan Shanoff
- Retire Sloan
- Pounding the Rock
- Bright Side of the Sun
- Free Darko
- Three Seconds
- AOL FanHouse
- The Insights of Dennis Hans
- Draft Express
- NBA Draft.Net
- Pepperdine Athletics
- Lost on Purpose
- Tori Higa Stationary
- Status Ain't Hood
- Pop Candy
- Byron Crawford
16 comments:
I'm going to take a run at predicting the lottery, for the record:
1. Milwaukee - Andrew Bogut. The Bucks will live to regret this pick, but oh well.
2. Atlanta - Chris Paul. I know that Marvin Williams is supposed to go here, but I've got a feeling on this one. Paul is local and a terrific point guard prospect. The Hawks don't need another SF, so I think this makes sense. Either that, or they deal this pick.
3. Utah (from Portland) - Deron Williams. Forget trying to do a mock draft with the Blazers picking third, it isn't going to happen. I'm calling a Jazz trade to snag Williams, with the Blazers picking up the #6 and #27 picks and Kirk Snyder.
4. New Orleans - Marvin Williams. Imagine the Hornets glee when the guy widely considered to be the best prospect in the draft drops to them at #4.
5. Charlotte - Danny Granger. They got screwed when the ping pong balls bounced the wrong way, but Granger will be a solid starter right away and they can hope for Felton later at #13.
6. LA Lakers (from Portland) - Gerald Green. I know, I know, two trades for Portland. They like Green, but not as much as the Lakers do. Also, not as much as they like Caron Butler and the #10 pick for #6 and Ruben Patterson.
7. Toronto - Martell Webster. The Raptors want Granger, but he'll be gone. They'll go for a big time shooter at the 2 rather than reach for either a project (Bynum) or another rail (Frye) at center.
8. New York - Channing Frye. Isiah gets his guy.
9. Golden State - Ike Diogu. The word on the street is that the Warriors are leaning toward Warrick, but I bet they go with Ike in the end.
10. Portland (from LA) - Andrew Bynum. The Blazers get the guy they want (if he's still there) and Caron Butler AND another pick in a deep draft.
11. Orlando Magic - Sean May. They want Webster, but this is a better pick. Howard is the perfect PF to team with May in the post.
12. LA Clippers - Antoine Wright. I know they supposedly promised to take some Euro stiff, but I bet that promise was conditional and that one condition was "only if Wright isn't there at #12." Well, he is.
13. Charlotte - Raymond Felton. See how well that worked out?
14. Minnesota - Joey Graham. This is a great pick. They can reach on talent like Villenueva or they can go with a college stud like Graham or Warrick.
Hurry and weigh in with your predictions before tomorrow night!
Why do you say Howard is perfect with May? I'm not arguing the point, but I don't really see the reason behind it. Also, what about McCants to the Wolves to replace Spree?
Why would Martell Webster go ahead of Antoine Wright. One is a big strong shooter with high school experience and the other is a big strong shooter who has gone for 20+ in college. Wright seems like the easy choice.
1. The reason that I say Howard is perfect to team with May is that Dwight is tall and athletic while May is shorter for this position and more, um, anchored. May has the size and footwork to leverage a 7-footer in the lane, but he needs a weakside shot blocker like Howard to be able to double and provide help. The two should work very well in tandem together with May giving Orlando the bulk and low post bruising and Howard the length and athleticism.
2. Webster is being rated higher than Wright for two reasons, as I see it: first, he's supposedly a better athlete in a Paul Pierce sort of way. Not jump out of the gym type of hops, but smooth and agile. Wright is explosive but tested poorly in Chicago during the combine. The other reason is that Webster is younger. You see his lack of college experience as a negative, which may be true. However, it also means that he could have more potential and that he'll be better for longer. I guess they are just assuming that had Webster gone to UW, he could have put up the same numbers as Wright. Production only matters so much to these people. I say they are about even and I'd probably flip a coin if I had to choose one.
