the great wall of DC: 2010 draft thread

& we'll start w/ chad ford's column on the draftees w/ most potential

Sure, the conference finals are ongoing -- well, at least for a little while longer. For four of the league's teams, that's enough entertainment.

But for the other 26, it's time to engage in one of our nation's favorite pastimes. Ruminating over the draft has at times become more compelling entertainment than the games themselves, at least if you believe the stats on page views, and it's high time I indulged that hobby among the readership.

Actually, the fans aren't the only ones obsessed with this game. For the next month, teams and analysts will spend a great many hours poking, prodding and otherwise evaluating roughly a hundred players to winnow their lists to the one or two that most franchises will end up selecting on draft day (which, by the way, is June 24 -- just 34 shopping days left).

That process picked up speed this week with the lottery on Tuesday and the draft combine in Chicago on Thursday and Friday, and now it's time for me to offer my $0.02 in the form of statistical analysis of all the draft's college entrants.

As longtime readers will know, I've cooked up my Draft Rater the past few years to present a methodical, objective look at how players' collegiate achievements tend to translate to the pro game. It's based on regression analysis that compares college performance using 27 variables, from the obvious (age, height, likely pro position) to the obscure (say, 3-point attempts per field goal attempt). By looking at what talents have led to success at the pro level, we can figure out some things about what current collegiate draft prospects will be able to do in the NBA.

My original motivation was the fact that the actual NBA draft has produced so many busts in the top 10. Although the Draft Rater also has uncorked a few (you can see the history through 2008 here and last year's list here), the overall results have have been strong.

The Draft Rater has yet to miss a lottery pick who became an All-Star in its top 12 collegians list -- although that string might end in another year or two thanks to a miserable 2008 performance (Russell Westbrook and Brook Lopez both were overlooked that year). And if it has blown a couple of picks, look at the actual draft and you'll find even more mistakes by the pro teams themselves.

On the other hand, the Draft Rater has picked out five All-Stars the pros missed among the first 12 collegians -- Carlos Boozer, Rajon Rondo, Danny Granger, Josh Howard and David West. No misses, five additions. I like that ratio.

Additionally, this is but one tool among many. I'm sure one could greatly improve on the rater's performance by using it as a starting point and adding other known variables to the mix. This system rates "pro potential," which sometimes differs substantially from "pro performance." As I mentioned a year ago, the fact that Michael Sweetney and Shawne Williams rated highly coming out of school isn't necessarily a mistake; they failed in the NBA not from a lack of talent but for other reasons. Part of good scouting is knowing which players are committed to this enterprise for the long haul, and we can't tell that from their college stats.

The Draft Rater has one other weak spot: It thrives on information and struggles when it lacks enough. As a result, players who leave school after just one season give it problems. Not only are they the youngest players, and thus the ones we're projecting furthest into the future, but what makes it even worse is that we have only one season of data to evaluate. That's the reason one-and-done players historically have had the greatest error margin, which introduces an added level of uncertainty this season because three of the top five prospects are leaving school after one year.

One other note before we start: The Draft Rater produces a projection of a player's "peak" PER in Years 4-5, something that might not be apparent from looking at the rather underwhelming numbers next to each name. That's mostly a problem of the scarcity of NBA stars -- the vast majority of players drafted will settle into the low teens in PER as NBA players, so regardless of how good their college stats are, that's where the projections land for nearly all of them. In other words, there are very few sure things, even at the top of the draft.

The good news is that when it does spit out a "19.01," as it did for Kevin Durant in 2007, it's clear you have a sure thing.

You were expecting somebody else?

Cousins has the fifth-highest rating in the Draft Rater's nine seasons evaluated. (The Draft Rater goes back to 2002, as college data from before that year are too spotty to use.)

