If Pacers pick is 10-15....

[warcore]

Does anyone see BK going after Marco Belinelli? I watched him in the Internation championships this summer and he was a stud!! He's 6'6 and can play both guard positions well. He was a leader and had confidence in his eyes. Imagine the ratation of Belinelli, JJ, and Lue in the backcourt...crazy 3-point threats.

Or maybe Yi Jianlin would look good with the hawks??

[Popeye]

6-6??

noooooo

[warcore]

did you see him play? he's really quick and knows how to get to the basket and draw contact.

[Sothron]

http://nbadraft.net/admincp/profiles/marcobelinelli.html

[macdaddy]

agreed. He is a full 2 inches too short for us to draft. Can you imagine us taking a little person like that. Geez.

[Vicktabulousness]

could we possible have 2 top 15 picks? and what are the odds oden goes to chicago with the knicks pick?

[GoDawgs21]

OK Sothron to agree or disagree, if a player like this that is compared to be Ray Allen, clearly wont be that could but could be a PG for us. Say he falls to us with Ind's pick, is that now getting nothing for Al like you said? You asseration that draft picks are getting nothing was my other point I disagree on. This draft has some talent. If this pick turns out to be someone like this its a win. No Bk didn't know he was going to get this guy or that guy. But just like the sheed trade, it was a deep draft adn he wanted 2 picks. Could have been the 10th pick or 17th, but he got talent, in Smoove. When BK hasnt had a pick not be a solid contributor yet, why is it so hard to believe that we wont get a quality player with this pick. There was no need for Al anyways with Marvin finally showing he was ready. Our defense is better our youngs now get to show their strengths and we may get this guy. I call that a win, when being a FA Al could have walked for nothing.

[warcore]

this guy is same size as Bozeman...except good. he would more than likely start, with lue still coming off as 6th man.

and we would be extra deep with speedy whenever he's healthy

[GoDawgs21]

Its still early, but look at the draft prospects there are 4 centers ranked 10th - 24th which is the range the Pacers pick could be.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nbadraft/draft/...?draftyear=2007

maybe we find Zaza some help for when Lo gets to old, or if we cant resign z his replacement. I love people are already looking at stuff like this, but still didnt like the Al trade, without we are sol this draft.

[gutz]

We need to grab big 7"2 Roy Hibbert from Georgetown if he is available in the 10-15 range in the draft. dude is a BEAST in the post!

[warcore]

Hibbert should be available.

[Sothron]

If we can get someone with the Pacers pick then yes, Godawgs21, then I will concede we at least got something for Harrington than nothing. I don't know if it was the best deal we could have gotten but if you look back at threads during the summer I already gave BK slack for being handcuffed by the ownership squabble. That certaintly hurt what we could have done with Al if we didn't have that situation to deal with.

[GoDawgs21]

These are my wish list with this pick:

16 Hasheem Thabeet C 7-3 265 Connecticut

Draft Projection: Lottery to mid-first round

Similarities:

Positives:

If Thabeet's the real thing, chances are he won't be sitting around Storrs long.

He's huge. Big-time rebounder and shot blocker. Would have games

where he had 17 points, 13 boards and 14 blocked shots. Developing offensive game. Has added a nice turnaround jumper.

Negatives: He's still very raw, especially offensively. Still learning the game.

Summary: If it's possible to have a draft sleeper this early in the draft, then Thabeet is it. His size, athleticism and growing basketball skills have NBA scouts drooling. It may be a couple of years before UConn turns him into a pro, but if he gets any playing time and plays well, he could very well go this high in the draft.

21 Ante Tomic C 7-2 237 19 Croatia Draft Projection: Mid to late first round

Positives: He'a a highly skilled big man. Used to be a PG and has excellent ball handling and passing ability. Nice mid range jump shot. Has good footwork around the basket and a variety of low post moves. Good athlete.

Negatives: He's rail thin. Needs another 20 pounds on his frame. His lack of strength limits his effectiveness in the post on both ends of the floor. Gets in foul trouble a lot.

Summary: Tomic is big time prospect. He has a rare combination of size, skill and athletic ability. But he may be a couple of years away. His body really needs to fill out before he can event think about the NBA.

24 Javaris Crittenton PG 6-5 180 18 Georgia Tech Draft Projection: Mid to late first round

Averaged 29 ppg, 7 rpg and 9 apg. Former teammate of Dwight Howard.

Positives: Has great size and athleticism for the position. Very competitive. Sees the floor well. Excellent first step allows him to get deep penetration into the paint. Great hands. Rarely mishandles the ball. Vocal leader on the court. Unselfish. Good defender.

