Dunleavy is a poor man's Langhi

DA...I wouldnt take him over Ming, however, all I need to know about Dunleavy is that Jerry West wants him badly. That speaks volumes in my opinion. I've never been high on Dunleavy but Wests' evaluation of the guy holds a lot of water

 

Jerry West knows basketball, but part of the reason he wants Dunleavy is that he respects the Dunleavy family. I never understood the fascination with Dunleavy, he was a good college player, but no way would I burn a lottery pick on him, or trade down just to get him like some people have suggested. He might turn out to be a good NBA player, but if we're going to get a SF with the pick we might as wel lget a proven one since we're trying to win now.

 

Yeah, but the best player on that team was Jay Williams and he is the best player in college. The thing you have to look at in Dunleavy is how perfectly he fits our offense.

 

If you think Jerry West is going to draft a kid because he likes his family than you are sadly mistaken. If he drafts him, he is drafting him purely due to his basketball ability and nothing else.

 

West is smoking crack. The Griz already have a better 3 in Battier. Why on earth would they draft Dunleavy? I can only figure that West is looking to trade Battier and replace him with Dunleavy.

 

Jerry West is far and away the best judge of talent in the NBA. There isn't a 'basketball person' in or around the NBA that would disagree with that. If he wants Dunleavy, you can bet the farm that there is a damn good reason he does.

 

he also said last year that rodney white was the best player in the draft.

 

you have a link to that quote?

 

I'm not so sure West (who I tremendous respect for as a judge of NBA talent) is just blowing smoke with Dunleavy. He has never been known to show his hand in past drafts, so I would take all this Dunleavy hype with a grain of salt.

 

Gimp...you going to the draft?

 

That came from this article, plus a few others
http://espn.go.com/nba/draft2001/s/2001/0620/1216370.html
http://www.sportingnews.com/nba/draft/white.html
http://www.ibiblio.org/craig/draft/2001_draft/Picks/9_detroit.shtml
Apparently last year that was the big buzz around the draft that Jerry West supposedly said that

 

The only one quoted as saying that in those articles was Rodney White.

 

That's why i said Jerry West SUPPOSEDLY said that about White, but every article i found mentioning Jerry West and Rodney White mentions this comment.

It was even on clutchcity

http://www.clutchcity.net/mockdraft.cfm?xMockID=1064

Maybe Jerry didn't actually say it but he's sure getting credit for saying it.

 

<i>Ok, I know he is not really, but the guy was not even the BEST player on his college team. </i>

Neither was Vince Carter. He's done pretty well in the NBA.

 

Dunlevy is basically a Walt Williams or Mike Miller clone. Similar all around game as a small forward. Adequate but not great athleticism for a 3 in the NBA. Good shooter. Good passer. Can drive a bit. Good knowledge of the game. Better work ethic than Walt, but like Walt could find it hard to do all the things he did in college against the more athletic guys.

When Walt was hitting his shots he helped the team. Those games from Walt are about all we can expect out of Dunlevy. We don't just leap into the class of Dallas, Sacramento or San Antonio, much less the Lakers when Walt had a hot game. (That's assuming that Dunlevy is always a consistent three point shooter.)

A Dunlevy type of guy who is available most years through the mid first round of the draft or a trade. A Yao is available about onece every 10 years.

Of course if we are trying to justify Dunlevy over Yao we can imagine that he is the next Larry Bird. Likewise we can imagine Jay Williams as the next Isiah or Kidd. If we are playing that game, let's imagine Yao as the next Jabbar as he is working on his hook shot and has an excellent touch. Jabbar could have been traded for Isiah plus a typical All Star at their peaks.

Let's assume a mid point of success wrt to Dunlevy, Jay Will and Yao. Dunlevy is Scerbiak, Williams is Terrel Brandon and Yao is Rick Smits. In a few years you can always trade a Rick Smits for a Mike Miller, or Terrel Brandon plus a first rounder or two. Teams often have an extra productive startable point guard, but virtually no one has an extra productive starting center.

Go with Yao Ming

 

I think Dunlevy will be a good if not great NBA 3, which this team needs desperately, but we need a good (potentially great) center worse.

 

I had hoped this was an article or thead calling for us to keep Langhi, which I would want.

 

If we waste the #1 pick on Dunleavy, I'll commit suicide by jumping off this board. I suppose he'll be a nice player, but we MUST strengthen our post offense and defense either by picking Ming or leveraging the pick(s) to acquire impact players.

Dallas Rocket