New and Improved 2008 Draft Prospects Thread

[Russ Smith]

I caught a few minutes of the George Mason - Kansas State game which George Mason won. It looked like K-State has several guys with the talent to be viewed as professional prospects, but George Mason has a lot of seniors with significant tourmament experience and experience won out.

Beasley only played 25 minutes due to foul trouble, but still scored 30 points on 13 of 20 and had 10 rebounds out of a team total of 33.


Chad Ford ranks Beasley ahead of Rose and Mayo, "Beasley, in my opinion, is the top prospect in the draft, primarily because of size. In the draft, size matters -- in the past 20 years, Allen Iverson is the only No. 1 overall pick in the draft under 6-foot-7.

Beasley has an NBA body with unbelievable athleticism and skills for a guy his size. Entering Kansas State, his question marks were attitude and work ethic. But he has received rave reviews from his coaches, and the results to match: His averages of 30 points and 20 rebounds aren't misprints."
http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insider/columns/story?columnist=ford_chad&page=08NBADraft-071120

It's hard to imagine the Suns getting any of the top three, but if Beasley plays at this level for the entire season, I'm not sure I would pass on the replacement for Marion even for Rose.

Beasley seems to be the best prospect but he's still really immature from what I have read. YOu have to understand his coach is a first year coach who basically got the job because if KSU had not hired him, Beasley was going to decommit and ask out of his letter of intent. So Martin is not going to say a thing about Beasley no matter what he does. I've heard that he's still really immature, doesn't listen to the coaches, late for meetings etc but you can't argue with his production so far and they knew he was one and done so I don't think they had any delusions he was going to be a choir boy.

Mayo didn't start last night USC gave 2 different excuses, matchups(they benched him and Gibson) or Floyd said to let other players have the chance to be announced as starters(one of the 2 had already started 2 games so that clearly wasn't true). THere are 2 prevailing rumors one they were both late for a team meeting, two they got into a shouting match in the lockerroom after the win over Miami of Ohio. Nobody seems sure yet other than that they're all sure Tim Floyd isn't telling the truth.

Also, have to add Davon Jefferson to the list, he's not much on defense but he's better than I expected and he's always been a hell of an offensive player but he's improved there too, has a nice pull up jumpshot now that he never had before. Turns it over too much more of a 3 than 4 but man is he athletic. Dumb as a rock though.

 

[Ronin]

Two good games from D.J. Augustin:
25 pts and 10 ast against NMSU
23 pts and eight ast against Tenn.

 

[Russ Smith]

Don't forget Eric Gordon on ESPN tonight 4pm pacific.

And coming up this weekend several good prospect matchups, Sunday USC plays Kansas, Mayo, Gibson and Jefferson against Rush, Chalmers and Arthur.

Tuesday the 4th USC plays Memphis, Mayo against Rose although I expect to see Hackett and Angelo Johnson guarding Rose, and USC played a lot of triangle and two against SIU so they may do that to Memphis too(on Rose and Douglas-Roberts). 12-8 is UCLA and Davidson, supposed to be the return of Darren Collison against Stephen Curry of Davidson.

 

[Russ Smith]

I have to say I was somewhat disappointed with Eric Gordon last night? The kid can score but he had 8 turnovers and his defense is mainly reaching and going for steals. So far I'd thought he was outplaying Mayo but after seeing Mayo play several recent games I think Mayo's defense is better.

Gordon to date is the better shooter he's both better from 3 and 2 and I think he's a better ballhandler than mayo. Both guys turn it over too much but I think Gordon is a bit stronger with the ball.

The other thing is the more I watched the more I wondered is his uniform just that baggy or is he a bit overweight?

Great talent I guess I"m at the point where I'm looking for negatives becaues there are so many positives.

Add after really comparing their numbers the most glaring difference is points per shot, Gordon is remarkably just under 2, like 1.95, Mayo is a much more human 1.3something so I don't think my perceived difference in defense accounts for that. But Mayo has also probably played the tougher schedule to date it will be interesting to see how that plays out.

 

[azirish]

I'm not sure what to think of freshmen in their first few games. Gordon looked to be physical enough going to the basket and was clearly the most impressive guy on the floor, but his defense seemed pretty soft.

I saw some of Rose about a weak ago and he looked less dominant that Gordon, but that was at least in part due to having a vastly team that did not showcase him (plus he had some foul trouble).

