2011 Draft Thread

[slinslin]

Right now we have our own lottery pick and the Orlando Magic pick so we would probably pick between 8-13 and 20-25.

Just like every year some people claim the next draft will be the weakest in years but as far as I can tell this years draft will be deep. There might not be a clear cut #1 pick in this years draft but 15-20 players that are considered top 10 material.

I'd be estatic if we could grab Kemba Walker with our own pick. I liked him the last 2 years but he did not come out and now exploded in his junior season is triple double threat and the best scorer in college.

It's unlikely that Derrick Williams from Arizona could drop to Orlando's pick and he is a bit undersized as a NBA power forward but he will be a good player.

Perry Jones 6'11 PF Baylor Freshman
Harrison Barnes 6'8 SF North Carolina Freshman
Kyrie Irving 6'2 PG Duke Freshman
Terrence Jones 6'8 F Kentucky Freshman
Jared Sullinger 6'8 PF Ohio State Freshman
Kemba Walker 6' PG Connecticut Junior
John Henson 6'10 PF North Carolina Sophomore
CJ Leslie 6'8 F N.C. State Freshman
Derrick Williams 6'8 F Arizona Sophomore
Alec Burks 6'6 SG Colorado Sophomore
Brandon Knight 6'3 PG Kentucky Freshman
Trey Thompkins 6'10 PF Georgie Junior

2nd round gems with high upside worth a gamble.

Elias Harris 6'7 SF Gonzaga Junior
Elias Harris is a German national team player that plays for Gonzaga, ultra athletic, good defender needs to work on his jumpshot but he can be a stud role player in the NBA.

Jeremy Tyler 6'10 PF Japan 19 years
Talent of a lottery pick just immature.

And then you have a bunch of international big man that are already considered lottery picks and will probably rise before the draft like Montejunas, Kanter and Vesely.

I don't like Josh Selby since he is a SG in a PG body at this point and nothing more.
I don't like Kyle Singler unless late in the first round or second round because he has little upside in my opinion.

Other than that everyone I mentioned I like a ton more than Earl Clark on draft day so I really doubt that this draft will be especially weak.. Perry Jones is probably the #1 pick right now because he has the biggest upside there is just no safe #1 pick like Griffin, Rose or Wall right now but that could change after the NCAA tournament.

 

[slinslin]

My favorite player in this years draft by far right now is Kemba Walker. As I said before I liked him as a freshman and sophomore already and would have wanted the Suns to draft him both years if he had been in the draft.

draftexpress has Kemba Walker at #8 right now.
nbadraft.net has him at #18 not sure why.

He is averaging
26.5 ppg 5.7 rpg 4.7 apg 2.1 spg in 33mpg 56% FG 42% 3s 86% FT



He is ultra quick and fast, very athletic, good shooter. He is more of a Derek Rose type PG that scores a lot rather than Steve Nash but the Suns need to change their ways post Nash anyways.

The only negative is that he is just 5'11-6' but if we draft at the end of the lottery I would pick him without hesitation. He also seems to be the type of player who can be an emotional leader for a team.

 

[Mainstreet]

I'm not sure if and when the Suns have a second round pick as they sent a second round pick to Atlanta for Childress and a 2011 second round pick to Chicago for Warrick.

 

[slinslin]

I don't think they have one right now but they should look at getting a second round pick probably because there are quiet a few intriguing players to be had in the 2nd round once again.

 

[Mainstreet]

Slinslin, I've never seen Walker play other than the video you provided. However at first glance he reminded me of Jonny Flynn who I liked in college. IMO, Flynn may yet be a good NBA player if he successfully heals from his hip injury.

 

[slinslin]

Walker is much better player overall than Flynn.

He is more like Monta Ellis type of scorer, nbadraft.net compares him to Tim Hardaway. I'd think he is similiar to Chris Paul in some way a worse passer but likely a better scorer.

But it is hard to say how good a passer Walker is right now, he averaged almost 6 apg in his sophomore season and now he scores 26 per game and gets just 5 apg but I'd say that is still outstanding because UCONN is a one-man team right now and also players like Russell Westbrook who showed little PG skills in college has become a very good playmaker and passer in the league.

 

[elindholm]

players like Russell Westbrook who showed little PG skills in college has become a very good playmaker and passer in the league.

But Westbrook is bigger and (I'd guess) stronger. It's going to be very difficult for someone of Walker's stature to be an impact player in the NBA. You can count the success stories of the past 20 years on one hand.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Walker is much better player overall than Flynn.

