Official 2013 Draft thread

[WillG]

It was pointed out a few pages back that the #10 pick in next years draft is of the same worth as this years 1st pick.
I agree with this and think Cleveland have been really unrealistic with their trade demands.

The other thing is - the players going in the lottery tonight should count themselves real lucky to be being drafted this year. In a normal draft these guys would be going late lotto - late teens - and so by being in this particular draft have scored quite the raise in their paycheck.

I hope Olshey keeps that in mind and we dont over-pursue talent that in any other draft would not be rated so high.

 

[oldmangrouch]

Draft McCollum, trade our Eurostash for a late 1st and snag Dieng!

Sounds good to me!

 

[Blaze01]

Adrian Wojnarowski@WojYahooNBA2 minutes ago
Sacramento has been aggressive in trying to move up from seventh in the draft, league sources tell Y! Likely target: Ben McLemore.

Joe Kotoch@Probballdraft4 minutes ago
Reported earlier this week Sacramento was discussing Ben McLemore as an option and whether to pull the trigger. Still think they stay at 7.

 

[Blaze01]

Gery Woelfel@GeryWoelfel4 minutes ago
Bucks were 1 of few teams that DIDN'T attend Karasev's showcase in Vegas. But still saw him recently in Russia.

 

[Blaze01]

Chris Sheridan@sheridanhoopsabout 5 minutes ago
Biggest riser in draft is S.Karasev. Lots of jockeying to get to 9 or 10 to grab him. We have Oladipo falling: sheridanhoops.com/2013/06/27/moc…

Oladipo @ #8
Adams @ #10

 

[Blaze01]

Hoops Analyst - Centers

Lucas Nogueira, Estudiantes: I would probably go with Nogueira if I had my pick of centers available other than Noel. It is a tough call, because this is a solid group and his numbers are for low minutes. It’s hard to pass on a raw, young player with a 7’6” wingspan who hits 66% of his shots while defending well and rebounding adequately. Because the draft is all about upside, I have to rank Nogueira at the top of this group.

Rudy Gobert, Cholet: Same thing I said about Nogueira, only make the wingspan 7’8” and the 2PP .736. His rebounds declined this year, but he has been over 10 in the past so I’m not sure if this is a problem or not. The thing it comes down to is upside. Gobert and Nogueira have the most of the centers available after Noel. There are risks, but starting in the late lottery these two have to be looked at.

Alex Len, Maryland: The big story buzzing around Len has been the injury he suffered during the season. There have been some questions as to when the stress fracture occurred among other things. From the reports the pain started during the BC game in late February. A look at Len’s numbers before this game and after shows there was a clear affect, at least on his offense.The rebounds and blocks declined slightly and that may or may not be injury related. The scoring efficiency and frequency dropped a lot and that could have been the injury.

This matters because Len is being touted as a top 5 pick. I feel top 5 is quite a reach for Len, even if the numbers after the injury are taken out of the equation. Len is a decent NBA center prospect, but nowhere near the player being whispered about as a potential top overall selection. There are few signs of dominance in Len’s numbers, just a solid player who meets all the necessary center qualifications.

His injury and inability to work out for the scouts appears to have helped his stock more than hurt. He’s been a fixture in the top 8 or so all year and now is listed anywhere from 1 to 5. I’m more pessimistic about Len. I see a decent NBA center prospect who is solid, but hardly the dominant type of college player who makes a big impact at the next level. I feel he’s a mid-first round pick.

Steven Adams, Pittsburgh: Adams had a pretty solid freshman year. He’s kind of similar to Len in that there’s nothing eye-popping here, but he did everything that could be reasonably expected of a freshman center prospect. He still has that wide career arc in front of him and is worthy of a late lottery pick. But he needs to improve, especially on offense.

Gorgui Dieng, Louisville: Dieng’s numbers aren’t that great and that keeps him a borderline first rounder. I’ve always had the feeling that he’s better than the numbers suggest. The Cardinals winning the national championship only strengthened this feeling. Champions almost always produce at least one NBA player and Dieng is by far the most likely Cardinal to be that guy.