Based on that, the outlook for Cousins is quite positive. Of the eight previous players from 2002 to 2008 to rate 15.0 or higher, four became superstars: Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade and Chris Paul. Of the other four, three have been very productive starters -- Rudy Gay, Luol Deng and Drew Gooden -- and one became, well, Mike Conley. We had another three last year, and from that trio, one was awesome (Tyreke Evans), one was good (Ty Lawson) and one didn't play a game (Blake Griffin).

Cousins won't be the first pick because of questions about his character and coachability, and those are legitimate concerns. But there's no doubting his elite talent level.

Cousins' Kentucky teammate, John Wall, ranks third (see table below), just after Ohio State guard Evan Turner. Wall likely will be the No. 1 pick, and that's defensible -- his rating is essentially the same as Turner's, and Cousins' issues make him an iffy sell as a franchise centerpiece.

I've shown the top 12 as a group, which I like to do because, as I noted above, the Draft Rater rarely misses on star talent in its top 12 names. As you can see, the top of the list is pretty much chalk -- the first nine names all are certain first-rounders, and all but Henry are likely to land in the lottery.

Where it gets interesting is with the last three, all of whom are likely second-round picks. We'll see whether there's a surprise in the bunch or conventional wisdom prevails. But I swear there was no pro-UVa bias involved in Sylven Landesberg's surprising rank. Rather, the Draft Rater just liked him and Greivis Vasquez because they had such solid ballhandling numbers at the wing positions.

Draft Rater's top 12
Rank Player Team Projected PER
1 DeMarcus Cousins Kentucky 16.14
2. Evan Turner Ohio State 14.79
3. John Wall Kentucky 14.68
4. Greg Monroe Georgetown 14.39
5. Derrick Favors Georgia Tech 13.98
6. Xavier Henry Kansas 13.52
7. Luke Babbitt Nevada 13.35
8. Al-Farouq Aminu Wake Forest 13.30
9. Wes Johnson Syracuse 13.03
10. Greivis Vasquez Maryland 12.97
11. Sylven Landesberg Virginia 12.52
12. Omar Samhan Saint Mary's 12.47

Moving down the list, the next dozen players are largely the usual suspects (see chart below). Damion James, Daniel Orton, James Anderson, Paul George, Gordon Hayward and Eric Bledsoe are likely to hear their names called somewhere between 10th and 25th, so their presence in this group shouldn't shock anybody.

Jeff Foote, on the other hand … now that's a name that will shock people, just as soon as they figure out who the heck he is. The 7-footer for Cornell shot 62.5 percent his senior year and had deceptively strong rebound and block totals for a slow-paced team. He might face more difficulty outside the Lilliputian Ivy League -- my analysis is schedule-adjusted, but I'm open to the idea that it might imperfectly accommodate such glaring size differences. Nonetheless, he's at least a name worth storing away as a late second-round sleeper.

A couple of likely early-to-mid second-rounders cracked the list (Manny Harris, Darington Hobson and Jordan Crawford), and two other surprises are Marqus Blakely and Luke Harangody. Blakely, an energetic but undersized power forward from Vermont, might go undrafted, and scouts almost unanimously dislike Harangody for his lack of length and defensive ability -- despite his undeniably impressive production at Notre Dame.

Draft Rater's first-round talents
Rank Player Team Projected PER
13. Damion James Texas 12.44
14. Daniel Orton Kentucky 12.15
15. James Anderson Oklahoma State 11.98
16. Paul George Fresno State 11.87
17. Gordon Hayward Butler 11.87
18. Manny Harris Michigan 11.80
19. Jeff Foote Cornell 11.71
20. Darington Hobson New Mexico 11.69
21. Eric Bledsoe Kentucky 11.66
22. Marqus Blakely Vermont 11.58
23. Luke Harangody Notre Dame 11.37
24. Jordan Crawford Xavier 11.32

Once we get past the No. 24 collegian, and allowing for several foreign players likely to be selected in the late first and early second round, we're basically looking at role players and fringe players in Round 2, and the next 11 players typify the remains of the day (see chart below). Butler won't be taken 25th because he blew out his knee at the end of West Virginia's season, but the others landed roughly in the neighborhood most expect.

