Draft Prospects thread

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

but you are not alone i too prefer to take Conley or Collison not Law.
thou it's doubtful either of them will be in Suns reach, unless we trade up

if we're talking pgs my preference is as follows:

conley
crittendon
ty
james (but man does this kid need to shoot better, and know when to shoot better)
law (i see him as a poor man's andre miller - so he is not our pg of the future, but may be an excellent backup)
collison (i'll be suprised if he's drafted highly due to his funky shot)

 

[Russ Smith]

if we're talking pgs my preference is as follows:

conley
crittendon
ty
james (but man does this kid need to shoot better, and know when to shoot better)
law (i see him as a poor man's andre miller - so he is not our pg of the future, but may be an excellent backup)
collison (i'll be suprised if he's drafted highly due to his funky shot)

The rumor is Collison has already told Howland he's coming back but he wants to test. Afflalo is supposed to declare for the draft today, he can't come back. Shipp will probably declare too just to test the waters.

Agreed on his shot, his release is too slow, got a lot better over the last summer, so one assumes another summer, plus listening to NBA teams tell him his shot is too slow, will help improve that again this summer.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

The rumor is Collison has already told Howland he's coming back but he wants to test. Afflalo is supposed to declare for the draft today, he can't come back. Shipp will probably declare too just to test the waters.

Agreed on his shot, his release is too slow, got a lot better over the last summer, so one assumes another summer, plus listening to NBA teams tell him his shot is too slow, will help improve that again this summer.

i think afflalo is making a mistake. dude may be drafted late in the first round if he's lucky. he's come up short in the biggest games the last two years, has limited athleticism (hence low upside), and his shot is streaky. defense is his meal ticket and most teams are happy to find their defender in the second round or as free agents. i could see him ending up taking the raja route to the nba eventually after he washes out initially.

he should stay in school, benefit from playing with love (if that's a benefit . . . i remain skeptical of love's impact), finish his education so he has something to fall back upon, and ensure that ucla is one of the favorites for the tourney championship next season.

 

[Russ Smith]

i think afflalo is making a mistake. dude may be drafted late in the first round if he's lucky. he's come up short in the biggest games the last two years, has limited athleticism (hence low upside), and his shot is streaky. defense is his meal ticket and most teams are happy to find their defender in the second round or as free agents. i could see him ending up taking the raja route to the nba eventually after he washes out initially.

he should stay in school, benefit from playing with love (if that's a benefit . . . i remain skeptical of love's impact), finish his education so he has something to fall back upon, and ensure that ucla is one of the favorites for the tourney championship next season.

KLAC is reporting he's coming out, he's not made it official. A couple of points, Afflalo is on track to graduate in 3 years, so he probably WILL get his degree before he goes pro. Collison is on the same track, so was Farmar, but he left as a soph.

He won't get any more athletic at UCLA if he stays. If he comes out it pretty much says someone has told him he's a first rounder or close enough he's willing to take the risk.

I agree he's not a lock, his jumpshot is inconsistent because it's too flat, he has no arc on the shot and often shoots on the way down. needs to improve his handle, so he can go to the rim more often. But I wish him nothing but luck he's a great kid and he's helped resurrect UCLA post Lavin.

FYI KLAC is saying that Collison probably will NOT test the waters this year, but Shipp is still considering it. I'd actually wish both kids would because I think it will help their games, but there's always the fear one of them will jump when they shouldn't so if DC decides not to, fine with me.

Edit: If AA were to stay Love would have a huge impact on him. If you saw the Hoop Summit you saw what a great passer love is. Teams double him a kid like Afflalo would get a lot more open jumpers. and his outlet passes are insane, shot missed, rebound, outlet 60+ feet downcourt for a layup, it was insane. Plus he's a terrific rebounder so UCLA
should get a lot more fastbreaks next year which would have helped Afflalo. But it will sure help Collison he'll be murder with his quickness on those outlets from Love.

Pro potential for Love is limited, 6'9" not a great athlete but put him on a UCLA team that hasn't had ANY post presence for 2 years and he'll make an impact.

 

[azirish]

Draft Express has Collison on the fence. They project him going between 15 and 35. http://www.draftexpress.com/viewarticle.php?a=1956

 

[sunsfn]

Chad Ford writeup on Collison.

He thinks he is less than 6' and only weighs 165!

Darren Collison
Point Guard (Rank: #30) | 6-1, 165 | Age: 19
UCLA (Sophomore)
Hometown: Rancho Cucamonga, CA

View full player card

Draft Projection: Late first to early second

Similarities: T. J. Ford

Notes: Came on the scene with an impressive 15-point performance against Arizona in the 2006 NCAA Tournament.

Positives: Super quick point guard. Incredible bursts of speed. Excellent floor vision. Good perimeter shooter. Tenacious on the ball defender. Long arms make up for lack of size. Good floor leader.

Negatives: Probably closer to 5-10 or 5-11 than the listed height of 6-1. Not a great ballhandler.

