General 2014 NBA Draft Discussion

[T Park]

I like the idea of the Spurs drafting Walter Tavares, but not as a draft-and-stash candidate, but rather, as someone who can come aboard immediately.

Even though Tavares is already 22, he only started playing basketball at the age of 17, so there's plenty of room to develop him. And what better place to develop players than in Pop's system in San Antonio?

Tavares is a mobile 7"3 big man with a mammoth wingspan and hands that are even bigger than Kawhi's. His defensive potential is sky high. I'd certainly rather see him taking spot big man minutes next season than Errors.

You want a guy who started playing basketball 5 years ago getting minutes.


Thank god you're not an NBA GM.

[jesterbobman]

I find myself agreeing with Baam on Jokic, which makes me feel weird. Jokic just seems to tick all the boxes needed as a role playing centre, ability to pass(BIG), rebound, some defensive ability(steal and blocks are only indicators), and can shoot.

The fact he's 19 is also a big plus. With the draft, I'm a youngster zealot, and Jokic over Payne is a clear choice to me. Same with Early and other old guys. Age isn't a reason to pass on Duncan, but does make me say no to 22 year old sop res who are good but not great. (McGary is a prime example).

For projected late second rounders, thoughts on Khem Birch? Stat profile is very encouraging.

[ace3g]

Edgar Thompson ‏@osgators Jun 18 Former #Gators point guard @scottiew_5 will work out for the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday, his father said.

Xavier Hoops ‏@XUHoopsRumors Jun 18 @SemajChriston on his way to the NBA Champions, #Spurs, to work out

[pad300]

Regarding picks 58 and 60, what about TJ Bray from Princeton?

BoxScoreGeeks has him as a potentially good player from NCAA stats. (2nd in their NCAA rankings).

Draftexpress has nothing but stats http://search.draftexpress.com/profile/T.J.-Bray-17852/ (and they look good, he passes Hoopsanalysts statistical benchmarks for both PG's and SG's).

Has anyone seen the guy play (I haven't)? How about physical attributes (is he long? Is he fast end to end or laterally?) Is his passing as good (for an SG) as it looks on the stats?

[bluebellmaniac]

Regarding picks 58 and 60, what about TJ Bray from Princeton?

BoxScoreGeeks has him as a potentially good player from NCAA stats. (2nd in their NCAA rankings).

Draftexpress has nothing but stats http://search.draftexpress.com/profile/T.J.-Bray-17852/ (and they look good, he passes Hoopsanalysts statistical benchmarks for both PG's and SG's).

Has anyone seen the guy play (I haven't)? How about physical attributes (is he long? Is he fast end to end or laterally?) Is his passing as good (for an SG) as it looks on the stats?

Is he willing to spend time in Europe? Up to 3 years? That's what it might take.

[pad300]

Also, cool things for people to look at regarding the draft:

hoopsanalyst.com
Comprehensive draft analysis, focuses mostly on NCAA kids

Boxscoregeeks
Statistical basketball. Does a strong draft feature every year. Part 1 for this year is up : http://www.boxscoregeeks.com/article...e-ncaa-numbers

[pad300]

Bluebell,

I suspect he might. He's on nobodies mock currently...

[ace3g]

Sportando ‏@sportando 1h Klimenko suffered a mildly sprained ankle, forced to cancel a number of workouts. Will work out individually for San Antonio + Brooklyn

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/...limenko-52193/

[pad300]

Sportando ‏@sportando 1h Klimenko suffered a mildly sprained ankle, forced to cancel a number of workouts. Will work out individually for San Antonio + Brooklyn

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/...limenko-52193/

For San Antonio and Brooklyn. Well, there's a hint.

[bluebellmaniac]

For San Antonio and Brooklyn. Well, there's a hint.

I wouldn't pass up Bogdan or Inglis for him. Maybe with the 58 or 60 pick since he sounds pretty raw.

[TheyCallMePro]

I just watched a lot of video on 5 prospects that will be available around 30: Walter Tavares, Mitch Mcgary, Bogdan Bogdanovic, K.J. McDaniels and Vasiliije Micic

And Walter Tavares is by far and away the best. He's 7'2, has great mobility, is a great finisher, blocks out extremely well, and is mobile enough to even guard jump shots. I'm not kidding, this guy has it all. Think Roy Hibbert, but 3 times as good. If we can get him at 30 it would be an absolute steal.

The other 4:

Least impressed with Bogdanovic. Skinny, white 6'6 foreign player who lacks athleticism. Belenelli is 100x better than him. And that's saying something.

K.J McDaniel dominates the ball. He plays good D and boards well, but it's very hard to imagine him playing off-ball, and the Spurs require that in their system.

McGary has nice touch around the rim, but he reminds me too much of Baynes. He's not going to be blocking a lot of shots, and he can't shoot outside of 5 feet. He does hustle though. Wouldn't be a terrible pick. But he's no Tavares. Not by a mile.

Micic - He's a little slow, kind of reminds me of De Colo in a lot of ways. A good passer, a pretty good shooter, and he's a 6'5 PG. He seems to have good instincts, and he's only 19, so there's room for improvement, but still. Nothing special.

[Prime Time]

Regarding picks 58 and 60, what about TJ Bray from Princeton?

