Official 2014 NBA draft thread

[thedoper]

Nik Stauskas. My hunt is over. 6'6, 205 lbs. Puts the "shooting" in shooting guard. Off the dribble. Off a dribble hand-off. Catch and shoot. Legit range. Uses a bunch of clever stepbacks. Can make shots with defenders all over him. Good passer; great in the P&R. Can hit the rolling man in rhythm; can also drive and leave the rock for a big man. Can consistently throw a good lob for an oop (we need more athletes, but still). Takes care of the basketball. Very good TO/AST rate. Smart player too; gets to the FT line at a good clip. Can finish with both hands (right hand dominate). He's underrated as an athlete too (probably because he's white). Reminds me of Gordon Hayward in terms of athleticism.

Future All-Star, in my opinion. If we miss the playoffs, Stauskas is my man.

I was just thinking the same thing yesterday. We may be able to trade down with Phoenix and get that pick off the books and still get him.

I wouldn't even risk it if he was available. Just take the guy you know you want. Also, he's Canadian. Practically lived in cold weather all his life. Ontario, Connecticut, Massachusetts and now he's playing for the University of Michigan. Always a thought... just in case he turns into a big time player and ESPN and other media outlets want to say he's headed for LA. Ha.

I agree if that is their first choice. But right now he is not projecting as high as13. I think if he keeps his performance up he may inch closer to our spot though.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Stauskas is a nice potential pick for us. Great size, reasonably athletic, good ball handler and an excellent shooter. I know he was criticized his freshman year for his defensive effort, but I haven't read any assessment of his defense this year. The fact that Stauskas shows up in the late teens or 20s shows you how strong this draft really is. Don't you think a guy like Stauskas would have easily gone top ten last year?

It's interesting to me that there are three SGs in the Big Ten alone that I could be happy with at 13...Harris, Stauskas and Petteway. I have said before that Petteway is currently my choice...it's incredible how is almost single-handedly leading an average Nebraska team to an NCAA bid. As the only really viable scoring option on Nebraska, he's seeing a lot of defense every game, bur his scoring remarkably keeps going up. But Stauskas and Harris are great potential picks too.

This draft is going to be fun, but if Adelman starts playing Shabazz more, we may not get the pick!

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

Chad Ford's current top 10 includes 7 freshmen, Marcus Smart, and 2 foreigners. Lazy journalism? So if you don't shine as a Freshman and maybe a few sophomores, then you're relegated to 4 years of school and no NBA career? I guess if you're a senior, your "potential" is gone and you're too old.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Chad Ford's current top 10 includes 7 freshmen, Marcus Smart, and 2 foreigners. Lazy journalism? So if you don't shine as a Freshman and maybe a few sophomores, then you're relegated to 4 years of school and no NBA career? I guess if you're a senior, your "potential" is gone and you're too old.

Chad Ford's current top 10 includes 7 freshmen, Marcus Smart, and 2 foreigners. Lazy journalism? So if you don't shine as a Freshman and maybe a few sophomores, then you're relegated to 4 years of school and no NBA career? I guess if you're a senior, your "potential" is gone and you're too old.

Fine with me. Just means that Stauskas, McDermott, Petteway and Harris will be available to us. It's gonna be a great draft!

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Chad Ford's current top 10 includes 7 freshmen, Marcus Smart, and 2 foreigners. Lazy journalism? So if you don't shine as a Freshman and maybe a few sophomores, then you're relegated to 4 years of school and no NBA career? I guess if you're a senior, your "potential" is gone and you're too old.

Fine with me. Just means that Stauskas, McDermott, Petteway and Harris will be available to us. It's gonna be a great draft!

Chad Ford sucks, to be honest. I feel like he uses other journalist's ideas and composes his pieces from that. If you ask every GM in the NBA whether or not McDermott was in their top-10, it'd be a no-brainer. He's been the best player in college basketball.

With that said, I don't see Stauskas or Harris going top-10 in this draft either. That excites me because those are two guys I'd love to end up with if we have a pick this summer.

I haven't seen Petteway get any hype this year other than from Andy Katz I believe, but even then it was in a piece about players who don't get enough credit. Maybe Petteway's a 2nd rounder that someone steals?

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Chad Ford's current top 10 includes 7 freshmen, Marcus Smart, and 2 foreigners. Lazy journalism? So if you don't shine as a Freshman and maybe a few sophomores, then you're relegated to 4 years of school and no NBA career? I guess if you're a senior, your "potential" is gone and you're too old.

Fine with me. Just means that Stauskas, McDermott, Petteway and Harris will be available to us. It's gonna be a great draft!

Chad Ford sucks, to be honest. I feel like he uses other journalist's ideas and composes his pieces from that. If you ask every GM in the NBA whether or not McDermott was in their top-10, it'd be a no-brainer. He's been the best player in college basketball.

With that said, I don't see Stauskas or Harris going top-10 in this draft either. That excites me because those are two guys I'd love to end up with if we have a pick this summer.

I haven't seen Petteway get any hype this year other than from Andy Katz I believe, but even then it was in a piece about players who don't get enough credit. Maybe Petteway's a 2nd rounder that someone steals?

Could be, cam, but I think he could be Big Ten player of the year, and if so, he'll shoot up the mock drafts.

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

I'd like to get McDermott, hopefully he falls as everybody else ahead of us grabs Freshmen.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I'd like to get McDermott, hopefully he falls as everybody else ahead of us grabs Freshmen.

Are we weaker at backup SG or backup PF? I'd argue that Stauskas would make more sense for us, and that's while understanding that McDermott has been fantastic over his college career.

There's also the unfortunate risk that McDermott is a tweener and we're already stocked at SF with bodies that need playing time.

Rubio/Martin/Brewer/Love/Pekovic; Barea/SG?/Bud or Muhammad/Cunningham/Turiaf. I guess you could say Bud plays SG in that unit, but I will continue to believe he's best used as a SF guarding other SFs. Then there's the uncertainty that Shabazz can play at a high enough level to take away minutes from Bud, though I believe in his talent.

Maybe Flip decides to deal Budinger this off-season if Shabazz shows out the rest of the way. I just see backup SG as a huge hole. I also think Stauskas has enough talent and scoring ability to make Martin expendable at some point. Real early to say, I know, but just watch him play.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Seems like a fair number of shooters/scorers are in our draft range - McDermott, Wilcox, Stauskas, and don't forget PJ Hairston in the D-League.

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

Yeah I guess McDermott doesn't fit in with our team due to his tweener status, he just looks like a smooth scorer.