2009 NBA Draft

[ex carrabba fan]

2009 NBA DRAFT

Thursday June 25th, 2009
Coverage starts at 7PM ET
Live from Madison Square Garden

www.draftexpress.com for the complete two rounds

Let's ramble about it. Compare prospects to pros they resemble, talk about sleepers, busts who should stay in school [Steph Curry, Patty Mills?] etc.

Here's a link to a great thread where you can see which college players are staying in school, leaving for the pros, and who has signed with an agent

Early entry thread - 2009

I only see one All-Star-- Blake Griffin. And that's not a for sure thing in my view.. overall pool seems pretty blah to me. Should be interesting as usual though.

Predicting busts is somewhat unfair since not too many guys have that "star power" but I'll go ahead and pop off anyway, and BTW I'll eat my crow on my Jeff Green pick for a bust a couple years back.

Busts-- if they're top 10, didn't really go out on a limb but:

Brandon Jennings-- Of course nobody has really seen him play in Europe, I've heard he hasn't gotten consistent minutes. I love his game for a streetball tournament but NBA wise I have my doubts.

Gerald Henderson-- Yeaaaah he's super athletic but he seems like a volume guy. I doubt many teams are going to give him the Kobe style green light on the next level.

Should stay in school:

Jrue Holiday. Boy you're not ready, I've never liked your game and you've done nothing to reverse my opinion.

[Streets]

With the Rockets 1st round pick, they select....

James "Flight" White!!

We don't have a draft pick this year, so he is going to act as our first rounder, I guess. The Rockets are about to lock up White through 2009-2010.

[Rocky]

I really like Demar DeRosen, but it seems like he really enjoys college. Is he definately leaning towards declaring for the draft?

[ThreeKing]

Gerald Henderson = Dahntay Jones

[ex carrabba fan]

Quote: Originally Posted by Rocky

I really like Demar DeRosen, but it seems like he really enjoys college. Is he definately leaning towards declaring for the draft?

Coming in his people pretty much made it clear it was a one and done thing, at least from what I remember.

He should definitely stay at least one year. He has no college three to speak of [shoots 18%].. so that means he has pretty much no NBA range no NBA jumper.

I look at him as being a Ronnie Brewer

[ex carrabba fan]

Quote: Originally Posted by ThreeKing

Gerald Henderson = Dahntay Jones

Hendo's jumper I like more than Jones' though coming out of college. But a lot of people make that same comparison.

[ThreeKing]

I might be of the few who thinks Brandon Jennings will be a star. He is currently getting tough love overseas and I think it will only help him for the NBA.

[Cebby]

For the Wizards, I'd like:

1. seriously?
2. Jennings
3. Thabeet
4. Evans
5. The Spanish kid everyone's in love with

[ex carrabba fan]

Quote: Originally Posted by ThreeKing

I might be of the few who thinks Brandon Jennings will be a star. He is currently getting tough love overseas and I think it will only help him for the NBA.

Yeah that's definitely good to curb his ego, if he had one, and to make him work that much harder.

Quote: Originally Posted by Cebby

For the Wizards, I'd like: 1. seriously? 2. Jennings 3. Thabeet 4. Evans 5. The Spanish kid everyone's in love with

So I guess you don't have faith in Gil's knee? I hate Ty Evans.. ugggh. He shouldn't be anywhere near a lotto pick.

How do you guys think of Maynor, Curry, Mills, Terrence Williams-- guys who will probably make up the middle to early 20's of the draft.

[ehh]

Quote: Originally Posted by ex carrabba fan

Jrue Holiday. Boy you're not ready, I've never liked your game and you've done nothing to reverse my opinion.

Couldn't agree more. From the first time I saw him play on YouTube highlights to the McD AA game to his freshman year at UCLA I have not been impressed. He has a lot of work to do.

Moving on, there isn't a single franchise player in this draft though I think Griffin is a sure-fire future All-Star. Get him in the pick-n-roll (his J will develop) and out in the open floor and he'll be an animal. The McDyess/Amare comparisons are good ones IMO.

Thabeet is going to be the most interesting case IMO. I'm very curious to see where he gets drafted. I've seen every single one his games in three years at UConn and the first thing I will say is that he's never had a great game against a quality big men (though those match ups are few and far between in the college game these days). Offensively he has learned to play very well in space (finishing hard with two hands every time) but is still very far behind when it comes to taking contact and finishing while getting hit. He has an extremely long way to go in terms of being a back-to-the-basket player, not sure if he even has that potential. The scariest part is that he has been knocking down 15-footers in games lately. A Mutombo/Big Z hybrid? Maybe he won't need that back to the basket game afterall. Defensively I think the can be a monster but he needs to learn to separate more from defenders who try to back him down like Dejuan Blair did. Not sure he fully understands yet that shotblockers need space and do not want to body-to-body with the big they are guarding. His biggest improvement this year has been his defensive rebounding which was a big question before. The other big positive is that he works his rear end off, he's not going to get complacent or lazy and should improve each year in the NBA. To sum it up I can easily see either end of the spectrum for Thabeet, a career bench warmer or a future All-Star.

Jordan Hill should be a very solid player, Al Horford comes to mind a little bit. Who knows what he'll do after Brook Lopez's surprise rookie season this year.

James Harden's complete tank job in the NCAA's isn't doing him any favors for the general public who barely saw him play all year. I would say the best comparison is a better passing but worse shooting Paul Pierce. He is the most skilled player in the draft IMO but isn't a great athlete and can be very passive.

No idea what to make of Jennings, he was impressive as hell in the McD AA game but haven't seen much more besides YouTube vids. It will be interesting to see A) If he can become eligible for this year's draft. B) If he sky rockets up to #2 on the big board after workouts.

I still can't believe Sam Young is so low in so many mock drafts. Just because he'll be 24 on draft night? Limited potential I guess. He will be a great glue guy in the pros, love the James Posey comparison, though more athletic. If I'm a GM I take Young over Terrrance Williams eight days a week, and I despise Pitt.

Gerald Henderson has a chance to be the sleeper of the draft if he goes in the 7-12 range. He is an absolute freak athlete who's J is improving. He's the anti-Dookie almost and I think he'll be a surprise in the NBA. I think he's a much, much better version of Dahntay Jones.

And to plug my boy, AJ Price will be a much better pro than people expect. No one is even giving him a hint of a chance to be a first rounder. DX compares him to Mo Williams (they even look the same) and I think he could end up as that kind of player. You get him in the pick and roll game and you will see good results. Dude's J has become wet as hell this year, he plays with fire, is a leader and can pass better than most know, thanks to Calhoun's prehistoric half court offense.