Draft choices - 2nd Round...

[PhxGametime]

Some 2nd Round Prospects for Pick #57 or Trading up for in high 2nd Round area...


Nate Robinson PG Washington: Explosive athlete at 5'9, excites, big time vertical leap, good rebounder at the Point, excellent 3PT shooter and will make the pass, strong in steal department, with size and strength will be able to pressure PG's
KEY STATS: PTS 16.4 AST 4.5 3PT PCT .39 - COMPARISON: B. Davis (short version)

Louis Williams G H.S: Strong run/jump athlete, will throw it down at 6'2, good to decent 3PT shooter, can penetrate, solid handle, working on developing PG skills with to thin of a set to play SG
COMPARISON: J. Terry

Salim Stoudamire G Arizona: Big-time scorer, unlimited range, clutch, can get off shot, draws and connects at line, good defender, decent Prospect but will need to improve Point skills
KEY STATS: PTS 18.4 3PTM 120 3PT PCT .50 - COMPARISON: T. Delk

Ricky Shields G Rutgers: Streak shooter but when on he's big time from the 3PT area, struggled Senior year but has the shooting ability to get Drafted, at 6'4 will need to expand game, decent passer
KEY STATS: PTS 13.0 AST 2.5 3PTM 69 - COMPARISON: R. Chapman

Eddie Badsen G/F Charlotte: Great defender, will defend and play passing lanes, solid rebounder but at 6'5 could take a hit, can make the 3PTer and drive, solid stats, willing to pass ball, don't know too much though with only 1 game taped this year
KEY STATS: REB 8.4 AST 3.7 STL 3.2 - COMPARISON: D. Majerle

Shawne Williams F H.S: 5 minutes seen but on list from members Scout friend, appears to be an excellent athlete, can make 3PTer, long, runs court with ease, excellent passer, with height/length/athleticism could be strong in REB/ST/BLK


Linas Kleiza F Missouri: Another burly PF with shooting ability, good rebounder, makes 3PTer but shoots low PCT, gets to the line - solid scorer at 3/4 position, strong, good passer
KEY STATS: PTS 16.1 REB 7.6 FTM 169 - COMPARISON: R. Rogers

Jason Maxiell PF Cincinatti: LONG and a pretty darn good athlete, problem being 6'5-6'6, with length and jumping ability can block shots, tough, creates steals inside, good rebounder, runs court, scores inside and out to mid-range, gets to line
KEY STATS: PTS 15.3 BLK 2.7 FTM 176 - COMPARISON: Nene

Lawrence Roberts PF Mississippi State: Excellent rebounder, gets position, scores in paint, steps out and can make the 3PTer, willing passer, good in steal department especially for a PF
KEY STATS: PTS 16.9 REB 11.0 STL 1.6 - COMPARISON: T. Gugliotta

Ronny Turiaf PF Gonzaga: Foul machine - both offensively and defensively, can score in paint, improved rebounding, solid passer/shotblocker, will need to continue to work on perimeter game, runs court but not an explosive athlete
KEY STATS: PTS 15.9 REB 9.5 FTM 177

Pops Mensah-Bonsu F/C George Washington: Excellent athlete, runs court and finishes with the best of them, strong rebounder, fights for position, strong shot-blocker in limited minutes (24), shoots high PCT - stays in paint
KEY STATS: PTS 12.6 REB 6.6 BLK 1.5 - COMPARISON: B. Wallace

Torin Francis F/C Notre Dame: Excellent rebounder throughout College, good shotblocker, nice size - strong build/good height, runs court and still has decent athleticism - getting explosion back after back injury, can score - if he gets his touches
KEY STATS: PTS 9.3 REB 7.8 BLK 1.1 - COMPARISON: B. Grant

others:

Bracey Wright G Indiana
Travis Diener PG Marquette
Donnell Taylor G/F UAB
Mike Wilkinson PF Wisconsin
Rawle Marshall G/F Oakland
David Lee PF Florida
Dwayne Jones F/C St. Joseph's
Jamaal Levy F Wake Forest
Darren Brooks PG Southern Illinois
Chevon Troutman PF Pittsburgh
Odartey Blankson F UNLV
Juan Mendez F Niagara
Scooter McFadgon G/F Tennessee
Jason Conley SG Missouri
Chris Thomas PG Notre Dame
D'or Fischer C West Virginia
Dawid Przybyszewski C Vanderbilt

 

[coloradosun]

With the first round pick I think you take the best(athlete) player available. With the second round picks you should consider the best(smartest) player available. Talent in the second round is sometimes diluted but basketball IQ usually keeps the player on the roster, examples, Duhon, Hornacek, Boozer, et all.

