2014 Draft Discussion

[ehh]

Re: 2014 Draft Discussion

He is good offensively, especially considering his relative inexperience. He isn't game changing defensively. Anthony Davis & Nerlens Noel were game changing defensively. His offensive game isn't the best since Cousins lol. He has a solid base for post moves and a solid shooting stroke but has no range and struggled against other actual NBA size bigs.

You can't say he'll be one of the most talented guys in 5 years. That's a slap in the face to the best guys in the NBA. He has the potential to be great. Who knows how his back will hold up in the NBA. The Davis comparison is awful as well. Davis was game changing defensively, and showed offensive capabilities at UK (a decent mid range game for starters).

Yeah, I've mentioned it before (and you and I have discussed it IIRC) that I was never really blown away by Embiid this year. Not nearly enough to understand the hype he's getting. I put him in a class below Oden, Cousins and Anthony Davis.

He isn't athletic enough to be a big game changer defensively in the NBA IMO unless he's in the perfect defensive system/situation. He's not as athletic, quick off his feet or as explosive as Anthony Davis or Noel. But someone like Hibbert or Tyson Chandler can still be a darn good defensive anchor in a quality system despite their physical limitations.

Offensively his footwork is good and he has some nice moves but he's still robotic IMO. "Smooth" is not a word I'd use to describe his low-post game.

Honestly he reminds me of a better/more athletic Roy Hibbert than he does Hakeem. Regardless of Hakeem's skill development he was always in another stratosphere athletically than Embiid.

[volstopfan14]

Re: 2014 Draft Discussion

MKG would be fine at the 3 if we had a scorer at the 2. We need to get rid of/bump down the bench Gerald Henderson and things will be dandy.

We are in desperate need of scoring and perimeter shooting so I'm anxious to see how things work out. Rodney Hood is a guy that has gotten some pub for us.

Exactly. Add a scoring 2 and we'll be fine with MKG.

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: 2014 Draft Discussion

Again the "handshake" deal will be with Love not LeBron. Even if LeBron doesn't go back to Cleveland you can still have a damn good team with Love, Irving, re-sign Deng and Hawes put together a deal for a guy like Aaron Afflalo in the weak East. That is a team that can make a push for the Eastern Conference finals.


If Cleveland prefer to be patient and want to gamble on the lottery again that certainly isn't a bad approach. The top end of this draft is very special IMO. However I know Dan Gilbert wants to win now not later. I'm usually against rushed rebuilds, but that again is a team that has enough top end talent and depth to make deep playoff runs for the next 3-4 years at least.

What makes you think Love will take a handshake deal with Cleveland though?

And that potential team would need a LOT to fall in place to make a push for the ECF.

[areobee401]

Re: 2014 Draft Discussion

Cleveland receiving the first overall pick again is a joke. Draft Lottery rules need to be changed. No way should a team as incompetence as Cleveland be rewarded with another #1 draft pick. I know this year was a fluke because of their odds, but maybe put rules in to stop teams from drafting top 3 year after year.

[da ThRONe]

Re: 2014 Draft Discussion

What makes you think Love will take a handshake deal with Cleveland though?

And that potential team would need a LOT to fall in place to make a push for the ECF.

If winning is what matters not just market than he can be sold. He reportedly wanted the max to stay in Minnesota not sure if MSP market is that much more desirable than the Cleveland market.


He can have the LA or Boston market(no pun intended), but how soon can they build a winning team and does either have the assets to please the Wolves?


Clearly both the Cavs organization and Kevin Love have options this is just one.

[ex carrabba fan]

Re: 2014 Draft Discussion

I think the NBA should add some stipulations preventing teams from being able to win the lottery back to back years or even prevent a team from getting a top 3 pick twice in the span of 3-5 years.

I'm mostly OK with the way they do it now but nobody wants to see a team get back to back #1 picks come on, lol.

[JODYE]

Re: 2014 Draft Discussion

Yeah, I've mentioned it before (and you and I have discussed it IIRC) that I was never really blown away by Embiid this year. Not nearly enough to understand the hype he's getting. I put him in a class below Oden, Cousins and Anthony Davis.

He isn't athletic enough to be a big game changer defensively in the NBA IMO unless he's in the perfect defensive system/situation. He's not as athletic, quick off his feet or as explosive as Anthony Davis or Noel. But someone like Hibbert or Tyson Chandler can still be a darn good defensive anchor in a quality system despite their physical limitations.

Offensively his footwork is good and he has some nice moves but he's still robotic IMO. "Smooth" is not a word I'd use to describe his low-post game.

Honestly he reminds me of a better/more athletic Roy Hibbert than he does Hakeem. Regardless of Hakeem's skill development he was always in another stratosphere athletically than Embiid.

Pretty much all this.

That and he played in a system at Kansas that favors bigs.

[ehh]

Re: 2014 Draft Discussion

I think the NBA should add some stipulations preventing teams from being able to win the lottery back to back years or even prevent a team from getting a top 3 pick twice in the span of 3-5 years.

I'm mostly OK with the way they do it now but nobody wants to see a team get back to back #1 picks come on, lol.

