Just looked him up and didn't realize he was the NBA w****..this guy here has been passed around so many times..Wow looking back at all the crap we threw out (except Dickerson) for Steve Francis, talk about clean sweep! Don MacLean CAREER TRANSACTIONS Selected by the Detroit Pistons in the first round (19th pick overall) of the 1992 NBA Draft....Draft rights traded by the Pistons with William Bedford to the Los Angeles Clippers for Olden Polynice and 1996 and 1997 second-round draft choices on 6/24/92....Draft rights traded by the Clippers with William Bedford to the Washington Bullets for John Williams on 10/8/92....Traded by the Bullets with Doug Overton to the Denver Nuggets for Robert Pack on 10/30/95....Signed as a free agent by the Philadelphia 76ers on 7/16/96....Traded by the 76ers with Michael Cage, Lucious Harris and the draft rights to Keith Van Horn to the New Jersey Nets for Jim Jackson, Eric Montross and the draft rights to Tim Thomas and Anthony Parker on 6/27/97....Traded by the Nets with Michael Cage to the Seattle SuperSonics for Jim McIlvaine on 1/21/99....Traded by the Sonics with Dale Ellis, Billy Owens and the draft rights to Corey Maggette to the Orlando Magic for Horace Grant and two future second-round draft choices on 6/30/99....Traded by Magic with future first-round draft choice to Houston Rockets as part of three-way deal in which Rockets also received draft rights to G Steve Francis and F Tony Massenburg from Vancouver Grizzlies, Magic received Michael Smith, Rodrick Rhodes, Lee Mayberry and Makhtar Ndiaye from Grizzlies, and Grizzlies received Michael Dickerson, Othella Harrington, Brent Price, Antoine Carr and future first-round draft choice from Rockets on 8/27/99....Signed the first of two 10-day contracts with the Phoenix Suns on 3/13/2000....Re-signed by the Suns for the remainder of the season on 4/2/00....Signed as a free agent by the Miami Heat on 9/13/00....Traded by the Heat with cash to the Toronto Raptors in a three-team deal in which the Heat recieved Chris Gatling from the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Cavaliers received Ricky Davis from the Heat and Brian Skinner from the Raptors on 10/26/01.
His numbers were so freakishly good because he played against relatively weak competition. I don't think that means he won't necessarily produce in the NBA but his college numbers, at the very least, are misleading. I would like to have a bigman who can have more of an inside presence but with the 26th pick I think we could do a lot worse. say no to sean williams good basketball players not good athletes
I'm thinking he can probably be had at the beginning of the second round. IMO we should trade #26 and a player or two for a proven player. Then we should buy an early 2nd rounder or trade VSpan or Lucas for something like the Mavs' #34 and take Fazekas. I'm thinking Fazekas will be great for us kinda like Millsap on Utah. Millsap was a better college rebounder, but not by a whole lot. When you add in Fazekas' shooting ability and extra height it basically evens out. If you knew that you could get someone at #34 (or even #26) that would produce as much as Millsap did for Utah last year wouldn't you take it?
Fazekas doesnt thrill me at all at #26. As a second rounder he has more value. But if the Rockets can't trade up then I would rather they survey who is available at #26 and if they aren't worth it, then trade down. I mean, we're talking about comparing Fazekas to Don MacClean here? As soon as someone said that Fazekas was LESS athletic than Troy Murphy, that did it for me. We already have that, Steve Novak.
True Foster has a knack for rebounding. But his strength is the reason he is able to be such a good rebounder in the pros. Fazekas will not be able to get strong enough to be a great rebounder in the NBA because it will be tough for him to get good positioning for the rebound. He will be a good rebounder and could become better if he puts on mass but by the looks of him, it will be very hard for him to put on weight throughout his career.
