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Following potential 2012 draftees

More worthless drivel .. but I spoke with a scout today (Boston) and asked why, in his opinion, Barnes slipped so much. He answered immediately with, 'ball-handling.' He said Barnes is viewed as being very limited offensively mostly for that reason. Nothing really knew, except it comes from someone who gets paid to evaluate.
 
Figured I'd give my two cents on Royce White since he has garnered quite a bit of discussion on this forum. I live and die with Iowa State Cyclone athletics (which means I mostly die) so I am extremely familiar with Royce White. I'm not going to comment on the whole anxiety thing because I know very little about those sorts of things. From a purely basketball standpoint:
Pros- He will out-bench everyone at the combine. He is super strong.
- Will catch any ball thrown to him
- Incredible passer
- Good rebounder
- Great ballhander for his size
- Smart offensive player- won't take too many bad shots and can create many open looks for teammates
- Can rebound and lead the fastbreak- Not too many of those players
- Absolutely ate Thomas Robinson alive in their two matchups with Kansas. Royce can play pretty good defense when he wants to

Cons- Tough to keep motivated. The two tournament games in which ISU played was easily the most effort he put forth in any games this last season.
- Defense. He was a lot like Al Jefferson throughout the season, (i.e. missing rotations, coasting defensively) although a lot of this may be due to trying to avoid foul trouble because ISU was rather putrid offensively w/out him on the floor since he was by far the most talented player on the team. However in all the bigger games, (i.e. tournament games against UConn and UK and the home game with Kansas during the conference season) his defense was actually quite good. So really I believe his defensive problems can be mostly attributed to lack of hustle and effort.
- Size: Meaning he may be too short to defend your prototypical power forward and too slow to defend the prototypical NBA small forward
- Not overwhelming athletically; he doesn't jump through the roof or anything and it will be difficult for him to play above the rim consistently in the NBA I think
- No ambidexterity; He must finish everything with his right hand
- Shooting; He is simply not a very good shooter, but he improved a lot throughout one season
 
I think R.White could lose at least 10-15 pounds this summer. I heard in the pre-game of the UK game he said he was 6'8 280. A lot of that is muscle, but he could still use the added mobility of being lighter.
 
I'll say it again. Drew Gordon will be the biggest steal of the draft. By far.

What do you like about him? I love his rebounding and I've been impressed with his defense. He doesn't seem to have either a great shot or great handles .. so I don't see him with a particularly high ceiling. Help me see what you're seeing.
 
I think R.White could lose at least 10-15 pounds this summer. I heard in the pre-game of the UK game he said he was 6'8 280. A lot of that is muscle, but he could still use the added mobility of being lighter.

He'll have to in order to impress the scouts. With his major negative being a sub-par work ethic, he could be making or breaking his draft position .. as we speak.
 
What do you like about him? I love his rebounding and I've been impressed with his defense. He doesn't seem to have either a great shot or great handles .. so I don't see him with a particularly high ceiling. Help me see what you're seeing.

Near elite athleticism. He reminds me of Griffin some, just not as strong. But he has things you can't teach. Insane hops. Aggression. An ability to finish with authority. He could start on someone like the Wiz and grab around 10 boards and block around 2 shots as a rookie. Someone will draft him around 40. And they'll be ecstatic.
 
Near elite athleticism. He reminds me of Griffin some, just not as strong. But he has things you can't teach. Insane hops. Aggression. An ability to finish with authority. He could start on someone like the Wiz and grab around 10 boards and block around 2 shots as a rookie. Someone will draft him around 40. And they'll be ecstatic.

Fair enough, I can see all that.
 
Royce White and Drew Gordon would be a great combination to have on the floor at the same time. That would create some problems for opponents.
 
He'll have to in order to impress the scouts. With his major negative being a sub-par work ethic, he could be making or breaking his draft position .. as we speak.

I think Royce is a guaranteed 1st rounder. A good team would love a player like him. His coach is probably talking him up to every team, and Royce is quite talented to boot. His passing and ball-handing skills don't normally belong to person his speed and build.
 
I think Royce is a guaranteed 1st rounder. A good team would love a player like him. His coach is probably talking him up to every team, and Royce is quite talented to boot. His passing and ball-handing skills don't normally belong to person his speed and build.

Oh, I totally agree. I'm speaking of where he's taken in the 1st. I think he could go anywhere from 16 - 28. (numbers completely made up, btw)
 
Oh, I totally agree. I'm speaking of where he's taken in the 1st. I think he could go anywhere from 16 - 28. (numbers completely made up, btw)

Lottery is too high for him. I also think the lottery is too high for Lillard too. Sorry all you Ogdenites.
 
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