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Following potential 2015 draftees

If we stay at 12 I want oubre
 
White Chocolate said:
Chad Ford's first mock draft since the lottery:

Towns
Okafor
Russell
Mudiay
Porzingis
WCS
Winslow
Hezonja
Booker
Johnson
Turner
Lyles
Kaminsky
Payne

Winslow at 7 & Hezonja at 8 is interesting.

Booker at 9? Oubre out of the top-14?
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The only interesting Fraud Mock is the one 1 month after the draft. For giggles. Dude has lost all his credibility, that he didn't have in the first place because he's been historically not very good at doing mocks.

My prediction
1)
2) The bigs in any order. Logic says Towns #1, Logic also says Flip Saunders is drafting, so it doesn't necessarily apply.
3) D'ANGELO Barksdale
4) WCS - I somehow think Phil wants him, unless he's prepared to lure DeAndre away from the Clippers trying to give Melo a championship window.
5) Justise Winslow - That Magic have passed on higher projected international talents in the past. Why would that change now? I'm not sure though how much they value their young French wing with the sidecut and pony tail and how that might influence their decision.
6) Mudiay - Hard to say, but the Kings have problems at a lot of positions and Mudiay dropping a little bit wouldn't be surprising after his China experiment. That said George Karl is a coach who really believes in stretching the floor and they could give Porzingis a serious look.
7) Super Mario - Nuggets have scouted international prospects heavily the past years and have had good success at it. They're also in for a multi year rebuild. So they don't care so much if Barcelona is up to transaction fee shenanigans. They'll be glad to wait the contract out.
8) Porzingis - Stan loves 4 around 1. Banking on DeAndres development as a PnR finisher with a lot of room isn't probably a bad gamble.
9) Booker - Hornets decision making has been a wildcard lately. Why not this year again? I could also see Turner here as Big Al has a player option at 13.5.
10) Stanley Johnson - Wing depth. How long is Luol going to be there. Johnson is also the kind of player Riley likes.
11 ) Turner - Insurance for Hibbert leaving and opting out.
12) I'm gonna stop here ;)

edit: Kinda wanna add that I've done very little visual research on this year's crop so far. Just relying on written info from you and others here.
 
I can't wait to see what the Jazz FO has up their sleeve this off season. Assuming we stay at the 12, I think Frank Kaminsky would be ideal because he can play with either Favors or Gobert, as well as with Book in the 2nd unit. Myles Turner seems too clumsy for my liking, but he could provide solid depth behind Gobert and Favors. Kevon Looney would be my second choice if Kaminsky was gone, but judging by all the prognosticators we could trade down to get him. I didn't see much of UCLA but everything I've read about him seems to fit the bill of what the Jazz want to do with their roster. His shooting percentages weren't great from the perimeter, but he has potential to add that into his game relatively quickly.

I don't want Oubre mostly because I think we're set with Hayward, Hood and Burks on the perimeter - and I'm hoping we replace Ingles with a much better veteran at the same position. Oubre looks like he's a 3-year project at best.

EDIT: Totally left out Trey Lyles from Kentucky. He'd be right there with Looney in terms of my second choice for the Jazz if Frank the Tank is gone. As the next month or so goes on, I may begin to fall in love with the idea of having Lyles more than any of the three to be honest.
 
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I'd also like to go on the record professing my love for Tyus Jones for Duke. Had he gone back to Duke for another season I think he undoubtedly would have led them to another National Championship. He would've slayed the NCAA. He seems too small/physically weak to justify being picked at the 12, and I fell in love with Trey Burke after he dominated the NCAA tournament but I think Jones is different. Regardless if the Jazz take him at the 12 or not, I think Tyus Jones will be a great pick and have a long career in the NBA.
 
orangello said:
I'm with Smurf in this. The Jazz are in need of overall talent. That is the next step in the teams progression.

Remember the Michael Jordan example? Portland could have drafted him but passed because of Drexler (who was a great player is his own regard, but Michael was better). What about the Jazz drafting Rudy even though they had Favors, Kanter and Evans already not to mention Marvin who played a lot at the 4. Rudy won out last season and moves needed to be made.

Your reasoning is exactly why some teams passed on Gobert and every team that had a chance to draft him is regretting that decision.
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The flaw in the logic is that it is only in hindsight that we know that Jordan would be "best ever" and Drexler would "only" be a "top 50 of all time." And we did not know that Bowie was going to be a "pretty decent Center" and not an "elite NBA Center" The pick was only criticized years later in hindsight. The Blazers likely had ranked Bowie and Jordan about the same, in which case they pick for need. In hindsight, they were wrong, but given what they knew at the time, it was not a stupid pick. Remember this was Dr. Jack Ramsay-coached team, who certainly had a major say in the pick -- hardly a basketball mental midget. This is especially true because a really important part of what made Jordan "great" to "best" was mental. His drive, work ethic and mentality were amazing (see Kobe, Stockton, very few others.). Hard to forecast the mental part of the game.

