Official 2014 NBA draft thread

[TheFuture]

Perimeter shooting is a team flaw but they still found a way to be one of the highest scoring teams in the league. What they couldnt do is stop teams from going to the basket at will with no one there to detest shots.
Cam, I get that ur championing for ur guy. I wouldnt hate him on this team but I certainly worry about him goin the way of the Jimmers of the league.
I saw Jimmer have his way getting to the basket in college too.

I'm with Porkchop 100%. Perimeter shooting would be nice, but not at all what I would consider to be our biggest flaw. Besides how many shots will go around to this player with Love, Pekovic, and Martin commanding the ball most of the time?? A gifted athlete on the perimeter who works hard on the defensive end, and is effective at help defense, blocks, deflections, etc. is what we are lacking most. It would also be key that this player could effectively dribble drive, and play above the rim for some easy assists from Rubio (something he has never had the chance to do). You believe perimeter scoring is our biggest weakness?! What, do we need to score 130 points a game to win?? Defense wins close games. How about we keep scoring 100-110 and find players to help limit the opposing team to under 100 points a game. We'd definitely be a 50+ win team then. I mean we have Kevin Love, Dieng, and Pekovic cleaning up the glass to minimize second chance points, but yet we still get defeated in games we are scoring 100-110 in?? We need to fix our defense beginning at the 2 guard, 3 guard next. Then we can actually cover up the lack of defense from our interior starters, and let them do their thing on the offensive end.
Perimeter shooting does not transition every single night, but defensive and athletic play does. It is a no brainer for me. We have absolutely no player who can stop penetration from opposing guards. Yes, Rubio and Brewer play the steals rather well, but they are pretty much matadors to opposing guards. Kevin Martin is more like the invisible man on the defensive side.
Between Love, Pekovic, Martin, Shabazz, Barea, Budinger, and Hummel, half of our team are score first types or progressing to be that way. Budinger and Hummel will be much improved from the perimeter next year, I guarantee it.
Bring on the triple D's! (Defense, Dribbling, Driving)

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

So what's the name of our defense-playing, dribble driving, high potential, gifted athlete of a basketball prospect? Such a player has to be there at 13 for the Wolves to take. So let's hear it, what's his name?

The only player that fits that description a little bit is KJ McDaniels.

[Hicks123 [enjin:6700838]]

Man, James Young looked solid tonight. He is athletic as heck, and can shoot with deep range. Ready to be a major contributor next season? Probably not, but certainly has long-term potential.

James "Inconsistent, Inefficient" Young? Pass.

Cam, give me a break here. I get your infatuated with Stauskas. I actually like him a lot as well, but he and Young are very different players. Stauskas projects as a sweet shooting guard, but I would expect defensive struggles, as well as a fairly one-dimensional game in the pros. To be fair, he would be great value at 13, and would love to have him. Young, however, looks to have range as well (albeit, certainly not with the consistency of Stauskas), but he also is a bonafide top-shelf athlete with the ability to get to the basket at will. Inconsistent? I don't know, he scored 10+ pts 30 times this season, and 15+ 18 times....on a stacked and VERY inexperienced team. Inefficient? Meh. Scored 14.3 pts on 11.3 shots. Not perfect, but again not bad for a freshman. He is also a full 2 years younger than Stauskas. Very young freshman, as he doesn't turn 19 until mid August.

I think either one of these guys would be great for the Wolves. I think Stauskas certainly has the edge on production for next season, but I like James Young's longer term prospects a bit better.

[The Rage Monster [enjin:8010341]]

Just playing Devils advocate here, up until this game the Harrison bros were anything but passive in the tournament. They were the biggest reason that team made it to the championship game. They underperformed in the regular season but they both played lights out in the tourney. They are freshmen right?

I just didn't see it. Aaron mostly just hangs out on offense, Andrew attacked a couple times but outside of the Wichita game mostly he just dribbled around without actually doing anything. Defensively I didn't see that lock down mentality and for the most part it was opponents guards doing most of the damage against Kentucky.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I won't get into how Stauskas isn't one-dimensional, as I've done that in this thread somewhere already, but Young doesn't project to be anything more than a bench scorer in my mind. He's mainly a catch-and-shoot player that can straight-line drive if there's a lane to go left, pretty good in transition. Doesn't have consistently good moves going right. Also, I think it's funny how some people think Young's a top-shelf athlete, but think Shabazz lacks ideal athleticism. Those two are relatively on par with one another in terms of athleticism. Young's more long than he is explosive too.

Inconsistent: Very streaky shooter. Just look at his game logs and you'll see how he has a string of sub-40% shooting games followed by a couple 50%+ shooting games and then right back to a stretch of poor games. How does a player like him score 26 against Miss St and turn around and go 2-10 and 6 points just three days later against Vandy? It's tough for me to feel good about him, honestly. He did have a good tourney, though, I'll add that in favor of him.

Inefficient: As you said already, 14 points per game on 11 shots, just over 40% shooting from the field. Yuck. That screams volume shooter aka chucker to me. In watching some of Kentucky's games, he just takes some bad shots. Shots where you scratch your head and ask why he just did that. By bad shots I mean super contested and/or with plenty of time left in the shot clock to run an offensive set or create.

Gahh, I really don't like the freshmen excuse that people (most people, not singling you out) throw around for these guys. If we're to compare them side by side to other draft prospects, how is it acceptable to ignore flaws in one's game because it's their first year in college ball? Flaws are flaws. Young needs to be much smarter with his shot selection if he's to succeed in the NBA. Him being 18 is very attractive to a franchise, though. Agreed.

