Heck, I'd like to see the Rocks draft Yi just to hear the chatter between Yao and Yi on the court. They would be able to tell each other where they were going without the opposition knowing, and they really diss the referees without penalty.
they are all overrated, but we won't get a high enough pick to get either of them so the whole point is moot.
Just a reminder of the last 2 centers/power forwards from Florida: Udonis Haslem and David Lee. Both are solid starters today. I think both Noah and Harford look even better than these guys when they were still in college.
I haven't watched Joakim Noah nearly enough to form my own opinion on his game, but ESPN.com's David Thorpe (who's opinion I trust) thinks he's worthy of the Number 1 overall pick.
True, I'm not trying to discredit Yi. In fact I have nothing to base an opinion on him. I'm just trying to point out some facts for the people who think Noah is overrated.
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I don't know about Joakim Noah very much,but I can tell you Yi is excellent. he is as athletic as swift,work hard in practice and have good basketball IQ. I don't know if he will be as good as Yao,but I hope he can be a star player in nba,at least.
David Lee was a 2nd rounder and Haslem wasnt even picked. If Noah and Harford goes to 2nd round or not picked then they are severly underrated like those guys, but now they are going top 5. Would u pick haslem or Lee in the top 10 if u had to redo the draft without knowing that they would be good players in NBA?
I'm not sure what you're getting at (I'm not being facetious), but of course not. I'm not picking Florida guys just because they're from Florida or trying to discredit Yi (on rereading, I still don't know what the point is ). But I would've definitely picked Haslem in the draft. Although it seems like no team had him on their radar, so if I was confident he would slip through the draft and I could pick him up in FA I wouldn't either. Obviously scouts don't watch most Gator games like myself so I can't say I'm surprised they were overlooked, especially since Florida had poor March Madness performances at the time. I'm just speaking for the quality of power forwards/centers Florida has had recently for those that think Noah and Harford are overrated or bust bound.
OJ Mayo is not elligible. I understand he is barely a HS senior or a junior now. Whichever, he is not going to be part of the 2007 class. Unless you meant to say 'Quan. My sentiments exactly. Just for the heck of it, I voted for the more intriguing prospect imho.
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I'm impressed with Yi as an athlete. I'm not impressed with him as a basketball player. That's the most important thing he'll have to change if he's going to have a place in the league. Personally, I see him as a 7 foot Stromile Swift. Great athlete who's going to pick up some good performances by the merit of his physical ability alone, but he's going to follow it up with a string of performance that clearly show he doesn't understand the sport. I mean, if he's becoming lost at the defensive end in CBA games, I wonder what the NBA will hold for him. And his offensive arsenal is pretty limited.... mostly him driving on some scrub big in a league where Mengke Bateer is still an MVP caliber player. Obviously he has the body to become a much better player, but plenty of athletic freaks have failed. It'll be interesting to see if he develops the insane drive to improve like Yao did. The international field of prospects is pretty dangerous to navigate. One drop of potential and suddenly a subpar prospect can be elevated to a position he doesn't belong. Like Sofoklis Schortsanitis and his title Baby Shaq. Please. At the very most, he's another Tractor Traylor with worse hands. These highlights look good, but watch his games and you'll see the holes in his game.
There must be a way to once and for all settle the cloud over how old he exact is... If he is truely 19, his stock is going to shoot up. If he is 21, then he may be even out of lottery pick range. Regarding the Swift/Yi comparison, I was probably the first one in this thread said so... but I think in one area he will defintely be much much much better than Swift -- he will defintely give 110% in practice. He will not want out of game just because some small injuries (a couple common knocks on Swift).