Draft Rater's late first-rounders and early second-rounders
Rank Player Team Projected PER
25. Da'Sean Butler West Virginia 11.26
26. Jon Scheyer Duke 11.20
27. Devin Ebanks West Virginia 11.16
28. Tiny Gallon Oklahoma 11.13
29. Quincy Pondexter Washington 11.08
30. Larry Sanders VCU 11.07
31. Armon Johnson Nevada 10.98
32. Brian Zoubek Duke 10.96
33. Aubrey Coleman Houston 10.91
34. Jeremy Lin Harvard 10.87
35. Mikhail Torrance Alabama 10.84

So we're all set here -- well, except for one thing.

Among those who haven't shown up on the list yet are several likely first-rounders, especially frontcourt players. There are several project-type big men in this draft that the Draft Rater isn't terribly excited about; most fit the description of "long, athletic guys who blocked shots and got scouts excited but didn't do terribly much else." Some collegians of this type turn into players -- for instance, two years ago the Draft Rater hated Anthony Randolph, but he has become a legit starter in Golden State and still has upside to explore.

Nonetheless, history says scouts might be coloring in a few too many lines when they're projecting the future for Cole Aldrich, Ekpe Udoh, Hassan Whiteside and Ed Davis. It's possible that all four could go in the lottery, but the Draft Rater says their teams will regret it (see chart below). Three other possible first-round big men, Patrick Patterson, Craig Brackins and Solomon Alabi, don't engender warm feelings from Draft Rater, either.

A couple of highly touted guards, Avery Bradley and Willie Warren, also failed to impress. Bradley can at least take solace in his one-and-done status -- the error rate has been higher for those players. And as a defensive specialist, his PER might not matter much anyway.

Draft Rater's duds -- prominent names ranked outside top 35 collegians

Rank Player Team Projected PER
36 Cole Aldrich Kansas 10.83
37 Patrick Patterson Kentucky 10.79
40 Willie Warren Oklahoma 10.71
45 Avery Bradley Texas 10.42
50 Ekpe Udoh Baylor 10.03
54 Ed Davis North Carolina 9.88
60 Terrico White Mississippi 9.68
62 Hassan Whiteside Marshall 9.65
65 Craig Brackins Iowa State 9.56
68 Solomon Alabi Florida State 9.52

So there you have it: my list of the players who have the talent necessary to thrive at the next level -- and those who might not.

sorry, that's hollinger, not chad ford

here are his rankings from previous years for comparison

2002

Player Projected PER Order Picked Among Collegians
Drew Gooden 15.18 3
Carlos Boozer 14.75 26
Mike Dunleavy 13.94 2
Jay Williams 13.57 1
Chris Wilcox 13.28 5
Caron Butler 13.17 6
Steve Logan 12.91 22
Curtis Borchardt 12.75 12
Casey Jacobsen 12.73 16
Tayshaun Prince 12.59 17
John Salmons 12.46 19
Jared Jeffries 12.34 7
* Top 10 drafted collegians not in Rater's top 12: Dajuan Wagner, Melvin Ely, Marcus Haislip, Fred Jones

2002 was a strong season for the Draft Rater, as it correctly recommended avoiding four players (Wagner, Ely, Haislip and Jones) selected among the top 10 collegians and made only one bad recommendation (Logan) in their stead. Boozer, Salmons and Prince all ended up as great value picks, with Boozer probably the best recommendation in the Rater's history -- the 26th collegian taken, he rated second here and is an All-Star.

