2014 Draft morphing

Catlover

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I worry about the reports circulating that Randle does most of his damage against lightweights. He struggles against other legit forwards. His lack of length suggests he'll struggle even more when he gets to the next level. I'm not sure he's all that safe of a prospect. Combine that with limited up-side and I'd search elsewhere for our answers.
 

DWKB

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if, by some miracle we won the lottery and ended up number 1 and Embid, Parker, Wiggins and Randle were there, who would you guys want?

I'm thinking Wiggins...Embid's back scares me. Although the kid from Kentucky...if len ends up decent and we have a one two punch of Randle/Len, that would be a pretty good front line.

Embiid's back will be fine, although I want him to stay another year to make sure. Wiggins will be the best long term of those listed other than Embiid.
 

Cheesebeef

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Embiid's back will be fine, although I want him to stay another year to make sure. Wiggins will be the best long term of those listed other than Embiid.

you sure there's no KU homerism driving these thoughts? How do you know Embid's back will be fine? He couldn't even make it through a full collegiate season playing against smaller players. A big man with a back problem is always a concern.
 

Catlover

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Embiid's back will be fine, although I want him to stay another year to make sure. Wiggins will be the best long term of those listed other than Embiid.

Wiggins probably needs a few years but the nice thing is he can do some of that learning on the court because of his defense. For me, if we got lucky, it would be Embiid, Wiggins and Vonleh. Two of those fill a need and the other has a good chance of being the best player from this class.
 

Catlover

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you sure there's no KU homerism driving these thoughts? How do you know Embid's back will be fine? He couldn't even make it through a full collegiate season playing against smaller players. A big man with a back problem is always a concern.

He is but I figure our medical staff will rule him out if there's long term risk. Especially since with Alex Len we've already met our big man with an injury history quota.
 

DWKB

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you sure there's no KU homerism driving these thoughts? How do you know Embid's back will be fine? He couldn't even make it through a full collegiate season playing against smaller players. A big man with a back problem is always a concern.

I don't KNOW, but considering the type of injury being a stress fracture and not a disc inflammation I'm more comfortable believing it won't be a long term problem. Andre Drummond just had a nice year after recovering from a similar injury he had last year. No surgery required unlike say Mitch McGary's back injury.

I do think Embiid (two i's) needs more time to get his body conditioned to playing every day and another year in college at the 35 game schedule would be better for him than an 82 game NBA schedule. That's not accounting for money though.
 
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Finito

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Wiggins is more Lamar Odom than Lebron he might have the physical talent but he just didn't have that mental makeup to be dominate. How are arguably the single most talented player in the country and in the NCAA tournament you go 1-6 with 2 points. That's tells me you didn't even try he was just invisible during that game and he did it allot this year. He just doesn't have that hey guys get on my back type mind.

Julius Randle does his damage against anyone he's a double double machine.
 

AzStevenCal

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Wiggins is more Lamar Odom than Lebron he might have the physical talent but he just didn't have that mental makeup to be dominate. How are arguably the single most talented player in the country and in the NCAA tournament you go 1-6 with 2 points. That's tells me you didn't even try he was just invisible during that game and he did it allot this year. He just doesn't have that hey guys get on my back type mind.

Julius Randle does his damage against anyone he's a double double machine.

He's nothing like Odom that I can see. He's a freshman and showed it a few times this season and he's not the second coming of Lebron (as has been advertised) but he has little in common with Lamar. Odom, like Wiggins, also had world class talent but he didn't always work hard. Most of the reasons were pretty well known but the end result is he didn't drive himself to excel. Wiggins works hard. He doesn't (yet) have that killer mentality that separates the Jordan's of the world from that next level but few do.

Never judge a player by their best game or their worst game. If you watched Wiggins over the season you'd be thrilled with the chance of drafting him. He's everything you could want a project to be even though he is still a project. Consider that a lot of people jumped off of the James Harden bandwagon when Syracuse targeted and effectively shut him down in the tournament and it hasn't stopped him from becoming one of the best players in the game. Stanford took the ball out of his hands and he did what many freshman do, he waited for the rest of his team to do their job instead of forcing the action. As the superstar of that team, it was a mistake but as a freshman on a national power, it's easy to understand.

This Randle that you're so high on also struggled at times this season and while it wasn't in the tournament, both Florida and South Carolina held him to 1 of 7 shooting in pivotal March match ups. He's a dominant college player but the concern over his wingspan is legitimate. He's not explosive and he's not particularly long, it remains to be seen whether he'll be able to score against longer athletes. He gets compared to Zach Randolph often and they score and rebound in similar fashion but Zach has several inches wingspan advantage over Randle. I wouldn't write him off but I would definitely want to see him face up against NBA size before drafting him in the top spots.
 

Finito

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He's nothing like Odom that I can see. He's a freshman and showed it a few times this season and he's not the second coming of Lebron (as has been advertised) but he has little in common with Lamar. Odom, like Wiggins, also had world class talent but he didn't always work hard. Most of the reasons were pretty well known but the end result is he didn't drive himself to excel. Wiggins works hard. He doesn't (yet) have that killer mentality that separates the Jordan's of the world from that next level but few do.

