2011 NBA Draft

[Jacob]

Chad Ford said Leonard's shooting display in Vegas today was very impressive. If he goes into workouts and shoots well he's definitely going in the top 10.

Interesting. I wonder if he's adjusted at all from pulling the ball back behind his head.

[Jacob]

Vegas? What went on there?

Ford is just watching some private workouts with several players. Here's his tweet from today:

Burks looked good in drills. Shooting the ball better. Explosive athlete. Kawhi Leonard still shooting lights out in Day 2

I'd be pleased if either of those guys fell to the Jazz at 12, but it's starting to look like neither will.

Also, Ford thinks Marcus Morris is a 3. That makes him much more interesting at 12. I haven't watching him play. But Ford is saying his 3 point shot looks great. Is he an athlete who can defend at the 3?

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

Ford is just watching some private workouts with several players. Here's his tweet from today:



I'd be pleased if either of those guys fell to the Jazz at 12, but it's starting to look like neither will.

Also, Ford thinks Marcus Morris is a 3. That makes him much more interesting at 12. I haven't watching him play. But Ford is saying his 3 point shot looks great. Is he an athlete who can defend at the 3?

When he's not being a prima donna with minimal on-court effort and/or pouting about something that didn't go his way. Those Morris brothers and their family are grade A twits. But they also might be guys who just fit better in the NBA game/lifestyle than they did in college.

I think both Marcus and Markieff have the talent to justify the 12th pick in this draft. But I think both of them have high bust potential.

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

Josh Selby is another guy that could be far better in the NBA than he was in college. He had no desire to be in college, had to join the team late, played for his own agenda sometimes, and was dinged up a bit. Ford has been writing good things about him the past two days as well.

But no matter how quick he looks or how well he shoots he won't be able to change that he's a 6'1" shooting guard.

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

Kanter can really shoot it when nobody is in the gym and when the highlight clip only shows the ones he makes. He's certainly had plenty of time to work on his shotting in empty gyms. But his stroke really does look solid.

[YOUTUBE]rNK8siaYI7M&feature=player_embedded[/YOUTUBE]


I wonder what his draft stock would be had he been able to play a year of college.

[New Mexican Disaster]

But his stroke really does look solid.

[YOUTUBE]rNK8siaYI7M&feature=player_embedded[/YOUTUBE]


I wonder what his draft stock would be had he been able to play a year of college.

His stroke does look good but it is really slow and a bit robotic.

[Borg]

Listened to 1320am yesterday on the way home, and Locke had a draft NBA draft dude on there, and Locke put out the generic question "Who do you see that is going to make an excellent pro".

Guy said Kemba, and then went off about 10 minutes on Jimmer. Said he is going to make an excellent professional bball player. Compared him with Mark Price only better. Deeper range, stronger, can get to the rim...he was all over Jimmer.

I think the guy is right. I think that Jimmer will be a great gem for BYU to have (finally) in the professional level of the NBA. (I hope anyway)

[Jacob]

Kanter can really shoot it when nobody is in the gym and when the highlight clip only shows the ones he makes. He's certainly had plenty of time to work on his shotting in empty gyms. But his stroke really does look solid.

[YOUTUBE]rNK8siaYI7M&feature=player_embedded[/YOUTUBE]


I wonder what his draft stock would be had he been able to play a year of college.

He looks like he will be a very good offensive player in the NBA. It wasn't highlighted in that video, but he's got excellent footwork and post moves.

I think that if he'd played at Kentucky this year, they'd have been national champs, he'd have been their leading scorer, and he may very well have overshadowed Sullenger as the best post player/prospect in the country.

Like Sullenger, he doesn't look that explosive as a leaper. I wonder what his "motor" or energy level is. I've heard his defense is questionable, which is often attributable to defensive energy.

I posted before that I thought Valanciunas was the best Euro prospect. After seeing a bit more and thinking a bit more, I'd say that Kanter is pretty clearly the best offensive prospect and that Valanciunus is a better defensive prospect.

Valanciunus appears to get almost all his points in Euroleague off of offensive rebounds, simple post plays, and hustle plays. They just don't run plays for him, and it looks like much more of a fast, perimeter oriented game over there. If he had the skills, you'd think they'd feed him. Still, he is scoring at an really good rate /40 minutes and rebounding at an exceptional rate. And you've gotta be intrigued by his FT percentage of almost 90%. Hes going to be able to hit that 15-18 jumper.

My prediction is that Kanter has more of an attitude that will make him a solid contributer sooner, but mostly on the offensive end. If Kanter is a legit 6'10, I wont be heartbroken if the Jazz end up with him between 3 and 6.

I've heard the comparison for Valanciunas to Biedrins. And that seems fair, except for the fact that Jonas appears to have a much better touch as seen in his FT %. If you ended up with Biedrins with a better offensive touch, would you be satisfied at 6? Then again, that's probably falling into the comparison trap of them both being Lithuanian.

Sticking with ethnocentric comparisons...is Kanter another Okur? Kanter may be a little better rebounder and slightly more athletic, but not quite as tall. Will probably end up being a little better in the post.

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

He looks like he will be a very good offensive player in the NBA. It wasn't highlighted in that video, but he's got excellent footwork and post moves.

I think that if he'd played at Kentucky this year, they'd have been national champs, he'd have been their leading scorer, and he may very well have overshadowed Sullenger as the best post player/prospect in the country.