Negatives: Not a great perimeter shooter, especially from long range. Decision making needs to be improved. Can be a little turnover prone. Needs to add strength.

Summary: Reminiscent a little bit of Ronnie Brewer with better point-guard skills. Scouts love big point guards and if Crittenton has a big freshman year alongside Thaddeus Young, he could move way up the charts.

10 Yi Jianlian PF 7-0 230 19 China Lottery

Yi is the best Chinese prospect to come to the NBA since Yao. Draft Projection: Lottery

Similarities:

Yi's skills just might be too good to keep him in Guangdong.

Toni Kukoc

Notes: Yi's team, the Guangdong Tigers, announced in November 2006 that Yi will be released to enter the 2007 NBA Draft. While he's listed as being born in 1987, many scouts believe that he's actually born in 1984 making him 21 ... not 18. That's a big difference in NBA development terms. Is averaging 20.5 ppg, 9.6 rpg while shooting 57 percent from the field for the Guangdong Tigers this season.

Positives: A long, athletic forward who is very skilled. He has long arms and big hands, which allows him to play even bigger than he actually is. Excellent shooter and ball handler. Fundamentally very sound. Excellent basketball IQ. Hard worker.

Negatives: Needs to add strength, especially to his upper body. Needs to play more physically. Needs to work on his post-up game. Not a great rebounder or shot blocker. More of a face-the-basket type of four.

Summary: Yi is the best Chinese prospect to come to the NBA since Yao. He has a ton of experience playing in international competitions and at the highest level in China. Given his upside and size he could go as high as the Top 5 and is unlikely to slip out of the lottery now that his team has released him to come to the NBA.

[Sothron]

What do you think about the Italian kid? I'm worried that he's too lean and like almost all Euro prospects needs to work on his body mass and strength while not sacrificing his foot speed and agility. His outside shooting is supposed to be better than Jaric but can he defend as well as Jaric can at the NBA level?

[bird_dirt]

Quote:

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could we possible have 2 top 15 picks?

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only if we're bad enough to get a top 3 pick, which is protected from phx for jj, and if indy's pick lands between 11-15, as their pick is protected through the top 10.

with oden being hurt so far this year, he may not even enter the '07 draft.

[GoDawgs21]

Honestly I compare him with Zoran Plannic in NJ, shooter taht can pass, but makes bad decisions. I really dont like Euro PG's same with C's. With exception to Tony Parker most dont understand the NBA game. The NBA game is more one on one then their game. Parker knows this and attacks, but it seems most foreign PG's tend to play true basketball, and seem a bit lost in the NBA. Same said for Euro centers until recently, too much fanese, and not enough banging. They can shoot, but most successful Euro guys have been SG, SF, or PF. The only other succesful Euro pg was, damnt drawing a blank for the Nets, but died only 2 years into his career. A lot of this is changing, but as evidence with USA struggles the NBA game isnt true basketball. But to compete in the NBA you have to play it the NBA way.

[bird_dirt]

Quote:

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did you see him play? he's really quick and knows how to get to the basket and draw contact.

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i didn't see him. did he seem like a point, or did he seem more like a 2 guard playing point?

personally, i hope billy goes for a point in this draft. we got two pf/c in the last one, and i think it'd be benificial to get a point to groom under speedy for the last 2 years of his contract before taking over. i know i've espoused over ron steele plenty on this sight, it's almost sickening. he may not be the flashiest player, but he carried alabama last year. he would be a good pick up around 15, i think.

[Sothron]

Are you talking about Drazen Petrovic? http://www.nba.com/history/players/petrovic_bio.html

He was a shooting guard. He was a terrific and I mean amazing shooter and he had nice handles for a 2 guard. He was the first Euro player other than Sarbonis that (at that time) I felt was no question a very good NBA player or could have been. I admit I was surprised Divac had as good of a career as he had.

[Jdawgflow]

I am not sure what your thoughts on the Roy non-pick were Warcore, but this pick would not make sense for the Hawks IMO. It seems like BK has made it clear that he doesn't want a hybrid PG because they can't keep up with smaller, quicker PGs. I am curious to know how those that defended not picking Roy/Foye feel about this possible pick.

Personally, I was rather undecided in this past draft and just decided to cheer for who we got. And to be honest, I still don't know if getting a hybrid PG would be a good idea. I think I will have to lean toward no due to us having to put JJ at the 2 so soon last year.

So my final answer is that this guy is not the best choice and I would rather us get a true PG or C in the draft next year.

[Johnnybravo4]

I am lovin all of these Euro stiffs. Don't we already have Cenk Akyol coming down the pipe?

I got 2 words on the dude we should draft. Big Baby