Official 2008-2009 NBA Thread

[daa84]

Does anybody know for what? CDR

no, its an international guy...pax said whoever the guy was (we will find out who soon) that he wouldn't be playing here probably for 3 or so years....

 

pax said they targetted two guys in this draft, and they got them both...so im guessing it was one of the international guys taken ahead of them...Pekovic or Asik (whom hollinger had rated as a top 10 prospect in this draft)

[daa84]

its omer asik

 

I think Asik could be one of the steals of the second round ... if he ever comes over. He's a hyperactive rebounder and shot-blocker with good athleticism. John Hollinger said his numbers suggest he should've been a top-10 pick. He's a talent, but he may be in Turkey for the next few years developing his game.

[SoxFan1]

no, its an international guy...pax said whoever the guy was (we will find out who soon) that he wouldn't be playing here probably for 3 or so years....

 

pax said they targetted two guys in this draft, and they got them both...so im guessing it was one of the international guys taken ahead of them...Pekovic or Asik (whom hollinger had rated as a top 10 prospect in this draft)

I'd love Pekovic, not only because he's Serbian, but because I've actually seen him play and he's good. Bulky PF, strong, bruiser down low. He reminds me a lot of Carlos Boozer. Some very nice low post moves, quick feet, and a good rebounder and athletic for a big white guy. 20.2 ppg, 7.3 rpg, and 63% from the field.

[daa84]

a bit more on Asik from Hollinger...

In the past couple days I've rated both the best perimeter prospects and the best frontcourt prospects coming out of college.

 

That leaves out one important participant in Thursday's draft festivities: Italian forward Danilo Gallinari.

 

Fortunately, I have a system for converting Euroleague performance to NBA performance, one that's been uncanny in its accuracy in previous seasons. For instance, a year ago I projected a PER of 7.36 for Marco Belinelli, 15.16 for Juan Carlos Navarro and 16.27 for Luis Scola. The actual numbers were 8.23, 11.90 and 16.18, with only Navarro deviating from his projection. Previous seasons have shown similar accuracy.

 

The reason this works is that there's a predictable relationship between a player's stats in the Euroleague -- the highest level of European basketball -- and what they'll be in the NBA. Crossing the Atlantic does the following to a player's results:

 

• Scoring rate decreases 25 percent

• Rebound rate increases by 18 percent (there are more missed shots in NBA play)

• Assist rate increases by 31 percent (Euro scorers are tightwads with assists)

• Shooting percentage drops by 12 percent

• Overall, PER drops by 30 percent.

 

In the case of Danilo Gallinari, he projects to a PER of 13.21 -- pretty darn good for a 20-year-old. The caveat is that he did this in just 11 games for a bad team, AJ Milano, that won only three games. As a result he shot more than he would normally at the pro level, and likely a worse percentage. His projected numbers from Europe are 14.5 points per 40 minutes and 37.0 percent shooting; I'd expect the points to be lower and the percentage to be higher unless he's picked by a truly awful team (in a related story, the Clippers pick seventh).

 

This is a "Year 1" projection, as opposed to the "Year 3" projections I used for the college prospects, and once you factor in his age and growth potential you'd have to presume he'd be up around 15 or 16 by Year 3. If so, it would make Gallinari one of the top prospects in this year's draft, and his status as a likely selection between six and 10 seems reasonable.

 

If I had to slot him into my board, I'd rate him sixth -- combining my numbers with some subjective opinion, I have Michael Beasley and Kevin Love as the two best players, followed by Derrick Rose, Joe Alexander and Darrell Arthur. Gallinari, Jerryd Bayless, Marreese Speights, Brook Lopez and D.J. Augustin round out my top 10, with Mario Chalmers and Roy Hibbert the next two names on the board. Since there's only about 12 guys in any draft who can play, those are the 12 I'm putting my money on.

 

Actually, there are two other foreign players that I think might be better than Gallinari, and both are in this draft. Unfortunately, contracts may get in the way of either ever coming to the NBA.

 

The first is Omer Asik, a Turkish center who played for Fenerbahce Ulker in Istanbul this past season. In 279 Euroleague minutes -- granted, a smallish sample -- his performance projects to 12.2 points and 13.5 boards per 40 minutes, with 52.3 percent shooting and a 15.23 PER. He blocks shots, too, setting a Euroleague Round of 16 record for rejections this year.

