2011 Draft Rumors & Discussion

[ceez]

a lot is going to happen between now and the draft with the combine. to me, reggie jackson is going to be this years paul george. i know you rarely agree with players i like, mango, but trust me, this kid is going to be special.

[ceez]

also i wouldn't classify him as a shoot first pg. he certainly needs to work on it (like every other pg in the draft minus irving) but it was more the system he was in. id love to see him learn under bayless for a season.

[WJF]

also i wouldn't classify him as a shoot first pg. he certainly needs to work on it (like every other pg in the draft minus irving) but it was more the system he was in. id love to see him learn under bayless for a season.

Learn under Bayless, what does Bayless know that he can teach him? I am not hating on JB, just saying its not like he is a vet who knows how to run a team yet.

[ceez]

not necessarily how to be like bayless but learn the pro game in general

[hateslosing]

WHo cares how well he dunks. I've never understood that fascination. I want to know how well he plays. Vesley is intriguing, but to add what Tank said, I've read conflicting things about his defense. Apparently opposing teams try and isolate him like the ry and isolate Bargnani. That, to me, is a little worrisome.

I've always looked at dunks as a measure of athleticism and of confidence. Considering how raw and undeveloped some of the picks come out the draft are, sometimes athleticism is all you have to go by.
In terms of Vesely, everything I read indicates that teams try to isolate him into guarding their faster, smaller guards on the perimeter. Apparently his foot speed is not yet good enough to allow him to stay in front of faster players in isolation. In the NBA, I could see him struggling against speed threes, but as he develops defensively there is no reason his length and athleticism shouldn't allow him to guard any three in the league. He can also give back what he takes away on offense because of the size advantage he will hold every night at the 3. He's not perfect and he will likely take some time to get used to the NBA game but he has the size and athleticism to really be special.
I really like him with this team. We already have excellent size at the 2 with DD , the 4 with Ed Davis, and the 1 with Bayless, who is 6'3". While we are still missing a big center, having a guy like Vesely at the three gives us several positions where, as our players get older and stronger, we could have a size mismatches down the road.
Bayless
DD
Vesely
Davis
Oden
Is a line up that would very difficult to deal with in three years.

[ceez]

you know who was considered athletic and dunked on everyone? had fantastic size and was considered a defensive force? stromile swift.

[ceez]

he averaged something like 2 defensive rebounds a game and is 6'11. i can think of another player that most here would like to see traded for not being able to rebound or defend.

[ceez]

His ball-handling skills remain mediocre at best. Watching him handle the ball in the open floor is definitely not a pretty sight. He's able to beat his defender off the dribble at times with his first step, but it's still something of an adventure for him trying to create his own shot from the perimeter—you just never know how things are going to turn out. He's not someone you want making decisions with the ball. His feel for the game is just average and it's not rare to see him make bad decisions, particularly in the form of unnecessary turnovers.

Even with his prodigious athleticism, Vesely still isn't much of a presence on the glass. He grabs just one defensive rebound for every 10 ½ minutes he's on the court, which is a very poor rate. It's here that his lack of girth and poor instincts seem to show the most. He's too skinny to put a body on opponents, and he doesn't pursue the ball off the rim the way you might hope.

From DraftExpress.com http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/...#ixzz1MuAdWY46
http://www.draftexpress.com

[hateslosing]

you know who was considered athletic and dunked on everyone? had fantastic size and was considered a defensive force? stromile swift.

he averaged something like 2 defensive rebounds a game and is 6'11. i can think of another player that most here would like to see traded for not being able to rebound or defend.

His ball-handling skills remain mediocre at best. Watching him handle the ball in the open floor is definitely not a pretty sight. He's able to beat his defender off the dribble at times with his first step, but it's still something of an adventure for him trying to create his own shot from the perimeter—you just never know how things are going to turn out. He's not someone you want making decisions with the ball. His feel for the game is just average and it's not rare to see him make bad decisions, particularly in the form of unnecessary turnovers.
Even with his prodigious athleticism, Vesely still isn't much of a presence on the glass. He grabs just one defensive rebound for every 10 ½ minutes he's on the court, which is a very poor rate. It's here that his lack of girth and poor instincts seem to show the most. He's too skinny to put a body on opponents, and he doesn't pursue the ball off the rim the way you might hope.

All valid points and I'm not trying to say the guy is going the come in and be gangbusters. I am saying that Vesely has a great combination of size, athleticism, and potential and seems to have the right mentality when it comes to basketball. If you asked me would if I would rather take a talented but undersized (though I'm just reading he's bigger than I thought so I may have to reevaluate) shoot first point like Walker, a point who has shown no ability to run a team in Knight, or a 6'11" athletic small forward who has a long way to go on the glass and on defense I take the small forward every time. I still like Val if he's on the board, and I am starting to not hate the idea of Leonard even though he is a little small IMO, but it's hard for me to look at a guy who has all the tools like Vesely and not jump on board.

[MangoKid]

a lot is going to happen between now and the draft with the combine. to me, reggie jackson is going to be this years paul george. i know you rarely agree with players i like, mango, but trust me, this kid is going to be special.

I wouldn't go that far. When I first heard about Jackson, I have to admit, I was intrigued, particuarly because I thought he could be the next Rondo because of his speed, penetration skills and his freakishly long wingspan but the kid's ball IQ is still kinda lacking and he's still learning how to play the PG position - like most sites will tell you, he's got the size of a SG (maybe a bit undersized), but lacks the floor general skills. While he shoots a good percentage, his jumpshot mechanism is kinda weird. I don't really know how to explain it. He needs to be more of a force on the defensive end with his kind of skills. I don't think he'll shoot up the charts that much from where most have him pegged right now, but he could be a very servicable point guard, like an Antonio Daniels.

[ceez]

I'd take leonard over him but that's just me

[MangoKid]

Over who? Vesely? I would too.

[ceez]

It's nice we finally agree on something. Let us hug.

[SCass]

Trade Calderon & Amir to POR for Rudy Fernandez & Greg Oden; draft Brandon Knight or one of the euro centers; sign Nazr Mohammed as a backup C.

Bayless/Knight
Rudy F/Barbosa
DeRozan/Johnson
Bargnani/Davis
Oden/Nazr

[e2thed]

Kanter or nothing, BC knows thats his options. Trade the pick if can't get Minnesota's and especially if hes playing this good at the Draft Combine, we don't stand a chance. Kanter will win rookie of the year no doubt.