2015 Nba Draft Discussion: Russell, Nance Jr., Brown

Brandon Roy with good knees.

 

So, since 2001, the team in the pre-lottery position of 4th has fallen out of the top 5 a total of 3 times; 2001, 2010, 2011. Not bad odds...

 

I agree. They are much better than their record indicates. Rubio was out. Pekovic was out...I think the Lakers end up 3rd as well unless clarkson keeps cranking out games like tonight haha Im REALLY hoping the lakers can get a top 2 pick and draft okafor or towns. One of those guys next to randle would be super fun to watch.

 

So if we are bottom five we are looking at Mudiay, Russell, Towns and JOkafor...I am not a big NCAA fan...Who else is worth looking at? It close to playoffs now, right?

 

^So far most people are saying its Okafor, Towns, Johnson, Russell and Mudiay.

After Okafor, its a toss up.

 

^ I'm in favor of getting the best player and then figuring it out how to make it work. With quality bigs being as scarce as they are, I will pick a big over a small any draft if there's not a drop off in talent, but when the bigs are better than the guards it's no contest.

 

Completely agree with you. I was watching the Ohio State game last week; Russell had a thigh injury he suffered in practice and it limited is movement during the game to an extent; so, he wasn't moving as fluidly as he would have liked. Yet, he still impacted the game, and at one point scored 8 straight points, but they couldn't pull it off at the end.

There was a sequence though that was interesting; Russell was all alone on an island near the rim, and a Power Forward was driving toward the hoop and Russell blocked his shot, grabbed the rebound, then on the other end pulled up and hit a 3. I could go on and on about his game. Now, addressing your point, Russell has much more natural tendencies as PG than Clarkson; NBA level court awareness, great vision, makes passes and he gets a lot of 'hockey assists,' because he makes a ready of an initial play, makes the correct pass that leads to a basket. I heard on CBS from the broadcaster while interviewing that Russell said, 'he wants to be the smartest guy on the basketball floor.' I'm so sure of Russell and his ability. He needs the right situation, like every other draft pick.

Russell/Clarkson would blend in beautifully. Clarkson is a scorer learning how to facilitate, operate in pick in rolls, make the right reads, and he's developing quite nicely. Russell does though things innately at a very high level, but he could score, too. The problem with Russell at times is he's too unselfish and doesn't assert his will often enough thus Ohio State falls behind a lot; Clarkson doesn't have that problem. He's always aggressive and in attack mode. Both could play off-ball, handle the ball, move off screens, cut, slash, penetrate, I've seen Russell make plays while posting up...defensively, they both could switch at anytime, they both have length, Clarkson is a quicker laterally, but Russell isn't that bad off-ball defensively; on ball, he's quick enough to funnel into help-side defense. It's intriguing to think about...

 

If you have an All-Star guard next to Clarkson and or Wing, he could start. Think of it this way...Chris and Blake are two All-Stars at their position and start Reddick at the 2. We need 2-All Stars in the lineup, and he'll be fine, IMO.

 

I agree it's a perimeter league, but that doesn't mean a team who's two best players are bigs cant work -- see Memphis. Requires good coaching, pacing, spacing, defense, and a qualified PG. I'm not sure which of those Scott is qualified for and we don't have the PG yet (we're at least looking though). But say you draft Okafor/Towns and sign Dragic/Rondo, I think between him and Kobe they can get the ball in the right spots for both bigs.

Also my concern with drafting a guard is Kobe. We draft a big, he gets thrown into the fire right away. We draft a guard and his development of on the court experience will be limited by Kobe. And Kobe keeps saying he's not sure he will retire after this year (probably to avoid the farewell tour) but if he doesn't retire, then that will continue to limit the kid. If they share minutes on the court, Kobe's still going to be drastically cutting into the amount of possessions he gets to have the ball in his hands, creating. Bigs can develop other aspects of their game at an easier rate when you're still dealing with a ball dominant guard.

 

We're not worried about Kobe. Mitch has said has much. We're past him. We're rebuilding. Although I think Mitch has his marching orders to field a team that will contend for the PO's next year and be more attractive to FA's moving forward in 2016...