Fazekas and Novak are two entirely different players. Novak is a perimeter oriented SF that doesn't rebound or defend well meanwhile Fazekas is your traditional, 20/10, banging, low post PF. The idea that Fazekas might get selected where we selected Novak last year is a testament to how strong and deep this draft is. Fazekas is much better than Novak and that's not me hating, it's just me calling it how I see it. Fazekas put up 20/10 three out of his four years in college. That's impressive regardless of the level of competition. And furthermore, let's get something straight here: FAZEKAS IS AN ACCOMPLISHED COLLEGE PLAYER. Both in terms of individual accomplishments and overall team success. As freshman he helped lead that Kirk Snyder team to the Sweet 16. In 2005, he beat one of your beloved and overrated Texas teams before falling to Luther and his runner-up Illinois squad. In 2006, they were highly hyped but ended up being one of those 12>5 trap upsets and disappointed in the Tourney after yet another successful season. Then in 2007, they were ranked #9th overall at one point which is the highest in school history. I also think its noteworthy to point out that from the start of his sophomore season up until the end of his senior season he was held to single digits in scoring only once. I don't think you can go wrong taking this kid. He's a winner. He has an NBA body, he's extremely intelligent. You know, the kind of intelligent player that knows to foul with nine seconds left. He's an excellent rebounder with great instincts, anticipation skills and simply has a nose for the ball. He can score in the post (both face up and post up) and has 3-pt range. No, he may not necessarily be a home run pick but he's NBA ready and could potentially contribute right away. If all other attractive trade options and players are gone, why not take a chance on a relatively safe pick like him?
I think Fazekas could be an okay pick, but I agree with the trade down approach. You can see why Morey likes him. Great, great stats, and improves every year. Great height at 6'11, and a nice build - I think he's listed around 240 lbs. Whoever thought he couldn't approach Jeff Foster's size must not be reading what I'm reading. At 6'11, 250 in the NBA for Foster, Fazekas currently at 6'11, 240 should be able to add on 10 more pounds and get stronger easily. Finally, you can go back and check his gamelogs at ESPN for his 4 years. The notion that Fazekas dissapeared in big games seems unfounded. His numbers seem to be fine in postseason vs. regular season, especially the last 2 years. This year he played averaged in the tourney. About 18.5/9 or so. The prior season, he played fantastic - 23.5/13. His freshman and sophmore post-season runs were hit and miss. FInally, keep in mind that while he isn't Novak, he shot 43% from college 3 pointer last year, and has the inside game Novak lacks. There are some valid concerns, though. Competition level. Even in the tournament, they haven't had the toughest run. They lost to Memphis this past year, as an example, but that wasn't really a frontcourt heavy Memphis team. So how do you really gauge his 20 point, 7 rebound game in a loss? The best team they played aside from Memphis was maybe Gonzaga. He went 24/9 on them. The prior season the best team they played was Kansas. Nick went for 35 points, with 8 rebounds. Athleticism. I don't think less athletic than Troy Murphy is a fair comparison, because Murphy ain't that athletic. I'd say Troy Murhpy-esque in athleticism. I would prefer Sean Williams to Fazekas, if both are available, and if targeting Fazekas, I'd prefer to drop back. But if he's who we get, it won't be a complete lost cause of a draft, imo. Actually, to make me feel even a little better, Hollinger's new rating system has Fazekas as the 7th best collegiate player this year and describes him like this: But Fazekas' numbers have been consistently outstanding -- particularly on the glass -- which makes him seem like Nick Collison with a jump shot. Nick Collison with some offensive skill sounds like a steal.
I don't think this is necessarily an apt comparison. MacLean had a much thicker frame and had less than no quickness. MacLean was a very mediocre college rebounder, nonexistent on defense and he was a very one dimensional offensive player (15 foot jumpers off of screens) coming out of college (though he was awesome at that). I don't know if he will be better or worse than MacLean, but Fazekas doesn't strike me as a one dimensional mid-range jumpshooter.
Did you guys check out this thread. It says Fazekas is the 7th best college player in the draft. http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=131370 2007 Draft: Top 30 rated collegians, plus other notables NO. PLAYER SCHOOL SCORE FORD'S TOP 100 1. Kevin Durant Texas 870.7 2 2. Greg Oden Ohio State 667.9 1 3. Mike Conley Jr. Ohio State 637.9 7 4. Thaddeus Young Georgia Tech 604.2 14 5. Brandan Wright North Carolina 601.4 8 6. Al Horford Florida 601.0 3 7. Nick Fazekas Nevada 594.3 35 8. Josh McRoberts Duke 566.7 26 9. Rodney Stuckey E. Washington 557.7 16 10. Jared Dudley Boston College 542.6 31 11. Joakim Noah Florida 528.6 9 12. Glen Davis LSU 521.0 25 13. Sean Williams Boston College 511.3 20 14. Jeff Green Georgetown 505.5 6 15. Kyle Visser Wake Forest 503.5 57 16. Herbert Hill Providence 503.0 49 17. Javaris Crittenton Georgia Tech 492.2 18 18. Wilson Chandler DePaul 483.1 30 19. Julian Wright Kansas 481.4 11 20. Daequan Cook Ohio State 470.0 27 21. D.J. Strawberry Maryland 465.5 52 22. Jason Smith Colorado State 464.9 17 23. Alando Tucker Wisconsin 464.3 41 24. Corey Brewer Florida 462.4 5 25. Al Thornton Florida State 447.8 10 26. Marcus Williams Arizona 445.8 33 27. Acie Law Texas A&M 445.2 15 28. Aaron Gray Pittsburgh 440.5 38 29. Zabian Dowdell Virginia Tech 438.2 34 30. Spencer Hawes Washington 433.9 12
This article really supports Fazekas as being one of the best big men in the draft: http://www.draftexpress.com/viewarticle.php?a=2128
I think Fazekas is just a smokescreen, maybe this year's JJ Redick. Fazekas isn't athletic and whenever the Rockets have been asked about improving the team they say they need to get more athletic.
