What does "do rookies supposed to get better mean" I don't even know if that makes sense in regards to putting a sentence together. That said, yea he will grow and improve, but calling him best all around player just has no basis and may show that you go off a hype machine and don't even see what he does in games. He is passive much of the time, he is very capable and talented, but he is not a take over guy, his mentality/gene is not quite there. He could be a great scorer, but he closely resembles Luol Deng more tahn anyone else which is a guy anyone would love to have on their team, but not no 1 material
He's a bit of a trash talker. That's about it. His knee is a little worrisome but he should be ok. He'll take a couple of years to develop but I'd give up anyone on the Rockets roster for him except maybe Lowry. Maybe.
KG is a bit of a trash talker(and supremely competitive). This guy, he's just an idiot. Again, I could be wrong, and maybe he grows out of it, but I don't know any superstars currently with that type of personality, even at 18. Again, we are talking about superstars that I would trade half the team for. I just don't see what everyone is clamoring over in this draft. Deep, yes. Potential stars, eh.
I've learned not to care about "book smarts" when it comes to athletes. For example Derrick Rose is dumb as a brick. But on the court he's still amazing. While Thabeet is by all accounts a pretty bright guy. Look clueless on the court. Granted, I would definitely prefer someone with Kobe's intelligience all else equal, but I can live with a player who's not the brightest tool in the shed.
Oh I agree. I didn't mean he didn't sound smart. He sounds like a complete douche, like a worse version of TWill. It might be just me, but I do believe personality factors into the ceiling of a player. I don't see Kobe/KG competitive cocky as equivalent to Twill/JR Smith type dumb cocky. There is a difference. Also he is obviously just a kid so he could grow out of it. Again, he could be a good player, but I just don't see superstar anywhere in this draft.
I'm a huge Duke fan so this might come off as being biased, but I really don't see the hype around Harrison Barnes. He'll be Marvin Williams at best...
I understand a lot of people here are excited about the draft, but please keep in mind we already have a ton of lottery guys from the 09 draft, and they also looked this good coming in. Just last year, so many guys were predicting John Wall would become D. Rose 2.0 and revolutionize the league, or Demarcus Cousins would be the next Shaq and average 20 a game, and they didn't exactly put the current superstars to shame. Drummond looks nice but he also isn't NBA ready, he'll take 3 years at least before he becomes decent. Might be even longer, if he wants to take some time to life weights and build his body. Harrison Barnes et a also look nice but if they aren't dominating the college league by winning almost all of the awards KD style, they won't make a big impact, unless its by putting up a ton of points in a bad team. The one guy I really am excited about is Brad Beal. Dude reminds me of Brandon Roy with each passing game. Hope we can get him, and pair him with Marcus Morris and Patrick Patterson for the alliteration trio.
I agree Barnes has been way overhyped, but don't compare him to Marvin Williams. Between the ears, there is no comparison between the two at all. Barnes' NBA career will blow Marvin Williams away. He's not a superstar talent but he will be a very effective player, maybe even an All-Star a couple of times. I'm excited too. With Boynton, Young and others on that team, it may take him a while to let it all show. If he develops like I think he will, I can see him going as high as the top 5. Maybe he will be like Derrick Rose and simmer all season before exploding in March. His game reminds me more of Wade than Roy.
2009 was considered a weak draft at the time, this one is not. It has potential to be as good as 1996. (And I'm against tanking, btw) Wall's a different player, but his rookie year was no worse than Rose's. And no one thought Cousins was going to be "the next Shaq", if they did he'd have been the consensus #1 overall pick. He still has a good chance of becoming a star, I'd say. Both of those guys were freshman and they had rookie years that compared favorably with a lot of other players who became all-stars. If it takes him that long to be "decent", he'll be a bust. He should be starter at some point in his rookie year. As for his body, he's 6'11" 250 already with a huge frame, he'll have no trouble filling out. Simply not true, not every NBA star was a Wooden Award candidate in college. Pretty shocked that Beal's the only guy you'd be excited over. He's a good prospect, but I probably have him ranked 7th or 8th.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/e-79yUG1Lp4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> man amongst kids
Wall had a great rookie season and he is going to improve even more. He'll be one of the best PG's in the league in a couple seasons, if not already next year. Cousins is going to be a beast, let him time to get his head right and hopefully Sacramento can surround him with intelligent vet's like they did at UK (Chuck can be his Patterson) and he is going to be unstoppable. I'm not a fan of Barnes either, but I think Drummond is going to be a machine. If he has a good motor, I don't see anything stopping him. He already has great ball-handling skills, good passing abilities and is an athletic freak. Now he needs to work on his touch.
UNC fans will also hate this, but when I see Barnes I am reminded a lot of Shane Battier. Especially between the ears. Yes he's faster and smaller and a different type of player. But does that mean he can turn into a Kobe or a Reggie Miller? I don't think so. He's not nasty enough, doesn't have a mean streak or a me-first personality. For reference, this is certainly not a knock on their college careers. Given the hardware Battier collected in college, it's probably a compliment to Barnes actually.
In fact I'll go ahead and say this: Austin Rivers will be better than Barnes. If you look at his game, he's done EVERYTHING he can so far to imitate Kobe. He's working at all three levels of his offense in parallel: he's equally adept around the basket, at the three point line, and in his middle game too. I've never seen a guard in college with as many moves as he has which are already refined, and you could take that to mean he's going to hit a ceiling faster, but like it was previously referenced, behind the ears no one has a greater advantage than this kid. The difference is that Rivers has the ability to be a combo point as well, his court vision is improving every game and his ballhandling is already point guard level. If he comes at a cheaper price (pick 12 say), I'd LOVE to have this kid. He needs a couple years to fill out, obviously, he's a stick out there, but look at the pedigree and tell me he won't do everything he can to dominate the league.
I'd have to say Andre Drummond or Michael Kid-Gilchrist!! I see these two as being elite athletes that can come in and help get this team over the hump!!