A Very "Rough" Draft http://probasketball.about.com/library/weekly/aa070402a.htm Concessions between David Stern and the NBA Players Union come few and far. So it was a bit of history for us Draft Dorks when Stern agreed to let Darko Milicic and Sofoklis Schortsianitis into the 2003 NBA Draft, despite the fact that they won't mee the NBA's current age limit restriction for foreign players. So why did he back off the stance? Well, the Union agreed to extend the first round of the NBA Playoffs from a best-of-five format to a best-of-seven. That will mean more revenue for the League and its owners, and as a thank you, Stern welcomed Milicic and Schortsianitis to the NBA a little earlier than he wanted. And Milicic just may challenge LeBron James for the top spot in the Draft. As much as the "King James" PR machine has run amok, common basketball sense dictates that a franchise center is much more valuable than a franchise swingman. If Milicic proves to be that kind of talent before the Draft, then don't be shocked if James falls to No. 2. As for Sofoklis Schortsianitis (just trying to get the spelling "down"), he's a little too raw to be going as high as some Draftniks have him. In comparison, I think Nene Hilario was a better prospect than Schortsianitis, who appears smaller and a bit chuncky. But the idea that he may still be growing, is tantalizing and from that clip floating around NBADraft.net you can see he's very agile. If you've got any info on players (college, high school or foreign) or what team owns what pick according to prior deals, drop me an email at probasketball.guide@about.com. And if you want to get updated every time there's an updated version of the mock draft, then sign up for About.com's Spectator Sports weekly newsletter. Let's get started! Updated 2/11/03 -- Order based upon current NBA standings. 1. Cleveland Cavaliers -- Lebron James, SG, High School 2. Denver Nuggets -- Darko Milicic, C, Yugoslavia 3. Detroit Pistons (From Memphis) -- Carmelo Anthony, SF, Syracuse 4. Toronto Raptors -- Chris Bosh, PF, Georgia Tech 5. L.A. Clippers -- Jarvis Hayes, SG/SF, Georgia 6. Chicago Bulls -- Emeka Okafor, PF/C, Connecticut 7. Miami Heat -- T.J. Ford, PG, Texas 8. Milwaukee Bucks (From Atlanta) -- Rick Rickert, PF, Minnesota 9. Golden State Warriors -- Luke Ridnour, PG, Oregon 10. New York Knicks -- Anderson Varejao, PF, Brazil 11. Seattle Sonics -- Zarko Cabarkapa, PF, Yugoslavia 12. Orlando Magic -- Sofoklis Schortsianitis, PF, Greece 13. L.A. Lakers -- Kirk Hinrich, PF, Kansas 14. Washington Wizards -- David West, PF, Xavier 15. Boston Celtics (From Philadelphia) -- Michael Sweetney, PF, Georgetown 16. New Orleans Hornets -- Reece Gaines, PG/SG, Louisville 17. Milwaukee Bucks -- Carlos Delfino, SF, Argentina 18. Memphis Grizzlies (From Houston) -- Dwyane Wade, SG, Marquette 19. Boston Celtics -- Chris Thomas, PG, Notre Dame 20. Phoenix Suns -- Brian Cook, PF/C, Illinois 21. Minnesota Timberwolves -- Rickey Paulding, SG, Missouri 22. Utah Jazz -- David Harrison, C, Colorado 23. Portland Trailblazers -- Kendrick Perkins, C, High School 24. Orlando Magic (Orl From Sacramento) -- Chris Duhon, PG, Duke 25. San Antonio Spurs -- Darius Rice, SF, Miami 26. Detroit Pistons -- Mickaël Pietrus , SG/SF, France 27. Atlanta Hawks (From Indiana) -- Viktor Khyrapa, SF, Russia 28. New Jersey Nets -- Nick Collison, PF, Kansas 29. Dallas Mavericks -- Uche Nsonwu-Amadi, PF, Wyoming 30. Cleveland Cavaliers -- Mario Austin, PF, Mississippi St. 31. New York Knicks (From Denver) -- Pape Sow, PF, CS-Fullerton 32. Memphis Grizzlies -- Slavko Vranes, C, Yugoslavia 33. Toronto Raptors -- Hollis Price, PG/SG, Oklahoma 34. L.A. Clippers -- James Lang, C, High School 35. Chicago Bulls -- Blagota Sekulic, SF, Yugoslavia 36. Detroit Pistons (From Miami) -- Marvin Stone, PF, Louisville 37. Atlanta Hawks -- Romain Sato, SG, Xavier 38. Golden State Warriors -- Martin Iti, C, High School 39. New York Knicks -- Zoran Planinic, SG, Croatia 40. Seattle Sonics -- Ron Slay, PF, Tennessee 41. Atlanta Hawks (From