nbadraft.net has just updated its mock draft and finally someone agrees with me that we could and SHOULD draft Quentyl Woods with our #5 pick. Honestly, I've never seen him play, however, if these are legitimate comparisons to T-Mac, then how could you pass on him? I've read from other sports sources that he could be the most well-rounded, and gifted athlete, with the most pay-off in this year's draft. They also say he's the most NBA ready player in the draft b/c of his utilization of his skill and athleticism. That being said, he goes to Jr. College and hasn't seen any NCAA quality competition, yet he's the "th most NBA ready player in the draft!!" That has to volumes. If he were to fall to us at #5, i would go ape sh%t!!! I know the Rockets need defense so Butler is the only other sf I'd take with the 5th pick as a reach, but he's not as talented as Woods, and is 6'6" compared to Woods' 6'9" (adding great height to the team). Wilcox and Stoudamire are possibilities at the #5 slot, but Woods has absolute superstar potential. Adding him into the mix with the 3 other potential super-stars of Francis, Mobley, and Griffin, and let them gel and grow together, and we could have something scary down in the Bayou City!!! Let me know your knocks on Woods?
He's a juco player; these players inherently are just slightly moreready for the NBA than a raw high schooler is. Draft him and you're looking at a one-two year wait for him. As with all juco players, you are looking at an unproven commodity. He hasn't faced competition like this his entire life and while he may have the tools to overcome this, it's not going to happen right away. And personally, I find it hard for anyone to be like McGrady other than McGrady himself. He'll be the only Qyntel Woods - however good that turns out to be. My knock on him? How good is his jumper, or is he just like Corey Maggette right now?
mfclark: Coach, do you feel that Woods is the piece you need to chase a championship? Rudy: Championship? CHAMPIONSHIP!? I just want to get to the playoffs. mfclark- It's going to be a while until Griff develops and this team is ready to go after the big one. Would it hurt to have one guy maturing around the same pace of Griffin? BTW how old is the guy? My only concern is that Rudy wouldn't use him right.
JUst for the record, TMac didn't turn out to be that great of a pick for the Raptors. Basically, they payed for his services for several years, but only recieved one or 1.5 years of quality service from him. At the end of this period, he left them throught free-agency and they recieved nothing more than a draft pick. Value-wise from the Raptor's view only I don't see how they can consider McGreedy anything less than a bust. This is what worries me with the Quintel Woods' of the world. You basically pay the 'full price' that you'd pay for a fully developed player, yet they manage to accrue the 'years of service' benifits of players who come in and contribute right away.
The difference between TMac and Woods is that Tmac entered the NBA from high school, and Woods will enter from a JuCo. Personally, I can't think of any other JuCo players off the top of my head other than Shawn Kemp and Kedrick Brown, but Kemp was averaging 15 points and 8 boards by his second season, so I don't think the transition from a JuCo is as hard as the transition from high school to the NBA. Kedrick Brown might turn out to be good too, but he hasn't had much chance to prove himself. My guess is, if Qyntel is as good as his hype, we would get at the least 2 years of good production from him, and I think the odds that we would be able to keep a player like that better than the Raptors. I would have no problem drafting Woods. If Woods turned out to be anywhere near as good as TMac when his rookie contract is up, I would hope he would not bolt for other pastures since, by then, Steve will have further matured along with Eddie Griffin, and this young team will be seriously coming into its own.
wait til the lotto. you might not have to hope he falls. just take him 2nd or something. odds are you dont pick 5th anyways.
Without a doubt, the transition from JC to NBA is easier than HS to NBA. Mainly because the level of competition at JC is much higher than HS. In HS, you play maybe 5-10 D-1 caliber players a year. If that... In JC, you play about 100-150 D-1 calliber players a year. Not to mention that the coaches at the JC level are more advanced than HS coaches.
Well, from his nbadraft.net profile at least, his jumper is pretty good. NBA Comparison: Tracy McGrady Strengths: (Based on hearsay) Possibly the most talented prospect in the entire 2002 NBA Draft if he declares. Has skills that are unteachable. Part of the new breed of NBA players, of the Tracy McGrady, multi-skilled, ultra athletic types. A do it all player. One NBA insider I spoke to said he will be a top 3 pick and may end up the best player in the entire draft class. Comparing him to McGrady, he probably isn't the run jump athlete but his handle and shot are better. More importantly, "He's a good kid. I've met him and talked with his family, and he may not have taken the usual course to the NBA, but he's a good kid." Very versatile, extremely skilled wing player, with great size and quickness. Can handle the basketball extremely well at 6-9, scores with a variety of moves to the basket, and has a nice shooting stroke. Explosive player with very good scoring ability. Weaknesses: The Juco stigma. Kedrick Brown paved the way, jumping from a Juco player to being a lottery pick. However, he has had a slow start in Boston struggling for minutes. There will be no shortage of NBA scouts following Woods development this season.
"In HS, you play maybe 5-10 D-1 caliber players a year. If that... In JC, you play about 100-150 D-1 calliber players a year." I think those numbers are way off. Look at the list every year during the signing period. I guarantee you in every major college recruiting haul, you will see at least a 4:1, 5:1 highschooler to Juco player ratio. If the high school stud plays for a team like DeMatha that is consistently a nationally ranked, he'll probably have 3-5 Division I players on his team to practice with everyday. On top of that, playing in one high profile tournament during the season translates into playing at least 10-20 Division I players. Not too mention the summer camps with the Nike, Addidas, and ABCD, where a player is going to be playing with hundreds of top notch Division I caliber players every single day. The fact is, most good Division I players who go to JUCO are players who played in anonymity in some small high school and flew under the recruiting radar, or they couldn't get the requisite score necessary to go directly into a Division I school. I'd say at least 80% of all NBA players never played in the JUCO ranks. The only advantage a JUCO player has over a HS player is that his body has had more type to develop. I think the overall talent faced from game to game on the JUCO level is at best, marginally better than the overall HS talent. So in summary, I think there is a fallacy in the assumption that top notch JUCO players are more prepared to play in the NBA than top notch high school players.
The Rockets are sitting pretty at either 5 or 6. One of either Woods or Butler should still be there. Wilcox should be the 3rd choice, because although he has tremendous upside, we already have 3 PFs.
The other difference is that he is more developed because of his age, after 18 is a fragile age to play professionally at. I am not