Three out of four years is just ridiculous for Cleveland. Doubt the league will change the lottery though.

[ex carrabba fan]

Re: 2014 Draft Discussion

Three out of four years is just ridiculous for Cleveland. Doubt the league will do change the lottery though.

I hope there's a decent amount of backlash from the fans so that they have to look at it. I don't think it should be difficult to tweak the system to improve it. I mean, what if Cleveland wins again next year or gets a top 3 pick? It would be a joke if it already isn't.

I understand we want the lottery to be completely random but the league shouldn't leave the possibility for this kind of thing to actually happen because as we've now seen anything that can happen will happen.

[ehh]

Re: 2014 Draft Discussion

I would be fine with what you suggested. If a team lands the #1 pick they cannot land the following year's #1 pick, or Top 3 even.

Not sure the owners would ever agree to that though. It would be a sticky situation with Oden or Blake where you get the #1 pick and he misses his entire rookie year and the team is still awful. Should they be punished because their previous pick was injured? Should the Cavs be punished because they took a bust with last year's #1 pick? It's all debatable, I just don't think the owners would ever be on board with a limitation like this.

[areobee401]

Re: 2014 Draft Discussion

Why not put all teams not in the playoffs into the lottery with equal odds. Put a rule in there that prevents teams from drafting #1 overall two years in a row. This eliminates teams from "tanking" to obtain the 1st pick. Also stops fans from having to watch their favorite team purposely play **** basketball. The system as it stands now is hurting the league.

[ojandpizza]

Re: 2014 Draft Discussion

lol I have no idea why the Embiid - Hakeem comparison gets so much hate honestly.. Like I said before he could end up being Kwame Brown, he could end up being Wilt Abdul-Olajuwon..

Do I personally think he'll be the next Hakeem? No, nobody has had the same type of game as Hakeem in the history of the league, he's probably a once in league history type of player. There wasn't anyone before him quite like him, or anyone after him quite like him..

But seriously we need to tone down what the comparisons mean in the first place.. Hakeem was once completely raw, Hakeem wasn't a starter as a freshman in college, Hakeem wasn't born with a shooting touch or unlimited post moves, or genius level defensive IQ..

So comparing the two of them as FRESHMEN isn't really anything to completely dismiss and roll your eyes at.. Saying Hakeem at the same stage was on another stratosphere than Embiid is much more laughable than the initial comparison is.


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[Sgt_Carnage]

Re: 2014 Draft Discussion

I would be fine with what you suggested. If a team lands the #1 pick they cannot land the following year's #1 pick, or Top 3 even.

Not sure the owners would ever agree to that though. It would be a sticky situation with Oden or Blake where you get the #1 pick and he misses his entire rookie year and the team is still awful. Should they be punished because their previous pick was injured? Should the Cavs be punished because they took a bust with last year's #1 pick? It's all debatable, I just don't think the owners would ever be on board with a limitation like this.

I'm with you that the owners wouldn't agree to it. With that being said, they have to do something because this is ridiculous.

[VDusen04]

Re: 2014 Draft Discussion

I would be fine with what you suggested. If a team lands the #1 pick they cannot land the following year's #1 pick, or Top 3 even.

Not sure the owners would ever agree to that though. It would be a sticky situation with Oden or Blake where you get the #1 pick and he misses his entire rookie year and the team is still awful. Should they be punished because their previous pick was injured? Should the Cavs be punished because they took a bust with last year's #1 pick? It's all debatable, I just don't think the owners would ever be on board with a limitation like this.

I respect other's opinions, but I do not have an issue with the lottery at this point in time. I am not a fan of the Cavaliers (and I despise their current jerseys) but I understand statistical irregularities will happen from time to time.

The Cavs winning the top pick when being the second and third most likely team to do so (2011, 2013) was not too crazy to me. The Cavs winning this year was pretty crazy due to their odds by comparison (2% chance, in the lower half of probability amongst the teams). However, it's not the first time a team with a small chance has won, no? I believe teams with little chance of winning the number one pick is the reason a lottery was created to begin with (to avoid making the top picks a certainty for the three worst teams, thus theoretically attempting to curb tanking).

I do not see a lot that I'd truly declare ridiculous here. I can see why folks may personally be upset. And if it's ever revealed that the Draft was, in fact, fixed and rigged, that will not at all be neat. However, as it stands, with the lottery format, I do not see a huge issue at this point.

[wwharton]

Re: 2014 Draft Discussion

Why not put all teams not in the playoffs into the lottery with equal odds. Put a rule in there that prevents teams from drafting #1 overall two years in a row. This eliminates teams from "tanking" to obtain the 1st pick. Also stops fans from having to watch their favorite team purposely play **** basketball. The system as it stands now is hurting the league.

How is the system hurting the league? The idea is that teams eventually make the playoffs which limits the chances of doing what Cleveland has lucked into (yes, lucked into) these last 4 years. If we want to look at stats, lets look at the number of times a team has gotten the #1 pick back to back years... and how many times a team has gotten it 3 out of 4 years.

Why would the NBA look at those statistics and think they need to change anything?