Orlando) -- Raitis Grafs, C, Valparaiso 42. L.A. Lakers -- Erwin Dudley, PF, Alabama 43. Washington Wizards -- Luke Walton, SF, Arizona 44. Atlanta Hawks (From Philadelphia) -- Troy Bell, SG, Boston College 45. New Orleans Hornets -- Matt Bonner, PF, Florida 46. Milwaukee Bucks -- Jason Gardner, PG, Arizona 47. Houston Rockets -- Chris Massie, PF, Memphis 48. Boston Celtics -- Boris Diaw-Riffiod, SF, France 49. Chicago Bulls (From Phoenix) -- Ebi Ere, SG, Oklahoma 50. Minnesota Timberwolves -- Chris Marcus, C, Western Kentucky 51. Utah Jazz -- Kyle Korver, SF, Creighton 52. Detroit Pistons (From San Antonio via Portland) -- Brandin Knight, PG, Pittsburgh 53. Sacramento Kings -- Zaur Pachulia, C, Georgia (Nation) 54. Portland Trailblazers (From San Antonio)-- Doug Wrenn, SF, Washington 55. Detroit Pistons -- Shelden Williams, PF, Duke 56. Indiana Pacers -- Dahntay Jones, SG, Duke 57. New Jersey Nets -- Derrick Zimmerman, PG, Mississippi St. 58. Dallas Mavericks -- Marquis Daniels, SG/SF, Auburn Unless the Rockets had the first or second pick, what they give up to the Grizzlies is garbage compared to what we got in Steve Francis. BTW anyone know much about the Darko kid? I've only heard rumors that he's as good as Le Bron except he's a 7 footer.
I don't mind at all not having a first rounder this year. But if Jason Gardner slipped to us in the 2nd round, that would be huge.
Sweeney was a non factor against a tiny UCLA team this Sunday. I was there and he showed me nothing. In fact, UCLA has got to be one of the worst teams on the planet right now.
This is one source that I gathered on the Darko kid through web search. Pronounced (MILL-eh-check) Darko Milicic Birthdate: 6/20/85 NBA Position: SF/PF Ht: 7-0 Wt: 245 Int Team: KK Hemofarm Vrsac Hometown: Novi Sad, Yugoslavia Telebasket Profile Strengths: Solid athlete who can run the floor and jump like few others his size ... Creative scorer who understands how to set-up his defender off the dribble ... Excellent finisher when receiving the ball on the break or out on the perimeter as he can cut to the lane and even dunk in traffic ... On defense he is an excellent help defender who shows promise of being an adequate shot-blocker ... Does a very good job of using his long arms to grab most rebounds around his area despite usually being physically out-matched by his opponents ... Can be a nightmare for opposing players to defend due to his versatility as he is too quick for most power forwards and too tall for most small forwards to defend in the post ... Excellent ball handler for his size ... Plays extremely aggressive and wont back down from a challenge ... Competitive, he'll do whatever it takes to win ... Shows court awareness beyond his years as he will adjust his game according to how the defense plays him ... Can shoot the ball from 20 feet with consistency and even has the ability to extend out to the three point line ... Has a very high basketball IQ and sees plays before they occur ... Good passer who is blessed with solid court vision. Double teams rarely bother him ... Shows soft touch around the basket ... Owns a solid hesitation dribble move he uses to bait his defender out of the paint. As soon as his defender plays his shot, Milicic will dribble into the lane for the quick lay-up ... Weaknesses: Has problems at times holding his position on the low blocks due to his lack of body strength ... Offensively his back to the basket skills are still in the developmental stages as he prefers to face the basket ... Needs to continue to improve his upper body strength although this should be no surprise when you consider his age ... Unlike most young players defensively he shows above average skills but it's the basic stuff he'll need to improve on ... Perimeter defensive skills such as anticipation and playing the passing lanes ... As far as working on his low post defense, strength and experience are the main detracting factors ... Tends to put the ball on the floor a little too much after getting an offensive rebound ... Ball protection is