Never judge a player by their best game or their worst game. If you watched Wiggins over the season you'd be thrilled with the chance of drafting him. He's everything you could want a project to be even though he is still a project. Consider that a lot of people jumped off of the James Harden bandwagon when Syracuse targeted and effectively shut him down in the tournament and it hasn't stopped him from becoming one of the best players in the game. Stanford took the ball out of his hands and he did what many freshman do, he waited for the rest of his team to do their job instead of forcing the action. As the superstar of that team, it was a mistake but as a freshman on a national power, it's easy to understand.

This Randle that you're so high on also struggled at times this season and while it wasn't in the tournament, both Florida and South Carolina held him to 1 of 7 shooting in pivotal March match ups. He's a dominant college player but the concern over his wingspan is legitimate. He's not explosive and he's not particularly long, it remains to be seen whether he'll be able to score against longer athletes. He gets compared to Zach Randolph often and they score and rebound in similar fashion but Zach has several inches wingspan advantage over Randle. I wouldn't write him off but I would definitely want to see him face up against NBA size before drafting him in the top spots.

It's not his worst game that was against ok state when he had 3 points.

I think your giving him a pass. In my opinion you don't develop killer instinct your born with that. It's a certain type of personality that you just have. He's very talented and the whole he's a freshman excuse doesn't work here. He's way to talented. Randle is also a freshman and has averaged a double double for the season and tournament. I'm not saying Randle will be a better pro but at this point he is better.

I like wiggins but he's very timid and that's not a quality I want if I'm drafting in the top 5
 

AzStevenCal

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It's not his worst game that was against ok state when he had 3 points.

I think your giving him a pass. In my opinion you don't develop killer instinct your born with that. It's a certain type of personality that you just have. He's very talented and the whole he's a freshman excuse doesn't work here. He's way to talented. Randle is also a freshman and has averaged a double double for the season and tournament. I'm not saying Randle will be a better pro but at this point he is better.

I like wiggins but he's very timid and that's not a quality I want if I'm drafting in the top 5

I don't think you can support this statement. It's one thing to say he doesn't have a killer instinct, it's quite another to say he's not just timid but "very timid". You don't have the kind of success he had this year being timid. Randle has a huge advantage in double doubles but that's not a stat, it's an ESPN invention. Their actual stats are comparable. Randle has a huge lead in rebounds but everything else is fairly equal or in Wiggins favor. Also, you're only talking about one end of the court. Wiggins is a much better defender than Randle and it more than offsets what little advantage Randle has offensively.

I really don't know which one will be the better pro. Randle has been the most dominant offensive player in college the past few months (Parker early, Randle lately). I just think it's worth considering that Randle doesn't have premium length and until you see him play regularly against NBA size, it will remain a concern. He uses his body extremely well and although he's not a big leaper, he is a fairly quick one. We haven't seen a better inside scorer in college basketball in several years but he's a man playing against boys in much the same way Shabazz was last year.
 

Mainstreet

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Kentucky has the talent and athleticism of an NBA team. I really like Napier of UConn.

There may be a player in the NCAA Championship game that may end up on the Suns roster.
 

Catlover

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Kentucky has the talent and athleticism of an NBA team. I really like Napier of UConn.

There may be a player in the NCAA Championship game that may end up on the Suns roster.

And a Coach in the NCAA Championship game that may end up coaching against the Suns roster. According to Rex Chapman, Calipari to the Lakers is a done deal. It makes me laugh for some reason. Maybe he can draft Kerry Kittles again instead of Kobe Bryant.
 

Mainstreet

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And a Coach in the NCAA Championship game that may end up coaching against the Suns roster. According to Rex Chapman, Calipari to the Lakers is a done deal. It makes me laugh for some reason. Maybe he can draft Kerry Kittles again instead of Kobe Bryant.

Interesting if this is the case.
 

Catlover

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Interesting if this is the case.

I have no idea if it's true, it just seemed kind of funny that Rex Chapman would be the source.

I know it's a foregone conclusion that Mike will be fired and I'd probably do the same thing if I were running the Lakers but I can't imagine anyone doing any better this season with that revolving roster. I don't know much about why Calipari failed the first time but given the track record of coaches moving from college to the pros, I like the idea of the Lakers bringing him in (if it happens).
 

Mainstreet

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Randle is a physical specimen. The Suns can only wish.
 

elindholm

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According to Rex Chapman, Calipari to the Lakers is a done deal.

Boy, that's weird. Big-name college coaches who have been at it for generations almost always fail in the NBA. There are exceptions, but they're rare. I do think D'Antoni is gone, however.
 

Mainstreet

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If the Suns add another PG, I like Napier. He seems to be getting tired at this point in the game.
 

Catlover

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Randle is a physical specimen. The Suns can only wish.

If he can get that shot off against bigger players he'll be one of the best inside scorers from his rookie season on. He uses his body very well and he has a nice soft touch to go along with his power game. It would be worth our draft picks this year and Goodwin to get him if his work outs hold up. That might not be enough but it's worth looking at. I still worry about how he'll do when he faces adults but I don't see anyone else more promising than him, especially given our needs.
 

Mainstreet

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Nice win by UConn for the Championship.
 

overseascardfan

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With the 3 picks PHX will most likely end up with I like:

James Young
Cleanthony Early
Shabazz Napier
 

Mainstreet

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If we end up with

#14
#17
#26

I would like to draft Gordon at #14 and Young at #17

I was hoping Gordon would be available but I'm thinking he will go before #14, that is, if the Suns have the pick.
 

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