2003

Player Projected PER Order Picked Among Collegians
Dwyane Wade 16.64 3
Carmelo Anthony 16.51 1
T.J. Ford 14.06 6
Michael Sweetney 13.46 7
Josh Howard 13.45 17
Chris Bosh 13.08 2
Nick Collison 13.03 9
David West 12.85 14
Luke Walton 12.70 19
Reece Gaines 12.62 12
Marcus Banks 12.33 10
Chris Kaman 12.20 4
* Top 10 drafted collegians not in Rater's top 12: Kirk Hinrich, Jarvis Hayes

Draft Rater got the top two right but pushed down Bosh, Kaman and Hinrich a bit too far. On the other hand, it correctly identified David West and Josh Howard as strong prospects, and Luke Walton as a second-round steal. It also correctly avoided Hayes.

2004

Player Projected PER Order Picked Among Collegians
Luol Deng 15.45 5
Andre Iguodala 13.73 7
Josh Childress 13.15 4
Emeka Okafor 13.08 1
Kirk Snyder 13.05 10
Delonte West 12.83 12
Luke Jackson 12.69 8
Ben Gordon 12.33 2
Devin Harris 12.27 3
Jameer Nelson 12.18 11
Kris Humphries 11.67 9
Chris Duhon 11.54 21
* Top 10 drafted collegians not in Rater's top 12: Rafael Araujo

2004 is the most similar to the real draft -- 11 of the top 12 college selections were the same. Only two of the recommendations were bad ones -- both Snyder and Jackson were busts, and the Rater had each a bit higher than they went in real life. On the other hand, most teams would be happier with Deng or Iguodala rather than Okafor, and the Rater found a second-round steal in Chris Duhon. Kevin Martin, a late first-round steal in real life, was 13th here.

2005

Player Projected PER Order Picked Among Collegians
Chris Paul 15.66 4
Andrew Bogut 14.89 1
Danny Granger 14.58 13
Sean May 14.33 9
Marvin Williams 13.94 2
Jarrett Jack 13.91 17
Raymond Felton 13.59 5
Francisco Garcia 13.38 18
Rashad McCants 13.31 10
Julius Hodge 12.57 15
Nate Robinson 12.12 16
Deron Williams 11.74 3
* Top 10 drafted collegians not in Rater's top 12: Charlie Villanueva, Ike Diogu, Channing Frye

The Rater judged Deron Williams and Charlie Villanueva too harshly, but more than made up for it by pushing Chris Paul all the way to the top and Danny Granger to the No. 3 position. May came highly recommended and has played well when he's been on the court but has been undone by conditioning and knee issues. Jack, Garcia and Robinson were strong sleeper recommendations; Julius Hodge, not so much.

2006

Player Projected PER Order Picked Among Collegians
Rudy Gay 15.19 7
Rajon Rondo 14.65 16
Shawne Williams 14.64 13
Brandon Roy 13.88 5
Tyrus Thomas 13.44 3
LaMarcus Aldridge 13.01 1
Adam Morrison 12.82 2
Hilton Armstrong 12.41 9
Ronnie Brewer 12.24 10
Kyle Lowry 12.13 19
Shelden Williams 12.03 4
Marcus Williams 12.00 17
* Top 10 drafted collegians not in Rater's top 12: Randy Foye, Patrick O'Bryant, J.J. Redick

This is arguably the Rater's best draft: It nailed five of its top six picks with only the Shawne Williams placement at No. 3 derailing it. That's a big improvement on what really happened on draft day, when Adam Morrison, Shelden Williams, Randy Foye, Patrick O'Bryant and J.J. Redick were five of the top 10 collegians taken. Only Morrison got into Draft Rater's top 10, and he was seventh rather than second.