He is more like Monta Ellis type of scorer, nbadraft.net compares him to Tim Hardaway. I'd think he is similiar to Chris Paul in some way a worse passer but likely a better scorer.

But it is hard to say how good a passer Walker is right now, he averaged almost 6 apg in his sophomore season and now he scores 26 per game and gets just 5 apg but I'd say that is still outstanding because UCONN is a one-man team right now and also players like Russell Westbrook who showed little PG skills in college has become a very good playmaker and passer in the league.

Coming out of college, Nash was considered more of a shooter than a creative pg. I still am amazed at how he developed. So many Suns fans were disgusted with that choice. There was some big pf from Syracuse I think, that dropped, and everyone wanted him. Ainge called Nash the "safe pick."

No one then understood how good his court vision was. I wonder if there is a way to test that.

 

[slinslin]

But Westbrook is bigger and (I'd guess) stronger. It's going to be very difficult for someone of Walker's stature to be an impact player in the NBA. You can count the success stories of the past 20 years on one hand.

Chris Paul is probably smaller than Walker. Steve Nash as well. DJ Augustin.

I just mentioned Russell Westbrook as an example that assists and such often don't mean much when evaluating if a player could become a true PG in the NBA.

I think Kemba Walker will definately be a star in the NBA. There are almost no point guards in the league right now that really take advantage of smaller guards in the post. Chauncey Billups, Andre Miller and Jason Kidd are probably the last remaining and Kidd doesn't really count anymore as far as I am concerned. Maybe Deron Williams but I don't see him the post much either.

 

[Mainstreet]

Coming out of college, Nash was considered more of a shooter than a creative pg. I still am amazed at how he developed. So many Suns fans were disgusted with that choice. There was some big pf from Syracuse I think, that dropped, and everyone wanted him. Ainge called Nash the "safe pick."

No one then understood how good his court vision was. I wonder if there is a way to test that.

It seems all the fans were infatuated by John Wallace in the 1996 draft. Luckily the Suns chose the "safe pick" in Steve Nash at 15. The Suns always seemed to have a way during their history of getting good PGs. As much as the Suns need a PF now, a PG of the future needs to be in the pipeline. I don't see Dragic as this player.

 

[slinslin]

Anything with future would look good right about now.

We have only good future role players with Dragic, Dudley and Lopez. Too bad we NEVER gave Earl Clark a chance to play 10 straight games of at least 24-32 mpg to see what he could really do.

 

[Chaplin]

Anything with future would look good right about now.

We have only good future role players with Dragic, Dudley and Lopez. Too bad we NEVER gave Earl Clark a chance to play 10 straight games of at least 24-32 mpg to see what he could really do.

We gave Earl Clark plenty of opportunities. Hell, he played 35 minutes per in the Summer League and was less effective than Lawal.

Earl had his chances here, and he blew it. Plain and simple. Love him all you want, but he's simply not a good NBA player, no matter how much you want to use him as ammunition against the organization.

 

[Folster]

We gave Earl Clark plenty of opportunities. Hell, he played 35 minutes per in the Summer League and was less effective than Lawal.

Earl had his chances here, and he blew it. Plain and simple. Love him all you want, but he's simply not a good NBA player, no matter how much you want to use him as ammunition against the organization.

Agreed. The Suns had hopes that Clark could transition into a power forward to help fill Stoudemire's role. If he would have came out and dominated the summer league like he should have or capitalized on the preseason playing time he had been given, he would have gotten a significant opportunity early in the season to be a rotation player.

 

[sunsfan88]

Which PG is coming out from UCLA?

Their doing a hell of a job developing PGs there recently. First Westbrook, then Collision now Holiday.

 

[slinslin]

When you draft someone in the lottery you need to give him some consistent playing time to allow the player to develop. Earl Clark never got this, some players can't develop just by practice and summer leagues.

Plus we always heard how well Clark was practicing and how hard he was working yet he was never rewarded really. Even when he played well in his limited time he wouldn't get another chance the next game.

It's funny because at least on the Orlando Magic who are a much better team than us he gets more minutes and now and played really well last game.

 

[Bufalay]

We gave Earl Clark plenty of opportunities. Hell, he played 35 minutes per in the Summer League and was less effective than Lawal.

Earl had his chances here, and he blew it. Plain and simple. Love him all you want, but he's simply not a good NBA player, no matter how much you want to use him as ammunition against the organization.

What opportunities did he have? He never had the "free" minutes that Dragic and Barbosa appeared to get when they were rookies. Those two guys were getting minutes as rookies regardless of how poorly they were playing, I don't think Clark had a similar opportunity. Its possible that Barbosa and Dragic earned those opportunities in practice and Clark didn't, but Clark certainly didn't have the type of opportunities that slin suggested he needed.