 

He's 22, 7-feet tall with a decent frame and relatively new to the game and still improving. So what's the hang-up? Apparently he signed a five-year deal to stay in Turkey with no buyout, meaning he might not play in the NBA for a long time. That would be a shame. I have little doubt that Asik should be a lottery pick, but the contract issue may leave him as a mid-second rounder.

[SoxFan1]

This is just speculation on your part, correct?

[Buehrle>Wood]

Go out there and grab Hairston. He could "Carmelo-ize" us.

[daa84]

This is just speculation on your part, correct?

no it was up on espn saying that asik was drafted by portland (from New York, Traded to Chicago)

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/nbadraft/draft/t...008&round=2

[SoxFan1]

no it was up on espn saying that asik was drafted by portland (from New York, Traded to Chicago)

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/nbadraft/draft/t...008&round=2

Any word on what we gave up?

[daa84]

Any word on what we gave up?

nope, ive been waiting to see that myself...pax mentioned that weems wouldnt be with the bulls though so it will certainly be weems and maybe just cash or something

 

btw Paxson said 3 years down the line he may be ready to play here, but that Hollinger article says 5.....5 years seems like an awful long time to wait on a guy

Edited June 27, 2008 by daa84

[Buehrle>Wood]

Oh, big time trade between the Wolves and Grizzlies.

[Felix]

As much as I hate Ohio State players and products, Koufos is pretty awesome. During a conference call, he referred to Deron Williams as "Mr. Williams" and called reporters "sir". People laughed at both of these things, but it's pretty cool to see someone actually be respectful when being interviewed.

[whitesoxbrian]

The NBA draft heated up in a big way after the final pick Thursday night, as the Minnesota Timberwolves and Memphis Grizzlies reportedly were about to complete a blockbuster trade involving their respective top draft choices.

 

ESPN, citing two league sources, reported that the T-wolves will send O.J. Mayo, Marko Jaric, Antoine Walker and Greg Buckner to the Grizzlies for Kevin Love, Mike Miller, Brian Cardinal and Jason Collins.

 

Aside from the Nos. 3 (Mayo) and 5 (Love) picks being swapped, the Wolves would land a big-time shooter in Miller. The bigger news is the exchanging of several bloated contracts, including Cardinal's (two years, $13 million remaining) and Jaric's (three years, $21 million remaining). Walker and Buckner's contracts will come off the books after next season, giving Memphis significant salary-cap relief.

from sportingnews.com

[Chisoxfn]

its omer asik

I can't say enough how much I love this pick. I clearly haven't ever seen him play, but based on what the experts say we are talking about acquiring a lotto talent in the 2nd round of the draft. The reason he fell is that he recently signed a 5 year deal with his Turkish squad but the Bulls don't have any roster space so he wouldn't even be able to get the playing time needed to develop here (and if he did, it would cut into the development of Noah/Thomas and end up hurting all parties). Now this guy will get a couple years overseas playing in the Euro league (which will be very good for his development) and eventually come over here (Pax seemed to indicate that this was a guy that could really help them out 3 years from now, so that would lead me to believe he'll play two seasons over in Europe and than if everything goes as planned they'd bring him over; than again, he may fizzle out or who knows).

[GoodAsGould]

the Timberwolves seem to have a glut of SG's now with McCants, Foye, and Mike Miller. If Paxson wanted to completely rebuild this team... in which i see a future without Ben Gordon, Kirk Hinrich, and eventually Larry Hughes. Maybe we can pry one of McCants or Foye from the Timberwolves?

[jackie hayes]

nope, ive been waiting to see that myself...pax mentioned that weems wouldnt be with the bulls though so it will certainly be weems and maybe just cash or something

 

btw Paxson said 3 years down the line he may be ready to play here, but that Hollinger article says 5.....5 years seems like an awful long time to wait on a guy

So, apparently we gave up 3 future second-round picks (including, iirc, the one we got for Weems).

