New and Improved 2008 Draft Prospects Thread

[Irish]

FYI Westbrook made it official today he's hiring an agent and will stay in the draft.

Pretty amazing story kid couldn't even dunk as a junior in HS had a late growth spurt. Played 9 MPG as a freshman at UCLA and is now going to be a lottery pick one year later.

I think the workouts of Westbrook wil be focused on how well he shows as a PG. If he's perceived as "mostly a two", he'll drop. If he looks like a real PG prospect he could go in the top ten.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

alexander seems to be a nice jumpshooter w/ some athleticism. he has no handles and his defense is adequate at the college level, at best. he has no outstanding traits imo. that turnaround jumper will be next to impossible for him to get off at the nba level.

 

[PhxGametime]

Alexander is a good Prospect and a REALLY good athlete but so was Luke Jackson. Jackson graded better than Iguodala as an athlete, from what I remember because of the strength area (Iggy struggled lifting)...


IMO, Alexander will have-to prove he can make a 3PTer with regularity to be a Lottery Pick.

 

[Irish]

Alexander is a good Prospect and a REALLY good athlete but so was Luke Jackson. Jackson graded better than Iguodala as an athlete, from what I remember because of the strength area (Iggy struggled lifting)...


IMO, Alexander will have-to prove he can make a 3PTer with regularity to be a Lottery Pick.

Luke had some good workouts, but he was not the shooter everyone thought he was. What is more important, looke at the nbadraft.net profile

http://www.nbadraft.net/profiles/lukejackson.asp

Weaknesses: Not the greatest defender on earth and will definitely struggle to guard perimeter players at the next level. His lateral foot speed is not a strength. Not the most athletic SF either but he is adequate in that area. Lacks great size at the SF position, and is not a tremendous rebounder, but decent. He also wont blow you away with his athleticism, but has decent quickness and leaping ability.

 

[YouJustGotSUNSD]

alexander seems to be a nice jumpshooter w/ some athleticism. he has no handles and his defense is adequate at the college level, at best. he has no outstanding traits imo. that turnaround jumper will be next to impossible for him to get off at the nba level.

He has a pretty high release on his shot, and his midrange game is much better than I previously thought. He still seems a bit raw and risky though.

 

[Russ Smith]

He has a pretty high release on his shot, and his midrange game is much better than I previously thought. He still seems a bit raw and risky though.

I think they said he's been playing ball for like 5 years so yeah he's definitely raw. What I like about him over Budinger is his competitiveness. Alexander is a trash talker but he really goes after people and he backs it up. Chase has a lot of talent but he seems to lack confidence he doesn't seem to want to be the star.

Alexander seems like the type of kid that will step on you and hold you down and it's that mean streak that makes him a better player. He's improved so much year to year because he's talented and still new to the game.

 

[Irish]

When I look at a player, I look at physical, skills, and attitude. One aspect of basketball, is that physical strength is often a contributor to an assert attitude. This is why I'm so anxious for Diaw to focus on getting stronger (along with being able to finish in traffic). I see Budinger as talented but not very strong.

I've noticed that some of the best later round pickups have been stronger guys like Milsap rather the skinny (just needs to get stronger) guys. IMHO, the far less skillful Dorsey will make a bigger impract than some of the other bigs ranked 15 to 25 slots higher because he's very very physical. If he could only shoot foul shots...

 

[Russ Smith]

When I look at a player, I look at physical, skills, and attitude. One aspect of basketball, is that physical strength is often a contributor to an assert attitude. This is why I'm so anxious for Diaw to focus on getting stronger (along with being able to finish in traffic). I see Budinger as talented but not very strong.

I've noticed that some of the best later round pickups have been stronger guys like Milsap rather the skinny (just needs to get stronger) guys. IMHO, the far less skillful Dorsey will make a bigger impract than some of the other bigs ranked 15 to 25 slots higher because he's very very physical. If he could only shoot foul shots...

Totally agree I think Dorsey has a lot of Ben Wallace in him. the problem he has is his off court character issues. He got into a LOT of trouble when he was younger, grew up in a horrible neighborhood and even this past season he was the guy that started the brawl in the nightclub that got several Memphis guys suspended. And amazingly enough he started the brawl the exact way Pacman did, in a club "made it rain." You'd think by now athletes in that state would no not to do that in a club.

But Dorsey is a physical freak and he played much harder this year than in the past he was very consistent with how hard he played.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I think they said he's been playing ball for like 5 years so yeah he's definitely raw. What I like about him over Budinger is his competitiveness. Alexander is a trash talker but he really goes after people and he backs it up. Chase has a lot of talent but he seems to lack confidence he doesn't seem to want to be the star.

