Official 2014 NBA draft thread

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I only get excited about Stauskus in that bunch. I think I would go a different direction if he is not there.

What direction? Meaning a different position or trading down? Or trading the pick entirely?

[bleedspeed]

I would consider a PG then trading down or out. If we could do a package for Hayward I would be interested in that.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

I think if Harris and Stauskas are both available, we have to take Harris. Harris is a decent shooter and he is decent at creating his own shot (not as good as Stauskas, but has the potential to be just as good). The big bonus is that he is a relentless defender. He doesn't take any defensive possessions off and that is huge for a rookie to have an impact on the defensive end in year 1. We have three top shelf scorers in Love, Martin and Pek, so we don't need to add another. In fact, it wouldn't make much sense to have 2 SG's on the team with neither being an average NBA defender. I think Harris is a guy you can start right away because of his defensive ability and his relentlessness on that end of the floor. He's not big, but not many SG's are in today's game. I see a slightly worse version of Oladipo on that end with a better offensive game. It think him being a two-way player is huge over Stauskas being a good one-way player. It's hard to find good players who put the effort in on both ends of the court, so when they become available you have to take them. That's why Wiggins and Embiid are the top two prospects in this draft when healthy and Parker is 3rd. Harris/Stauskas is the same debate as Wiggins/Parker, just not on as high a level.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Funny how Stauskas and Parker will likely become the better players because of their mentality and offensive ability. Wiggins and Harris will be plus defenders, but the other two have potential to be offensive juggernauts. Would you rather have James Harden or Arron Afflalo? Carmelo Anthony or Luol Deng? Steph Curry or Mike Conley? While I'm being a bit extreme, my point should be clear. I'd rather have the better player regardless of the one-way/two-way classifications.

PS: I'll be very surprised if Jabari isn't the number one overall pick. This league is becoming perimeter dominated. A wing player has more value than a big. That takes the argument to Parker/Wiggins for me and Wiggins' offensive game is no where near as polished as Parker's.

[The Rage Monster [enjin:8010341]]

Funny how Stauskas and Parker will likely become the better players because of their mentality and offensive ability. Wiggins and Harris will be plus defenders, but the other two have potential to be offensive juggernauts. Would you rather have James Harden or Arron Afflalo? Carmelo Anthony or Luol Deng? Steph Curry or Mike Conley? While I'm being a bit extreme, my point should be clear. I'd rather have the better player regardless of the one-way/two-way classifications.

PS: I'll be very surprised if Jabari isn't the number one overall pick. This league is becoming perimeter dominated. A wing player has more value than a big. That takes the argument to Parker/Wiggins for me and Wiggins' offensive game is no where near as polished as Parker's.

When people decide who the better player is they usually just look at offensive numbers so I don't know that your comparison is necessarily fair. I would counter with how have their teams performed in the playoffs? I think a case could be made that Afflalo, Deng, and Conley's teams have add at least equal success or maybe even more success.

Mentality is important but I wouldn't necessarily discount Harris' mentality so easily. Stauskas was essentially forced to be the leader of the team, they only had one jr/sr on the team so someone needed to step up and to his credit Stauskas did that. Harris on the other hand had 4 jr/sr's ahead of him, one of which was the starting PG, meaning he didn't necessarily have the opportunity to surpass established leaders. The situation reminds me of Westbrook at UCLA. It's possible Harris could come here, realize we don't have a player who can take over and develop that mentality.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

Cam- I see it as you rather taking Melo over Lebron, Harden over Wade or Curry over CP3. You basically compare 3 superstars to 3 role players acting like your guy is the equivalent better player in every scenario without accounting for the fact that Harris is the projected better player going higher in every single mock draft. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Stauskas has never cracked the top 10 in anyone's mock draft and yet you rate him higher than Harris who has been rated better than Stauskas by seemingly everyone but you. Melo is a better scorer than Lebron, but everyone takes Lebron 10/10 because he is more than just a scorer. The league isn't going towards Melo type players because those guys don't win titles and that is why Wiggins will go before Parker in almost every scenario except if Utah wins the lottery. Parker will score 20 a game, but so will Wiggins at some point in the future and Wiggins will add great defense to go with it where Parker will be a sieve most of his career.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Those comparisons don't add up for me for a couple of reasons. First, your comparisons would elude to Harris being right on par with Stauskas on offense, which he's not in my opinion. LeBron to Melo, Harden to Wade, Curry to Paul. Where's the difference in scoring ability? Those are all roughly the same.

Harris is a couple notches under Stauskas on offense due to his basic creating ability and average handle/athleticism. This is why he's not as efficient as Stauskas in multiple categories. I didn't give Harris the short end of the stick, though. In my comparisons I gave him two 18 PPG scorers that play defense. Those aren't role players. Those are parts of a team's core, which is what Harris will be no doubt.

To begin with, I don't base my arguments on what other people's mocks tell me. Why? Because that's just as much of an opinion as mine is. I rely on what my own eyes tell me plus statistics. How many mocks have you seen that end up way off? There's reasons for that.

BUT, since you value so heavily what paid writers tell you, I did post a link not too long ago of an article with David Aldridge saying Stauskas is his top SG based on what GMs/scouts/people around the league have told him. Keep in mind I already had him as my top SG, but if you'd like to click a few pages back you're welcome to find it and read it.

No shit everyone takes LeBron over Melo, but again, I don't see Harris being an elite option on offense. LeBron and Melo are constantly in the tops of the league in scoring. I don't see Stauskas and Harris being on the same level on offense in the NBA. Thus I used the Carmelo/Luol comparison.

Parker's just flat out better player than Wiggins and if you can't see that you're blind. He's got the killer mentality and skill to be one of the top scorers in the league. His offensive game is very well-rounded and will likely be a pretty good closer as well since he's a top notch isolation player. Wiggins seems to shy away from the ball at times. He's also pretty raw in his skillset as he relies on athleticism heavily. Wiggins will benefit from the faster-paced NBA, but he will also struggle with the stronger, more physical defenders and teams that focus on him alone.

[bleedspeed]

I don't see Harris being elite at anything. I think Stauskas will be an elite shooter.

Problem with Harris is he is not a great athlete or long. He lacks the tools to be a lock down defender at the next level. At least that is my opinion. Marcus Smart is stonger and longer then Harris and I am sure he will be a better defender out of this draft.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I saw a Courtney Lee comparison get thrown on Gary Harris yesterday. I thought to myself that it wasn't too far off actually. Harris probably has a higher ceiling, but do any of you think he has All-Star promise? Now, I do consider myself a Harris guy. He was my Stauskas last year along with Oladipo, but I'm trying to find a guage on what people think his potential is.

[bleedspeed]

Country Lee is his ceiling in my eyes.