The 2008 NBA Draft

[ChumpDumper]

Is this draft class going to be as awesome and full of impact players as the last one?

[Bruno]

It's a little too early for me to pick my horses, but I'm wondering if Bruno could give me his take on Anton Ponkrashov. I've watched him play a couple of times and was impressed with what I saw. Could we get him in the second round? DX says he can't go right, but I still think he's worth an 2nd rd flier and assignment in Austin.

I don't like Ponkrashov.
Tall PGs like him usually failed in NBA. They can't play PG because they are to slow to defined this position and they end up as average SG/SF.
I don't think Spurs should spend their first round pick on him but with a mid to late second round pick, why not.

And, do you think Batum is a lottery lock?

He has a so-so season. He has some troubles to be a truly dominant player in French league.
I don't know NCAA players but if a lot of good NCAA underclassmen enter in the draft after march madness and if Batum isn't better and more consistent, he could slip.
Given his upside, he shouldn't slip too far.

Is Phoenix raffling off both of their draft picks this season? If so...oh scrap it. They'd never sell to the Spurs.

They only have one first round pick this year that should be around the 15th pick. I doubt they will trade a pick that high only for some cash.

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

My updated wants from the draft:
Alexis Ajinca
Lester Hudson
Marcus Dove

[pad300]

Pekovic is worth a 1st, , statistically he's as good as Pau Gasol was in Euroleague. How many 22 year olds manage that. (also, he's currently doing better than Splitter...). However, with the contract he signed with Panathaikos, I can't see him going in the 1st.

I think our first round pick should probably be a wing, as I have expressed in other posts. There are going to be several possibilities around where we will draft (22-27). Tyler Smith, Bill Walker, Brandon Rush, Kyle Weaver are all names to look at.

As far as our 2nd round picks, if Pekovic is available at the Toronto pick take him!! However, I expect him to go high in the 2nd. We will have very little roster room for rookies - what with having Splitter, Mahinmi, and our 1st round pick on the team, we will likely need to either trade or draft and stash our 2nd round picks.

Bigs (6) - Duncan, Bonner, Oberto, Mahinmi, Splitter, +1 Veteran (no way pop is going with 3 rooks in his big rotation; I'd guess a resigned Kurt Thomas).
Wings (6) - Manu, Bowen, Udoka, 1st Round Pick, FA, Barry
PGs (3) - Parker,Vaughn, Vet FA.

Therefore, I would consider drafting a Euro with Toronto's pick, and trying to trade forward with our pick. As mentioned above, if Pekovic is there, take him. If not, I would definately consider Ponkrashov; he's shown some real promise. Goran Dragic is another possible, as is Joe Ingles.

As far as American second round picks, I would keep an eye on the following names, Pat Calathes, Shawn James, Marcus Dove. The only way I see for making a spare roster spot for another young player is to consider Barry 3ed PG. I don't expect us to do that, as Pop prefers veteran heavy rosters. I might try that to make room for Shawn James, but I don't think I would bother for Calathes or Dove.

[Mr. Body]

Tyler Smith
Kyle Weaver
Brandon Rush

as pad said above, with Courtney Lee added. It seems they have to use their pick this year, can't trade away subsequent years (2009 is gone). I'd think they have to go for a SG or SF or SG/SF.

The team is stacked with big men already, but this draft seems chunky with big men, both PFs and C prospects, everywhere.

As always, the best SF prospects will all be gone - Gallinari, Batum, Budinger, the younger guys like the Syracuse and the LSU guys. If Joe Alexander does well in the tournament he might come out. None of them are knockouts, but several are lottery picks. They should all be gone before the Spurs pick.

I'd expect Dove, Calathes, and that type to probably not be that great of players.

[T Park]

That Raptors pick is looking better and better everyday.

[hsxvvd]

nbadraft.net has Roy Hibbert (Georgetown) sliding to 19th pick, I'd love to see him slip but it's a reach. More realistically I'd love to see Tyler Smith of Tennessee, or a nice young wide body like Joey Dorsey (Memphis) or DJ White (Indiana). We need to replace Horry and Thomas, with some youthful yet experienced bigs that can contribute, but they aren't internationals so we probably haven't noticed them.

[JPB]

And, do you think Batum is a lottery lock?

Batum spent the first part of the season to play for the scouts in the audience.
He particulary wanted to showcase his skills in euroleague, but without much success. He tried to prove he could do all the things scouts were searching.

All in all, I think he put too much pressure on him instead of just playing ball.

As Bruno mentioned he still has some upset and is still young but even whithout considering the NCAA reservoire, I think his value has decrease a bit or hasn't increase anyway.

