An interesting question..

[tmac13]

Someone asked me this question last week and I thought it was good enough to share with the board..

We have 3 guys(not counting Donta) that are young enough to be either sophmores or juniors in college..Smoove, Marvin and Zaza are younger than alot of guys that will be drafted this year and even next year..The question is..

If Smoove, Marvin, and Zaza were in this years draft, with the same group that is currently coming out, where would they be taken?

In my opinion, Smoove would be the 1st player taken..He would be putting up huge numbers in college, and would be a defensive monster probably leading the NCAA in blocks...Marvin would be a top 3 or 4 according to where teams rated him next to Gay, Morrison and Aldrige..I think Zaza would be a mid to late lottery pick based on the other big men coming out...Thoughts?

[Weez]

Zaza would be ranked top 5 as he is a legit 4/5 man who can score in the paint...look at bogut last year...

[Dragitoff]

I think alot of this would depend on what schools they went to. Of course, Marvin was at UNC last season, but where would Zaza and Smoove be? You can't realistically translate success in the NBA to success collegiately. Look at all the college greats who flopped as pros and vice versa.

[exodus]

Where would Smoove go if the 2004 draft happened again? I think the Hawks would take him at 6....if he was still there.

[Admin]

so he would be staring for the Hoosiers and probably putting up monster numbers. He would clearly be a top 5 pick this year, along with Marvin.

[Dragitoff]

Better question.....would the Hawks take Marvin again if the 05' draft could happen all over again? I'm not for or against it, just saying you can't go back in time and do things all over again. It's fun to talk about what if's though sometimes.

[DrReality]

Great post. Puts things into perspective in terms of the struggles we are facing now. Obviously, the best days are in front of us. Gotta think there are at least a few teams our there that are envious . . . especially the ones with high salary caps.

[Packfill]

An even better question is if the Hawks had to choose between Smoove and Marvin, who do you take?

[Gray Mule]

Hawks don't have to choose - We have all three!!

These three young Hawks, young enough to still be in

school and be in this year's draft, would all three

be first round picks.

Would the Hawks be willing to trade either of the three

for a first round pick in the upcoming draft? NO!!

We already know what these guys can do in the NBA,

and can only guess at how this year's draft picks will

preform, once they are out of school and in the NBA.

[frosgrim]

I agree its great we have those guys, but it is fun to think of how damn good this Hawks team would be on the collegite level.

Z would be top 5 you would have to think.

Smoove and Marvin might be 1 and 2 in draft order. So, you do have to hand it to BK for essentially picking up 3 top 5 picks over the last 2 years. Not bad at all (in terms of talent).

Now we just need a little more coaching...Could you guys imagine what Roy Williams or Jim Calhoun would do with this collection of talent? Wow.

[Lascar78]

I hear what you're saying, but it's usually not a good sign when you're thinking about how well your team could do in the NCAA...

[KB21]

If Marvin and Josh were in this draft pool, they would be the odds on favorites to be the first and second picks in the draft. IMO, it would go like this:

1. Marvin Williams, F, North Carolina

2. Josh Smith, F, Indiana

3. Rudy Gay, F, Connecticut

4. LaMarcus Aldridge, F, Texas

Zaza would probably be considered a possible lottery pick.

[ATLJA316]

i love this post -- great topic

[KB21]

Think about that entire 2004 high school class. What if Dwight Howard had gone to Florida, Shaun Livingston to Duke, Josh Smith to Indiana, Sebastian Telfair to Louisville, Robert Swift to Southern California, JR Smith to North Carolina, Al Jefferson to Arkansas, and I can't remember where Dorrel Wright was going to go.....what would this draft look like?

01. Dwight Howard, C, 6'10", Florida - How good would that Florida team be if they had Howard to go along with Al Horford, Corey Brewer, Joakim Noah, and that point guard they have whose name I can't remember? They'd rival Connecticut for the most talented team in college, IMO.

02. Al Jefferson, PF, 6'9", Arkansas - Had this kid gone on to Arkansas, he may have set records as a scorer in the SEC.

03. Shaun Livingston, PG, 6'7", Duke - Shaun Livingston at Duke? Are you friggin kidding me? How scary would that have been?

04. Marvin Williams, SF, 6'9", North Carolina - Marvin played a year at North Carolina, and he would have most certainly been the man at NC this year.

05. Josh Smith, PF, 6'9", Indiana - I highly doubt Mike Davis would be resigning if he could have gotten this kid to Indiana instead of watching him flee to the NBA. Josh Smith and Robert Vaden would have been a very nice combo.

06. JR Smith, SG, 6'6", North Carolina - I fully believe that a Smith and Williams combination at North Carolina would have rivaled the Jordan/Worthy, Stackhouse/Wallace, and Carter/Jamison combinations that have previously been at NC. They may have been the favorites to repeat this year as well.

07. Rudy Gay, SF, 6'9", Connecticut - The player that is arguably the top player in this year's draft is probably the seventh best player in that entire high school class.

08. Sebastian Telfair, PG, 5'11", Louisville - I really have no doubt that Telfair's game would have taken off at Louisville, and he would have learned how to shoot the ball more consistently.

09. Robert Swift, C, 7'0", Southern California - Say what you want about him. He's a 7-footer that is very skilled in the post with soft hands, solid offensive ability, and some shot blocking ability.

10. Dorrel Wright, SG, 6'7", DePaul - It just donned on me who he signed with. I think he is going to be one of the stories where he looks back on his decision and wishes he had gone on to college. He had the chance to be a dynamic scoring guard with his shooting ability and ball handling skills.

After those guys, you have players from this class like Rajon Rondo at Kentucky, Al Horford at Florida, Joakim Noah at Florida, Kyle Lowry at Villanova, Jason Smith at Colorado State, and Malik Hairston at Oregon.

There's no doubt in my mind that the 2004 high school class is the best high school class of basketball talent that I have ever seen.

[SmooveTheFuture]

Josh Smith would def. be a top 3 pick this year. He woulda have been putting up crazy numbers in college. Also Dorell Wright was suppose to go Depaul.

[buckeye242424]

Interesting post...I have to admit, however, that I'm happy for the college game that kids right out of HS can't jump to the NBA. It's good for the college game, and it's good for the kid. Everyone can attest that college is one of the best experiences in life (if the THE best). All these kids at least get to experience it for one year....I guess I kind of bias too, I love the Buckeyes along with the Hawks, and Greg Oden as you all know, is coming to C-bus.

Go Bucks!!!

[Diesel]

I think Marvin would be top 5 but not #1.

Josh Smith would be #1. Think about it. He would be the most dominating player that the Big 10 has seen since Calbert Cheney.

Sure MW would get more TV time... But I think the Hoosiers would find their way onto TV too. With Killingsworth/Smoove... Man.... that would be interesting.