2007

Player Projected PER Order Picked Among Collegians
Kevin Durant 19.01 2
Mike Conley 16.58 4
Greg Oden 14.88 1
Joakim Noah 13.97 8
Rodney Stuckey 13.97 14
Javaris Crittenton 13.72 17
Thaddeus Young 13.68 11
Brandan Wright 13.52 7
Al Horford 13.45 3
Jeff Green 13.19 5
Julian Wright 13.11 12
Corey Brewer 12.73 6
* Top 10 drafted collegians not in Rater's top 12: Spencer Hawes, Acie Law

Moving Durant to the top spot and promoting Stuckey and Young were good calls, partly offsetting the demotion of Horford to No. 9 and the promotion of Crittenton to No. 6. Though highly anticipated, this draft has turned out to be a bit short on star talent thus far; we'll see in a couple of years how good this projection turned out to be.

2008

Player Projected PER Order Picked Among Collegians
Kevin Love 14.62 5
Michael Beasley 14.32 2
Joe Alexander 13.48 8
Mario Chalmers 13.01 29
George Hill 12.77 23
Chris Douglas-Roberts 12.46 33
Derrick Rose 12.36 1
Roy Hibbert 12.30 17
Darrell Arthur 12.17 24
Ryan Anderson 12.14 20
Marreese Speights 12.11 16
Darnell Jackson 12.11 42
* Top 10 drafted collegians not in Rater's top 12: O.J. Mayo, Russell Westbrook, D.J. Augustin, Eric Gordon, Brook Lopez

2008 saw, by far, the Draft Rater's most radical departure from the actual draft, and also seems likely to go down as the Rater's worst overall season. Love led all rookies in PER and Beasley was fourth among '08 collegians, so the top two picks are solid. After that, it's a mess. One-and-done freshmen Derrick Rose, O.J. Mayo, Anthony Randolph and Eric Gordon all ranked too low, as did solid rookies Brook Lopez and Russell Westbrook.

Of the players moved up in their place, Chalmers, Hill, Douglas-Roberts and Speights seemed like good recommendations; Speights finished second only to Love in PER from this draft class. On the other hand, Alexander, Arthur, Anderson and Jackson still have much to prove.

heights and weights and wingspans heights and weights and wingspans

whoops

Anyway, I was surprised by Hollinger's draft rater rating Greg Monroe so high since he seems like someone who's skilled but not as dominant as you would want him to be as a college player. lol, maybe it was just that some site compared him to a late-career Chris Webber even though he's 19 and that's just stuck in my head since.

there is some buzz that the spurs are interested in moving up to get derrick favors :o

i don't think it will happen because spurs don't typically do dramatic trades and i can't remember the last time they traded up in the draft. they would have to be rly sold on favors to do that. and at any rate, possible trade would be pretty high stakes because i think if the nets dangle #3, they'd want parker. the spurs would only trade parker if they could get devtini harris in return. the nets would only include harris if they got _____ (some combo of 2010 #20 pick, rights to tiago splitter, dejuan blair, future 1st rounder(s)) in return.

financially, tho, i am wondering how srsly the spurs are considering about quasi-rebuilding. harris is about parker's age, but has played about half the minutes parker has (he's been a starter since age 19 and has been in the finals three times, not to mention french national team). they're pretty comparable players in terms of production, tho parker is a much better shooter. harris is on the books for the next 3 years, but at a reasonable rate (shade under $9 mil per). parker is a FA in 2011, making $13.5 mil this year and he's looking for close to a max deal which will take him into his mid-30's.

right now, the spurs only have duncan and ginobili to guaranteed deals past 2011 (mcdyess has a partially guaranteed deal and blair and george hill have team option years on their rookie deals, def smart to keep them), so the Spurs have a little flexibility as it stands. if they end up giving tony an extension for $15+ mil/year, that flexibility is virtually gone for 2011 and you're on the downhill on ginobili and parker's productivity for several years.

tbh now that i think on it more, it'd be a smart move to put together a parker-centered package for favors and harris. if favors busts, harris at least matches parker's productivity over the next three years and you stand to save at least a few milli a year in the process so you can bring in other pieces. the nets have the cap room to absorb a large deal like parker without the spurs needing to take back a large contract in return. commie cuban gets a euro star, eva longoria lives closer to NYC, and spurs save themselves from feeling obligated to reward tony the way they just did with manu.

this isn't news, but watching a lil of the draft workouts on nbatv...john wall really got up on the vert tests. wow.

m bison - why would the nets do that trade, though? The #3 pick in this draft gives you a choice of Favors (the #1 rated player out of high school in a year that had John Wall) or Cousins (pretty much the most productive collegian since Shaq) - that's just worth massively more than Parker-for-Harris, which as you say is perilously close to a wash anyway?