Good defender, rebounder and passer. His offense is weak and that will likely continue. He looks like a decent rotation player. He’s the age of a 5th-year senior at 23, but he also had a later start at the game so he might have more upside than the typical 23 year-old draftee.

Jeff Withey, Kansas: One of the best shot blockers in the nation, Withey was already a defensive stud, but stepped up the rest of his game nicely as a senior. He blocked over 5 shots per 40 minutes for the 2nd year in-a-row. That he did this while improving his 2PP to .580 and his R40 to 10.8 while taking on a larger offensive load is impressive.

On the negative side is he’s 23 and is a late bloomer having only been a rotation regular for the last two seasons as a Jayhawk. The latter issue could be one of the negatives of playing on a loaded roster. Because I favor defense over offense in a center prospect, I like Withey more than most. I feel he’s well worth a look after the lottery.

I still think Dieng & Withey are going to be better than a lot of these "upside centers"...

 

[Blaze01]

Analytics driven top 20 talents: (players linked to POR in bold):

1. Nerlens Noel, C Kentucky

2. Victor Oladipo, SG Indiana

3. Otto Porter, SF Georgetown

4. Trey Burke, PG Michigan

5. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, SG Georgia

6. Anthony Bennett, F UNLV

7. Cody Zeller, PF Indiana

8. Michael Carter-Williams, PG Syracuse

9. Lucas Nogueira, C Estudiantes

10. Rudy Gobert, C Cholet

11. Alex Len, C Maryland

12. Steven Adams, C Pittsburgh

13. Ben McLemore, SG Kansas

14. CJ McCollum, G Lehigh

15. Shane Larkin, PG Miami

16. Jamaal Franklin, SG San Diego State

17. James Ennis, SF Long Beach State sleeper, 2nd rounder?

18. Nate Wolters, G South Dakota State

19. Jeff Withey, C Kansas

20. Mike Muscala, C Bucknell

http://hoopsanalyst.com/

The top 3 stand out above the rest. I believe all 3 will have a big impact. The next 5 are a mix of players who are likely solid pros and high upside players with a little more risk than the top 3. Next are 4 centers with upside and high potential for turning out ordinary or worse. After that there are a lot of decent prospects with red flags and question marks. I suspect many of them will go on to have long, productive NBA careers, but more will never make it.

As far as where the 2013 draft stands, I feel it is the best draft in the last 3 years, but that isn’t saying much. After going through the prospects I have cooled some on this draft but still feel it will be solid. The best comp I could find is the 2001 draft. That one had a lot of misses early on, no superstars, but a lot of the bigs drafted late were good bargain picks. I feel the bigs will also be the story of this draft.

 

[Blaze01]

James Ham@James_Ham2 minutes ago
I am hearing strong indications that the Kings are trying to shake things up. It's going to be a wild afternoon.

 

[Blaze01]

Marc Berman@NYPost_Berman2 minutes ago
Think #Knicks not going to gamble on Mitchell-Ledo. Future is now. Hearing Glen Rice Jr. still in play

NY was one of the main places people had Ledo linked to....

 

[Blaze01]

Tony Mejia@TonyMejiaNBAabout 5 minutes ago
.@UCFBiggie: what do you think the Magic do? Is it all depending on the Cavs?" Yeah, think they would take Noel if he's there. CLE may deal.

I just don't see ORL passing on Noel if he is there....

 

[Blaze01]

Henry Abbott@TrueHoopabout 6 minutes ago
Magic Johnson said Victor Oladipo reminded him of Michael Jordan. Comparing their advanced stats: es.pn/10ZI2RT

Oladipo compares very well to Jordan in terms of several efficiency stats and is worthy of a very high pick in this draft. His offensive numbers suggest that he will score efficiently in the NBA. His defensive metrics suggest he will be an above-average defensive player. Oladipo should make an enormous impact as a rookie and, based on our metrics, he should be considered a front-runner for rookie of the year.

As for the Jordan comparison ... we’ve left out above a few important differences. For instance, Oladipo took only about 22 percent of Indiana’s shots when he was on the floor, whereas Jordan took almost 32 percent when he was at North Carolina. With fewer shots, Oladipo still turned the ball over more than Jordan, turning it over on 21 percent of his possessions. Jordan’s amazing ability to limit turnovers showed itself in college where he turned it over only on 14.5 percent of his possessions.

