The top half of the lottery is just full of win. Drummond or Davis at the top Barnes, Sullinger, or Perry Jones behind them J Lamb, Q Miller, or T Jones as strong swing options next And there's STILL good potential to land a star behind those 8 guys! T Ross, Middleton, Robinson, Gilchrist, and maybe Henson or Beal. It's a great year to miss the playoffs.
Too hard to say so early except it definitely won't be Harrison Barnes. I don't know if he will even be in the top 5.
Jones and Drummond have the most upside, though of the four mentioned, I see Jones as having the highest bust potential. I'd take Davis over Jones. Barnes will be a good player, probably a star, but I don't think he's a generational talent. If Sullinger trims down to ~250 with <10% body fat by the combine, he might be the safest choice. But no question in my mind, Drummond's going to be the crown jewel of this draft. True superstar potential. Worth tanking for, despite my no-tanking stance.
Barnes has the assassin's attitude and clutch gene, but he isn't nearly as skilled or athletic as Kobe. He just doesn't have the talent to be an NBA franchise player. Between the ears, he's definitely got what it takes. He reminds me of a more talented, alpha-attitude Robert Horry.
I agree, Harrison Barnes is talented and intelligent, but he is much closer to Luol Deng than Kobe in any way shape or form. He is comfortable in the clutch, but he is not a kill you aggressive assasin which is what makes kobe great and can take over. I think he can be a solid 2nd/3rd option,have great scoring nights, and keep defenses honest, but I'd be hard pressed to refer to him as a true star in anyway, but still a solid pick to have on your team. Anthony Davis is the most intriguing, having some guard skill sets, natural defense timing, and height, but he needs to put more weight on badly. Andre Drummond shows great potential too. Austin Rivers has sort of left the picture after coming in so hyped, but i just don't see where his role is in the league although he is a talent. Kidd-Gilchrist is athletic, active and pretty damn impressive How about houston/Rice's Arsalan Kazemi. This guy is just a full on energy guy that impacts every area of the game. He is a threated for 15-11-3-2-2 every night sort of like a kirelenko if he can learn to hit hte 3 ball
Keep your eye on Tony Wroten. He needs to cut down on the to's and improve his ft's. Great size for a PG though.
He is solid and I am a fan, but where the hell do you get best all around player. He is a scorer, and a good,not great one at that. He is efficient, reliable, and talented. He doesn't do much else. he is a good, but not great defender. He doesn't rack up steals or blocks either. He is not a bad, but not a great passer as well. So basically like I mentioned above he is a reliable, good player like a luol deng type rather than 'best all around' player. I am not sure what else you feel he does outside of scoring
as much as I love this current team and love to see a winning team, this draft is just too damn good not too trade the vets and go all season with our young guns. I can see a top 5 finish if we do that.
The draft might be deep, but I just don't see too many can't-miss allstars that people are actually wanting to tank for. Anthony Davis is clearly the best of the lot, and even he is defense only dunker at the moment. Andre Drummond might have the highest upside, but also highest bust potential. Hyped bigmen who can't even dominate college basketball are somehow supposed to light the NBA on fire? Where have we heard that one before? I really don't see what's so special about the rest either. Barnes is a decent scorer and that's about it, nothing extraordinary. Quincy Miller is a nutcase. Lamb can't get to the freethrow line to save his life. Sullinger will have a productive career but is another non-shotblocking PF. I'm sure a few of these will become solid pros, but honestly I doubt more than a couple of them end up better than Kevin Martin. And I don't view Kevin Martin as some world beater by a long shot.
I disagree with a number of your evaluations (I do think Drummond has a good chance of becoming a superstar), but I agree with your main point. Tanking is only worthwhile when there's a Tim Duncan or LeBron at the end of the tunnel. If you end up just drafting good/borderline all-star players or worse (which is what's statistically most likely to happen), five years later you end up in the same position we find ourselves in now.
