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NBA Draft Grades/Analysis: If You Can Handle It
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NBA Draft Grades/Analysis If You Can Handle It
1) Chi –
Actual pick- Derrick Rose
Mock Draft Pick: Beasley
Should have picked: Beasley
Grade: B
Kirk Heinrich had a bad year last year, but is still a solid pg, not a star, but solid. Ty Thomas meanwhile has proven nothing in this league and Drew Gooden has proven that he’s nothing more then a role player. You’ve needed inside scoring for the last two decades, and Michael Beasley had the best freshman season ever. He LEAD the country in rebounding last year and was third in the country in scoring. As amazing as Durant was last season Beasley left him in the dust, nevermind Rose. On top of that Gooden and Thomas have much easier deals to trade for another pg if you aren’t completely sold on Heinrich.
One Final thought Rose had 4.7 assists per game last year… in Conference USA. Chris Paul and Deron Williams both had more assists and better assist to turnover ratios in college then Rose. While Memphis’ system probably has a lot to do with that has Rose really shown he’s the next Paul or Williams? He’s absolutely going to be good, but better then Beasley? We shall see.
2)Mia
Actual pick- Beasley
Should have picked: Beasley
Grade: A+
No brainer, he’s by far and away better then anything else on the board. Shawn Marion is not a PF (at least on the offensive side) and Haslem is an average player at best. Marion and Beasley should complement each other well with Beasley handling the scoring inside and Marion defending guys Beasley struggles to defend. Wade will have another player to lighten his load, and they were able to pickup a first round quality pg in Chalmers too. Riles may have had his reservation, but he better thank his basketball people cause they talked him into a GREAT draft.
3) Min (traded to Memphis)
Actual pick- OJ Mayo
Should have picked – OJ Mayo
Grade B+
They got a nice outside shooter in Mike Miller which fills a big need for them, but now they have two PF’s who aren’t really tall enough/tough enough to be dominant inside defenders. The knicks tried that… it didn’t work very well. I like Love (no pun intended) but I’m just not sure he makes sense there.
4) Sea
Actual pick- Westbrook
Should have picked – Lopez, Bayless,
Grade- C+
They need guys who can defend and they need a pg I get that. But they also have pretty much no one up front so Lopez would have been a better option and Bayless is more talented so he would have been a better option as well. Westbrook should be solid, but I question the value here.
5) Mem (traded to Min)
Actual pick- Love
Should have picked – Love, Lopez
Grade B+
They were able to get a lottery type talent at PF in Arthur and were able to trade for arguably the third best prospect in the draft (Mayo). I assume they’ll put Mayo at SG aside Conley with Gay at SF, Arthur and Warrick at PF and Milicic and Gasol at C, not a bad lineup if you ask me. They did have to take back Jaric’s contract though… yuck.
6) NY
Actual pick- Danilo Gallinari
Should have picked – Jerryd Bayless, DJ Augustin
Grade B-
If there was ever a team in need of a PG it’s the Knicks. Bayless is a top talent sitting right there for you. Clearly I’ve never seen Gallinari play and he’s put up some good numbers in Europe, but passing up on Bayless and Augustin here? Haven’t knicks fans been through enough? If Gallinari doesn’t come in and contribute they’ll boo him off the court from day one.
7) LAC
Actual pick- Eric Gordon
Should have picked – Eric Gordon, Bayless, Augustin
Grade B+
Maggette is likely to opt out, and even if he doesn’t they need a dominant scorer from the backcourt. He’s as good a value as anyone else here on the board and while they could use a PG I can’t find any fault in taking Gordon here.
8) Mil-
Actual pick- Joe Alexander
Should have picked – Darell Arthur, Anthony Randolph
Grade- C-
You just traded for Richard Jefferson… who I want back by the way and now you’re drafting another SF? I get that they like him, but does this pick make any sense?
9) Cha
Actual pick- DJ Augustin
Should have picked – Lopez
Grade B
I can’t kill this pick since Augustin isn’t a bad value here, but they already have Felton who’s more then serviceable. Meanwhile Lopez would have been a great complement to Okefor up front.
10) NJ
Actual pick- Brook Lopez
Should have picked – Lopez
Grade A+
They needed inside scoring, and they have two guys they can put alongside him in Sean Williams and Josh Boone who will cover for any defensive deficiencies. Having traded away Jefferson and having an aging carter they’re probably not going to be running much anyway so he should help them in the half court. Couldn’t have realistically hoped for a better pick; unless of course they got Alexander but for some reason Milwaukee took him.
11) Ind (traded to Portland)
Actual pick- Jerryd Bayless
Should have picked – Bayless
Grade B-
Loved bayless here, but then they went ahead and traded it for Brandon Rush. I like rush, now they’re going to have to count on Jack, Tinsley and Ford at the PG position. Hey, who knows one of them might stay healthy and be productive.
12) Sac
Actual pick- Jason Thompson
Should have picked – Chalmers, Arthur, Randolph, Speights
Grade D
He went to Rider… they couldn’t even make the NCAA tournament out of the MAAC. Your best option at pg right now looks to be Beno Udrih, while most of the top pg’s are off the board here I’m going to reach for the national champion over the guy who couldn’t make the NCAA tournament out of the MAAC. He was projected to go MAYBE 29… and you take him at 12… are we sure Isaiah Thomas isn’t in the building?
13) Por (traded to Ind)
Actual pick- Brandon Rush
Should have picked – Rush
Grade A+
They drafted Rush I was all ready to say how well Por did despite not having any prospect on the board who would be an upgrade over their current PG situation, but then they trade for bayless and I think this is a GREAT move. Jack had little value, and they got one of the top 5-6 players in the draft in my opinion and the number 4 prospect reportedly on their board.