Alexander seems like the type of kid that will step on you and hold you down and it's that mean streak that makes him a better player. He's improved so much year to year because he's talented and still new to the game.

this i would agree with. if chase had alexander's temperment i think chase would be that top 5 player everyone expected.

 

[Irish]

Totally agree I think Dorsey has a lot of Ben Wallace in him. the problem he has is his off court character issues. He got into a LOT of trouble when he was younger, grew up in a horrible neighborhood and even this past season he was the guy that started the brawl in the nightclub that got several Memphis guys suspended. And amazingly enough he started the brawl the exact way Pacman did, in a club "made it rain." You'd think by now athletes in that state would no not to do that in a club.

But Dorsey is a physical freak and he played much harder this year than in the past he was very consistent with how hard he played.

The character issues are certainly a concern, but I'd risk it at #48 and count of the Suns senior citiezens keeping him line.

 

[Russ Smith]

The character issues are certainly a concern, but I'd risk it at #48 and count of the Suns senior citiezens keeping him line.

As long as he's not hanging out with Diaw or Leinart he could be ok.

 

[PhxGametime]

When I look at a player, I look at physical, skills, and attitude. One aspect of basketball, is that physical strength is often a contributor to an assert attitude. This is why I'm so anxious for Diaw to focus on getting stronger (along with being able to finish in traffic). I see Budinger as talented but not very strong.

I've noticed that some of the best later round pickups have been stronger guys like Milsap rather the skinny (just needs to get stronger) guys. IMHO, the far less skillful Dorsey will make a bigger impract than some of the other bigs ranked 15 to 25 slots higher because he's very very physical. If he could only shoot foul shots...

Does this mean the Suns are screwed Drafting Rush??


BTW, I'm hoping there is some kind of mention on how Jamont Gordon did in workouts last 2 days... I REALLY liked watching him play the few times have seen him.

 

[Irish]

Does this mean the Suns are screwed Drafting Rush??

Rush is going through the usual process where juniors and seniors get down graded because they are more developed and thus have less "upside". He's also comiing off an ACL from last summer, so iether his injury scares people off or the fact that he was not fully recovered early in season left a bad improession.

His reputation is that he's a very good defender with a good shot; but not that agressive in "taking over games" and very team oriented. Some draft reviewers will ding guys for that while others will reward them. A lot depends on the team to say if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

I'm sure many people think that being "too team oriented" is bad because of the way Diaw doesn't dunk when he should. However, the Suns are built around having team oriented guys who pass the ball, so a pure ball hog is not that good an option.

At this point it appears Rush is more polished than guys like Alexander and Batam and a far better defender than Budinger.

Change in subject, there are hints that Westbrook's stock is going up. With his potential as a playmaker, he seems like he might be someone the Suns could be interested in.

 

[Russ Smith]

Mbah A Moute is officially in he's signing with an agent so people assume he has a 2nd round guarantee.

Budinger is going back to UA.

 

[Irish]

Mbah A Moute is officially in he's signing with an agent so people assume he has a 2nd round guarantee.

I'm very shocked about Mbah A Moute. He's small for a PF at 6'7.5" 225. His strength at 11 bench presses is about average; but his standing reach is vry good 8'7.5" and 3/4 court speed is very good 3.17" and outstanding max verticle of 38.5".

Oddly enough, his stats have gone down over the last three years. 2005-06 he had 8.2 rpg, in 2006-07 he had 7.5 rpg, and last seaso he had 6.0 rpg. He's not much of a scorer with a career average of 8.7 ppg.

 

[tobiazz]

Since the various combine metrics have been mentioned in this thread, I'll post this video of a very good talk given by Malcom Gladwell. It is about hiring, in general, but he goes into a lot of draft history in the NFL, NBA, andNHL. Very interesting. Cliff's Notes: the physical and psychological tests don't provide a good indicator of a player's future success.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/video/conference/2008/gladwell

 

[Irish]

In the midst of a long piece on statistical analysis of draft pick, DX has a real bombshell.

http://www.draftexpress.com/article/2008-Win-Scores-NBA-Draft-Preview-2932/

This year, Tennessee guard Chris Lofton posted an initially unimpressive 2.1 PAWS/40, though that comes with an asterisk. Lofton's biggest opponent this year was not on the Volunteer's schedule, it was cancer. Lofton's story was kept quiet until recently, and all signs point to a full recovery.