That is why I think we may be able to find a satisfactory point guard with the Dallas pick. Here is a short list.

Diener (obviously)
Daniel Ewing (Duke)
Chris Hernandez (Stanford)
Karl Krauser (Pitt)

and maybe consider Nate Robinson

 

[George O'Brien]

It is hard for me to imagine anyone at the Dallas pick being able to make the squad. Torin and Francis may drop to the second round, but not THAT far.

With this draft, my guess is that the the early second round picks will be more valuable to teams than late firsts - because of their contracts don't count for cap purposes until signed.

I would not be shocked if the Suns took a Euro with the second round pick and left him in Europe to develop.

 

[coloradosun]

Chad Ford has an article on his insider "An Overcrowded Draft". I am not an Insider so I can't retrieve it but there may be a lot players falling into the second round. A lot of the mocks have some pretty familar names dropping to the second round, this could be a deep draft of similar talents.

We have a Euro already and he could be dangled to move up in the second. I just noticed that the Magic have the possibility to have 4 second round draft picks,(#37 Toronto's, #41 theirs, #42 LAC's and #44 Cleveland's) depending on what they do with Steve Francis they may be interested in Vujanic as a prospect or a Euro to keep abroad.

 

[hcsilla]

Torin and Francis may drop to the second round,

And so may Hakim and Warrick to #21...

 

[coloradosun]

I think the Irishman meant the two Notre Damers, Chris Thomas and Torin Francis. Must have been drinking a Guiness at the time he posted.

 

[PhxGametime]

I think Chris Thomas should be on that list, he's short and maybe not the greatest of Prospects and Skkorpion isn't high on idea (but when has Skkorpion said anything positive on SUNS board ).


The guy pretty much averaged: PTS 17 REB 4.0 AST 6 STL 2.0 FTM 115 FT PCT .86 3PTM 80 3PT PCT .36 - throughout career. Numbers dropped Senior year though, before someone points that out.


At Pick #57 - you can't expect Prospect to be great and IMO he'd make team and give team 4 back-ups at the Point: Barbosa, Johnson, Thomas, Jackson


His numbers have been pretty good, outside of FG PCT. For 5 minutes a game, he wouldn't hurt team IMO. Barbosa and Johnson will be back...

 

[PhxGametime]

It is hard for me to imagine anyone at the Dallas pick being able to make the squad. Torin and Francis may drop to the second round, but not THAT far.

With this draft, my guess is that the the early second round picks will be more valuable to teams than late firsts - because of their contracts don't count for cap purposes until signed.

I would not be shocked if the Suns took a Euro with the second round pick and left him in Europe to develop.

Most of the Prospects with my Draft reports, would be higher 2nd Round Picks... Torin Francis is on 1st Round bubble on the Insider article, Coloradosun pointed out. I gave up on idea of Milos Vujanic joining team, so IMO: Pick #57, Milos Vujanic (2nd Round grade), and 1 other piece (future 2nd Rounder or cash) can help move the Suns up in the 2nd Round. If Vujanic doesn't join team, he'd be a better Trade value than some people on this board believe IMO (which was no value).

 

[boondockdrunk]

I am surpirsed no one has posted: http://www.nbadraft.net
It is a good site for the draft predictions.

 

[carey]

I am surpirsed no one has posted: http://www.nbadraft.net
It is a good site for the draft predictions.

Probably because everyone on here knows about it.

 

[George O'Brien]

Most of the Prospects with my Draft reports, would be higher 2nd Round Picks... Torin Francis is on 1st Round bubble on the Insider article, Coloradosun pointed out. I gave up on idea of Milos Vujanic joining team, so IMO: Pick #57, Milos Vujanic (2nd Round grade), and 1 other piece (future 2nd Rounder or cash) can help move the Suns up in the 2nd Round. If Vujanic doesn't join team, he'd be a better Trade value than some people on this board believe IMO (which was no value).

We have no reason to believe Vujanic won't come to the Suns, as long as the money is good enough and the contract length is short enough. Milos might prefer to go to a team where he could start, but he'd be much more likely to shine in the semi-Euro style the Suns play. The Suns want to play Nash fewer minutes during the regular season and their other guys are better suited to playing off the ball.