The difference between how Wall moves and how Hayward moves in that video is kind of wow.

to preface this, i don't think the nets would go for that either, it makes more sense on the spurs' side for sure. buuuuut favors or cousins might be looked at as projects who won't approach the peak of their potential for a few years and if prokhorov wants to build a winner quickly, he may prefer not to have a rookie tying up some of that cap room flexibility he'd need to sign big-name free agents. just depends what he thinks of those cats. also, if splitter was packaged with parker, he'd get one of the best centers in europe.

In the last ten years I think the only team that made it to the finals with a PG they drafted in the top 10 picks was Dallas, which would give me some pause about John Wall.

i'm not sure if that's fair

if john wall can do what brandon jennings did for the bucks i think it would be a worthy pick

yeah, i mean how many players drafted period in the last 10 years have led their teams to the finals? just wade, howard and bron iirc (tho at this rate rondo is the best dude on celts and theyll make it this year).

yeah if you look at the top 10s there's obv tons of waste at every position

altho i get your point in that being a good scoring PG is becoming not all that unique.

xp

and tbh, i think wall has a little bit of rondo in him

i think it says something tho that the lakers PG's are on the whole p terrible and they seem to be doing ok

rondo might be the most creative/gifted passing PG of the past however many years, but i think wall is different than curry/jennings/tyreke who, as good as those three are, are all score first pgs -- wall was pretty deferential at UK

well i mean, if there was a kobe/lebron/wade in this draft who is 6' 6'' and effectively plays pg, then you would probably pick that person -- and maybe evan turner is that person!! -- but i don't think there is

getting yourself locked into a knock off version of lebron/wade/kobe/melo -- i.e. joe johnson, danny granger, andre igoudala etc -- can stagnate your franchise as much as having your best player be a PG could

I'd still pick Wall with the 2nd pick if I had it but I'd be tempted to pick Turner first if I'm in charge, especially if my team lacked a dynamic scorer (like, for example, the Wizards).

yeah i'm not sure who i'd pick

aren't these consensus #1 picks generally pretty reliably good-to-great players? excepting blake griffin since he hasnt even played, rose, howard, bron, and yao have all been that type of guy iirc (i guess there was some debate if u get howard or lolkafor 05)

i think it says something tho that the lakers PG's are on the whole p terrible and they seem to be doing ok

yeah it says they're pretty good at every other position

haha thats what i mean!

plus the triangle offense is not reliant on a PG to run the show. 90s Bulls PGs were either defensive-minded or knock-down jump shooters.

which makes it even funnier that TWolves are trying to run it

Well it's not like they currently have any NBA starters at all, to be fair to them.

Actually thinking more about that Hayward shuttle drill video - seriously I just don't get how he can be a first-round guy! Who is he going to guard? There's no way he can keep with NBA 3s or bang with NBA 4s? You can't just, like, stick him on Adam Morrison and say "uh contest some shots"?

lol @ hayward's terrible 3 pt shooting this season

lol @ his likelihood to get thrown around like a ragdoll by bigger faster players

where's this wall v. hayward video?

aren't these consensus #1 picks generally pretty reliably good-to-great players? excepting blake griffin since he hasnt even played, rose, howard, bron, and yao have all been that type of guy iirc (i guess there was some debate if u get howard or lolkafor 05)

― münchausen by proxymuzak (m bison), Sunday, May 23, 2010 4:18 AM (19 hours ago) Bookmark

kwame brown :)))))))))) (curious enough, the last #1 pick the wiz made)

dyao - i dunno how to link to it but if you go to http://www.nba.com/video/ and search for nba combine penn it's the only match

I'm a Sixers fan. How do you guys think Turner will turn out?