Prior to this season, Lofton has consistently put up high marks, posting PAWS/40’s of 5.4, 5.0, and 5.8, which put him in similar territory to Brandon Roy’s 2006 6.6, Rodney Stuckey’s 2007 4.9, and Rajon Rondo’s 2006 4.9. While Lofton’s measurables may come up short against the other three, he certainly seems to be undervalued by mock drafts, as some even have him going undrafted. Despite his shortcomings, Lofton clearly should hear his name called on draft day.

He's not a point guard so it won't matter, but it is interesting.

 

[Russ Smith]

I'm very shocked about Mbah A Moute. He's small for a PF at 6'7.5" 225. His strength at 11 bench presses is about average; but his standing reach is vry good 8'7.5" and 3/4 court speed is very good 3.17" and outstanding max verticle of 38.5".

Oddly enough, his stats have gone down over the last three years. 2005-06 he had 8.2 rpg, in 2006-07 he had 7.5 rpg, and last seaso he had 6.0 rpg. He's not much of a scorer with a career average of 8.7 ppg.

This was widely rumored for a number of reasons but basically Luc has had 2 years of injury problems ankles, knees etc and he decided he wanted to take his shot in the NBA now rather than stay one more year at UCLA. He could have done summer school and graduated early next year but decided not to do that.

THe rebound numbers reflect 3 things, injuries, Kevin Love, and him playing quite a bit at the 3. Early in the year due to team injuries Aboya was starting at the 4 with Luc at the 3. That and Love being such a great rebounder cut Luc's numbers quite a bit.

He's just not a good shooter or ballhandler, he can't play the 3 offensively, defensively he's terrific. I hope he sticks but I think hiring an agent was a mistake he can't go back now.

Very hard worker but there's a lot of UCLA fans confused right now as to why Luc hired an agent but the general consensus is he just doesn't want to have another injury plagued year and not be paid for it.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

This was widely rumored for a number of reasons but basically Luc has had 2 years of injury problems ankles, knees etc and he decided he wanted to take his shot in the NBA now rather than stay one more year at UCLA. He could have done summer school and graduated early next year but decided not to do that.

THe rebound numbers reflect 3 things, injuries, Kevin Love, and him playing quite a bit at the 3. Early in the year due to team injuries Aboya was starting at the 4 with Luc at the 3. That and Love being such a great rebounder cut Luc's numbers quite a bit.

He's just not a good shooter or ballhandler, he can't play the 3 offensively, defensively he's terrific. I hope he sticks but I think hiring an agent was a mistake he can't go back now.

Very hard worker but there's a lot of UCLA fans confused right now as to why Luc hired an agent but the general consensus is he just doesn't want to have another injury plagued year and not be paid for it.

def worth a second round flyer in the hopes that you can teach him that corner three pointer and develop him into a bruce bowen. that length and defensive ability could really help to light top scoring 3's and 2's up. not to mention he's a fair rebounder which means he'd likely get his share of ceballos-type garbage putbacks. he'd just have to be drilled into being a viable corner 3 point shooter for spacing purposes.

though i think i'd rather take a chance at chris lofton. he's eddie house-esque imo.

 

[Russ Smith]

def worth a second round flyer in the hopes that you can teach him that corner three pointer and develop him into a bruce bowen. that length and defensive ability could really help to light top scoring 3's and 2's up. not to mention he's a fair rebounder which means he'd likely get his share of ceballos-type garbage putbacks. he'd just have to be drilled into being a viable corner 3 point shooter for spacing purposes.

though i think i'd rather take a chance at chris lofton. he's eddie house-esque imo.

Ever since his freshman year we've had the wait until you see Luc next year he's really improved his shooting stuff, and every year he still can't shoot. I love the kid and his defense and rebounding was terrific but if you watch the Memphis win over UCLA the key to the game was Memphis didn't guard Luc they doubled Love and let Luc miss shot after shot. He went 5-13 and the 5 he made were all layups or dunks when he was smart enough to roll to the rim, every jumper he took missed and they were completely unguarded.

He spent 6K of his own money to hire a trainer to get in better shape and work on his shot before draft workouts, constant reports on you won't believe how good his shot is now. Then he went to the camp and all the reports said the same thing, great defender, works hard, coachable, can't shoot repeatedly missed open shots in drills and in workouts, should go back to UCLA.

I really like Lofton too he's the best pure shooter I saw all year. Another similar kid was Courtney Lee of Western Kentucky, better athlete than Lofton but also a good shooter.

 

[Irish]

I can't see Lee dropping to #48. Many mocks have him late first round. He was very impressive in the tournament.