 

[Russ Smith]

I'm not sure what to think of freshmen in their first few games. Gordon looked to be physical enough going to the basket and was clearly the most impressive guy on the floor, but his defense seemed pretty soft.

I saw some of Rose about a weak ago and he looked less dominant that Gordon, but that was at least in part due to having a vastly team that did not showcase him (plus he had some foul trouble).

Agreed the impressive thing with Rose and Love is they came in on VERY good teams and fit right in, don't demand the ball too much, and they're putting up great numbers on really good teams.

Gordon I was doing some reading and it turns out I'm right on the weight thing he had a weight problem this offseason and IU actually still has concerns about his weight but he's playing so well they're not going to crack down on him.

he's so young now the weight is a non factor but if it continues as he gets older obviously could be a problem. He facially reminds me a lot of Mark Aguirre who also had weight issues.

Mayo is the better defender right now he uses his feet more, Gordon just reaches, but Gordon is the better ballhandler. Right now I'm not convinced Mayo is an NBA PG prospect, I used to compare him to Billups but more athletic but now I'm comparing him and Gordon to Ben Gordon, more SG's than PG.


Rose is a pure PG but his shot is still very inconsistent, by far the best defender of him, Gordon and Mayo though IMHO.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Agreed the impressive thing with Rose and Love is they came in on VERY good teams and fit right in, don't demand the ball too much, and they're putting up great numbers on really good teams.

Gordon I was doing some reading and it turns out I'm right on the weight thing he had a weight problem this offseason and IU actually still has concerns about his weight but he's playing so well they're not going to crack down on him.

he's so young now the weight is a non factor but if it continues as he gets older obviously could be a problem. He facially reminds me a lot of Mark Aguirre who also had weight issues.

Mayo is the better defender right now he uses his feet more, Gordon just reaches, but Gordon is the better ballhandler. Right now I'm not convinced Mayo is an NBA PG prospect, I used to compare him to Billups but more athletic but now I'm comparing him and Gordon to Ben Gordon, more SG's than PG.


Rose is a pure PG but his shot is still very inconsistent, by far the best defender of him, Gordon and Mayo though IMHO.

i think i'd be more prone to put mayo and gordon in the wade mold. baby ben is likely no more than 6'1, 6'2 whereas these guys strike me as solid 6'3/6'4 with better weight. their ability to go to the rack and flush it with contact is more reminiscent of wade than baby ben.

 

[Ronin]

I don't how good of a player Kevin Love is going to be in the NBA, but i like his attitude after tonight loss.

"I need to seek the ball out more," he said. "I only played 24 minutes, but five rebounds on my part is unacceptable. I should at least have 10 rebounds every game."

DJ Augustin is just so hard to keep out of the paint.

 

[mathbzh]

Update on Batum:
He is having a good season in the French league with 11 pts (50%FG) /5rbds/3 ast and 2 stl in 27 minutes to go with strong team results (Le Mans is third in the French league with a 7-3 record). This is something to start with for a player who will turn 19 in a few days.
Batum is having a lot of good all around games. The negative side for a player with this kind of talent (he sometimes show flashes of greatness) is that he is not the offensive leader he is expected to be. He seems to lack confidence in his jumpshot. If he could solve that, he would become unstoppable at the French league level.

The Euroleague level completely confirm this impression of a young player giving solid production but who could give much more. Le Mans has 6 loss in 6 games. They always give a good 3 quarter fight before to collapse in the fourth. This is not a surprise this team being really young.
With 8 pts/ 3 rbds/ 3ast in 28 minutes, Batum help his team but doesn't seems ready to rise his game to a next level. The Euroleague level makes Batum lack of confidence in is jumpsot even more evident.

That said, Batum confirms that he is a prospect with the tools to become a starter in any NBA teams.

 

[Arizona's Finest]

i think i'd be more prone to put mayo and gordon in the wade mold. baby ben is likely no more than 6'1, 6'2 whereas these guys strike me as solid 6'3/6'4 with better weight. their ability to go to the rack and flush it with contact is more reminiscent of wade than baby ben.

As of now Gordon looks like a muchbetter shooting Dwade at Marquette.

Of course Wade honed his whole game until he was an unstoppable force as a senior.

Gordon will do that too. After a couple years of coming off the bench for Toronto.

 

[Russ Smith]

I don't how good of a player Kevin Love is going to be in the NBA, but i like his attitude after tonight loss.



DJ Augustin is just so hard to keep out of the paint.