I have visions/nightmares of him being between 80% and 110% of Iguodala, who (a) we already have and (b) wouldn't be worth the #2 overall imo. And then, I feel like we should trade down for a big guy - Favors, or Cousins...

lol pearsonic same here. that's a very real possibility w/ turner.

lol

But don't ignore a coming challenge by Gordon Hayward. The Jazz love him and need someone to replace free agent Kyle Korver.

lol basketball

He measured short in Chicago (6-8¾ in socks)

kwame brown :)))))))))) (curious enough, the last #1 pick the wiz made)

― Face Book (dyao), Sunday, May 23, 2010 10:32 AM (3 days ago)

don't think he was a consensus #1 tho, high school players rarely are (were)

i read this comment in chad ford's mock and i can't for the life of me figure out what he means:

34. Portland Trail Blazers (via Golden State)

Trevor Booker | PF | Clemson
The Blazers paid $2 million and swapped the 44th pick for No. 34, so they better get something good. Booker is the type of physical enforcer that the Blazers could use when LaMarcus Aldridge is squeezing the Charmin.

so is he saying when lamarcus aldridge has to take a shit, clemson's trevor book would make a good sub? is this some common phrase i've somehow avoided my whole life?

i think he means that aldridge often plays soft.

it's a real reach of a phrase, though.

Aldridge has had a notorious bout with diarrhea

ok i'll buy the softness thing. aldridge having shitting issues would be the blazers most devastating injury imo.

Mr. Whipple to the thread!

http://culturalexploration.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/mr_whipple.jpg

what is the point of mock drafts? like seriously. i don't mind reading one to see what's up the day or two before but do we really need chad ford furiously revising this shit three hours before the ACTUAL DRAFT makes them totally irrelevant

but then i am genuinely excited by the frenzy of bloodletting trades that hopefully will happen in the next few hours

i like mocks, but yeah, ford's up the last minute ones are more about his being able to say he knew than something worth reading.

that said, i still have 7.1 open in another tab :/

chalk

enjoy your "career", wes

@WojYahooNBA Had Cousins slipped past Kings, agent for Cousins would've made it clear to Warriors his client didn't want to play there.

Chad Ford is 6 for 6.

will surely help him land that lucrative contract extension with espn.com

Can the Jazz resist the urge to draft a white guy here?

of course not

loool

Can Indiana same question

utah must be so ecstatic to bring home some white bread for the hometown

Gotta be Aldrich among the best available white players.

man I would love to see the justification for taking a defensive liability who shoots 25% from three with a top-ten pick

Apparently, George's comparable is Wilson Chandler, a player I'm pretty sure you can get for a lot less than the #10 pick.

lol at chad ford's streak being broken by jazz taking a white guy

Cole Aldrich & Morris Peterson to OKC for #18 & #21

http://img2.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/imgs/070405/dvdreviews/larrysandersshow_l.jpg

to the Bucks

spurs got a shooter, i am pleased (this means roger mason is gone)

Hornets getting a PG means Paul is gone, right?

yep

yeah he's going to miami with lebron, wade, bosh, kobe, and dwight.

let's list things that jay bilas repeats ad nauseum that make him sound like a fukkin moron:

-- wingspan (armspan. this isn't difficult.)
-- underrated shooter (who is underrating them??? their fg%? seems like they're appropriately rated by that because that is empirical evidence yes?)
-- nba body (premise 1: they just got picked in the first round by an nba franchise thus earning them a guaranteed contract. premise 2: each player has a body. ergo every1 has a fucking nba body)
-- high IQ/knows the game (code: white and nonathletic)
-- problems with maturity (code: black and under 20 years old)

--"motor"

(code: will avg 15 tech fouls/year)

wtf two guys got drafted in the top 15 that i've never heard of

damn it would've been fuckin hilarious if orton had fallen out of the first round

if there was an opt-out clause for the draft tonight there would've been 5 teams participating i think

wow the heat are trolling tonight

MS Word autocorrects Warriors #1: Kelp Udon.