 

[elindholm]

Chris Paul is probably smaller than Walker. Steve Nash as well. DJ Augustin.

Paul is one of the rare success stories. Augustin is not an impact player.

Nash is listed at 6' 3", while Walker is given as either 5' 11" or 6' 0". It's bizarre to me that you are so comfortable contradicting the listed measurements of players in cases when you can't possibly have had the opportunity to compare them directly.

There are almost no point guards in the league right now that really take advantage of smaller guards in the post.

I think the issue is more whether a tiny PG can get his own shot off when needed, see well enough to create passing angles, etc. The common strategy of draping a larger wing defender on Nash isn't done in order to be able to post him up on the other end, obviously.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I think the issue is more whether a tiny PG can get his own shot off when needed, see well enough to create passing angles, etc. The common strategy of draping a larger wing defender on Nash isn't done in order to be able to post him up on the other end, obviously.

I don't think he's going to have any problem "seeing" the court. The guy has excellent instincts and IMO if you can see the court at the major college level you can do it in the pros. My concern has more to do with whether he can take the pounding day in and day out. I think he's at least the talent that Brandon Jennings is and he's a little better built than that guy but small penetrating guards take quite a beating down there. Especially someone like Kemba, who doesn't hesitate to fight for boards against opposing bigs.

Steve

 

[slinslin]

Nash is clearly not 6'3 as listed on nba.com thats why.

 

[slinslin]

What opportunities did he have? He never had the "free" minutes that Dragic and Barbosa appeared to get when they were rookies. Those two guys were getting minutes as rookies regardless of how poorly they were playing, I don't think Clark had a similar opportunity. Its possible that Barbosa and Dragic earned those opportunities in practice and Clark didn't, but Clark certainly didn't have the type of opportunities that slin suggested he needed.

this, the Suns should have given Clark at least one month of playing a solid 24 mpg before throwing him under the bus completely.

It seems like insanity to me to never give your own lottery pick a chance to play.

 

[Folster]

Nash is clearly not 6'3 as listed on nba.com thats why.

If you're going to take an inch or two from him you'll have to do the same with every other player in the league. Draft Express has him listed at 6'1" without shoes. Paul is a generous 5'11.75" without shoes. Augustin does not have a w/o shoes measurement, but is listed at 5'11" so I'd imagine he is shorter than that.

 

[Mainstreet]

this, the Suns should have given Clark at least one month of playing a solid 24 mpg before throwing him under the bus completely.

It seems like insanity to me to never give your own lottery pick a chance to play.

Some players just don't cut it. Remember Alando Tucker and the fans wondering why he didn't get talked about or played much.

 

[slinslin]

If you're going to take an inch or two from him you'll have to do the same with every other player in the league. Draft Express has him listed at 6'1" without shoes. Paul is a generous 5'11.75" without shoes. Augustin does not have a w/o shoes measurement, but is listed at 5'11" so I'd imagine he is shorter than that.

Not really, you don't know how consistent the measurements have been over the years.

The draft combine measurements are only released for a few years right now, at least I think I have never seen full measurements from drafts before 1998 or so.

Also Tim Duncan for example is one player who simply did not want to be listed at 7' by the NBA I think so you don't know how consistent the NBA listings are either.

 

[Ronin]

I like Troy Gillenwater...too bad we don't have a second round pick and need size on this team.

On the other hand, Gillenwater does excel greatly with his spot-up shooting, possessing range to the college three-point line and very good accuracy on his shot. According to Synergy Sports Technology, Gillenwater scored 1.23 points per possession on his jump shots, which ranks in the 94th percentile of college players. If he can maintain his 40% three-point shooting on a larger number of attempts per game (he averaged just 2.5 as a sophomore), this is one attribute that will be very helpful to him projecting to any higher level of competition.

Defensively, Gillenwater does a good job in the post, where he shows solid fundamentals and moves his feet pretty well, while he also shows good but not great base strength to hold position. He isn't tested much on the perimeter, either in isolation or pick-and-roll situations, but when he is, he doesn't look particularly comfortable. Gillenwater also does a good job contributing on the glass, averaging 11.1 boards per pace adjusted 40 minutes, something he can hopefully maintain with increased minutes this year.
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From DraftExpress.com http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Troy-Gillenwater-1140/playerblog/#ixzz19j6nW1sr

 

[sunsfan88]

Suns have to get Malcom Lee. He is basically another Russel Westbrook.

Great size too at 6'5, 190.