![]() |
![]() |
![]()
Post
#1
|
|
Superstar ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Administrator Posts: 3,914 Joined: 13-March 06 Member No.: 23 ![]() |
Ok, I didn't even think about this until now (Especially since we didn't have a coach)...if people want to do a mock draft through this site this year, here's your chance.
Since there's barely 2 weeks left, I'm just going to put up the list. If you want to sign up for a team, please reply in this thread and state which team (s) you want. Let's make a goal of getting the lottery teams filled up first. If you want a non-lottery team, you can grab them, but I can't guarantee we'll get to them. We'll start the draft when all the Lottery teams are taken. If you want the Bulls...send me a PM or post here within 24 hours, and tomorrow night I'll do a microsoft excel random number generator style raffle, as I did with the TalkBears one (And just to let you know, I'm putting myself in the running for that one, but I promise it will be conducted fairly. If the Bulls can win the lottery so can I.) 1 Chicago Bulls - ZoomSlowik 2 Miami Heat - CBF 3 Minnesota Timberwolves - DotheDuhon21 4 Seattle SuperSonics - Soxfan1 5 Memphis Grizzlies - dasox24 6 New York Knicks - cowch 7 L.A. Clippers - Balta 8 Milwaukee Bucks- ZoomSlowik 9 Charlotte Bobcats - steve9347 10 New Jersey Nets - Bulls91 11 Indiana Pacers - CBF 12 Sacramento Kings - Soxfan1 13 Portland Trail Blazers - Eddog2 14 Golden State Warriors - steve9347 15 Phoenix Suns - Bulls91 16 Philadelphia 76ers - DotheDuhon21 17 Toronto Raptors - Balta 18 Washington Wizards - cowch 19 Cleveland Cavaliers - dasox24 20 Denver Nuggets - ZoomSlowik 21 New Jersey Nets - Eddog2 22 Orlando Magic - steve9347 23 Utah Jazz - cowch 24 Seattle SuperSonics- SoxFan1 25 Houston Rockets - Eddog2 26 San Antonio Spurs - Steve9347 27 New Orleans Hornets - Balta 28 Memphis Grizzlies - dasox24 29 Detroit Pistons - cowch 30 Boston Celtics - DotheDuhon21 |
|
|
![]() |
![]()
Post
#2
|
|
All-Star ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Administrator Posts: 2,704 Joined: 14-March 06 Member No.: 43 ![]() |
Side commentary: while Brand is the better player, Aldridge appears to be a better fit to play alongside Oden (and to a lesser extent Roy). Duncan and Robinson worked, but they were also both phenomenal players and really only had one year together with both of them at their peak, not to mention they didn't have a Roy to help carry the load as well. Oden and Brand bring a lot of the same skills: they both play on the low block a lot, they are both good rebounders and shot-blockers, and neither is what I would call an above average shooter (Oden isn't even average), which would help a lot when people collapse on the other guy and give you better spacing. While defensively it'd be a nice pairing (though not the fleetest of foot, might struggle against smaller teams), on offense they both end up with fewer touches inside. On the other hand, Aldridge is a guy that can play away from the basket a lot more and doesn't need to spend the whole game on the low blocks to be effective, which is probably good with Oden on the roster. Yeah, he's a pretty average rebounder and defender, but assuming Oden is healthy that's a lot less of an issue. Plus you don't need him to be as much of a scorer with Oden and Roy around, he can be kind of like Rasheed Wallace without the crazy as he develops. I personally like that future grouping quite a bit, though they could really use a dead-eye shooter at PG or SF to take advantage of all of the attention Oden and Roy will draw (not a big fan of Jones and Blake as long-term options, and Webster isn't quite dangerous enough from out there yet to be the regular #1 outside threat).
