The Official 2012 NBA Draft Talk Thread

[PTBG]

David Aldridge reports on NBA TV that the Nets are "calling around the league" hoping to move up in the lottery where they would like to take Thomas Robinson, NCAA Player of the Year and a projected top five pick. Aldridge said the Nets hope to use Robinson to close the deal with Deron Williams or in a trade for Dwight Howard.

Robinson said a few months back that he would like to play for the Nets.

The Nets are hoping to move into the first round and have $3 million of Mikhail Prokhorov's cash hoard available to facilitate such a move. The question is what other assets can they marshal to move up 50+ places on the Draft Board. Aldridge reportedly used the word "desperate" to describe the Nets efforts. Speaking of "desperation", Aldridge also used the word in a tweet to characterize the Mavericks push for Williams. "Dallas' desperation for DWill."

 

[The War Report]

How about not trading your fukking lottery pick, you stupid fukks.

 

[O.iatlhawksfan]

How about not trading your fukking lottery pick, you stupid fukks.

Exactly what I was thinkin

 

[PTBG]

How about not trading your fukking lottery pick, you stupid fukks.

I think the plan is to trade Brooks and Morrow and future 1st round picks for Thomas Robinson and potentially even trade Robinson and other assets for D12 or they think Robinson and Wallace resigning would be enough for Deron to stay. lol

 

[tremonthustler1]

Y! Sports/DraftExpress 2012 NBA Mock Draft No. 4 - Yahoo! Sports

updated mock from DX

 

[PTBG]

on the low, the Celtics might pick up 2 steals if they get both Royce White and Fab. They don't have to do much, except rebound for the C's and that's it really and do the dirty work for the C's. The C's actually might have a promising future ahead plus with cap space too

 

[PTBG]

Here is a dope article on if a player was GM and who they would select for there team:
If I were the general manager... -

 

[Malta]

Insider article on Drummond -

According to Chad Ford’s most recent mock draft, nine one-and-done players are projected to go in the first round of Thursday's NBA draft.

NBA executives have the challenge of evaluating one-and-done players based only on one year of college, since the collective bargaining agreement prohibits them from doing so during the high school season, but we have been watching these guys since they first appeared on the high school and grassroots circuits.


Courtesy of the Adidas Super 64
Andre Drummond was the No. 1 player in the 2012 class and then reclassified into the 2011 class. He became No. 2 behind Anthony Davis.
And in some cases since they were in middle school, which is the case for me with Andre Drummond. Long before I ever evaluated Drummond for ESPN, I worked with him on an almost weekly basis when he was in the seventh and eighth grades. That experience has given me unique perspective over the years in watching him develop and evolve as a person and basketball prospect.

At a young age, he was growing so much that developing the muscle memory necessary for skill development was especially difficult. As Drummond got older, it was the dominance of his physical profile, not of his overall production, which pushed him to the top of the national rankings. Unfortunately, people saw those rankings as grounds to expect an immediately dominant college player, which was unrealistic given his natural physical and basketball evolution.

Most have labeled his freshman season a disappointment, but Drummond actually made noticeable progress in two significant areas -- shot blocking and offensive role recognition.

While he was always good for swatting a shot or two into the stands during high school, his shot-blocking technique was never great. He became much better during his one season at UConn keeping his hands high and ready, not leaving his feet on shot fakes or picking up goaltending violations. As a result, he averaged 2.7 blocks per game (3.8 blocks per 40 minutes). His physical tools also enabled him to be a highly effective defender against post-ups (96 percent efficiency according to Synergy Sports Technology) and isolations (92 percent).

Offensively, he finally learned to play the game from the inside out, anchoring his game to the paint instead of constantly floating to the perimeter as he did during his high school and AAU days.

As he enters the NBA, his next improvements should be aligned with what is likely to be his immediate role -- defending, rebounding and finishing plays around the rim. Defensively, he has to become a better ball-screen defender, after giving up 1.125 points per possession defending pick-and-rolls and 1.2 points per possession against pick-and-pops according to Synergy Sports Technology. His size, length and mobility give him the physical potential to hedge and recover, but he was often late reacting to the ball screen because he was caught watching the ball. He’s also going to have to adjust to increased coverage schemes at the NBA level, which is different from the hard hedge approach consistently utilized by Connecticut.

His rebounding numbers were solid, but unspectacular, at UConn as well. Of the four centers currently projected to go in the first round (Drummond, Myers Leonard, Tyler Zeller, Fab Melo), he ranks second in rebounds per 40 minutes but noticeably behind a less-athletic Zeller (13.6 vs. 10.6). Drummond tends to be more effective on the offensive end and needs to be more consistent both dominating his area on the defensive glass as well as tracking balls off the rim and rebounding outside his area.

Offensively, he doesn’t have a go-to move with his back to the basket, but there are two far more pressing areas. First and foremost, he needs to improve his .295 free throw percentage. He doesn’t have bad touch for a guy his size, but has always had far too much excess body movement in his shot. I’m not sure he’ll ever be a great free throw shooter, but his mechanical problems aren’t necessarily as dramatic as his percentage would indicate.

Secondly, he needs to shoot a higher percentage around the rim, when he’s unable to dunk the ball. While he is one of the most explosive leapers and finishers in the draft class, he has a tendency to avoid contact when he’s not able to dunk, either by releasing the ball too quickly or fading away, which leads to low shooting percentages and infrequent trips to the free throw line.

There is also a well-documented concern about his motor and love for the game at this point, but I think that’s overstated. He’s always been receptive to coaching and willing to get into the gym. While he can undoubtedly disappear for stretches at a time, I think that has more to do with understanding the game and how to best utilize his physical tools.

Keeping all that in mind, it’s important to remember he’s just 18 years old, only in his first real year of playing against similar-sized athletes and in the very early stages of putting all the pieces together.

 

[tremonthustler1]

There's a source reporting now that Cleveland is locked into MKG at #4, NOT Harrison Barnes. My head hurts.

 

[OG Talk]

Baylor's Perry Jones.

Teams are afraid to take him in the lottery. However, they're equally afraid not to take him in the lottery.

^^^^^^

This is a perfect description of the quandry that dude presents... Is he Tim Thomas or Lamar Odom? Jonathan Bender or Derrick McKey?

 

[smARTmouf]

I'd never draft a player who has his fukking motor in question...


Thats just saying them type of nikkas are lazy...I can't fukk with a lazy dude on my team..I've had a few on my team, and that shyt can be demoralizing, watching them work at half speed, while you're busting your ass...smh..

 

[Henry Orbit]

Enough about Davis. We got Drummond to worry about.

They need to trade down and make this happen, but it's not.
This team's starting center right now is B.J. Mullens

 

[Kang Deezy]

Y'all expect a trade today?

 

[NatiboyB]

Y'all expect a trade today?

they talking about Odom to the Clips if someone can find a take for Mo Will which shouldn't be an issue.

 

[Kang Deezy]

they talking about Odom to the Clips if someone can find a take for Mo Will which shouldn't be an issue.

Odom next to Blake and Deandre would be an awful fit. He'd absolutely have to come off the bench.

Mo Williams was good for them... Obviously Bledsoe is on the rise, but they should definitly try to get Billups back at least.