How high do you think Donatas Motiejunas would be drafted this year given his success in Euroleague this season? I think it's fair to say his stock would be a lot higher this year given his marked improvement especially with his rebounding but would that necessarily mean he'd get picked higher since it's supposedly a much deeper draft?
A 21 years old playing like a monster in euro? Surely be placed higher than 10th, I wouldn't be surprised even if he is picked earlier than MKG.
7th or 6th. His improved skill set, height, and added bulk makes him a much better prospect than last year. Plus he's got major potential and has improved in the areas he was lacking (mainly rebounding).
Jared Sullinger, Harrison Barnes and John Henson are all projected around 6-8 range, and D-Mo is a better prospect then any of them IMO. So I say around 4-6 range...
He was considered a high lottery pick a couple of years ago. He slipped out of the lottery last year when he did not rebound well. With the type of year he is having now, his much much improved rebounding along with the fact that he is a true 7 footer with lots of offensive skills he would have certainly been a high lottery pick. 4 - 7 range I think. True skilled 7 footers are still considered to be the hardest commodity to acquire so he might go before MkG or Beal. Plus how much damage did Drummund do to his draft possition with his uninspired play this past season?
Let's say smack dab at #8. And if hindsight were 20/20, Parsons would be #9. So it was actually a good draft for us. Time will tell on Marcus Morris, whether he's here or elsewhere.
I wonder if anyone can ask someone in the Rockets office about the guy. Keep in mind that he has the issue of being 21, or upperclassman by college standard. Generally teams will always downgrade such players due to perceived limited ceiling. Then again, I thought the Rockets had a steal in Patterson for the same reason, and so far PPat isn't exactly confirming my opinion.
Morey did recently talk about Donatas and said that rebounding was the main reason he slipped last year, and he rebounded very well this year and would go quite a bit higher this season. Concerning Patterson, didn't like the pick when it was made, but he had a very promising rookie year and has been mediocre this year. Next year we will see if it was an okay pick or a very good one.
His team doesn't play in the Euroleague anymore. The Euroleague is like the Champions League of European Basketball and his team got eliminated in the group stage. As for your question, no, he was not, but that's OK, as it's rather rare that anyone is dominating the Euroleague. It's much more team-oriented over there (see my explanation of why Euroleague vets don't become stars in the NBA: http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showpost.php?p=6367700&postcount=375). He is however dominating most games in the Polish League, although the level of competition in that league is several levels below the Euroleague. He had some really good games in the few Euroleague games that he played (see his Euroleague game logs: http://www.in-the-game.org/statisti...league&season=2011&player=MOTIEJUNAS, DONATAS). He also played pretty well for the most part in the VTB League, which is another pretty good league. Overall it's a mixed bag. Some really good games. Some stinkers. Mostly good and perhaps most importantly it seemed like he got better and more consistent as the year went on. As for where Motiejunas would go in this year's draft, I'm guessing somewhere from 5-10.
Guess where Andrea Bargnani went? He might not be as high as him, but top half of the lottery. His strength is 7'0, shoots 3 pointers and rebounding, but his FT needs some work (which can be corrected). That is a coaches dream to have a big guy with those abilities. I really look forward to next season, I think we will fill those holes (of unable to control the paint offensively).
Honestly don't know where he would go. But I will say that outside of getting lucky in the lottery and getting a top 3 pick, I'm more excited about seeing him than anyone else we could draft at 4-14. It's the potential to be a star in the NBA. Big key is potential.