Most boring draft I can remember.

just glad the hawks drafted the dude who dunked on lebron. he doesn't have to do anything else....

john wall's suit tonight is exactly how boys look at their bar mitzvahs

thought this was a weird comparison from hollinger

Ebanks is one of the best on-ball defenders in the draft. He can guard four positions and often was assigned to shut down the other team's best scorer. On offense, his midrange game is solid, but he really needs to improve his outside shot. When you think of Ebanks, think of former Laker Trevor Ariza.

doesn't that sound exactly like the description you'd give to artest?

The LA Times had a front page article about the Lakers pick at #43, jack shit about the Clippers pick at #8

so, dudes that know more abt hoops than me:

give this t-wolves fan the damage pls. thx!

wesley johnson: polished, ready to play, fills a need, but a pretty low ceiling

not too sure about webster but i know there are blazers fans who could talk about him around

Webster came straight out of high school, before the age restriction took effect. I think he's 23 or 24 years old now and therefore a veteran.

His main strength is outside shooting, but from what I've seen of him he doesn't really have game-changing skills in any department. Otoh, he is fairly solid with no outstanding weaknesses. He knows where to be on defense, catches the odd rebound, works hard at his game. He has started a lot of games, but he rarely leaves his mark on any game.

Overall, he's coachable, young and needs to find out what his niche is. Everyone thought he would be as a three-point specialist, but his percentage and reliability aren't quite at that level.

thx y'all

what about lazar hayward?

just watched the t-wolves press conference...if nothing else johnson and hayward seem like super nice dudes

twolves dodged a douche bullet on babbit imo

Sixers fan here.

Am enjoying the Turner pick.

Also am afraid that Cousins is going to be absolutely dominant in 4-5 years.

sam presti is a fucking wizard, dude turned two late picks into cole aldrich and mo pete's dead body, then went and grabbed a future clippers #1. i swear i think even if durant lost his mind and signed in italy or something he could rebuild that team before the next all-star break.

i mean simmons throws this on aldrich

I would have loved that move for OKC if Aldrich didn't measure 6-9 in street clothes during the combines; that triples the potential that he's just a shorter Joel Przybilla. On the bright side, he can bang the boards, set some picks, make a jump hook and give you six fouls. I know, I know … try to contain your excitement.

but um isnt that basically big baby? which seems almost exactly what you want as a 3rd/4th big behind ibaka, krstic and collison, right?

also pryzbilla's pretty good

Also am afraid that Cousins is going to be absolutely dominant in 4-5 years.

^^^

yeah i didn't get that comment--no one expects aldrich to be spectacular, okc just basically needs a joel przy type

kings are one piece away from being a playoff team (aka nu okc)

you just wait -- they have yet to experience samuel dalembert

if i were an NBA gm i would trade anything (including my own 1st round picks) to get clippers picks from any year likely to be within sterling's lifetime - that trade would still be borderline good value for NO even if they didn't get Aldrich!

http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/The_Baseline/entry/view/72228

hope he can manage in nellie ball.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvkXmMcGfLo&feature=player_embedded

was a little surprised that he didn't get picked up in the second round, though hardly any guards got taken then this year. plus the warriors didn't have a 2nd round pick.

the lakers wanted him after the draft

http://www.nba.com/lakers/video/2010/07/02/100702draftpicksderrickcaracter-1364372

http://www.nba.com/lakers/video/2010/07/02/100702draftpicksdevinebanks-1364371