BoxScoreGeeks has him as a potentially good player from NCAA stats. (2nd in their NCAA rankings).

Draftexpress has nothing but stats http://search.draftexpress.com/profile/T.J.-Bray-17852/ (and they look good, he passes Hoopsanalysts statistical benchmarks for both PG's and SG's).

Has anyone seen the guy play (I haven't)? How about physical attributes (is he long? Is he fast end to end or laterally?) Is his passing as good (for an SG) as it looks on the stats?

This TJ Bray fella sure gives me a lot of Jack McClinton vibes.

[Chinook]

Micic - He's a little slow, kind of reminds me of De Colo in a lot of ways. A good passer, a pretty good shooter, and he's a 6'5 PG. He seems to have good instincts, and he's only 19, so there's room for improvement, but still. Nothing special.

You compare him to De Colo like it's a bad thing. What's hurting Nando is not talent or skill. It's all mentality and at ude. When De Colo is aggressive, he's actually pretty productive. If Micic has Nando's skill-set and potential, he's definitely worth the pick. He's only 20 and has plenty of time to work on his weaknesses and figure out which position he'll play in the NBA. If he can get next to Mills or Denmon, the Spurs will have a nice back court behind Parker/Green.

[FireMicoHalili]

@kc1nyk: #NBADraft #NBADraft2014 #Russia Star C Klimenko hadMild Ankle Sprain, Cancelled Number of Workouts. Will still workout for #Spurs and #Nets.

[Mel_13]

Sources: San Antonio Spurs will bring in Markel Brown (Oklahoma State) for a workout tomorrow.

https://twitter.com/MikeAScotto

[BackHome]

We have talked about Bertrans coming over what about Thomas?

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – After being selected by the San Antonio Spurs in the second round of last summer’s NBA draft Bishop Luers graduate Deshaun Thomas spent his first professional season overseas, suiting up for JSF Nanterre just outside of Paris.
Thomas led Nanterre in scoring at 12 points per game and helped guide the franchise to its first French Cup championship. In championship game he scored 12pts and had 12 rebounds.
Spurs assistant general manager Scott Layden made multiple trips to Europe to see Thomas play and was impressed with the defensive improvement he saw.
The Spurs hold Thomas’ right through this summer’s draft. Thomas is expecting to play for the Spurs summer league team – the team he led in scoring last summer at 12.4 points a game.

[spurnash]

It would appear that Anderson and Jordan Adams have been falling on the mock drafts due to the concern of a "lack of athleticism", if either one of these guys get to 30, then we should pick him.

As for Anderson, he put up great numbers and appears to be a smart player and exceptional passer at his size. I do agree that he may just have been a numerical oddity playing point in college at 6 9 and his ridiculous 3 point shooting % was based on a low volume. Also he was turnover prone and his strength, playing point in college, maybe overshadowed by his lack of speed on the next level at SF, but at the 30 pick of the draft, taking a chance on someone that productive to me is a no brainer.

Adams seems to be slightly more likely to slip to us and I like him slightly more because at SG they are killing him on his vertical at the combine, but this lack of vertical does not seem to affect his game much. He appears to be a solid and very disruptive defender with great instincts. On offense he appears to use his strength very well, albeit he is not explosive. Without the combine vertical I think he would have been gone 10 picks earlier. Now they are expecting his back up to be selected in the teens which smells to me to be a classic work out warrior mistake.

I am hoping right now for one of these two to fall and we end up with a bargain at 30. After these two I am becoming more and more enamored with Jokic which I believe can be had in the middle of the 2nd if the spurs trade up (58 plus a future second).

[Uriel]

You want a guy who started playing basketball 5 years ago getting minutes.


Thank god you're not an NBA GM.

Joel Embiid started playing basketball 4 years ago. Prior to his foot injury, he had been projected to be one of the top big men to come out of the draft in years.

You're obviously uninformed. Thank God you're not an NBA GM.

[Uriel]

I watched some footage of Tavares and I wouldn't want the spurs to draft him in the first, or maybe even the second. So many bad elements to his non existent game, and a body type that won't allow him to get much better. Dude moves and runs like a 35 year old Sam Bowie. And his lack of basketball experience isn't really a plus, more like a hard ceiling on any potential. He would get killed in the NBA.

According to DX's scouting report, Tavares is "extremely mobile."

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/...Tavares-48916/

[objective]

I know what they say, I watched their video. I didn't like what I saw.

[MaNu4Tres]

I know what they say, I watched their video. I didn't like what I saw.

Agree. Don't like Tavares either.

[BackHome]

He will have a very hard time with the 3 second rule in the NBA..

[Biggems]

Any chance Big Dog 3 (Glenn Robinson III) falls to us at 30? He could make a very nice backup to Kawhi. He has a solid, not great game. He is not a head case and has shown to be a team player. Plus, from what I understand, Pop has a good relationship with his father.

[FireMicoHalili]

One has to wonder if Tavares ends up like Hassan Adams, Solomon Alabi, and Ognjen Kuzmic. Described as tall and mobile, but have yet to make any significant impact in the league.

[Raven]

I hate to say it Raven but you lost to Estatic - No way is his body going to be able to handle banging with the bigs of the NBA.

i never said it would tbh