14) GS
Actual pick- Randolph
Should have picked - Arthur
Grade B-
They need a big man and if he’s gonna play Nellie-ball he needs to be versatile, but for a team that’s already so thin up front you’re taking an 197 lb PF??? Arthur is another versatile PF who’s actually been to the dinner table once or twice. Randolph has a lot of talent though and put up great numbers, so I can’t kill the pick completely. If Baron Davis was younger I’d give this a B or maybe if they didn’t already have thin man Brandon Wright, but BD not being a spring chicken I’m giving it a B-
15) Pho
Actual pick- Robin Lopez
Should have picked – Donte Greene
Grade B
I know Steve Kerr wants to get better defensively, what he doesn’t realize is they’re never going to be very good at it as long as Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire are on the court. Donte Greene has top of the draft potential and would be a great swingman to take over for Grant Hill. As I said though they do need a big man who can defend and shaq can only play so many minutes at his age…
16) Phi-
Actual pick- Mareesse Speights
Should have picked – Speights
Grade A+
Speights has as much talent as anyone, and put up as good numbers as pretty much any PF. The Sixers need a PF with size who can play with his back to the basket. Excellent selection.
17) Tor (for Indiana)
Actual pick- Roy Hibbert
Should have picked – Hibbert, Arthur, Koufos
Grade B
They already selected a PG, so they needed to add some beef up front. You’re not going to find a much bigger player then hibbert. Teams like Tor (bosh) and bos (garnett) Mia (Beasley) will give them huge issues, but they’ll be better prepared for teams like cle (z) and mil (bogut) who are in their division.
18) Was
Actual pick- Mcgee
Should have picked – Mcgee
Grade B
Has great upside but he’s a big time project. However there weren’t really any players here who are clear upgrades over what they have (assuming Jamison, Butler and Arenas are back) so I don’t mind them taking a player based on upside.
19) Cle-
Actual pick- Hickson
Should have picked – Arthur, CDR
Grade B
Simply put they need guys who can put the ball in the basket. CDR would have looked great alongside LBJ, and I think Arthur would have been a nice replacement for the aging Joe Smith. Hickson did put up better numbers then Arthur, but it was on a much worse team so I don’t know what that means.
20) Cha
Actual pick- alexis aijinca
Should have picked – Kofous
Grade D
Workout warriors rarely turn into quality players. He barely played in the French league, and averaged a grand total of 5 points… need I say more?
21) NJ
Actual pick- Anderson
Should have picked – CDR
Grade – C
What I wrote at the time: You traded away Richard Jefferson, you already have Boone, Lopez and Williams not to mention Yi, and Kristic is a restricted free agent and you take another forward? How bout a swing guy to replace Jefferson, CDR would have been a great fit and would have started next year… god the Nets need Stefanski back.
Was all ready to give them an F for this pick, but then they got CDR in the second round, so I dislike this pick much less.
22) Orl
Actual pick- Courtney Lee
Should have picked – CDR, Lee
Grade B
They needed a tall starting shooting guard, but with turkogulo and lewis being great defenders CDR would have been the better pick here. People will be sorry they did not select him MUCH earlier… think Josh Howard (not the same type of players, but both players who went way too late)
23) Utah
Actual pick- Koufos
Should have picked – kofous
Grade B
Best value here given they don’t need a PF or a shooting SF. Speed really must not be something they pay much attention to.
24) Sea
Actual pick- Serge Ibaka
Should have picked – Anyone else, Darrell Arthur
Grade D
Here’s a predication this guy will never play in the NBA. He’s unlikely to play in the NBA this year, and if he’s as good as people say he is they won’t be able to pay him enough to come to the NBA with the rookie salary structure. If he isn’t… they won’t want him.
25) Houston (traded to Por)
Actual pick- Nicolas Batum
Should have picked – Arthur, CDR
Grade B
Ended up with Donte Greene who should provide some good scoring off the bench for a team that sorely needed another scorer. Why they didn’t just draft him though I don’t know.
26) SA
Actual pick- George Hill
Should have picked – Greene
Grade Spurs
They’re the spurs they don’t get a grade, I think they needed to get more athletic and needed more people who can score the ball, but they seem to know what they’re doing so who am I to question.
27) Cha (for Por) (Traded to Mem via Houston)
Actual pick- Darrell Arthur
Should have picked – D Greene
Grade A-
Didn’t really need Arthur but was too good of a talent to pass on so they turned it into a SF in Batum, not sure how good Batum will be, but I like the way Portland works.
28) Mem- (Traded to Houston)
Actual pick- Donte Greene
Should have picked – Greene
Grade B+
I like Greene he’s got lottery pick value but why Houston didn’t just take him themselves I’m not sure… I guess they must have gotten something for Batum/Arthur?
29) Det- (traded to seattle)
Actual pick- DJ White
Should have picked – whoever they like
Grade B+ (for both teams)
They don’t really have any glaring holes, so I didn’t mind them selecting White but he duplicates Maxiell, so I like them trading with Seattle, They’ll put the two second rounders in the D-league and hopefully they develop nicely. Meanwhile Seattle needed some beef up front and White should help provide that.
30) Bos
Actual pick- JR Giddens
Should have picked – Chalmers, CDR
Grade C
They could use an eventual replacement for Ray Allen, or a backup/upgrade for Rondo. Instead they take a headcase? I don’t like it.
