There are many reasons for him to come over to the NBA next year and a few reasons to stay in Europe. He will chose his own course. And I could not find a reference where he said that he foresaw himself as an NBA center. I may have hallucinating or addled or something. So HMMMM and everyone I will have to retract that comment.
Not offended at all. Thought it was funny. I know I've posted extensively on the Dwight trade subject. I'm looking for other people to counter my analysis of the situation. That's why. Haven't read any real good counters to my argument though against Orlando just accepting Bynum straight up for Dwight and LA being foolish to trade both Bynum and Pau straight up for Dwight. The one thing I am very curious about however is Dwight is spending his rehab time in Hollywood. And now Deron comes out and says he wouldn't mind playing in LA. I am getting the sense that if the Nets do not win the ping-pong ball game next Wednesday that Dwight and DWill's next power play is to try to pull off a one-for-one move to the Lakers with Bynum or Gasol for Dwight so DWill can then threaten to walk away from the Nets if they don't trade him for Gasol. I suspect they are plotting to try to unite with Kobe in LA if the Nets don't get that high lottery pick to put together a trade package for Dwight. Lakers could put together either Bynum or Gasol, along with McRoberts' expiring deal, plus Jordan Hill, Eyenga, and another expiring and take back JRich, Duhon, and QRich along with Dwight. That is about the best the Lakers can give Orlando outside of including Pau. But it leaves the Lakers in salary cap pergutory and they have to depend on the Nets standing down on letting DWill walk for nothing. Because the Nets have stated they won't trade him, they would prefer the cap space. Of course, if a gun is put to their heads, I would be willing to bet the Nets take either Bynum or Pau for DWill over losing DWill for nothing. I think they would value Pau as an asset that they could trade for at least future first round picks and expirings which would be better than losing DWill for nothing. Next Wednesday is going to say a lot about which direction the trade winds blow. If the Nets get a top 3 pick in the lottery, I fully expect Dwight to ask to be traded there. And I think Orlando will comply. If the Nets do not get a top 3 pick in the lottery, I fully expect Dwight to start making more comments about being open to playing for the Lakers. And behind the scenes the agents for Dwight and DWill will be talking to the Lakers about making trades happen for both guys. I am just sensing that these guys are looking at trying to get to LA if they see there is no way to make the Nets situation work. If you were Orlando would you prefer Bynum plus expirings for Dwight, JRich, Duhon, and QRich or would you prefer all our assets and expirings for the same guys? If we get lucky and get a top 3 pick in the lottery and New Jersey does not, then we are in the catbird seat to acquire Dwight and DWill. Don't forget that.
Jopat. Well thought out as usual. And you have been beating that drum for a while. For the first time I have serious reservations about Howard. It seems like he has developed into a person who cannot be relied on to make a reasonable consistent decision. I worry about a rental of Howard for that reason. The good thing is that probably people around the NBA are also having doubts about Howard's behavior.
Dwight has been a tempermental jerk. But the other side of the whole thing is Orlando straight out has done a terrible job in their front office....for many years now. Going clear back to Weisbrod and McGrady. A hockey guy running an NBA team?? C'mon now. That all goes back to the owner. Poor guy. He's up in years and I guarantee you he's being taken advantage of. There is no other logical explanation for some of the downright stupid trades and signings they've made. And now Dwight is growing up and realizing he has no chance to compete for a title running with guys like Big Baby and Jameer, guys he wanted, because he was young and dumb and wanted to play with all his buds. And Orlando's FO thought that was how you keep a guy. So, I really have no reservations about Dwight from that standpoint. I understand it. Remember, these are mostly kids handed huge money when they are still boys and then as they grow up and mature, things change, their priorities change, their egos grow to different levels, their desires change. Dwight has grown a huge ego. He wants it all. He wants to win championships and he wants all the glory that comes with winning. AND.............he wants the money that comes with the winning and the glory. So, he's acting out the best he can to try to force change, to try and make things happen. It's really not much different than the way Kobe was acting a few years ago after they had lost. Kobe was wanting a trade, he was wanting to move on. Because he knew he wasn't going to be able to win with the status quo. Now, Kobe is a jerk. Dwight is a jerk. But they are two of the best ballers on the planet. You gottas put up with jerk to get that. Oh....Hakeem was and is a jerk too, a very big jerk too. My reservations with Dwight are with his health. How serious/bad is this back injury? That all seems to be a big secret. I am concerned that he could be hiding something. You just never know.
The latter half of your post refers to money, however you used Morris as an example of someone who was drafted before him and is relegated to the bench and is not improving by being there. Also, the way you used your statement obviously refers to how Morris was unable to get off the bench. My comment is in response to that. Thus, you can keep your condescending life preserver.
Everyone is saying that DMo would arguably be a top 5 pick this year. I'm skeptical that anyone says/believes this outside of Clutchfans. Is he even more developed than Valanciunas at this point? I like Montiejunas' confidence, but I really think he's going to have trouble adjusting to the NBA game and probably won't amount to much. I hope I'm wrong.