I think the thinking on Webster vs. Wright is that Wright wasn't that hot of a prospect when he went to college, so he's really a lot closer to his potential now, having had a chance to develop. Webster's "upside" is greater, even though he's not overly athletic.
Another good suitor for May would be Charlotte. Besides the fact that drafting a local player would attract fans, he and Okafor would complement each other well, since Okafor blocks shots well. Charlotte would immediately have a mature frontcourt capable of causing a lot of problems. However, it looks like May might not drop to #13.
Boom! Chalk me up with one prediction nailed ... and the draft is still 5 hours away. The Jazz did indeed trade up to #3. The only thing I missed is that the Blazers got not only the #6 and #27 picks in this draft, but a first round pick in 2006 as well. Granted, it was originally Detroit's pick so it won't be that great, but this was a terrific trade by Portland. Now we'll see if they snag Gerald Green or if the Lakers are willing to spend to the tune of Caron Butler and the #10 pick for the high school stud.
Well, the prediction streak came to an end, thanks to the Hawks. They were supposedly down on Williams because of his workout, but still opted to add yet another small forward to their roster. Now it looks like Paul will go to the Hornets and that Dan Dickau will be signing with someone else. Cleveland maybe?
p.s. Utah will forever rue the day they took Deron Williams over Chris Paul.
I can't believe the Bobcats just panicked and took Felton at #5. He's going to be good, but they could have had him at #13 and grabbed Granger or Gerald Green here. What a choke job by Charlotte. Very similar to Portland taking Telfair at #13 last year when they could have just waited and snagged him with their second pick at #23.
Did Villenueva just go #7 or was that a misprint on ESPN? What happened to Gerald Green? Danny Granger? Did they die?
Anyone besides me think that Andrew Bynum looks just like Gary Coleman? Besides being 5 times his size, that is.
You could randomly choose any taxpayer in America, and he/she would make a better GM than Pete Babcock. How could they take Villanueva at #7, and then pass on Granger and take the poor man's Granger (Joey Graham) at #16. Amazing. At least Isiah Thomas won't be the worst GM this time around.
By the way, Charlotte's making out like a bandit.
Amen. The Raptors are morons. I love going with the May-Felton combo, although I would have gone Green-Granger myself. Those two guys are going to be legendary steals from this draft. The C's are going to be sick in a few years. Gerald Green and Al Jefferson are going to be like Duncan and Ginobili, but without all the whining. Okay, maybe not that good, but good.
Great draft. Entertaining, bizarre, and my boy Alex Acker goes to the Pistons with the last pick. Dritz and I will be grading the teams in the coming days, so be sure to check that out on WIS.
We gonna get a new post to break down the draft now that it has happened? I'm sure I won't be the only person ready to rail on the Raptors!
A new column is going up on Tuesday with grades for Eastern Conference teams. There will be an accompanying blog entry to break down the draft. We'll also be talking about all of the NBA free agents, so check back then.
In a matter of hours, we'll have a new draft thread, so you may want to cut and paste that rant. Good stuff though. I would disagree about Blatche though. He was the #1 player in NY, the #1 power forward in high school basketball last year, the MVP of the Jordan Classic, and he put up 24/18 a night during his senior year. He's no Casey Sanders. In fact, it is performance and skill level that got him hype, not his frame. If anything, his major weakness is his build and lack of interest in going inside. He may very well wind up being a bust, but it will be for other reasons than lack of skills. He's got those - it is just a question of whether he has the toughness and intensity to go with it.
I think Channing Frye will be a solid player in the league, and at an athletic 6'11", he's not a bad pick at 8. He can block shots on D, and has a good inside game and scoring touch. He was a beast in the NCAA tournament this year, especially the 24/12/6 blk game he had against Illinois. With the Knicks fielding an undersized team, he will help them sith much-needed size.
Jason Maxiell is athletic, strong, and tough. He may be a bit short for a power forward at 6'7", but Ben Wallace is a bit short for a center at 6'9". He's got a wide wingspan and crazy hops, and works hard. He's the sort of player Isiah likes, and he'll fit into that system well.
Post a Comment