Yep Love had problems with the athletes at Texas, 2 minutes in you could see he was already gassed from the pace. I'm sure he's one and done but he could use another year of conditioning and defense at UCLA to improve. I doubt he'll stay but he's not NBA ready right now not in good enough shape yet.

Augustin was impressive, that clutch 3 he hit down 4 was the turning point in the game, I thought UCLA was pulling away until he hit that.

 

[Russ Smith]

Just a reminder USC and Memphis tonight think it's 6:30 Pacific not positive on ESPN for sure.

Great group of prospects, Memphis has Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas Roberts, USC has Mayo and Davon Jefferson. They also have Taj Gibson but he's having a terrible soph year so far not sure if his ankle is still bothering him or if he's just adjusting to Mayo shooting so much?

So far in the 2 games he's played serious minutes Jefferson has been USC's best player, not Mayo, very athletic and he's getting to the line a lot, defense much better than it used to be in HS(he's 21 as a frosh). He does walk a lot we'll see if the refs start calling that more but he's got a very quick first step and really quick off his feet, he's been compared to Marion for years and you can see why.

 

[Cheesebeef]

so, I've watched some of these "studs" and I gotta say, I ain't real impressed by Mayo, Rose or Love at this point. All of them have been incredibly hyped but I don't see jump out of your seat, sure fire NBA studs with any of them. Have yet to see Beasley though.

 

[Russ Smith]

so, I've watched some of these "studs" and I gotta say, I ain't real impressed by Mayo, Rose or Love at this point. All of them have been incredibly hyped but I don't see jump out of your seat, sure fire NBA studs with any of them. Have yet to see Beasley though.

Yep Mayo and Rose were disappointing last night. Last 2 games Mayo is 12-41 and has shot his team to two losses in games they were leading.

Love struggled in the Texas loss and then complained he wanted to be in the game at the end. he was out because of his defense, play better defense you'll be on the court, that simple.

Beasley has the same problem Love does teams are just swarming him daring the rest of the team to shoot, he's still awfully good right now he appears to be the best freshmen and probably the best player in the country.

Based on what I've seen Mayo will probably be the 3rd best guard UCLA plays this year behind DJ Augustin and Stephen Curry of Davidson. DJ is a pure PG who can score and makes his teammates better(Mayo doesn't). Curry is a lot like Mayo more of a scorer than a creator, but he's better at it, he's on a team with far less talent seeing gimmick defenses and he's still shooting 50% over 44 from 3.

Mayo made 1 of his last 11 shots last night and that was a gimme layup when Memphis backed off to avoid fouling(they were up 5).

 

[Ronin]

29 points and 10 assists for DJ Augustin

Augustin took over the game from there, scoring 11 of Texas' next 15 points on a variety of sparkling drives through the lane for baskets and short jumpers or fouls that sent him to the line.

His 10th assist of the game was a long pass to Abrams in the corner for a 3-pointer that made it 86-66 with 2:55 to play.

Augustin went 11-of-12 from the line

 

[azirish]

Jerryd Bayless of UofA has not had the hype of some of the other guys, but is beginning to make an impact. Against Texas A&M he scored 26 points on 7 of 12 shooting (2 of 3 for three) and 10 of 10 from the line. He also had 6 assists. Overall he's averaging 19.9 ppg and over 50% shooting.

With all the point guards likely to be coming out this year, he should be available in the late lottery.

 

[Russ Smith]

Jerryd Bayless of UofA has not had the hype of some of the other guys, but is beginning to make an impact. Against Texas A&M he scored 26 points on 7 of 12 shooting (2 of 3 for three) and 10 of 10 from the line. He also had 6 assists. Overall he's averaging 19.9 ppg and over 50% shooting.

With all the point guards likely to be coming out this year, he should be available in the late lottery.

Yeah he's been really good. Still not sure he's a PG but he's better at it than expected and to date his numbers are better than Mayo's. Had some turnover issues but he sure looks like he's a hell of a prospect extremely athletic kid.

 

[mathbzh]

Afeter a bunch of subpar games (given his talent) Batum just had his best game of the season in french league in a win over Nancy (Nancy was the league leader with a 9-1 record before that game). Batum was hands on player of the game.

Batum stats for the game
25 pts (9/15 FG -2/4 3pt- 5/5 FT), 9 rbds, 5 ast , 1 PF, 3 TO in 40 minutes (he was on the floor for the whole game)


Highlights for the game:
http://www.msb.fr/videos/3453.mpg

Batum is #5

 

[mathbzh]

There is another French youg prospect who is rising up very fast.

