[SI] No stars in the 2011 NBA Draft - agree/disagree?

There's definitely not that star in college. Irving could have done it but is now injured. Can you imagine how John wall or Derrick Rose would have been had they gotten injured after 8 games? In the same boat likely; both those guys were supremely hyped but would have gone into the draft with much uncertainty had they not improved throughout the year the way they did.

Two years ago I called it a down draft, with nothing but a bunch of point guards and Blake Griffin (who had been a 10-20 prospect out of high school and the highest remaining sophomore in college who hadn't yet declared for the NBA) to anchor the class. I honestly thought a class of Griffin, Curry, Evans, Harden, Jennings was going to be the worst since the Kenyon Martin draft. I remember Bill Simmons saying exactly three players would be worth anything in the draft: Griffin, Curry, and Hansbrough (LOL).

Nevermind. What I mean is, the jury's still out but as a whole I think they beat expectations so far. So you can never tell.

 

I would tend to agree. Similar story here by Y! Sports

 

Wow, sucks to be Cavs...yet again...

 

Sullinger looks legit to me.

 

You hear that way too often before the draft stars.
Never trust any predictions, see:

Predicted Stars: Darko, Okafor, Adam Morrison, Tyrus, Marvin Williams, Dunleavy, Tskitishvili

Predicted Roleplayers: Redd, Arenas, David Lee, Monta Ellis, Josh Howard, Boozer, Scola

And that's just the recent years...

 

Irving should go 1 or 2.

 

No, I disagree...

Many scouts have called this draft weak, not in terms of talent, but in terms of depth. But truth be told its almost impossible to gage if a draft will be weak or strong in terms of talent, the 2009 NBA Draft was said to be weak, but has come out to be surprisingly better than expected...

You can also look at the 2007 NBA Draft, many scouts were saying that it was going to be one of the strongest draft's of all time. But from what has been seen so far outside of Durant, Horford, and a few others, the draft has been farely mediocre...

 

If anyone is arguing that Kyrie Irving isn't a star, they haven't watched him (when he played).

I'm also intrigued by Jared Sullinger, Perry Jones, Derrick Williams, Terrence Jones, Harrison Barnes and a few of the Euro lottery big men.

 

I feel that this draft will be a pretty damn good draft. Barnes, Perry and Terrence Jones, Jared, Irving, and I think Nolan Smith will surprise people too. And the role players in this draft could be better than the last few drafts. Don't quote me on this because its just my assessment.

 

There are always diamonds to be found in the rough. It is really difficult to project college players to the NBA level. I don't think anyone predicted Blake Griffin would have the kind of impact he has had, for example. One advantage to having no clear superstar picks is that someone with star potential is more likely to slip to our mid-teens pick level for Morey to snatch up.

 

All of those guys are roleplayers.

 

Does it benefit or hurt the cavs if they don't draft a franchise player this year? What if they draft a very solid 2nd option suck again next year and get a much better star? Then they don't get stuck in the same situation as they did with lebron...

 

I agree with you here. Irving may be in this group too. We also don't know much of anything about Enes Kanter. He was expected to be a lottery pick after a year at UK.

 

When Rose was at Memphis, his potential for NBA greatness wasn't fully appreciated until he exploded during their NCAA tourney run. It's too early to say there are no stars in this draft. There won't always be a beginning-to-end megastar like Blake Griffin or John Wall every year.

After the season ends, don't be surprised if a couple of guys have jumped to the head of the class and left everyone else in the dust.

 

Wow you're crazy for that one.
Redd and Arenas are multiple all-stars but had injuries.
David Lee and Ellis are legit all-stars and lead their team.
Josh Howard was all-star too, same thing with Boozer.
Scola is an elite scoring PF, and if you looked at the draft you'd know he was underrated.

All these guys were drafted way too low, i hate how guys come on here and just randomly dismiss comments but have no way of backin up themselves.

 

I don't think a lot of scouts are saying there won't be stars.. there just aren't any outright stars that come to mind when you read these names.... and this true. Nobody is saying Sullinger, Walker, Fredette, Jones, etc. will not become a star... but there's no Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, or Kevin Durant in this draft that is already predicted to be a star.

There might also be a few of those second round players that turn into all-stars in the future. The past has proven this... it's nothing new this season. But, there aren't any outright stars in this years draft as of today.

 

IMO, this will change after the Ncaa tournament.

 

Irving and Jones (if they leave) will be stars. There will be others as well. In the last 30 years, only the 2000 draft (Kenyon Martin was #1 pick) has failed to produce a bonafide star.

 

So we're all just going to pretend that the Pyear thing didn't happen and let it go? Wow, just wow.