[Bruno]

It seems they have to use their pick this year, can't trade away subsequent years (2009 is gone).

Spurs can't trade their first round pick before the draft but they can trade it during the draft.
Spurs can draft a specific player for another team and immediately trade his draft rights to another team (like they did with Barbosa, Markota or Printezis). By doing that, they doesn't trade consecutive first round picks since they don't trade a first round pick but draft rights to a player.

I quite agree with pad300 analysis. Drafting a domestic SG or SF with their first round pick seems to be the most logical choice for Spurs. Overseas players or trade seems to be the most logical option for their second round picks. I also can see Spurs trying to get a young PG as 3rd string PG.

[stéphane]

Batum has dissapointed me so far this season, he hasn't improved his game or his way to play the game enough to be considered a lottery pick imo.
I've seen him going against Budinger 2years ago at the Douai tournament and Batum had clearly way more upside than Chase. But as far as I can tell Batum is soft and despite the upside he has due to his skills and athleticism he got to change the way he plays to succeed in the nba.
On the other hand, in Gallinari you know you have someone who will succeed. The boy has star written all over him.

[Bruno]

http://www.draftexpress.com/article/...ne-Dragicevic/

Draftexpress is reporting that Omri Casspi will put his name in the draft and that Spurs have send two scouts in Israel last week.

He is a really interesting solution for Spurs first round pick.

[yavozerb]

Bruno, have you seen this dragic kid play before? I have seen his name come up before and was just wondering if you thought he would make a decent NBA pg...Smith or Rush would be a nice 1st rd pick..

[Bruno]

Bruno, have you seen this dragic kid play before? I have seen his name come up before and was just wondering if you thought he would make a decent NBA pg.

I saw him playing with Slovenian NT last summer. He isn't the most talented player of the world but he played with a lot of energy and is a good defender.

Slovenian posters should know him way better than me and should give you a better answer about him.

[RADECK]

I also like to add a player, who is far under the radar, regarding draft talks
(draftexpress and nbadraft don't even have a profile)

Novica Velickovic, 1986, 6-9 PF
smart player, plays hard, very good rebounder, has some range.
(best case IMO: David Lee)
made a huge step this season. last night a 17points/13 rebounds game in the Euroleague.
maybe not strong and athletic enough for NBA play, but might be worth this late 2nd rounder and wait how he improves the next 2 years in Europe.
a bit of a bigmouth, but this usually isn't a problem in the NBA. (since Euro player are often labeled as to quiet)

http://www.euroleague.net/compe io...=156&pcode=JNN
http://www.adriaticbasket.com/player.php?id=607

Great pick, also hit cluch 3 pointer yesterday. There are quite feew players of Partizan that might play big roles in NBA teams in future. Peković is great pick, better then Veličković.

About Dragić, remember how he played last year agains TP in Spain? TP was quite nervous and Dragić did grat job defending him. He is great defender, weak shoter, but definitely someone to look at. He is Tau Ceramica(Scola, Splitter) player and if he will play next year for them(this year he played in Olimpija Ljubljana), make some progress i believe he can play on NBA level.

[Mr. Body]

Batum should still go in the lottery. If not, he'll be snapped up by 20.

[Mr. Body]

Casspi looks like a long-term prospect at the very least. It'd be a mistake to draft him before the 2nd round.

[urunobili]

nbadraft.net has Roy Hibbert (Georgetown) sliding to 19th pick, I'd love to see him slip but it's a reach. More realistically I'd love to see Tyler Smith of Tennessee, or a nice young wide body like Joey Dorsey (Memphis) or DJ White (Indiana). We need to replace Horry and Thomas, with some youthful yet experienced bigs that can contribute, but they aren't internationals so we probably haven't noticed them.

i don;t see the Spurs going for Hibbert... we al;ready have the bigs we need for a couple of seasons and plus he needs lots of development... he does have the size... but i dunno about his all around skills...

[pad300]

Spurs can't trade their first round pick before the draft but they can trade it during the draft.
Spurs can draft a specific player for another team and immediately trade his draft rights to another team (like they did with Barbosa, Markota or Printezis). By doing that, they doesn't trade consecutive first round picks since they don't trade a first round pick but draft rights to a player.

I quite agree with pad300 analysis. Drafting a domestic SG or SF with their first round pick seems to be the most logical choice for Spurs. Overseas players or trade seems to be the most logical option for their second round picks. I also can see Spurs trying to get a young PG as 3rd string PG.

Draft strategy question. Pekovic is a very good talent; that much is obvious. However, with his contract in Europe, many think he will drop to the 2nd round. Would it be worth locking him up with a late 1st round pick, thereby locking him in for X years at a low salary? (Bruno, is a 1st round pick now locked in for a max of 5 years, and a min of 2?).