|
|
|
![]()
Post
#3
|
|
Leading Scorer ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Members Posts: 1,285 Joined: 5-July 06 Member No.: 193 ![]() |
Side commentary: while Brand is the better player, Aldridge appears to be a better fit to play alongside Oden (and to a lesser extent Roy). Duncan and Robinson worked, but they were also both phenomenal players and really only had one year together with both of them at their peak, not to mention they didn't have a Roy to help carry the load as well. Oden and Brand bring a lot of the same skills: they both play on the low block a lot, they are both good rebounders and shot-blockers, and neither is what I would call an above average shooter (Oden isn't even average), which would help a lot when people collapse on the other guy and give you better spacing. While defensively it'd be a nice pairing (though not the fleetest of foot, might struggle against smaller teams), on offense they both end up with fewer touches inside. On the other hand, Aldridge is a guy that can play away from the basket a lot more and doesn't need to spend the whole game on the low blocks to be effective, which is probably good with Oden on the roster. Yeah, he's a pretty average rebounder and defender, but assuming Oden is healthy that's a lot less of an issue. Plus you don't need him to be as much of a scorer with Oden and Roy around, he can be kind of like Rasheed Wallace without the crazy as he develops. I personally like that future grouping quite a bit, though they could really use a dead-eye shooter at PG or SF to take advantage of all of the attention Oden and Roy will draw (not a big fan of Jones and Blake as long-term options, and Webster isn't quite dangerous enough from out there yet to be the regular #1 outside threat). Elton Brand is a better shooter and a better back to the basket scorer and his complete game is a ways ahead of Aldridge's. It was the same way at the college level when you compare their effectiveness at the same age and through his first 2 years in the league Brand was also more dominant than Aldridge. The only area I think Aldridge would be better is his quickness but even Aldridge isn't all that nimble for his position. Yes Oden and Brand do have similar games but that doesn't mean that Brand can't adjust his game and hit the open J. Plus he'll use his body to get a lot of offensive rebounds when Oden misses. And it never hurts to have a dominant player like Brand stay in the game when Oden in getting a breather or when he is in foul trouble. Then you never have to worry about not having a post scorer. As for the 3 point shooter, Webster was an excellent option. Most players his age couldn't dream of shooting close to the 40% clip wtih the # of 3's he jacks up. Anyway, as I stated before I think Rudy Fernandez is going to be just as good if not a better 3 point shooter than Webster and that's why they could afford to get rid of Webster. If never hurts to have other great shooters and that's why I think the Blazers will pursue 1 or 2 more good shooters in free agency. |
|
|
![]()
Post
#4
|
|
All-Star ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Administrator Posts: 2,704 Joined: 14-March 06 Member No.: 43 ![]() |
Elton Brand is a better shooter and a better back to the basket scorer and his complete game is a ways ahead of Aldridge's. It was the same way at the college level when you compare their effectiveness at the same age and through his first 2 years in the league Brand was also more dominant than Aldridge. The only area I think Aldridge would be better is his quickness but even Aldridge isn't all that nimble for his position. Yes Oden and Brand do have similar games but that doesn't mean that Brand can't adjust his game and hit the open J. Plus he'll use his body to get a lot of offensive rebounds when Oden misses. And it never hurts to have a dominant player like Brand stay in the game when Oden in getting a breather or when he is in foul trouble. Then you never have to worry about not having a post scorer. As for the 3 point shooter, Webster was an excellent option. Most players his age couldn't dream of shooting close to the 40% clip wtih the # of 3's he jacks up. Anyway, as I stated before I think Rudy Fernandez is going to be just as good if not a better 3 point shooter than Webster and that's why they could afford to get rid of Webster. If never hurts to have other great shooters and that's why I think the Blazers will pursue 1 or 2 more good shooters in free agency. Brand is an decent shooter, not a particularly strong one. Yes, he can hit them and does well on the line, but he's far more effective down on the blocks. Aldridge is a very good shooter for a guy his size though. He hit 41.7% of his 2-point jumpers even though they made up 60% of his shots last year, only his second in the league. That's very good for a big man and was a better percentage than guys like Luol Deng, Carmelo Anthony, David West and Chris Bosh that are known for their mid-range shooting. Plus with his awesome length it's a very difficult shot to block/challenge. I'm in no way arguing that Aldridge is a better player, he needs to add bulk and get more aggressive, but he's more capable of doing his damage away from the basket and that opens things up more for Oden. Just look at how much better Kaman was as a scorer once Brand got hurt and how many more attempts he got, or how Eddy Curry and Zach Randolph had some trouble sharing attempts this year (purely as post scorers they're both quite good). Duncan and Robinson was the exception more than the norm. Aldridge is not exactly bad in the post either, he hit 61.2% on shots in the basket area, though obviously on fewer attempts. He can play inside or outside pretty well on offense, which is a great complement to a guy that's strictly a low-post option. Add in the sizeable age and contract differences and keeping him around makes an awful lot of sense. As for Webster, I'm not arguing that he can't shoot, but he's not quite what I was talking about. At roughly 39% and 1.6 makes he can certainly contribute to it, but he's not the complete answer to the problem just yet, you need at least one other comparable option or someone that's going to hit a ton of them like Rashard Lewis or Peja (obviously those guys are harder to get). In terms of 3-point impact he was roughly equal to Andres Nocioni (yes, I know that 38.8>36.4, I said roughly, and they hit about the same number), you still need another guy that can hit open shots regularly that's also going to be on the floor with your first unit quite a bit. They're going to get a lot of open shot opportunities with people paying attention to Oden and/or Aldridge inside and Roy on the drive, so you need to surround them with guys that can hit them with regularity, not just one guy. |
|
|
![]() ![]() |
![]() |
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 7th July 2024 - 04:38 AM |