Summary: Scouts are already raving about his speed and his floor vision. As the NBA turns more uptempo, Collison's strengths may end up trumping his weaknesses. If he continues to play well, he could end up as a first-round pick.

 

[Russ Smith]

Draft Express has Collison on the fence. They project him going between 15 and 35. http://www.draftexpress.com/viewarticle.php?a=1956

That's old though it still has Durant on the fence. LA news is reporting that Collison has told Howland he will not test the waters this year. Shipp hasn't decided but Collison apparently has.

 

[hcsilla]

law (i see him as a poor man's andre miller - so he is not our pg of the future, but may be an excellent backup)

Law is already a better shooter than Miller.

 

[JoRain]

KLAC is reporting he's coming out, he's not made it official. A couple of points, Afflalo is on track to graduate in 3 years, so he probably WILL get his degree before he goes pro. Collison is on the same track, so was Farmar, but he left as a soph.

Yep - it looks like Afflalo is turning pro

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/news?slug=ap-ucla-afflalo&prov=ap&type=lgns


LOS ANGELES (AP) -- UCLA All-American guard Arron Afflalo is passing up his senior year to enter the NBA draft.
Afflalo, who averaged 16.9 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists and led the Bruins to consecutive Final Fours, announced his decision Tuesday at a news conference on campus.
The 21-year-old junior from Compton declared for the NBA draft last year, but withdrew his name and returned to school after attending evaluation camps. A player who declares a second time isn't allowed to return to school.
Afflalo said it was time to move on. "The decision wasn't easy," he said. "I did this for my personal growth, my happiness and where I felt I should be as an individual, what can get me to compete and be the best basketball player I can be

...

 

[azirish]

Chad Ford writeup on Collison.

He thinks he is less than 6' and only weighs 165!

Darren Collison
Point Guard (Rank: #30) | 6-1, 165 | Age: 19
UCLA (Sophomore)
Hometown: Rancho Cucamonga, CA

View full player card

Draft Projection: Late first to early second

Similarities: T. J. Ford

Notes: Came on the scene with an impressive 15-point performance against Arizona in the 2006 NCAA Tournament.

Positives: Super quick point guard. Incredible bursts of speed. Excellent floor vision. Good perimeter shooter. Tenacious on the ball defender. Long arms make up for lack of size. Good floor leader.

Negatives: Probably closer to 5-10 or 5-11 than the listed height of 6-1. Not a great ballhandler.

Summary: Scouts are already raving about his speed and his floor vision. As the NBA turns more uptempo, Collison's strengths may end up trumping his weaknesses. If he continues to play well, he could end up as a first-round pick.

Sounds about right. He did an outstanding job defending Taurean Green in the semi-finals and looked very good throughout the tourmament.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Law is already a better shooter than Miller.

true, but he's not the distributor that miller was and is. which is just as, if not more, important in our system.

 

[F-Dog]

Afflalo has been wanting to declare for at least a year now, maybe two. I would compare him to Michael Wright (PF from the UA a few years ago) in that his draft stock won't improve by sticking around, so declaring won't hurt him much even if he's picked low.

I have Collison as the best PG available after Conley. Acie Law is more of a combo guard or a short two.


Slin, I would love to see the Suns take a chance on Thaddeus Young, but I doubt it will happen. I keep having flashbacks to the Suns dropping Josh Smith off their draft board entirely after they interviewed him.


IMO the best-case scenario (unless Brandan Wright drops past #3) is for the Suns to wind up with the #4 pick, then charge a king's ransom for Philly to move up two spots for Horford and get their man at #6. With Denver's and Cleveland's picks in their pockets, the Suns might even be able to move up far enough to get one of the second-tier swing players.

 

[Sunsational]

As i don't think that adding 3 rookies(or even two) would make sense maybe we should try something like this.

The cavs(currently #24) or our own pick(currently #29) + filler for Johan Petro.

Petro is a 7ft pf/c that runs the floor pretty well, can score some(even hits some mid range jumpers) and block a shot or two.

Thoughts?

 

[cly2tw]

IMO the best-case scenario (unless Brandan Wright drops past #3) is for the Suns to wind up with the #4 pick, then charge a king's ransom for Philly to move up two spots for Horford and get their man at #6. With Denver's and Cleveland's picks in their pockets, the Suns might even be able to move up far enough to get one of the second-tier swing players.

I was fantasizing over similar scenarios, too. Swapping #4 and #29 with Philly for #6 and #20. Or even get Sact to swap #9 and their next year's 1st-rounder for #4.

It seems that Horford might be in high demand for a lot of teams while Suns might slightly prefer Yi and even Noah, and also might be indifferent to get Julian Wright or Brewer instead. I just hope we have some lower picks to get Splitter and Batum and let Splitter stay in Europe for another year till Kurt's contract is up.

 

[azirish]

I can't see the Suns taking Yi, even if he's a great prospect. He has not been playing top level opposition and seems likely to take some time to become productive.

The Suns need someone who can help immediately. IMHO their number one need is someone who can play defense and rebound while being able to shoot. Adding an offensive theat who is not much a defender is like adding Jalen Rose.