I don't see how Young projects better than Stauskas in the future. If they both scratch their potential, Nik is going to be better. If they both bottom out, Stauskas will at least have one elite skill (efficient shooting) that keeps him valuable in the NBA for a decade. I'd also argue that Stauskas has the better drive to succeed than Young. Not that Young's shown a desire to be lazy in his progression, but that Stauskas has improved tremendously from last year to this year AND added 16 pounds of muscle in the off-season. Just shows he's serious about doing what it takes.

[kekgeek]

I want Mcdermott So Bad!!!
[youtube]ZLwWxfkTEI0[/youtube]

Can he play shooting guard?

No but he would be a great backup PF next year, maybe loves replacement at PF (I know he might be a little short), he will be able to score in so many different ways. If I was drafting he would be my 5th best prospect this year (Parker, Wiggins, Embid, Randle, also have never seen exum play) I think he will be a stud in the NBA.

Cam I know you love Stauskas, I think his ceilling is JJ Reddick, I wouldn't mind selecting him, I just think he will be a better college player than an NBA player. I would rather have Harris.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Another Stauskas article: http://www.nba.com/news/features/david_aldridge/david-aldridges-big-board-shooting-guards-2014-draft/index.html

David Aldridge has him as the highest-rated SG in the class. The ranking is based on a rough consensus of what NBA personnel people, GMs and coaches, and college coaches think. In that article you'll find several of these quotes I'm about to share for those that don't/can't open the link.

"He killed us," said a college coach whose team played Michigan this season.
"I didn't know his level of toughness," the college coach said. "He's tougher than I thought he was. I thought he was a little soft. (But) he's tough. He is good. He has a cockiness about it. You have to have a little toughness (in the NBA). He did some things defensively that kind of impressed me, because I didn't know he had it in him."

"NBA types believe Stauskas might be able to initiate offense in the manner of a Gordon Hayward with the Jazz. But like Hayward, no one expects Stauskas to be a primary ballhandler. He'll make his money from behind the arc." (If you guys remember correctly, I too said he has some Hayward in him)

"Scouts spoke admiringly of the edge with which Stauskas played -- just enough to notice, not enough to be over the top and causing chemistry issues with teammates. That will help him when he has to try and guard opposing twos in the pros. He gives effort, but he will have problems staying in front of some people, though some think he'll figure out how to space opponents defensively in the NBA.

"He's got a little edge on his shoulder that you've got to have when you're a 6-6 white wing player in our league," a Western Conference exec said. "He's not going to be a (defensive) liability, but he's also not going to be the guy you put on the other team's best wing player.""

A lot of good nuggets about Stauskas, Harris, Young among others. Give it a read.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Another Stauskas article: http://www.nba.com/news/features/david_aldridge/david-aldridges-big-board-shooting-guards-2014-draft/index.html

David Aldridge has him as the highest-rated SG in the class. The ranking is based on a rough consensus of what NBA personnel people, GMs and coaches, and college coaches think. In that article you'll find several of these quotes I'm about to share for those that don't/can't open the link.

"He killed us," said a college coach whose team played Michigan this season.
"I didn't know his level of toughness," the college coach said. "He's tougher than I thought he was. I thought he was a little soft. (But) he's tough. He is good. He has a cockiness about it. You have to have a little toughness (in the NBA). He did some things defensively that kind of impressed me, because I didn't know he had it in him."

"NBA types believe Stauskas might be able to initiate offense in the manner of a Gordon Hayward with the Jazz. But like Hayward, no one expects Stauskas to be a primary ballhandler. He'll make his money from behind the arc." (If you guys remember correctly, I too said he has some Hayward in him)

"Scouts spoke admiringly of the edge with which Stauskas played -- just enough to notice, not enough to be over the top and causing chemistry issues with teammates. That will help him when he has to try and guard opposing twos in the pros. He gives effort, but he will have problems staying in front of some people, though some think he'll figure out how to space opponents defensively in the NBA.

"He's got a little edge on his shoulder that you've got to have when you're a 6-6 white wing player in our league," a Western Conference exec said. "He's not going to be a (defensive) liability, but he's also not going to be the guy you put on the other team's best wing player.""

A lot of good nuggets about Stauskas, Harris, Young among others. Give it a read.

These guys have pointed out what I think is Stauskas' best quality...that edginess that makes him think he's better than anyone else. I like his competitiveness even more than I like his shooting, and he's one of the best shooters in the draft. I actually can't tell you that I like his personally very much, but I like what he can bring to this team. I have a lot of the same thoughts about Stauskas that I had about Muhammad when he was at UCLA. I didn't like him very much personally, but he had a drive to be the best and a knack for scoring that I thought could really help us. I've been pleasantly surprised that Shabazz seems to be a better teammate than I thought he would be. Nebraska SG Petteway has a lot of the same intensity on the court that I see in Stauskas, but I like Stauskas better because of his dead-eye shooting.

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

I like what I see out of Harris, Stauskas and others mentioned here at 13. If a solid, backup PG that they like is there, I think that's our 1st priority. I'm ok going with our SG/SF group as it is now. If we add another one, then we've got New Guy/Bud/Brewer/Martin/Bazzy all fighting for shots at the wing positions. Maybe Wilby will fall to our 2nd pick and we can get our backup PG that way.

I think the only way we should add a wing is in a trade for Pek if it's available. If that happens, then maybe get rid of Bud for a draft pick or something.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I forgot about CJ Wilcox when I composed my SG big board. I have him higher than James Young as well, though Young has a higher ceiling than Wilcox for sure. CJW's going to be a productive rotation player at some point in his career. 2nd round pick.