BK's fate

[Yeti]

I'd do that. I liked what little I saw of Bynum and he's less a project than Sene.

[BusBoyIsBack]

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My main problem with the Shelden pick is we have Marvin Williams and Smith to man the forward positions and we have Joe Johnson as the shooting guard. We should be looking to address the center or point guard position and not be stacking a position where are already set at for the next 10 years.

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We are set at SMALL forward. The last time I checked there are more than one forward positions. Josh Smith and Marvin Williams are swingmen with no post game. Shelden is a PF/C with legit post presence on both sides of the ball given his strength and skillset.

[DJlaysitup]

Agree BBIB...and if either MW or JS do develop into great PFs (something we can't count on now) - we can always find a new home for Shelden via trade. I just don't think we can go into next year expecting both Marvin and JoshS to be starters beside each other at the forward positions - it could be a recipe for further disaster in the paint.

[nixforsix]

"and a guy who puts up 18/11 and 22/14/3.6 against 1st round competiton is nothing."

Of course you are citing Shelden's senior year stats in which he played against younger competition. He averaged 12.6 and 8.5 as a sophomore compared to Aldridge's 15 and 9.2 as a soph. Though you're right in assessing the Williams had the advantage in 3 bpg compared to 2 for Aldridge.

[BusBoyIsBack]

There is no denying the potential of Aldridge. You can't go wrong with Shelden or Alridge. But be prepared to see us pass on him if he's available to grab Shelden. Aldridge is the guy we identified as the injury prone big man. How do I know this? Because there is no other big time big man with a history of injury and he's like the only big man that wasn't mentioned that we were looking at.

[Buzzard]

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"and a guy who puts up 18/11 and 22/14/3.6 against 1st round competiton is nothing."

Of course you are citing Shelden's senior year stats in which he played against younger competition. He averaged 12.6 and 8.5 as a sophomore compared to Aldridge's 15 and 9.2 as a soph. Though you're right in assessing the Williams had the advantage in 3 bpg compared to 2 for Aldridge.

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Good comparison. I agree here; this is BK's team all the way. If he drafts Shelden, it is his stance that he can win w/o any 6'10 6'11 starters. Unless Woody benches either Smoove or Marvin and starts ZaZa. In that case it shows he drafted two role players in Chilz and MWill (or Smoove).

I have always thought of his team building to be similar to Detroit and Phoenix; but even they have all star quality 6' 10" or 6' 11" players in Rasheed and Amare.

This is the make or break season for BK. I think we need to show serious improvement this year. A run at the 8th spot and improved outlook all the way around or he is shown the door. Owners, no matter who it is running he show, expect results. Four straight years in the lottery would not be a good sign for BK.

I do think BK is really good at evaluating talent. But a GM has to put together a team that can win (good scouts may not make the best GM's). Does not matter in the long run whether you have 4 NBA starting caliber G's like the Knicks or end up with 4 NBA starting caliber 6'8" forwards like us(if we draft Shelden).

Aquiring talent is only one part of the big picture and winning is always the bottom line. If he drafts Shelden, we had better start winning with all these 6' 8" forwards, there is no doubt in my mind about that...

[Diesel]

Well, I'm glad that Shelden developed and won 2 defensive player of the year awards since his sophomore season.

However, here's one difference between Aldridge and Shelden.

Shelden has never been SOFT...

Aldridge is Mr. Softy...

Let me reference one scouting report on Aldridge which has a lot of truth to it...

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LaMarcus Aldridge Strengths

His height, length and wingspan make him the ideal four, or possibly five, in the pros. Aldridge is not clumsy and is fairly polished offensively -- he is a very good athlete with good fundamentals and a soft touch on his shot, which he's effective from out to about 14 feet. Very good shot blocker and rebounder, particularly on the offensive glass. Runs the floor very well for a man his size.

LaMarcus Aldridge Weaknesses

While Aldridge has the ideal frame for the pros, he will have to bulk up to succeed at the highest level -- he's likely to get pushed around early. Like a Tim Duncan, he's very mild mannered and doesn't play with tremendous passion. Has disappeared in many games, scoring 5 points or less in 6 of UT's games as a sophomore.

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[Admin]

of crow, I'm sure everyone else who doubted Shelden will be happy to join in with you. While some of us have maintained all along that Shelden will be a very good player, you talked all kinds of trash about him during the tournament this year, so dont try and sit on your high horse about him now.

[Traceman]

will be PF matchups that neither of them are going to be able to handle for an entire game, at least for a few years. They simply are not strong enough. Neither of them defend the low post well. Smoove is a terrific shotblocker but he gets pushed around and abused by guys who know how to use their bodies to get into good low post scoring position.

[Buzzard]

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Shelden has never been SOFT...

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No he is not defenseively but the Landlord does disappear at times offensively against top competition.

Seton Hall 7 pts

Indiana 13 pts

St Johns 11 pts

Wake Forest 10 pts

Georgetown 4 pts

UNC 13 pts

WF 12 pts

I think your ridicule is unwarranted. The two players are different. One is rated more offenseively polished while the other is more defensively polished. I am sure we can find examples of both players disappearing in one way or another throughout their careers.

It's a matter of whose upside do you beleive in. There are just as many doubts concerning Shelden growing into a solid all around player as there are doubts as to if Aldridge will grow into one as well.

[Buzzard]

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of crow, I'm sure everyone else who doubted Shelden will be happy to join in with you. While some of us have maintained all along that Shelden will be a very good player, you talked all kinds of trash about him during the tournament this year, so dont try and sit on your high horse about him now.

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You mean Diesel cannot be rightous about being wrong? What fun is that

[Diesel]

I readily admit I am no Duke fan and was happy to see them lose and talked trash about all their players. And was constantly a fan of whoever beat Duke...

But when it came time to evaluate the best players for my favorite franchise, I have to put my Duke hate to the side and recognize who Shelden really is.

Let me let you in on this also.

I'm going to hate McRoberts all next season. But that's because he goes to Duke. I hate Coach K. Actually, I don't think I could get over my coach K. Hate.. even though I recognize him as a good coach.. I still hate him and will talk bad about him too...

I can't describe to you how much I hate Duke. I really do. But I love the Hawks and the Hawks would be better served with this Dukie than:

Some duplicated talent.

Some Center that couldn't dominate his weak conference.

Some PF/C who is a Wuss on the floor.

Some Pf sure to be a bust.