There's one player I can get excited about at #3..

[txsting]

General Yi!

Can't wait to hear what he can do in the workouts. I hope to God that BK will bring him in and work the pizz out of him. Who has the upside of Yi? The comments from the other players he's working out with in L.A. (see chad ford's man love article) are very impressive. Of course, maybe Yi is just a machine in workouts due to rigorous Chinese training and ritualistic beatings for poor performance. j/k

Pulling together all of the shaky, intentionally misleading, and probably false information available to me:

Positives:

1) he plays aggressive and attacks the basket, loves to dunk, no stigma of the shy international player here at all

2) shooting range out to 18 feet I read, not quite like Dirk, probably more similar to KG's shooting ability.

3) can shoot his free throws (75%)

4) high athleticism and ball-handling skill (evident in video)

5) has been playing pro ball for years, his body is nearly ready (i see 245 lbs?), older age is a positive for us since we need to see results sooner than later.

6) huge national and international attention for the Hawks. This helps in ticket sales, TV, merchandising, even with free agent interest. If he is really good, he will gets tons of all-star votes from China just like Yao.

7) he's ours if we want him - not a reach at 3. Actually he may very well be BPA.

8) as others have said - LAST CHANCE for a great player through the draft. Dude has 20/10 potential. Maybe Brandan or Horford can do that, but I have my doubts.

9) versatile - can play 3 or 4, occasionally at 5 depending on matchups.

Negatives:

1) we have to fit him into our team somehow. One of our forwards has to go (JC, MW, JS) in a good trade in order to get the most out of picking Yi.

2) will all the attention be too much on Yi?

3) hasn't played much top competition. MUST work him out in some 3-on-3 with NBA players, at a minimum.

4) defensive ability and desire largely unknown. Low BPG numbers for his size (I think 1.2 was the number).

5) relatively weak upper body and possibly weak hands.

6) will miss out on Conley. I'm cool with this because I think Crit > Conley, and may actually be available at #11.

7) NOT A C! But there isn't one in the draft with Hibbert gone, and barring some crazy trade, we can't get a good C anyway. Face it people - the miracle trade for Gasol/Howard et al just ain't gonna happen. Too complex and expensive for ol' BK.

I'll be thrilled with:

Crit / Speedy / AJ / Lue

JJ / Salim

Smoove / Marvin / Chillz (one gone in trade)

Yi / Shelden / Lo

Zaza / Solo

That team is pretty good right there, but I will admit the main holes being low-post D and veteran leadership. We could score like crazy and imagine the matchup problems and depth. I've listed 14 players that we would have under contract, so a move is REQUIRED (12 player roster max). I would try to move Zaza + Chillz + Lue (or something like that) for a defensive C, preferably a vet. Along the lines of Camby but he is probably too old/fragile.

[Vafan]

Read my earlier post. I said the exact same thing. Draft Yi. Trade Lue, ZaZa, Chills for Bynum.

[jezmund]

Yi / Crit

See what Zaza / Marvin (or Chill) would get as far as a C.

[scottt]

Draft Yi at 3. Then trade JC and the 11th (+ filler) for Mike Bibby. Seems like I have seen that he and the team may both want a parting of the ways. Sac gets cap, and the 11th pick is good. Also, JC went to Stanford. We get our PG and a 7 footer who can play.

Just a thought. I figured, what the hell, if everyone on this board can play GM, then so can I.

We were at a Roger Waters concert last night in ATL. During the song "Money" I got a text msg telling me that the Hawks got 3 and 11. Maybe the timing of the song and the message is a good sign that we will actually get our money's worth out of this draft.

[Guest Walter]

Quote:

---

General Yi!

Can't wait to hear what he can do in the workouts. I hope to God that BK will bring him in and work the pizz out of him. Who has the upside of Yi? The comments from the other players he's working out with in L.A. (see chad ford's man love article) are very impressive. Of course, maybe Yi is just a machine in workouts due to rigorous Chinese training and ritualistic beatings for poor performance. j/k

Pulling together all of the shaky, intentionally misleading, and probably false information available to me:

Positives:

1) he plays aggressive and attacks the basket, loves to dunk, no stigma of the shy international player here at all

2) shooting range out to 18 feet I read, not quite like Dirk, probably more similar to KG's shooting ability.