I know a lot of people question whether Milos is suited to playing PG due to his minimal assists with Bologna. However, he led his team to the Euroleague finals a year ago and the top 16 this year where he averaged 16 ppg on 60% shooting. Oddly enough, he has not had an exceptional year shooting threes and the European zones limit layups; so I'd have to think he scored most of his points off mid range jumpers in transition and off pick and roll.

 

[coloradosun]

We have no reason to believe Vujanic won't come to the Suns, as long as the money is good enough and the contract length is short enough. Milos might prefer to go to a team where he could start, but he'd be much more likely to shine in the semi-Euro style the Suns play. The Suns want to play Nash fewer minutes during the regular season and their other guys are better suited to playing off the ball.

I know a lot of people question whether Milos is suited to playing PG due to his minimal assists with Bologna. However, he led his team to the Euroleague finals a year ago and the top 16 this year where he averaged 16 ppg on 60% shooting. Oddly enough, he has not had an exceptional year shooting threes and the European zones limit layups; so I'd have to think he scored most of his points off mid range jumpers in transition and off pick and roll.

We have no idea if Vujanic will want to come to the Suns. If Orlando exercises all of the options on their second round picks they will need to pick up some Euros to hide them in Europe for a while. 4 second round contracts will not fit onto their roster. Let's dangle something that they may want.

 

[The Commish]

If Orlando exercises all of the options on their second round picks they will need to pick up some Euros to hide them in Europe for a while. 4 second round contracts will not fit onto their roster. Let's dangle something that they may want.

What do you have in mind colorado? I mean I don't know what they want that we would give them, it's not like 2nd Round picks are a hot commodity these days - it's not like we want to be drafting a lot 2nd Rounders either.

 

[PhxGametime]

I think the Suns board should do something like the Cardinals board did, and have a Draft contest. They did it, I believe 2 years ago - so I forgot how it went but 1 Point for every right Pick to slot in 1st Round but I forgot everything else... I know there are some Cardinals fans that read both boards, so maybe somebody else remembers.

I'm not sure if there would be prizes involved but it seems pretty fun to have a Contest - I Collect Sportscards but I just don't have money for prizes and I lived alone for 5 years and didn't have much money LOL to buy some of the newer guys. I only have 30 Stoudemire's, Johnson's, RC's, etc. I have like 190 Marion RC's though but his are cheaper. I could send a Amare Stoudemire RC for winner but I'm not sure how much interest is there for Sportscards.

 

[PhxGametime]

I cleared my Private Messages... if somebody wants to come up with the Point system... I can let the first 125 PM's (maximum count) Mock Drafts in. If I'm trusted on here . I can also buy like a Suns hat or T-Shirt, etc. for winner. I'm cheap but the game itself should be fun.

 

[coloradosun]

What do you have in mind colorado? I mean I don't know what they want that we would give them, it's not like 2nd Round picks are a hot commodity these days - it's not like we want to be drafting a lot 2nd Rounders either.

We have to future 2nd round picks, NO and Cleveland. Trade one of those with Vujanic. That way they are not overloaded in one year.

 

[George O'Brien]

We have to future 2nd round picks, NO and Cleveland. Trade one of those with Vujanic. That way they are not overloaded in one year.

Trade for what?

I remain confused by your obsession with dumping Vujanic. I don't know why you think that he is simulaneously unacceptable to the Suns and desired by other teams.

 

[Treesquid PhD]

We need a back up point guard. I am not sold on Barbosa at all.

 

[Chaplin]

We need a back up point guard. I am not sold on Barbosa at all.

This dependency on needing a backup point guard is worthless, IMO. As long as we keep JJ, I am perfectly happy with our PG rotation. And any point guard we do pick up, won't be much of a "backup", he'll be at most a 9th man on the roster. You're not going to find another Steve Nash, no matter how hard you try.

 

[coloradosun]

This dependency on needing a backup point guard is worthless, IMO. As long as we keep JJ, I am perfectly happy with our PG rotation. And any point guard we do pick up, won't be much of a "backup", he'll be at most a 9th man on the roster. You're not going to find another Steve Nash, no matter how hard you try.

Point guard is going to be the first position that will need to be addressed in the future, might as well begin auditions as soon as possible. Barbosa does not cut it, JJ1 and JJ2 two are doing well so far in the playoffs. Forward thinking GM would most likely would bring in some candidates earlier rather than later. It is like the Social Security "Problem", the sooner you admit you need to do something the better off in the long run you will be. I do not think it is "worthless" to consider the future needs of the team.

Vujanic has stated that he has certain expectations for playing time and salary, that is why I am righting him off. Orlando could use a guy to run with or replace Francis if he is traded.