He is 6'11" and 235lbs. How is that not enough mass? Novak was something like 6'10" and 209lbs so do not confuse the two.
Yeah I'm all for us taking Nick Fazekas after reading the articles at DraftExpress... and I think he fits our systems too.
You can't just look at their weight and height and say they "can get strong". Fazekas is just a weak body no matter how much he tries he will not be able to aproach Jeff Foster's strength. Guys like Garnett are ridiculously skinny but very strong because they are wiry. Fazekas is just weak and slow and there is a reason he is projected as more of a second rounder. If people went by his college stats including rebounding he would be a top 20 pick. The knock against him is that he will not be able to add strength which is a very big deal in the NBA. If you have watched him play you will know what I am talking about. And no he is not like Collison either. If he was like Collison with some offensive skills he would be a lottery pick. He just doesn't have the toughness that other white PF's have or the strength. Also, I think Collison put up similar numbers in college at Kansas his senior year. He had a very nice offensive game even extending out to college 3. His post moves weren't as good as Nick's but comparable. I hope Fazekas can become like Collison but it may take awhile before he can consistently contribute to a team in the NBA much like it did for Collison. There is no way he will match Collison's toughness who I think is the toughest in the NBA which will set them apart in terms of success in this league.
He is listed as more like 225lbs but weight doesn't really matter. A lot of his "mass" as you say is from is lower body. His upper body is incredibly weak. It is not a question of mass it is of toughness and strength. If that was enough "mass" he would be a sure fire top 20 pick. Here is a blurb of Nick's weaknesses according the same website where the favorable write up is: "The big question about Fazekas, and the reason that he might be kept out of the 1st round is his physical strength. Even though he puts up great numbers, they are usually against weaker competition. He is not the ideal physical specimen most teams look for in a power forward. Because of that he might have trouble against superior athletes at that position. His lack of strength could cause him to get pushed around by bigger players, and there are major question marks about how he will be able to hold his position on the block. His upper body strength is especially poor. What’s most concerning about this is the fact that his frame is extremely narrow, particularly in his shoulders, which leads you to believe that he will have a very difficult time putting on more weight." I'm not sure why you mentioned Novak but he is listed at 220 but anyways he is more of a SF with spot minutes at the 4 if he gets strong enough. Fazekas will be a PF/C in the pros and if you think he is "big" enough already then I can't argue anymore. I really hope he becomes a solid player and I think he could but you guys are trying to convince yourselves that he will be our pick and you are trying to warm up to it. I wouldn't mind us trading down for a second round pick and insert solid player or two second round picks and taking Fazekas but at #26 I think it would be a stretch. I would be surprised if Morey's first pick is Fazekas because despite what many think here he has a lot of question marks.
If you check the NBA websight and the ESPN websight Fazekas is listed at 235. Draft Express has him listed as 225. I guess its a matter of who you want to believe. Maybe you should read this from Win Score draft preview: http://www.draftexpress.com/viewarticle.php?a=2146 Fazekas actually had good numbers against the good compition. Win Score also has him listed as one of their 3 draft booms. You might also want to read this: http://www.draftexpress.com/viewarticle.php?a=2128 Fazekas is hands down the best PF...stat wise. And this is from Hollinger at ESPN: http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/draf.../story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=ProRater He refers to Fazekas as Nick Collison with a jump shot and has him as the 7th highest rated player in the draft.
I said it in another thread but I'm not so sure about this guy. His shot looks decent but his strength and athleticism dont look so great. He'd get abused worse than Hayes and Battier in the paint.