3) can shoot his free throws (75%)

4) high athleticism and ball-handling skill (evident in video)

5) has been playing pro ball for years, his body is nearly ready (i see 245 lbs?), older age is a positive for us since we need to see results sooner than later.

6) huge national and international attention for the Hawks. This helps in ticket sales, TV, merchandising, even with free agent interest. If he is really good, he will gets tons of all-star votes from China just like Yao.

7) he's ours if we want him - not a reach at 3. Actually he may very well be BPA.

8) as others have said - LAST CHANCE for a great player through the draft. Dude has 20/10 potential. Maybe Brandan or Horford can do that, but I have my doubts.

9) versatile - can play 3 or 4, occasionally at 5 depending on matchups.

Negatives:

1) we have to fit him into our team somehow. One of our forwards has to go (JC, MW, JS) in a good trade in order to get the most out of picking Yi.

2) will all the attention be too much on Yi?

3) hasn't played much top competition. MUST work him out in some 3-on-3 with NBA players, at a minimum.

4) defensive ability and desire largely unknown. Low BPG numbers for his size (I think 1.2 was the number).

5) relatively weak upper body and possibly weak hands.

6) will miss out on Conley. I'm cool with this because I think Crit > Conley, and may actually be available at #11.

7) NOT A C! But there isn't one in the draft with Hibbert gone, and barring some crazy trade, we can't get a good C anyway. Face it people - the miracle trade for Gasol/Howard et al just ain't gonna happen. Too complex and expensive for ol' BK.

I'll be thrilled with:

Crit / Speedy / AJ / Lue

JJ / Salim

Smoove / Marvin / Chillz (one gone in trade)

Yi / Shelden / Lo

Zaza / Solo

That team is pretty good right there, but I will admit the main holes being low-post D and veteran leadership. We could score like crazy and imagine the matchup problems and depth. I've listed 14 players that we would have under contract, so a move is REQUIRED (12 player roster max). I would try to move Zaza + Chillz + Lue (or something like that) for a defensive C, preferably a vet. Along the lines of Camby but he is probably too old/fragile.

---

I like the idea of us getting potentially TWO star players in Yi and Crittenton. Both are players that could be stars and Yi could easily be a superstar in this league if Yao's translation means ANYTHING.

It's a VERY good lineup. I would add that with the trade of MW (my preference), possibly packaged with SW we should be able to get a center. With Yi, the important thing is that we wouldn't need a dominant offensive center. ZaZa would be enough off the bench.

Certainly we can get Nene for MW. What about Biedrins? Perhaps better yet? What about trading:

option 1...MW (to replace Grant Hill), AJ or Lue

option 2...ZaZa/SW

....to Orlando (their choice) for a resigned Darko Milicic?

He can block NBA shots and with a 7' Pf would line up well. Both our big men would have SERIOUS basketball skills rivaling any in the league. Given we got a Pg to feed them...

Lineup (assuming MW)...

Darko/ZaZa?

Yi/SW

JS/JC

JJ/JC

Crittenton/Speedy/AJ

W

[txsting]

That's what I was thinking Walt - Yi makes the center problem so much easier because he doesn't have to be the 2-way dominant guy we were talking about months ago.

Darko works for me - love the idea of actual skilled big men, it reduces the playmaking load for the PG as well. We have so much capital. Tyson Chandler? We have enough to make a good offer for Tyson.

I also like the other idea posted about using #11 + capital to get a vet PG (Bibby was suggested but maybe someone else), that could reduce the time it takes to reach our potential. Also it could ease my concern about leadership and intangibles if you find the right guy.

If you draft two guys with star potential, it has to increase the chances that you are at least right about one of them, eh?

[ncthompson11]

yes yi is the man we need. he can proboaly play some 5 and 4 for us this year and proboaly is just as good of a scorer as durant.