 

[George O'Brien]

Point guard is going to be the first position that will need to be addressed in the future, might as well begin auditions as soon as possible. Barbosa does not cut it, JJ1 and JJ2 two are doing well so far in the playoffs. Forward thinking GM would most likely would bring in some candidates earlier rather than later. It is like the Social Security "Problem", the sooner you admit you need to do something the better off in the long run you will be. I do not think it is "worthless" to consider the future needs of the team.

Vujanic has stated that he has certain expectations for playing time and salary, that is why I am righting him off. Orlando could use a guy to run with or replace Francis if he is traded.

When did he say this? This week or two years ago?

 

[PhxGametime]

Three of my top choices at the moment hehe are Granger, Garcia, and then Warrick. I'd really like to get Francisco Garcia, he's not a rebounder and unless Suns show that rebounding needs to be improved to get to next step (IMO this could be the year), then maybe I'll drop him and add another to top 3 List. Granger is favorite but right now - won't be there at #21... Warrick is everything the Suns could use but isn't a lights out shooter from 3PT yet. Garcia...


PTS 15.7 REB 4.2 AST 3.9 STL 1.7 BLK 1.5 FG .44 FT .88 3PT .37 FTM 150 3PTM 71


Almost every single stat is strong (minus rebounding) and he can play 3 positions. Granger is the same way but IMO won't be there at #21. Warrick is strong in areas of team weakness and pretty good overall but I'd like to see workouts and how he's making his jumpshots first. Anywho - Garcia with the #21 selection gives team another skillball player and no need for a PG, and with 1.5 blocks can move up to SF. He's listed as a SG but IMO could get time at all 3 positions. 3.9 assists is strong in the Collegiate game.

 

[Joe Mama]

Three of my top choices at the moment hehe are Granger, Garcia, and then Warrick. I'd really like to get Francisco Garcia, he's not a rebounder and unless Suns show that rebounding needs to be improved to get to next step (IMO this could be the year), then maybe I'll drop him and add another to top 3 List. Granger is favorite but right now - won't be there at #21... Warrick is everything the Suns could use but isn't a lights out shooter from 3PT yet. Garcia...


PTS 15.7 REB 4.2 AST 3.9 STL 1.7 BLK 1.5 FG .44 FT .88 3PT .37 FTM 150 3PTM 71


Almost every single stat is strong (minus rebounding) and he can play 3 positions. Granger is the same way but IMO won't be there at #21. Warrick is strong in areas of team weakness and pretty good overall but I'd like to see workouts and how he's making his jumpshots first. Anywho - Garcia with the #21 selection gives team another skillball player and no need for a PG, and with 1.5 blocks can move up to SF. He's listed as a SG but IMO could get time at all 3 positions. 3.9 assists is strong in the Collegiate game.

I've liked Garcia for some time. His shooting numbers aren't especially great, but we can't forget that he's been the focus of opposing defenses for the last two seasons. The guy would be a great weapon for the Phoenix Suns.

Joe Mama

 

[coloradosun]

When did he say this? This week or two years ago?

We discussed this all of last summer, I have not heard any more updates since then. Do you think he will drop a demand for playing time or money, I'm not sure but he is reportedly making 2M in Europe where they don't have cap constraints. Will the Suns want to match that, I'm not sure they want to sign him to multiyear contract in that range. Our 21st pick is a rookie contract at around 1M that is what I would think that they would offer Vujanic. Remember he was a second round pick and stayed in Europe because that contract would have been under 500k a year. I would rather pick up a second rounder this year because I think some adequate backups will be available and only limit our cap hit to 300K for one year and a team option for the second.

 

[coloradosun]

I've liked Garcia for some time. His shooting numbers aren't especially great, but we can't forget that he's been the focus of opposing defenses for the last two seasons. The guy would be a great weapon for the Phoenix Suns.

Joe Mama

Garcia just seems too fragile, sure he is athletic but not tough enough to back up Marion. If he goes into the game and has to match up to the guy Marion was guarding (sometimes PF), it just does not make for a good substition.

I just heard today that Kevin Pittsnoggle from WV entered his name into the draft but did not sign an agent. This guy was a 7' weapon from 3pt range in the tournament and looked like pressure never fazed him. Defensively might not be great but could be a big body in the post to put up against Yao, Shaq and Jerome James. Could be good for 6 fouls in 15-20 minutes of action. He is probably was what we were expecting from Lampe. I'm not sure he would stay in the draft if he were destined to fall to 21.