a area of concern as he can get careless at times ... Needs to work on getting rebounds out of position ... When posting up Milicic should improve on getting wider so he can give guards a bigger target when they pass into the post ... Matthew Maurer --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Milicic is aggressive, he has an all around game. He’s strong on the boards. He has good ball-handling skills. He is quick, with a great understanding of the game (he is smart as a fox). He can kill you from the perimeter but he’s never gonna be a center. It would be such a waste for such a talent to be battling against 280 pounders. No Nowitzki, no Gasol should ever be playing in the paint. Only when playing against a zone defense of 2-3 or 2-1-2 is it logical to have an all-around tall guy causing troubles in the weak side of the opponents’ defense. 2-4 is for him. He's tough as nails against tall men of 210-220 pounds. I don’t see many PFs’ of 210 in the NBA. He will never play center in the NBA because it would be a waste of his talents. -Dimitris Armadoros He is one of the biggest hopes of Yugoslavian basketball in his generation and that alone is something, considering the strength of Yugoslavian basketball. Very tall, agile, mobile player with tons of upside. Just has to continue to develop and he's a future NBA player. His outlook is very good considering the Yugoslavian basketball system is very good at developing players. He was thrown into the Seniors level this year and did a very impressive job for 16 year old. -Uros Velkavrh Possibly the top NBA prospect at any age in Europe. He plays in Hemofarm. He dunks in traffic, dribbles and goes 1 on 1 like a guard, scores on the pull-up jumper, passes well and blocks shots. I've never seen a player like him at 16! NEVER! -Cristian Biagini Everything they say is true, multidimensional left-hander, can hit the three and has a jump hook with the same ability, runs the floor very well with a great wingspan and athletism.
Darko Milicic is head and shoulders above Tskitishvili. Milicic is considered the best player in Europe right now, by many people. Milicic will mosat likely play PF in the NBA, and not C because he has a Pau Gasol-build (tall and lanky). The thing about Milicic is that he has great footwork, and can shoot from anywhere on the floor. Tskitishvili was Bostjan Nachbar's back-up and he was picked purely on potential. As where Milicic is more like Yao Ming, he has played professional ball since he was 16, and will probably come in and make an immediate impact. As for the Rockets not missing much, if they should keep their second-rounder this year, taking a project player from Europe wouldn't hurt. This year's draft (although premature) is not as deep as last years, so the Rockets not having a first-rounder is not going to hurt them (it also saves them from having to pay a rookie contract X million, for 3 years, w/ an option for a fourth).
I think that we are missing out on this draft. It's a very deep draft. Dwayne Wade, Reece Gaines, and TJ Ford are the top players in NCAA and could go to Houston if we had our draft pick right now. Francis was probably worth it, but there's a lot of talent in this draft. Darko is the best PROSPECT in Europe, I don't think anyone considers him the best player. That title probably goes to Dejan Bodiroga. Darko only gets about ten minutes a game over there, so to say that he's the best player right now is a bit silly. That's almost like saying LeBron James is the best player in America right now. He's also 3 years younger than Ming was when he entered the draft, so he may or not be ready to start. We'll see.
Yeah, I'll stand by my statement that Darko is the best player in Europe right now, seeing as how Telebasket lists him as their #1 rated player. Darko also gets major props from guys like Vlade, Peja, Dirk (whom seemed hesitant when asked about him), some of Europe's finest. Some people call him a prospect, and thats fine, but I think he'll make an impact much like Yao did after a couple games.