--------------------

And the Gobert analogy seems really off the mark. Which teams do you believe passed on Gobert because they already had a dominant rim protector? Seems more likely that it was because they did not believe he was going to be a dominant rim protector and had high bust potential. Interesting, what differentiates Gobert is the mental game that complements his physical tools. Put Ostertag's brain on Gobert's body, you get something pretty close to Ostertag.
 
HighlandHomie said:
I'd also like to go on the record professing my love for Tyus Jones for Duke. Had he gone back to Duke for another season I think he undoubtedly would have led them to another National Championship. He would've slayed the NCAA. He seems too small/physically weak to justify being picked at the 12, and I fell in love with Trey Burke after he dominated the NCAA tournament but I think Jones is different. Regardless if the Jazz take him at the 12 or not, I think Tyus Jones will be a great pick and have a long career in the NBA.
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You think Booker is weak defensively, but you want Lyles and Jones? C'mon man. Lyles is soft, not much of a low post game or 3-pt game, and Jones could be better than Burke, but he's going to struggle for a bit too.
 
I could see Johnson dropping to the mid first in this draft. I really don't see him having more of an impact on a team than a guy like Harrison Barnes.
 
I'm fairly impressed with Booker's defense, actually. He's never going to be a specialist, but he's pretty good for a shooter. I'd be happy with him at 12.
 
Howard said:
I could see Johnson dropping to the mid first in this draft. I really don't see him having more of an impact on a team than a guy like Harrison Barnes.
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^...echoes of the doubts that surrounded Kawhi^

IMO, Johnson has excellent perimeter defensive skills (actually, markedly better PERIMETER defense than Kawhi coming out of college). And, despite being shorter than everyone expected, I still think he can guard the stretchy fours.

He's still at the top of my wish list.
 
If we end up with Booker, then I hope the guard/wing depth chart looks something like this (in the Q era of less traditional-position bball):

Exum/Booker/Cotton
Hood/Burks/Millsap
Hayward/Hood/Jingles

Trey is the odd man out, here.

Booker would -- potentially -- give us the ability to have 2 to 3 guys out there with high gravity ratings.
 
Howard said:
I could see Johnson dropping to the mid first in this draft. I really don't see him having more of an impact on a team than a guy like Harrison Barnes.
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And I'd actually be fine with that... the issue that I had with all the trade for Barnes people is that 1- David Lee was attached to that deal so we now have no flexibility. 2- He'd be a FA and get PAID in a year and I'm not sure he's worth it. If he was cheap for another 4 years its one thing. 3- Now that he's established I don't think he'd want to come off the bench... maybe he'd start for us, but I think I like Burks or Hood starting more.

Watching last night's game made me want Johnson even more. Friggin Green was playing center last night. I think Johnson gives us a ton of versatility and could be a blue chip guy. He apparently has a really competitive drive that I'm not sure Barnes has as much of.
 
NAOS said:
I'm fairly impressed with Booker's defense, actually. He's never going to be a specialist, but he's pretty good for a shooter. I'd be happy with him at 12.
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That's exactly my point. A shooting specialist (potentially elite) and plays respectable defense.
 
NAOS said:
I'm fairly impressed with Booker's defense, actually. He's never going to be a specialist, but he's pretty good for a shooter. I'd be happy with him at 12.
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I think he'll be a good positional player. I don't think he'll be a player that offenses go after and isolate. His upside is a rich man's Reddick to me... he can do more off the bounce and is bigger/more athletic.
 
BTP said:
9) Booker - Hornets decision making has been a wildcard lately. Why not this year again? I could also see Turner here as Big Al has a player option at 13.5.
10) Stanley Johnson - Wing depth. How long is Luol going to be there. Johnson is also the kind of player Riley likes.
11 ) Turner - Insurance for Hibbert leaving and opting out.
12) I'm gonna stop here ;)

edit: Kinda wanna add that I've done very little visual research on this year's crop so far. Just relying on written info from you and others here.
Click to expand...

Lots of people have Charlotte keying in on Booker because they are so desperate for shooting and are already loaded with young bigs.

If the Bobnets think they can get an asset and Booker at 12 the Jazz could jump to 9.

Also, this morning Locke suggested that Pacers might be keying in on a pg and have already signaled they want to be done with Hibbert and speed up their pace of play. If they reach down for Payne or Grant ( who they worked out on Monday) it will change the draft.
 
The remaining teams are the Top 4 for three pointers made.

In terms of percentages:
GSW 2nd
HOU 7th
ATL 8th
CLE 9th
 
The great things about about shooting is that the defender can't cheat off his assignment too much, which in turn frees up driving lanes and produces fouls.
 
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