Finally a reasonable poster, it's hard to find too many unbiased observers on clutch fans. It's a fan site that is inevitably going to favor certain players, moves, or prospects without necessarily looking at the broader picture of things. There's a reason players, like Morris, Patterson, and Motiejunas fell in the draft, while alot of teams were not or aren't very high on either of the players. It's almost a blessing that those players did not get draft, any higher they would've fail in that extreme bust category.
OK. Deep breath. Evaluating players who have no NBA minutes is incredibly difficult. I have very few resources to help me in that process. If anyone has any suggestions I would be grateful. The one sight that I know of that does an easily comparable draft grade (ie not one that is dependent on text paragraphs) is nbadraft. Functioning only from memory, Motiejunas's rating of 96 last year is equal to or greater than anyone this year except for Davis, who has the highest rating of anyone since LBJ and Howard. Both nbadraft and draftexpress listed last year Motiejunas's weaknesses as strength, rebounding, ambition to improve, and focus. A thread exists on CF that details Motiejunas's progress this year. My interpretation of the hundreds of posts and my observations of his live games, video, etc is that all of the questions brought up by the analysts on those sites have been answered in a very positive way. Given everything that was detailed in the above paragraph, I would expect that his nbadraft grade to improve significantly from 96. Maybe 99? Which would put him as their number 2 on their draft board. So given all of the above I would expect Motiejunas to make the top 5 draft picks this year easily. Once teams get past Davis then positional need comes into play, so I cannot say 2 or 3 etc. But IMHO top 5 certainly. Hope this helps.
Would you be so kind as to make a fact based case for your post? I would be very interested in your analysis. Thanks.
FWIW, Chad Ford has gone on record as saying that Jonas V would easily be the #2 pick if he came out this year and immediately came over. (Sorry, no link.) Also, I have it on good authority that Moti would be a late lottery pick had he come out this year. I was told this a few months ago; however, it was AFTER Moti blew up with his big rebounding performances and the "top-5 pick" hype began. Perhaps his stock has risen to mid-lotto pick, but I haven't checked back on that yet.
OK. Thanks Bima but that was not really what I was looking for. Valanciunas "blew it up" this year in the U-19's. But didn't Motiejunas do the same 2 years ago? Comparisons between the 2 are incredibly difficult. Sort of a boys against men comparison. I do not have your NBA sources, but I find it difficult to believe that a U-19 star, even though he played for lietuvos rytas, would be that much higher rated than a 21 year old former U-19 star who has answered every ability/motivation question raised by the NBA. From what I have seen this season Motiejunas is taller, bigger, stronger, quicker and much better on both offense and defense than Valanciunas. Lietuvos Rytas vs. Prokom. I do not understand the relative strength of schedule of the 2 clubs. However Prokom was competing in the Euroleague and Rytas was competing in the Eurocup. Would Eurocup be like the D-league and the Euroleague like the NBA? Probably not that extreme, but certainly Euroleague plays at a much higher level than Eurocup. Basically it comes down to what NBA scouts think. Currently (I hope I do not need anymore to add think to this sentence with you) Motiejunas is what Valanciunas hopes to become in 2 years if everything goes well in his development. Teach me more Obi-wan. LOL
No. Donatas didn't do that 2 years ago. Valanciunas won 3 straight tournaments with his national team. He won 3 straight MVP's. After the U-19 torunament J.Givony(Draftexpress) said that if Valanciunas played in the NCAA he would have been the 1st pick in the 2011 draft. As mentioned before Chad Ford also said that he would be 2nd pick this year easily. Lietuvos Rytas this season was a better team than Prokom. In VTB(the league were both Prokom and Lietuvos Rytas played) they've reached TOP4, Prokom didn't even advanced to playoffs. TOP4 Eurocup teams are better than most Euroleague teams besides TOP16, so it isn't the D-league for sure. I don't want to compare the players (i like both of them, but I think that Valančiūnas will have better NBA career for my own reasons) I just wanted to make the facts clear.
I agree with pretty much all of this, though I think it's fair to say that the gap between Rytas and Prokom is very slim. The reason Rytas went further in the Eurocup, is because the competition is much weaker for the most part (in the early stages anyway). If Prokom had played in the Eurocup who's to say they wouldn't have made to the 1/4 or semi finals? Both games in which Rytas and Prokom went head-to-head very close (73:74, 59:54). Rytas went 10-6, Prokom 8-8 in the VTB regular season. Also, Prokom started out the season rather slow and the team has changed quite a bit since then. They changes coaches in the middle of the year and their now 2nd best player (Blassingame) wasn't extactly on his A game early on and that's being kind.
Can't wait to see him on the summer league roster. Should be given star role in summer league. Let's see what he can do.
