What's new
By:

2014 Draft Prospects - Not so great any more?

mdalby

mdalby

Well-Known Member
Interesting comments by Sam Smith at NBA.com I can't see Jabari throwing away a potential $10 million plus that he would lose in his prime by losing a year of NBA salary but Tim Duncan did.

Remember when that 2014 draft was so great? Last month? It’s taken some hits of late with Andrew Wiggins, the star of stars last year in high school, drawing questions from NBA scouts on readiness and even where he plays. Joel Embiid, now the consensus No. 1, has a high ceiling but is young and thin and in need of development. Marcus Smart can’t shoot. Julius Randle’s Kentucky team is out of the top 10. And the growing view among NBA executives seems to be Jabari Parker will not leave Duke this year. Chicagoan Jahlil Okafor, a Parker friend and big man, is going to Duke next season. Parker is a bright young man with a strong family and the feeling is he understands both the importance of education and feels he owes Duke and the chance to have a great Duke team, which more than likely is the next two seasons. Plus, Parker has seen what staying in school has done for other greats compared with the tough starts for even stars like Kobe Bryant.
Click to expand...

https://www.nba.com/bulls/news/sam-smiths-nba-news-and-notes-01202014.html
 
Parker will stay four years in college and we will pick him up with the golden state pick in the '17 draft to add him to our team of reigning champs. book it.
 
even if parker comes out, there is no absolute transcendent talent in this draft. like i said earlier it's been overhyped by media to make college basketball interesting. it all started with SI covers like.

wiggins-final.jpg%3Fw%3D450%26h%3D594

and some idiot GM saying wiggins is the best talent since bron. I was like WTF?

it's a deep draft for sure, but let's stop acting like all of these kids will be a perennial all stars. that won't happen. put it this way. if Brow came out this year, he would've been consensus #1 pick.
 
What the hell does Randle's team being out of the top 10 have to do with anything? Sam Smith is the type of guy who would pass on Damien Lillard because they couldn't beat Montana. He uses Embiid as an example of the draft class being a disappointment, but fails to mention that prior to the season, Embiid wasn't even a top 5 pick. Uh, Sam, it's actually a good thing for the draft that this 7 footer has emerged as the top talent. Yeah, Marcus Smart "can't" shoot, but neither could MCW and he's doing okay in the league. As of now, Chad Ford has Marcus Smart outside the top 5 - you get Smart at 6 or lower, you've done pretty well. Parker, Smart, Randle and Embiid have all arguably exceeded expectations and while Wiggins has underwhelmed and hasn't shown to be as explosive as advertised, even he has been pretty good, showing a solid all-around game and a pretty good attitude out there - still a ton of potential.
 
I will agree with fabtrey that there is probably no transcendent talent in the draft. Having said that, the draft might be even deeper than we originally thought. BTW, I say probably, because Embiid looks special at times.
 
embiid definitely looks special. but i still have to see him dominate more. i fully expect him to be this generations dikembe mutombo like defender. if he develops more he could be more than that. that's his ceiling.

but no he will never be like hakeem. i don't see it. to be like hakeem, you gotta have ridiculous foot work and foot speed. he is bit too tall and slow to be hakeem.
 
seattlejazzfan said:
What the hell does Randle's team being out of the top 10 have to do with anything? Sam Smith is the type of guy who would pass on Damien Lillard because they couldn't beat Montana. He uses Embiid as an example of the draft class being a disappointment, but fails to mention that prior to the season, Embiid wasn't even a top 5 pick. Uh, Sam, it's actually a good thing for the draft that this 7 footer has emerged as the top talent. Yeah, Marcus Smart "can't" shoot, but neither could MCW and he's doing okay in the league. As of now, Chad Ford has Marcus Smart outside the top 5 - you get Smart at 6 or lower, you've done pretty well. Parker, Smart, Randle and Embiid have all arguably exceeded expectations and while Wiggins has underwhelmed and hasn't shown to be as explosive as advertised, even he has been pretty good, showing a solid all-around game and a pretty good attitude out there - still a ton of potential.
Click to expand...

yeah, that's pretty retarded assessment. it's a team game and UK has bunch of diaper dandies still figuring things out. randle is the best post player in this draft by far.
 
I think there is something to be said for a prospect to stay in school. This would make me covet Parker more if he were to do so. Look at some of the top guys that stuck it out for a longer stint in college. Tim Duncan comes readily to mind, as does Nash. Obviously there is always an element of crap shoot to it, but I think you would be hard-pressed to find very many players whose pro career was hurt because they stayed in school too long.
 
honestly staying 1 more year would do wonders for jabari. right now he is all offense. and his defense seriously needs work. coach K would correct all of his shortcomings. duke is 1 year away from seriously winning it all.
 
I respect Duncan and Nash, but why on earth if you are a consensus top 3 pick would you stay in school for a year. An injury, or even having a bad year could cost millions.