 

[Blaze01]

Sean Cunningham@News10Sean1 minute ago
If the Kings are moving up, I would have to think it would be to target Victor Oladipo, who could go in top 2 picks. #nbakings

Sam Amick@sam_amick1 minute ago
Kings have had one conversation about moving up, with Phoenix at No. 5. As Yahoo! reported, they are indeed targeting Ben McLemore.


lol @ the chaos...are they trying to move up? are they not? are they targeting Oladipo? McLemore? Someone else?

 

[Blaze01]

Adrian Wojnarowski‏@WojYahooNBA3m
Knicks remain enamored with German guard Dennis Schroeder at No. 24, but understand he'll likely never make it to them, sources tell Y!

 

[Blazinaway]

Sean Cunningham@News10Sean1 minute ago
If the Kings are moving up, I would have to think it would be to target Victor Oladipo, who could go in top 2 picks. #nbakings

Sam Amick@sam_amick1 minute ago
Kings have had one conversation about moving up, with Phoenix at No. 5. As Yahoo! reported, they are indeed targeting Ben McLemore.


lol @ the chaos...are they trying to move up? are they not? are they targeting Oladipo? McLemore? Someone else?

thye seem more confused then we are, gonna be a wild one

 

[Blaze01]

Gery Woelfel@GeryWoelfel1 minute ago
An NBA exec just told me he doesn't think Bucks need to move up if they want Karasev.

 

[Blaze01]

Aaron Bruski@aaronbruski1 minute ago
In no order - Noel, Len, Bennett, Zeller, Porter, McLemore, Oladipo, Burke and McCollum don't have a tremendous amount of separation.

That is 9...annnnd POR is sitting @ #10 KCP?

 

[Blaze01]

Ken Berger@KBergCBS2 minutes ago
Shane Larkin has attracted the interest of Utah (14) and Milwaukee (15), league sources say.

Ken Berger@KBergCBS1 minute ago
As Phoenix looks to move down and Sacramento up in the lottery, teams getting clear message from the Wizards: They're keeping their pick.

 

[Blaze01]

Andy Katz‏@ESPNAndyKatz53s
If he's there then the feeling among league sources is Trey Burke is looking very strong at New Orleans at 6.

 

[Blaze01]

Andy Katz‏@ESPNAndyKatz1m
League sources say Utah has interest in including Kanter if it can move up.

 

[3RA1N1AC]

Aaron Bruski@aaronbruski1 minute ago
In no order - Noel, Len, Bennett, Zeller, Porter, McLemore, Oladipo, Burke and McCollum don't have a tremendous amount of separation.

That is 9...annnnd POR is sitting @ #10

that leaves pope or adams, id be fine with either i guess

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

I like Bennett as a PF -- He's trying to become a "full time" SF though.

 

[RR7]

Andy Katz‏@ESPNAndyKatz1m
League sources say Utah has interest in including Kanter if it can move up.

Would happily give them 10 for Kanter.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

Andy Katz‏@ESPNAndyKatz1m
League sources say Utah has interest in including Kanter if it can move up.

I'd be all over that.

 

[3RA1N1AC]

he would have to change his #

 

[B-Roy]

Just say no to Adams.

 

[Blazinaway]

Would happily give them 10 for Kanter.

10 and Leonard for Kanter and 14?

 

[Blaze01]

Gery Woelfel@GeryWoelfel1 minute ago
Cavs options at No. 1, I'm told by league source, are in order: Noel, Len or trade.

 

[RR7]

10 and Leonard for Kanter and 14?

very easily

 

[Blazinaway]

very easily

my guess is that they want to move up higher, probably depends as much does who is there

 

[Blaze01]

Kevin Pelton@kpelton2 minutes ago
Based on the combination of my WARP projections and my own scouting, here's my subjective draft board: twitpic.com/cziqmx

McCollum @5
KCP @ #6
Zeller @ #8
Adams @ #11