Here is my take on the ranking of the rookies of 02: 1) Yao. Hands down the best player from the draft. Perennial all star. Likely MVP down the road. Franchise center. To make things better, he is going to be #1 draw in the NBA in the years to come just because of the 1 billion people in China. 2) Stoundamire. Reminds me of a young Chris Webber. Likely all star in 3-4 years. 3) Wagner. Poor man's AL. Likely all star in 3-4 years. 4) Gooden. Solid player. Can be all star down the road. 5) Jay. The hype on him is dead as the "next best PG in the league". Will be a solid PG in the league, nothing more. 6) Butler. Steal of the draft: Boozer. Always like him at Duke. Cannot believe why he drops to 2rd round. Bust of the draft: MD, Junior. Never understand the predraft hype as the most complete and verstatile player from the draft. Never understand Dukie V's hyping and ass kissing. I would not take him in mid first round, let alone #3. Your opinion?
I think Armare Stoudemaire remind me of a young Shawn Kemp (when he is still in shape) with his athleticism. Beside Yao there is no one in the next five picks that are head above everyone else. I think all of them will be a good NBA players. They probably will make the all star team on some years but I am not sure that will be a franchise type of players. As far as Mike Dunleavy goes, it's true that he doesn't play well so far but I would give him another year or two before declare him a total bust. Remember there are talk before the draft that the Rockets could take M.Dunleavy if Yao's situation doesn't work out with the Chinese government? Thank goodness it does work out for us.
Stoudemire is as fearless and athletic as Kemp was and supposedly just as stupid. Now, if he can just match Kemp at producing children and waiting at the buffet line, he'll become a demi-god.
I would put Hilario in front of Drew. Wilcox is in a bad situation, otherwise, he should not only play a couple of minutes a game. Tski is not bad, just wait for his body to grow.
I think that Drew is better than Hilario. I am not totally sold on Butler as of yet. I might move him above Jay. But Jay might hve more potential. I will wait for two years before I label MD a total bust. He is definitely not an all star, and am not sure whether he can elevate his status above a bench warmer.
Stoudemire isn't stupid, not at all. Family issues are the reasons he came out of highschool a year later. He is mature kid and definately not stupid!
Defensively, Kemp was nowhere close to Stoudemire. Offensively, Kemp was much more refined than Stoudemire. I don't REALLY see the similarities between the two. Stoudemire reminds of Chris Wilcox, from last year.
You mean how Wilcox looked last year at college? That's still pretty spectacular considering how he's doing it in the NBA and how Wilcox himself is riding the pine. Marion and Wilcox will be the most exciting front court tandem by the start of next year. Damn...if they had only kept Kidd...
Well...if Wilcox was on the Suns and playing against college foes, then he would make an exciting tandem with the Suns But, since my mind was all jumbled and there's no edit button, I really meant to say Stoudamire. You guys probably figured that out instead of thinking I was an idiot first
Ya, I meant Wilcox from last year. If I'm not mistaken, Stoudemire is only about a year or so younger than Wilcox... They both run the floor very well, and are explosive as hell, with no real offensive skills.
Getting tired of these comments. Watch Stoudemire play, he has good moves in the post and can take a lot of his defenders off the dribble. He is already getting the garbageman lable, but that's ok people also gave Marion that lable , because they are not watching. The Suns are better off without Kidd. 1. The Suns got Stoudemire because of their rebuilding year, because they were in the lottery. 2. The Suns core has an average age of around 22, Marbury is 25 while Kidd is almost 30. Marbury will grow with this team. 3. Marbury has become a great leader and is right now the best PG in the West, you might not want to hear this but unlike Francis he is making sure the offense runs smooth and everyone gets touches, though he can still take over when it is needed.
I don't know, it's probably because Marbury has more years of experience in the league. Before Marbury started playing well this year he was as wild as Francis tends to me. But going into I believe his 6th year Marbury is finally figuring out how to run a smooth offense. So it's not fair to compare a guy who is finally maturing after years in the league to a young guy who hasn't had the same amount of time to grow. I think Francis is doing a pretty good job right now considering he doesn't have the experience of a Marbury.
Why are there so many people named Stoudemire playing basketball? Anyway I can't believe no one has mentioned Mcdyess when talking about Stoudemire. That's who he reminds me of.