Like Sullenger, he doesn't look that explosive as a leaper. I wonder what his "motor" or energy level is. I've heard his defense is questionable, which is often attributable to defensive energy.

I posted before that I thought Valanciunas was the best Euro prospect. After seeing a bit more and thinking a bit more, I'd say that Kanter is pretty clearly the best offensive prospect and that Valanciunus is a better defensive prospect.

Valanciunus appears to get almost all his points in Euroleague off of offensive rebounds, simple post plays, and hustle plays. They just don't run plays for him, and it looks like much more of a fast, perimeter oriented game over there. If he had the skills, you'd think they'd feed him. Still, he is scoring at an really good rate /40 minutes and rebounding at an exceptional rate. And you've gotta be intrigued by his FT percentage of almost 90%. Hes going to be able to hit that 15-18 jumper.

My prediction is that Kanter has more of an attitude that will make him a solid contributer sooner, but mostly on the offensive end. If Kanter is a legit 6'10, I wont be heartbroken if the Jazz end up with him between 3 and 6.

I've heard the comparison for Valanciunas to Biedrins. And that seems fair, except for the fact that Jonas appears to have a much better touch as seen in his FT %. If you ended up with Biedrins with a better offensive touch, would you be satisfied at 6? Then again, that's probably falling into the comparison trap of them both being Lithuanian.

Sticking with ethnocentric comparisons...is Kanter another Okur? Kanter may be a little better rebounder and slightly more athletic, but not quite as tall. Will probably end up being a little better in the post.

I thought about Sullinger while watching Kanter and thought that if Kanter had played at your typical Big 10 school he would have have really fit in well there. Not sure he would have been a great fit at Kentucky but then Harrellson did pretty well there this year.

I do think Kanter seems much more willing to work in the paint than Okur ever really was. Maybe as his shot develops more he'll have the typical drift outside of the paint like most big men do. I wonder how similar Kanter's game video would look (if we had anything more than his one game in Portland with the world select team) to Al Jefferson his first year in the NBA. Even though Kanter's shot looks solid in workouts, I'm not sure that's where we'd see him operating a whole lot in actual games, especially if we'd seen games against overmatched high school/college kids.

I don't know if Biedrins is the right comp for Valanciunas, just because Valanciunas seems solid enough on offense that I bet that is his focus. Biedrins it seems accepts that he sucks on offense and has proven a willingness to board and defend. I think a lot of guys have the ability to mimic Biedrins, Ben Wallace, Ibaka, or Tyson Chandler, but if their head isn't into it than it isn't going to happen. That's one reason I like Biyomobo. Even if his offensive game never comes around he seems like a kid that likes to play defense and rebound, and his physical abilities mean he can be successful doing that even if that is all he can really ever give a team.

[scottie]

Kanter can really shoot it when nobody is in the gym and when the highlight clip only shows the ones he makes. He's certainly had plenty of time to work on his shotting in empty gyms. But his stroke really does look solid.

[YOUTUBE]rNK8siaYI7M&feature=player_embedded[/YOUTUBE]


I wonder what his draft stock would be had he been able to play a year of college.

The two seconds of this was great:

[Jacob]

chadfordinsider Chad Ford
Singleton was good. Great size. Great athlete. Quick. Leaper. Still needs work on the offensive end.

chadfordinsider Chad Ford
Chris Singleton just awesome in 3-on-3. I could see both Charlotte and Utah taking a long look in the lottery.

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/...ingleton-1342/

[MarkGrace]

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/...ingleton-1342/

Workout warriors usually do well for us.

Signed,

The guy in the mental institute and the guy banging Kim Kardashian

[Blueintheface]

Workout warriors usually do well for us.

Signed,

The guy in the mental institute and the guy banging Kim Kardashian

Both guys I'd like to forget. I'm actually shocked Snyder didn't wind up dead.

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/...ingleton-1342/

Singleton is the guy Gottlieb had at #4 overall.

[Hazzard]

Is it just me or are far fewer international players entering the draft than a few years ago? Is this because they're getting paid better overseas now or is it that the initial wave of Euro players has come over already and the talent pool isn't as large as we thought? Or is there another reason?

Ricky Rubio, Gallinari, Yi Jianlian, Andrea Bargnani, and Saer Sene are the only international guys taken in the top 10 in the draft in the past 5 years. And if your'e not taken in the top 10 in the draft, the odds are you're not going to be anything more than a role player. The Euro invasion that was predicted when guys like Nowitzki came over has never materialized to the extent that many thought.

On a slightly different topic, I hope that after the upcoming NBA lockout the NBA forces college guys to wait for 3 years after high school to play in the NBA. College basketball is virtually unwatchable now -- it's just a bunch of undersized underathletic dudes shooting threes with a few very good but inexperienced freshmen sprinkled in. The 3-year rule would have the following positive effects:

1. Give future NBA guys a better chance to develop their games.
2. Weed out the freak athletic guys who can't actually play or won't work.
3. Give fans a chance to get to know the NBA talent guys before they get to the NBA.
4. Make college basketball infinitely more watchable.

It would be better for college teams, NBA teams, and fans. The only people who wouldn't want it are the few guys in the lottery straight out of high school and their agents. Everyone else wins. I would love to get back to the days when the top teams facing off in the NCAA tournament have 4-6 future NBA players on their rosters. I would watch NCAA basketball again.