Pros - His contract is locked in, and if he comes after his current contract, at 25, he would be in his prime at very cheap.

Cons - he might stay in Europe for his career, as a 1st round pick salary might be considerably less than what he could get in Europe. It might result in another Scola situation; however, we would have more leverage, as his contract terms would already be fixed...

Such a move would open a roster spot (likely at the wings), giving us a chance to look at assorted D-leaguers, cheap/overlooked players(eg. Kelenna Azuibuike ?sp?, Dahntay Jones), and the possibilities of our second round picks open up a lot.

PS. another name to add to the list of possible US secound round players - Luc Richard Mbah a Moute...

[mathbzh]

I does not totaly agree on opinions about Batum. It is true he does not dominate the French league as he should. But when he is on, he can completely dominate the game on offense and defense. He had a bunch of outstanding performance to prove he is completely unguardable at this level when he uses all his weapons.

With 12 ppg (54 %, 36 3P%) / 5rpg / 3 apg/ 1 stl / 1 bpg in 29 minutes Batum is arguably the best player in Le Mans and Le Mans leads the French league with 17W/6L.
Batum is not soft... he has already posterized a bunch of players in the French and Euro leagues. I agree he sometime passive but he isn't soft.
His best game in the french league is a 25 pts/ 9rbds /5 ast win over Nancy one of the best french team... Batum already proves he can take over in the important games.
His worst games? against HTV, Dijon, Pau , Orléans... 4 team that should not make the playoffs

IMO, Batum is having a great season... and it is scary when you realise he still have so much room fo improvment.

[Kamnik]

I saw him playing with Slovenian NT last summer. He isn't the most talented player of the world but he played with a lot of energy and is a good defender.

Slovenian posters should know him way better than me and should give you a better answer about him.

Well Draft Express has him described quite well.

I have not followed Union Olimpija much lately... (so i cant really say much about his last 6 months improvement)

Anyways, i can surely say he is a tougher player and way better defensively than per say Udrih. (worse shooter, worse court vision, Dragič is faster and more athletic)

Can finish with both hands, streaky shooter. I saw him do some airballs when completely open from 3pt range but not that bad that he could not shoot a decent %. He is good at driving where he is a crafty finisher.

He could be a GREAT defender in the NBA if he would be dedicated to work.

He demolished Tony Parker on defence in Euro. (seriously... i dont know if it was also a bad day for Parker or maybe he underestimated Dragič...)

Good size for a PG. 6-4


I think it would be worth picking him early second round or even late first round. And lets say im not being a homer...


p.s.

oh... i also remembered that i wowed t him quite a few times when he wasnt afraid to go flying into the 7 footers for a rebound; fought really hard...

[Penya]

And... What about Ibaka?

[Kamnik]

Well Draft Express has him described quite well.

I have not followed Union Olimpija much lately... (so i cant really say much about his last 6 months improvement)

Anyways, i can surely say he is a tougher player and way better defensively than per say Udrih. (worse shooter, worse court vision, Dragič is faster and more athletic)

Can finish with both hands, streaky shooter. I saw him do some airballs when completely open from 3pt range but not that bad that he could not shoot a decent %. He is good at driving where he is a crafty finisher.

He could be a GREAT defender in the NBA if he would be dedicated to work.

He demolished Tony Parker on defence in Euro. (seriously... i dont know if it was also a bad day for Parker or maybe he underestimated Dragič...)

Good size for a PG. 6-4


I think it would be worth picking him early second round or even late first round. And lets say im not being a homer...


p.s.

oh... i also remembered that i wowed t him quite a few times when he wasnt afraid to go flying into the 7 footers for a rebound; fought really hard...

http://www.adriaticbasket.com/player.php?id=614

his stats in the Adriatic league this year

12 ppg, 70% 2pt shooting !! 44% 3pt shooting 3 assists per game

[ClingingMars]

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/...ingletary-448/
http://www.nbadraft.net/admincp/prof...ingletary.html
http://insider.espn.go.com/nbadraft/...aftyear%3d2008
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/player...playerId=22208

The next Speedy Claxton?

-Mars

[Mr. Body]

I can see Batum dropping, especially with Joe Alexander coming on super strong and moving up the SF ranks. Again, though, pick 20 is kind of an arbitrary cut-off point, where you get solid playoff teams without huge needs snapping up guys who have dropped. The only reason we got a late lottery-type talent in Splitter last year was because of the one-year buyout thing.

[tav1]

If there is no one for the Spurs to pick, I'd like to see them package the pick with Matt Bonner's contract for someone who could crack the rotation.