It's been what, 17 years since those guys stayed for 4 years. I really didn't follow things as closely back then, but looking at stats, they were probably not consensus top 3 in their freshman years. I'm sure you are referring to them staying for their Sr years. Point is, things are different. All of the top 2014 prospects are Freshmen. Transcendent players like Lebron and Kobe didn't play NCAA. KD was played a year. As young as possible is the current trend and it seems to be working.

I would be shocked to see any of these guys stay in school unless they had another opportunity for that kind of money. Would you advise your kid or friend to stay in school?
 
Obviously the decisions revolves around money most often. But I don't think you could show that coming out of college early is good for the bulk of the players or the NBA. Barring the one-offs, like LBJ, Kobe, etc. I think the extra time to learn the game properly before jumping to the pros would help most players way more than hurt them. Again, from a playing basketball, learning the game standpoint. Obviously the risk is there monetarily, which is largely why leaving school early is the trend, but it is a tough argument to make that these less experienced players who often still have a lot to learn are helping themselves or the NBA as far as playing the game is concerned. So strictly from a what's-better-for-the-individual standpoint, jumping straight to the NBA is the best course of action. In the best interest of the game itself, and the "product" of the NBA, there is far more to be said about most players staying in school.
 
LogGrad98 said:
Obviously the decisions revolves around money most often. But I don't think you could show that coming out of college early is good for the bulk of the players or the NBA. Barring the one-offs, like LBJ, Kobe, etc. I think the extra time to learn the game properly before jumping to the pros would help most players way more than hurt them. Again, from a playing basketball, learning the game standpoint. Obviously the risk is there monetarily, which is largely why leaving school early is the trend, but it is a tough argument to make that these less experienced players who often still have a lot to learn are helping themselves or the NBA as far as playing the game is concerned. So strictly from a what's-better-for-the-individual standpoint, jumping straight to the NBA is the best course of action. In the best interest of the game itself, and the "product" of the NBA, there is far more to be said about most players staying in school.
Click to expand...

I would argue the opposite because I would assume that by being a professional basketball player they would have more time to work on their skills and work with better coaches.

However, does anyone really know if this is true? When you factor in meeting with media, organizational functions, more frequent games and travel, and longer games do they have more time? I'd still think yes
 
vegas said:
I respect Duncan and Nash, but why on earth if you are a consensus top 3 pick would you stay in school for a year. An injury, or even having a bad year could cost millions.
Click to expand...
Actually, players can take insurance out on themselves to protect them against injury.
https://www.cbssports.com/collegefo...obtained-5-million-insurance-policy-with-ncaa

However, if it were my son, I'd tell him to leave early and take the money. They can always go back to school to get their degree...that will always be there. But their youth, health and talent will only be around for a limited time.
 
LazyD said:
I would argue the opposite because I would assume that by being a professional basketball player they would have more time to work on their skills and work with better coaches.

However, does anyone really know if this is true? When you factor in meeting with media, organizational functions, more frequent games and travel, and longer games do they have more time? I'd still think yes
Click to expand...

There are anecdotal examples out there. Take Danny Granger compared to Gerald Green. Granger has had a much more stable and productive career. It could be argued that staying in college had a real impact on his pro career and coming into the NBA too soon hurt Green's somewhat. To me it comes down to maturity. I think staying in college creates a more mature and coachable player. I think for a lot of these guys college is the first taste of true high level competition and it is a place to learn to listen to the coach, and work on fundamentals and fix some flaws that come from being the best in your local area. Would Gobert be better off in the D League or in college for 2 more years? I think that is debatable, but in my opinion the college approach would yield better results. It would be interesting to see if there is any way to put data to this question, but it is really hard to guess what a player would have been if they had done something different, it is all conjecture.
 
LogGrad98 said:
There are anecdotal examples out there. Take Danny Granger compared to Gerald Green. Granger has had a much more stable and productive career. It could be argued that staying in college had a real impact on his pro career and coming into the NBA too soon hurt Green's somewhat. To me it comes down to maturity. I think staying in college creates a more mature and coachable player. I think for a lot of these guys college is the first taste of true high level competition and it is a place to learn to listen to the coach, and work on fundamentals and fix some flaws that come from being the best in your local area. Would Gobert be better off in the D League or in college for 2 more years? I think that is debatable, but in my opinion the college approach would yield better results. It would be interesting to see if there is any way to put data to this question, but it is really hard to guess what a player would have been if they had done something different, it is all conjecture.
Click to expand...

Word. It can really help build maturity and an immature player should def not go to the NBA. There are examples of people who were better off with college and some better off without. Trey Burke appeared to really benefit from an extra year in college, Kobe Bryant would probably not have been as good as quickly if he attended college, same with Lebron. I would be curious to see some data as well, but I doubt it's possible. Like almost anything, forgoing college is good for some and bad for others.
 
I think there is something to be said for a prospect to stay in school. This would make me covet Parker more if he were to do so. Look at some of the top guys that stuck it out for a longer stint in college. Tim Duncan comes readily to mind...
Click to expand...

True - but Duncan stayed an extra year because Marcus Camby got all the hype in 96 (yeah, things changed)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page
Back
Top