Marc Antoine Pellin is a 20 yo PG.

He is Roanne starting PG for the last two seasons (Roanne was French champion last year) and plays the Euroleague.

He is a fierce defender and distribute the ball very well.

He just had two consecutive great games:
The first in Euroleague with 7 pts (2/3 FG, 3/4 FT)/ 7 rbds / 13 asts /2 stl/2PF/2TO in 31 minutes

The second in french league:
13 pts (4-5FG - 3/4 3pt - 2/2 FT), 8 rbds, 7 ast, 2 stls, 1 PF, 0 TO in 37 minutes

He is very short (5'7) and will probably never be an NBA player but it could be interesting to follow is evolution.

 

[Shogun]

Despite Arizona's SORRY play this year, I think Bayless stays this year for three reasons - 1) He really wants to play for Olson 2) HS guard Brandon Jennings seems to already have made reservations to play with Bayless next year 3) He'll have a better team around him and should go higher next year with a polished game AND a NC run.

I really love the kid.

 

[mathbzh]

DraftExpress on Batum (on a couple of prospects in the French league):
http://www.draftexpress.com/blog/Jonathan-Givony/

To really reach the type of success we can surely envision as a do-it all, 3rd option Scottie Pippen-type role player, he’ll have to land in the right situation, with a good point guard, and a coach that likes to play up-tempo.

Sounds like he should be a Suns.

Batum is ranked from #6 to #13 pick according to the various (and meaningless) mock draft. If Atlanta's pick is in the 10th-15th range and Batum is available, I believe he is a must-pick.

 

[Russ Smith]

I'll throw another name out since he's blowing up this year and UCLA fans are now wondering if he might leave, Russell Westbrook. He's more of a SG than a PG and he's 6'3" so he may be too small. But he has really improved his PG skills this year because collison was hurt, he's stronger, his outside shot is better, and he is playing LOCKDOWN defense in the last 2 games he blanketed Abrams from Texas and Curry from Davidson.

I don't think he's NBA ready but what I'm reading is NBA scouts are telling UCLA that Westbrook is the best NBA prospect on the current roster, ahead of even Collison(who is still considered a lock to come out even with the injury this year).

13 PPG 6 APG 51% overall 57 from 3 so far(obviously that will fall).

And he just turned 19 Mid November he's a full year younger than Mayo.

 

[Louis]

I think I just seen the Suns pick from Atl up for grabs on ebay.

 

[mathbzh]

Batum just had another breakout game in a 91-99 loss (one more) against Maccabi Tel Aviv.
In 34 minutes he scored 24 pts (11/11 FG, 3/3 pt 1/1 FT) 4 rbd 4 ast 1 st 2 bl 3 TO 2 PF

Highlights for the game (Batum is #5):
http://www.msb.fr/videos/3465.mpg

I like his aggressive dunk at 1:05 (the two others at 2:04 and 3:17 are not bad either), how he works in the paint (2:41 and 3:47) and how easily he can create separation from his defender (5:34 and 5:40). One thing you can note is the very high release point of his jumpshot making it virtually unblockable for a defender athletic enough to stay with him.

Batum also received props from his coach for is very good defensive job (Vincent Collet doesn't give props easily).

Just a few words about the other Le Mans prospect Antoine Diot. Antoine is a PG born in 1989 with great size for his position (6-4). He is considered a great prospect since he was the U16 Euro MVP a few years ago when France won gold. Diot is fairly athletic and have a nice frame (but he isn't a freak like Batum). He is a true vocal leader on the floor, even at the Pro level (this is quiet uncomon from a 18 yo kid) and was the soul of the U16, U18 and U19 french young teams lately (Batum being the more talented player). He is a solid defender and run the offense very well (even if he should improve is decision making in the half court. His perimeter shot is very inconsistent and he should probably work a lot on it before being considered a true NBA prospect. Right now, he is having very valuable experience as the backup PG of Le Mans. His evolution should be very interesting.

 

[mathbzh]

One more good game from Batum in a lost in the French league
21 pts (7/11 FG, 3/6 3pts, 4/8 FT ) , 1 rbd , 2 blk, 5 stl, 2 ast, 3TO, 1PF in 35 minutes

Diot also had a good game:
15 pts (6/11 FG, 3/7 3pt, 3 rbd, 5 ast, 2stl, 4 PF, 1 TO in 25 minutes

These 2 kids (19 yo and 18 yo) were the 2 best player for Le Mans