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Following potential 2015 draftees

He's not the next Dirk.. nor do scouts believe that. Sorry, NCguy, but not true.

What do scouts say about Porzingis? Would be interested. One of the few prospects I've watched like multiple time this year(Gotta save some of the fun for when the draft nears and the amount of basketball action is getting less and less)
 
I'd also like to say that I've learned this year not to say: "This draft has great talent/poor talent". Simply can't predict such a thing accurately with 17-19 year olds. Most of them are at a stage where they're allowed to be ball-hogs and try to dominate - often to a fault.
Takes time for most wings to change what they have to do on the court.
Especially bigs rarely show what they really are before they're like 22 and finish their 3rd year in the NBA.
And then there's Anthony Davis.
But Point Guards are rarely that far off. Most of them can keep their identity and this allows them to do their thang. Biggest uncertainty with them is how ppl predict their body development or ability to overcome a height deficit.

What I see this year is that Okafor does offensively exactly what has been advertised. Sometimes I thought: This won't translate. Maybe I'm wrong. On defense though I'm not sure he isn't Wiggins-ing this year. Currently his Al-Fense says: Yo dude I'm tall, see my wingspan?
But maybe he just doesn't want to land on someone else's foot since he knows he's top3 regardless of his defense.

If the Knicks land the #1, I totally expect them to go with Okafor. This also could be a trap as it depends on who Jackson also getts in the years. If his defense doesn't change from what it is now, you need Serge Ibaka 2.0 or there'll be plenty of Harden Lowlight Mixes about him.

The Sixers largely depend on what their opinion is of Embiid. If they wanna trade Embiid, I feel Towns is their upside pick, that they prefer. Hinkie is from Houston. He won't pair Okafor and Noel.
If they wanna stick with Embiid, they'll like Russell as a guard with Harden potential.
That brings the next question: There are teams like New York. Depending on order they could trade down from 1 to 3 and still grab Towns/Russell.

The T-Wolves have a loaded, young backcourt. Their frontcourt needs some addition(s). They could be interested in either Okafor or Towns. I think they feel confident about Rubio's playmaking and their ability to compensate his shooting issues. But such a thing is tough to predict. They could also be just trying to build trade value. But historically that's not how Flip Saunders operates. Especially since he's now Coach + GM.

The Lakers have nothing. Litereally. They may not even have their own pick depending how the ping pong balls fall.

Orlando, Sacto and Detroit look like the best teams to drop further into the lottery or luck their way in.

Orlando has talent everywhere, not sure how much they like it though. A legit SF or another big may be their need. Maybe they're already sick of Payton's shooting ability and wanna go Russell if they get a high pick.

Sacto really needs a playmaker and a 2nd big.

Detroit needs backcourt players and/or a 2nd high quality big depending on which vibe they get outta Monroe's camp.
 
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I'd also like to say that I've learned this year not to say: "This draft has great talent/poor talent". Simply can't predict such a thing accurately with 17-19 year olds. Most of them are at a stage where they're allowed to be ball-hogs and try to dominate - often to a fault.
Takes time for most wings to change what they have to do on the court.
Especially bigs rarely show what they really are before they're like 22 and finish their 3rd year in the NBA.
And then there's Anthony Davis.
But Point Guards are rarely that far off. Most of them can keep their identity and this allows them to do their thang. Biggest uncertainty with them is how ppl predict their body development or ability to overcome a height deficit.

What I see this year is that Okafor does offensively exactly what has been advertised. Sometimes I thought: This won't translate. Maybe I'm wrong. On defense though I'm not sure he isn't Wiggins-ing this year. Currently his Al-Fense says: Yo dude I'm tall, see my wingspan?
But maybe he just doesn't want to land on someone else's foot since he knows he's top3 regardless of his defense.

If the Knicks land the #1, I totally expect them to go with Okafor. This also could be a trap as it depends on who Jackson also getts in the years. If his defense doesn't change from what it is now, you need Serge Ibaka 2.0 or there'll be plenty of Harden Lowlight Mixes about him.

The Sixers largely depend on what their opinion is of Embiid. If they wanna trade Embiid, I feel Towns is their upside pick, that they prefer. Hinkie is from Houston. He won't pair Okafor and Noel.
If they wanna stick with Embiid, they'll like Russell as a guard with Harden potential.
That brings the next question: There are teams like New York. Depending on order they could trade down from 1 to 3 and still grab Towns/Russell.

The T-Wolves have a loaded, young backcourt. Their frontcourt needs some addition(s). They could be interested in either Okafor or Towns. I think they feel confident about Rubio's playmaking and their ability to compensate his shooting issues. But such a thing is tough to predict. They could also be just trying to build trade value. But historically that's not how Flip Saunders operates. Especially since he's now Coach + GM.

The Lakers have nothing. Litereally. They may not even have their own pick depending how the ping pong balls fall.

Orlando, Sacto and Detroit look like the best teams to drop further into the lottery or luck their way in.

Orlando has talent everywhere, not sure how much they like it though. A legit SF or another big may be their need. Maybe they're already sick of Payton's shooting ability and wanna go Russell if they get a high pick.

Sacto really needs a playmaker and a 2nd big.

Detroit needs backcourt players and/or a 2nd high quality big depending on which vibe they get outta Monroe's camp.

It's really hard to judge college defense to NBA defense. A lot of the stars, like an Okafor, have to be extremely weary of foul trouble and often play worse defense because of it. A team like UK doesn't worry about this as much since they have so much depth.
 
It's really hard to judge college defense to NBA defense. A lot of the stars, like an Okafor, have to be extremely weary of foul trouble and often play worse defense because of it. A team like UK doesn't worry about this as much since they have so much depth.

Yep, I don't think it will affect his current draft stock, unless his team reaches the Elite Eight and he still coasts/is incapable of deterring anyone from scoring.
 
It's really hard to judge college defense to NBA defense. A lot of the stars, like an Okafor, have to be extremely weary of foul trouble and often play worse defense because of it. A team like UK doesn't worry about this as much since they have so much depth.

Yep, I don't think it will affect his current draft stock, unless his team reaches the Elite Eight and he still coasts/is incapable of deterring anyone from scoring.

Though this is certainly potentially true, it has been a knock on him through HS as well. I don't think he is simply not trying.
 
jazz are going to draft frank "the tank" kaminsky. from what I have read tomic is not going to come over. he seems to want an extension from Europe. frank is a great fit in our offense.
 
What do scouts say about Porzingis? Would be interested. One of the few prospects I've watched like multiple time this year(Gotta save some of the fun for when the draft nears and the amount of basketball action is getting less and less)

Actually according to Ford some of the intl scouts who actually watch him play unlike some other people do put in comparisons to a Dirk at the same age. Nobody in their right mind though Dirk was going to be as good as he became. Picked 9th behind some guys who never did squat in the NBA.

https://insider.espn.go.com/nba/draft/mock/?season=2015&version=7&source=Chad-Ford-Big-Board
 
FYI

Adrian Wojnarowski ‏@WojYahooNBA 11m11 minutes ago
Sevilla's Kristaps Porzingis, 19, impressing NBA executives on scouting trail in Spain. He's grown to 7-foot-1-plus, progressing into Top 5.
 
I would say DX is wrong then. Also keep in mind that it is a draft site so therefore they will change the draft often to get people to visit the site. ESPN does not need to do that.

Be careful though ... ESPN is a dirty word around these parts...
 
Be careful though ... ESPN is a dirty word around these parts...

Both ESPN and DX change their ranking and say outrageous things until right before the draft to drive page views. It's what the industry requires. I don't believe anything until the week before the draft. Sometimes, not even until the day before.
 
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