I would like to see the Suns pick up an early 2nd round pick. Portland's 33 would be incredible and the Blazers are widely rumored to be uninterested in getting youngers. I'd give a couple of future second rounders in a heartbeat and even an ultra protected future first.

 

[Irish]

George Hill

It is hard for me to take a guy from UIPUI seriously, but George Hill looks like a guy who might be useful at #48.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/basketball/ncaa/06/10/bp.prospects/index.html

. George Hill (6-2 Jr., PG, IUPUI): Undersized combo guards can be giant killers in the NCAA tournament but on draft day they're a dime a dozen. Hill's standout trait is his ability to create. He used 28.8 of his team's possessions and shot 58 percent on two-pointers and 45 percent from beyond the arc. In other words, Hill can flat stroke it. Beyond that, however, Hill had one of the 100 best-foul drawing rates in the country last season. Add it all up and Hill had the highest offensive rating in the nation among high-usage players. His playmaking abilities are in question, as is the caliber of competition he faced at IUPUI, but Hill turned heads in Orlando last week and will likely be a second-round pick.

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/George-Hill-5067/

NBA Pre-Draft Camp, Day Two
May 29, 2008
In the first game we liked the way the extremely smooth George Hill conducted himself—his wingspan made him a presence defensively and he clearly has a high basketball IQ and excellent perimeter shooting ability. He’s definitely not a true point guard just yet (he over-dribbled at times and ran down the shot-clock) and is just an average athlete at best, but he looks like a versatile player who does not look out of place in the least bit despite coming from IUPUI of the Summit League. Indiana Pacers scout Kevin Mackey (who knows him extremely well considering their proximity) told us back in January that “George could start for any team in college basketball,” and Hill has definitely backed him up.

NBA Pre-Draft Camp, Day Four
May 31, 2008
George Hill showed why so many scouts have been saying positive things about him throughout the course of this camp, scoring 15 points to go along with 6 assists and a lone turnover in 24 minutes of action. He ran his offense smoothly and effectively, looking comfortable executing his team’s sets and finding the open man confidently. He shot the ball very well from behind the arc (3-7) as well.

http://nbadraft.net/admincp/profiles/georgehill.html

Strengths: A very smooth offensive player that is able to score from anywhere on the court relying on his finesse and fundamentals ... Has tremendously efficient shooting percentages: 55% FG, 45 % 3PT and 81% FT ... Fills the stat sheet in all categories with 21.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 1.8 steals per game ... He’s long and lanky which enables him to play bigger than his actual size ... Shows range on his shot out to the NBA 3, has a high and fairly quick release with good balance, and also good elevation ... Has a hefty scoring repertoire; including nice spin moves, a deceivingly quick crossover, midrange game with runners and pull ups, and is able finish contested in traffic ... Shows decent ball handling skills, and for such a good scorer he is very unselfish and a very underrated passer ... His feel for the ball allows him to be in good position for rebounds, as well helping him to be in the right spots on the defensive end ...

Weaknesses: He currently plays more of the SG position, however with his height he is projected as a PG or at least a combo guard at the next level ... He is turnover prone with 2.9 TOs per and can get out of control with his dribble when he is pressured ... While he is a decent athlete, he is nothing spectacular and lacks a first step that may give him trouble playing the lead guard ... His size and quickness are also an issue because he will have a hard time defending either guard position because of these shortcomings ... The fact that IUPUI plays in a small conference may hurt his stock, although he has played fairly well against the better teams on the schedule ...

Notes: During his sophomore season he missed the majority of the year because of a broken foot, and there have been rumors that he is currently playing with screws in that foot, which definitely raises red flags.

 

[Russ Smith]

Anybody know anything about Jason Thompson of Rider? Apparently he's firmly in the first round off the board by 20 if not earlier. I guess the Warriors are apparently interested he's 6'10" and supposedly grew quite a bit from HS to college so he's got a nice perimeter game for his size.

I'd never heard of him until a couple of days ago when Warriors news in the paper brought him up.

 

[Irish]

He was brought in by the Suns on Sunday.

My read on it is that he's very skillful and more physical than some of the highly rated guys. At the same time, he has not had to defend against top opponents.

This item from DX during the MAAC tournament bothered me a lot.

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Jason-Thompson-594/

At the same time, he played little to no defense, lost his focus and failed to box out his opponents for rebounds on some key possessions, and showed an all-around awareness, toughness and basketball IQ that leaves a lot to be desired.

I'd love to get him in the second round, but he's not going to give immediate or even intermediate help.