Official 2014 NBA draft thread

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I think a lot of teams have Doug rated higher than Nik and/or Harris. There's also some that think Saric is the next best thing to Dirk coming over from Europe. You just never know how a team's big board looks.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Hicks, I see many of your top ten being locks...at least right now...but I don't see Harris and Stauskas as locks at all. In fact, I would predict that they are both available at our pick. The combine is this week, and there's always a flurry of activity after that. Guys like Zach LaVine often take a big jump up (pun intended) with analysts who forget there is more to playing basketball than leaping. Jusef Nurvic is the flavor of the month...280 pound 7 footer averaging close to a point a minute in Europe. He's in a lot of top tens right now.

The reason this is considered such a powerful draft is because it is ridiculously deep, along with some stars at the top. In addition to your top ten, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see any of these guys end up top ten:

Zach Lavine
Jusef Nurvic
Kyle Anderson
Doug McDermott
Kyle Anderson
James Young
Dario Saric
Rodney Hood
Tyler Ennis
Shabazz Napier
Adreian Payne
Jerami Grant
Clint Capella
PJ Hairston
Cleanthony Early
TJ Warren

That's a big list. And while some will do something to fall out of contention, you can be sure that others will come out of nowhere to become top ten candidates. The depth of this draft might be an argument for Flip to trade one pick for 2 like he did last year.

[bleedspeed]

If we don't win the lottery I would offer the pick and contracts to Utah for Hayward.

[Monster]

I started doing a little research on some of these guys I really didn't see play much. Here are some thoughts.

Zach Lavine is a really elite athlete. one thing I really like about him is on those athletic dunks he always seems to come down really quite balanced he doesn't just fall after some big dunk and slide around like say a Derrick Williams. Its a good sign but he is really weak around the rim both is how he actually I tried to finish and he is thin and thats gonna really hurt him based on what I saw. I don't like how much he leans back on his jumpers it reminds me somewhat of Rudy Fernandez for an example and he was really inconsistent. Having said all that there is some good things about him his youth being one of those things.

One guy I would like to get in the 2nd round is Russ Smith. I think the guy can play he is slight but loves to play D is super quick and can shoot the ball some. The guy can play basketball and while he is an older guy I think he could still have some legit upside as an NBA rotation player. getting someone like him that deep in the draft as a possible change of pace combo guard off the bench is intriguing.

Thats all I have for now.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I started doing a little research on some of these guys I really didn't see play much. Here are some thoughts.

Zach Lavine is a really elite athlete. one thing I really like about him is on those athletic dunks he always seems to come down really quite balanced he doesn't just fall after some big dunk and slide around like say a Derrick Williams. Its a good sign but he is really weak around the rim both is how he actually I tried to finish and he is thin and thats gonna really hurt him based on what I saw. I don't like how much he leans back on his jumpers it reminds me somewhat of Rudy Fernandez for an example and he was really inconsistent. Having said all that there is some good things about him his youth being one of those things.

One guy I would like to get in the 2nd round is Russ Smith. I think the guy can play he is slight but loves to play D is super quick and can shoot the ball some. The guy can play basketball and while he is an older guy I think he could still have some legit upside as an NBA rotation player. getting someone like him that deep in the draft as a possible change of pace combo guard off the bench is intriguing.

Thats all I have for now.

He's fun to watch when he does something athletic, but he was completely invisible in the one game I saw him live...only played about 12 minutes. Somebody is going to take a chance on him because he can shoot the lights out when he's not being guarded, and can jump through the roof, so he's going to be impressive in workouts. But I don't think he will be ready to contribute for several years, if ever. Keep in mind, this guy couldn't crack the starting lineup at UCLA, and frankly looked physically intimidated when he did get on the court.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Cross our fingers that at least two of Gary Harris, James Young and Zach LaVine go ahead of pick 13. I don't see how, but if Stauskas is available for us... Let's just say nobody will be happier than me.

SG-hungry teams that are above us that I'm worried about:

*UTA - No. 5 is the highest I could see Stauskas go, and it'd be a slight reach. Luckily, I see them taking Gordon and believing in Burks for at least another season.

*CHA - Kemba/?/Kidd-Gilchrist. They need a shooter so bad. Space the floor for Big Al. Hope they go Harris here.

*PHI - Yikes. Yikes. Yikes. They could end up with Parker/Stauskas. Hope they go Young and his so-called "potential".

*DEN - Denver's built to get up the floor quickly. LaVine's athleticism and shooting could fit here. They could go big here too. Supposedly Faried isn't a good match for what their HC wants to do. Whatever. Just hope they pass on Nik.

[Monster]

LST thats how I feel about Lavine also. I just started to read more about him because there was some buzz both here and nationally about him. I forgot to mention he looks like a guy that absolutely should have stayed in school another year.

Stauskas at #13 would work for me. I have questions about him (Obviously I can say that for every player), but no matter where I was in this process I would have been plenty happy getting him. I think there are a bunch of wing players after a certain point of the draft maybe after Stauskas that you pull their names out of a hat as to which guy ends up being the better player. It looks like little Big Dog is moving up some like I thought he might and at the end of the first round I still think a team might get a nice player. He measured out with less length than I expected though.