 

[JCSunsfan]

So, Noah went back to school and won another championship.

He would have been the #1 pick last year, now he'll go somewhere around #11.

He gave up about 3.3 million in salary for this year, and probably another $2 million next year (diff between #1 and #11). So that championship run cost him around $5 million.

That doesn't include the difference in income over the rest of his rookie contract (it probably be another $6 million lost @ $2 million per year for 3 years).

 

[mathbzh]

His father is already rich so i guess he does not really care about money.

 

[NastyOne]

I can't see the Suns taking Yi, even if he's a great prospect. He has not been playing top level opposition and seems likely to take some time to become productive.

The Suns need someone who can help immediately. IMHO their number one need is someone who can play defense and rebound while being able to shoot. Adding an offensive theat who is not much a defender is like adding Jalen Rose.

We have been one of the best teams in the NBA for three straight years now, why do we need our high lottery pick to come in and contribute right away?

I would love to have projects like Brendan Wright or a Yi cause they have the potential to be beast down the road when Marion's contract is up.

Hell, The only guys in the draft that would even start on this team is Oden, Durant and possibly Horford.(So basically one guy with starting potential might be available to us)

Others wouldnt even get alot of minutes unless we traded Marion, Diaw or Kurt Thomas.Cause last i checked our starting lineup is pretty set.

So grabbing a project for his future potential could work out very well for us.

 

[pokerface]

His father is already rich so i guess he does not really care about money.

Ahh his daddy aint that rich.....I dont think he's dropping junior a few million in pocket change.

 

[mathbzh]

Of course not. I just mean he doesn't have to worry about money. Even if his career ended today and he doesn't earn any $ in the NBA he will have a good comfortable life.

I don't know how rich his father is but he is.
He is a former tennis stars... who makes at least 1million $ a year in music.
He is ranked as a top 3 beloved french personality every year for at least 15 years. This kind of ranking maybe stupid but goes with a lot of advertising contracts.
He works a lot with professional sport team/player (in soccer, tennis...). I guess it is not for free.

 

[pokerface]

Of course not. I just mean he doesn't have to worry about money. Even if his career ended today and he doesn't earn any $ in the NBA he will have a good comfortable life.

I don't know how rich his father his but he is.
He is a former tennis stars... who makes at least 1million $ a year in music.
He is ranked as a top 3 beloved french personality every year for at least 15 years. This kind of ranking maybe stupid but goes with a lot of advertising contracts.
He works a lot with professional sport team/player (in soccer, tennis...). I guess it is not for free.

Daddys money isnt juniors money....especially to the tune of MILLIONS. You act like Joekim could care less about lost NBA millions because his DAD has a few bucks...Thats a lot of assuming there bub. You dont know what kind of money the father is worth and you dont know how much Joekim is getting of it....if any.

 

[mathbzh]

I am not clear enough sorry.
I agree with you. I just think, because he always lived with money (and will always) that he is not focused on making big bucks. He doesn't have a "Get rich or die tryin'" attitude.

He knew he would lose money with this championship run. Because this draft is so deep, because Oden, Durant. He knew he would play under a microscope.
Finally on the long run he probably think (maybe he is wrong) that someday he will sign a near max contract so he doesn't really have to care with his rookie contract.

 

[Joe Mama]

If Noah really does drop to #11 this year I think it's relatively safe to assume he would not have been the #1 draft pick last year once he got in front of teams for workouts.

Joe

 

[Delmon Young]

Does it matter if he goes #1 or #11? Sure, he'll make a lot more money, but even at 11, and as a lottery pick, he'll still make more than enough money to live a great life. And I think respect him for going back to school to repeat, and accomplishing that goal.

 

[Russ Smith]

Afflalo has been wanting to declare for at least a year now, maybe two. I would compare him to Michael Wright (PF from the UA a few years ago) in that his draft stock won't improve by sticking around, so declaring won't hurt him much even if he's picked low.

I have Collison as the best PG available after Conley. Acie Law is more of a combo guard or a short two.


Slin, I would love to see the Suns take a chance on Thaddeus Young, but I doubt it will happen. I keep having flashbacks to the Suns dropping Josh Smith off their draft board entirely after they interviewed him.


IMO the best-case scenario (unless Brandan Wright drops past #3) is for the Suns to wind up with the #4 pick, then charge a king's ransom for Philly to move up two spots for Horford and get their man at #6. With Denver's and Cleveland's picks in their pockets, the Suns might even be able to move up far enough to get one of the second-tier swing players.

Afflalo declared last year but came back. I keep hearing Collison won't declare, but he hasn't officially said so.

The big surprise yesterday was Marcel Jones from oregon state declaring, said he won't get an agent. He's really the only good player Oregon State has with Cuic going to play in Europe, he's very athletic but he's crazy if he thinks he'll be a first round pick. 6'8"(probably shorter) swignmen who shoot 45% overall, 30% from 3 and 54% on FT's don't get drafted in the first round. Great story he was a child actor as a kid and started playing ball late, improving by leaps and bounds every year, but I'd hope he sticks to not hiring an agent.