 

Most things I find say he has two years left on his contract. A couple (including the Hollinger article you mention) say he either just signed or probably will sign a new five-year deal. There's no way Paxson would deal 3 second-rounders for a guy the Bulls won't see until the 2013-2014 season (when he'll be in his late 20s, anyway), so I think it's a safe assumption that the five-year deal reports are wrong. Maybe he's in the last two years of a five-year deal, maybe there was talk of an extension -- but the Bulls wouldn't wait that long on him.

 

"He is mostly known by his abnormal shot blocking ability." Gotta love wikipedia.

[jackie hayes]

Dan Shanoff's summary of draft day: The Nets drafted LeBron.

 

Connect the dots, friends: It's all about LeBron. The Nets want LeBron. The Nets are now in a perfect position to lure LeBron. When the Nets eventually sign LeBron, we will look back and say that the 2008 NBA draft was a critical moment -- perhaps THE critical moment -- in that process.

 

http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/the_sport...raft_..._lebron

 

And Bill Simmons, last night:

 

(By the way, for what the Nets "got" in that trade, they should just buy out Simmons, then use the extra money to erect a 50-foot billboard across the street of LeBron's house that says, "We have loads of cap space in 2010!" with the Nets logo in the corner. Because that could be the only explanation.)

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story...=simmons/080626

Edited June 27, 2008 by jackie hayes

[fathom]

fathom....how about bilas saying the thing shan foster needed to improve on was his 3 point shooting...that alone should get bilas fired

 

I know Shan had some terrible workouts for teams and at the camps, but that's just blasphemy. He was the best jump shooter in college basketball last season.

[fathom]

Mike Taylor-Point Guard.

 

Must Improve-Point Guard Skills

 

I saw Taylor play at Iowa St quite a few games, and he was just a stat sheet stuffer (and not always in a good way). I wonder if Felix remembers the crazy game at Minnesota when he had like 30 pts in the 2nd half of the game. Also, I think when he first went to the D-League last year, he told people he went to UCLA.

[fathom]

Heh.

 

Heh what?

[Rowand44]

I think we're going to regret not drafting CDR.

 

PS Rose is supposedly throwing out the first pitch today, it'll be kinda cool to see him rocking a Sox jersey.

[Kyyle23]

I think we're going to regret not drafting CDR.

 

PS Rose is supposedly throwing out the first pitch today, it'll be kinda cool to see him rocking a Sox jersey.

 

Mulligan and Hanley are saying its confirmed

[Felix]

I saw Taylor play at Iowa St quite a few games, and he was just a stat sheet stuffer (and not always in a good way). I wonder if Felix remembers the crazy game at Minnesota when he had like 30 pts in the 2nd half of the game.

Yep. He was pretty awesome that game, and it completely sucked. He was the only reason they beat us.

[watchtower41]

PS Rose is supposedly throwing out the first pitch today, it'll be kinda cool to see him rocking a Sox jersey.

 

 

 

Awesome... I gotta make sure I get outta the office early now. This is gonna be a sqeeze play day

[lostfan]

i dont wanna sound like too big of a downer because i love rose's athleticism but here are a few reasons why i dont really love the pick.....

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/leaders?grou...ts&sort=AVG

#90 with the talent memphis had around him and playing in that conference? (to his credit he averaged about 3 fewer minutes than most the people at the top)

 

71% Free throw %...thats bad especially for a slasher who should get to the basket and draw fouls

 

34% 3 point %...thats also bad for a guard

Well Rose doesn't really have to score to have an impact on games. The skillset is there, the Bulls will have a bona fide offense with him in there.

 

Secondly Rose is 19, I think people are going to tend to forget that. He has good shot mechanics and he's coachable, and it'll be a couple of years (at least) before he's any kind of finished NBA product.

[DBAHO]

Rose is basically comparable to Deron Williams, and if he turns out to be anything close to that, Bulls fans' should be very happy.

 

I'm surprised McHale would have offer Jefferson for the #1 though. Would they have taken Beasley I wonder if they ended up with that choice?

 

As for the Mayo trade, I like what Memphis did there. Conley and Mayo in the back-court is a good mix. Makes you think what are they going to do with Crittendon and Lowry though. My guess is the latter is definitely on his way out, maybe to Denver.

 

I don't like Love as a prospect, and Minny have basically 2 PF's now down low, but Mike Miller will be a good fit at SG/SF.