I've been having trouble going to Nbadraft.net Anybody know if they are down for maintenance or just down for the count?
Thank you very much. I see there is a new top ten person. NBA Comparison: Pau Gasol At just 18, is one of the top overall prospects in Europe. Very precocious feel for the game. Excels in many aspects. Can shoot from long range, battles for rebounds. Struggles defensively, but just needs time to develop his strength. Has very good agility and can run the floor. Great offensive touch. Could grow another few inches. Talk in Europe is that he will be better than Pau Gasol. Will probably end up at 7-1. On Tzikistvili being a top 5 pick. "Well if I was a GM I wouldn't do it, you've got Ming, Gooden, Williams, Wagner, Woods, Stoudamire and others. But there is a Gasol factor here. Gasol had a lot of hype from Spain but didn't showcase himself to NBA suits before the draft and didn't put up dominating numbers in Spain, but showed promise. Memphis took a gamble and we know the rest. Same goes for Tziki he has great promise (although I think Gasol is a better player) and people will have to take a gamble here if they want to use a high pick on him. But i think a later lottery slection would be more realistic for him, from the 7th to 15th pick." -Uros Velkavrh -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tsika (as we call Nickoloz Tskitishvili ) is a heck of a player and comparing him to Gasol is not off the mark. Anyway he's very very raw. Before landing in the NBA, Pau Gasol played a major role in the Spanish ACB league and Euroleague as well. He was the go to guy of the Barcelonna team (one of the best teams in Europe). Tsika plays only 14 minutes per game in the Italian league, and 6 minutes in Euroleague, and his stats are as follows: Italian league 7,7 ppg, 2 rpg, 74% 2FG, 42%3FG, 0,4 assists per game. Euroleague 1,5 ppg, 1 rpg, 60%2FG, 0,2 apg. As you see, he definitely needs to spend at least another year in Europe in order to develop his skills. Talking about his skills...very gifted. Great athlete, he's a natural SF, with range from 3 (I'm not to sure that at the moment he has NBA range from 3 point distance), very quick. He runs the floor very well, he can even post up. He has to work on his body in order to get stronger and be able to hold the post. Anyway good post moves. He can put the ball on the floor, quite good as offensive rebounder, a decent defensive rebounder. He has to work a lot on defense. He's got very long arms (good shot blocker) but he tends to get into foul trouble (2 fouls on average in 14 minutes...which translates to roughly 6 fouls every 48 minutes). Due to the young age, he's not very consistent. If you consider that he's only 18 years old...well the sky is the limit!!!! Let's say that after another season spent in Europe he can be in the top five pick of the 2003 draft. 4.21.02 He needs to play at least one year in Europe as one of the main players, and not only play 10 minutes every other match. He needs to show he's a go to guy, improve defensively and playmaking, but the sky is the limit for his potential! I believe he won't declare for 2002 draft, and will wait until next year. He knows he can be drafted very high. But he's to raw to be drafted in the first 10 picks (in the 2002 draft). Next year he can go as high as picks numbers 4-5. That's why I think Mike D'antoni has suggested to him: Stay another year in Treviso, get your playing time, and then declare for the draft. -Gabriele Giannini - Olympia Milano
First of all, not a chance Butler falls to #9. And why would Phoenix pick him anyway when they have an identical player in Shawn Marion? It has us taking Ely at 15 and I would be happy with that, but I stay awake at night wondering, if we have to choose between them at #5, who we would take... Butler, Wilcox, or Woods? IMO, Butler is a perfect fit for this team. He brings athelitcism, DEFENSE, and will be an instant contributor. After watching a couple playoff games, I realized that after this draft, we'll have as much if not more talent than anyone in the league if Griff develops and we land an impact guy like Butler. But most importantly we have to learn to play together. That chemistry that infected the 94 and 95 teams is just nowhere to be seen. So the talent is not a question, the desire is.
Man, talk about a draft that breaks perfectly for our team. Nbadraft's author must be a Houston native. IF we're lucky enough to draft #5 and IF QWoods is still there, and IF a Brenda Haywood clone falls to #15, we'd be doing all right. It would be Jerry West's first big mistake to pass on QWoods (Memphis native) if available, considering the guy can play 3, 2, or 1.
Props to NBAdraft.net for finding the European/foreign talent first, but his mock drafts are typically laughable. They may simply be a listing of his top 28 players without regard for the team they'd be drafted by, but rare are the times where the picks make much sense except at the top.
I would love for Gooden to go in the top 3. I think he's a tweener who may have trouble in the pros. I liked him alot earlier, but I kind of lost respect for him after what he did in that first round game.
But my question is why would phoenix going to draft caron butler when they already have sooo many wing players? Doesn't make any sense.
Yeah, give them a break. To their credit, they tend to take team needs into account once they know the draft order. For now, just read the player evaluations, some of them aren't bad. Others, however,.... (Dunleavy = Bird, Duhon = Thomas, Ford = Archibald, Hilario = Dream)
