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

no one else bothered by Russell never finishing strong with a dunk? seems like a red flag to me. I hear manu comparisons, but when he was young and got a step, he slammed. I also haven't witnessed, first-hand, his amazing court vision. though I do trust fran fraschilla on that.

I like his ballhandling and shooting stroke, and his height if he's going to play point. so maybe all that offsets my concerns. BUT if he projects as a sg, I wouldn't draft him high. in that case, I'd be leaning towards a WCS type in the 4/5 range.

now that we're talking about it, mudiay scares me, too, for opposite reasons: seems like he can't shoot it all.

 

see, if that's the case, I don't see even poor man's roy/ginobili, I see rich man's CDR. harden and roy were/are so much more physical than Russell. and ginobili was more athletic.

I don't know, Russell's starting to give me that same feeling i had about vonleh last year. and i may still be wrong about that, but i was hoping the lakers didn't take him, and I'm sort of hoping they don't take Russell. again, in fairness, i haven't seen a whole lot of him (the only full game i managed to catch was the zona game, which probably factors in here).

if all I had to go by was highlight reels, I'd be going nuts about hezonja. on film, there's nothing he can't do offensively; looks like a more athletic klay Thompson. but reading some of the questions about his character/drive was a bit scary.

mudiay, winslow, and Johnson all have nba bodies right now, and i believe all have good reps in terms of on and off court demeanor. all have question marks that might be barriers to stardom (primarily shooting for all three), but i don't see any of the three just completely busting.

WCS just looks like a chandler clone to me, which i think is actually awesome in the modern nba. so few post up threats to kill slightly light centers, as long as you can hold position on the boards and defend the pick and roll, you're good. offensively, just find spaces, catch and finish--if you can do it over the top, all the better. so i also don't see him busting.

 

At this point I've posted enough about Russell. I haven't seen him ranked lower than 6 on any draft breakdown I have seen and with good reason. He is one of the best passers to come through the draft in a while, a great shooter, leader, etc etc. Absent some injury he will be a top five pick and I'd be fine if he ended up a Laker. He and Clarkson would be a great back court for years to come.

 

Russell, my man crush; love his game. Disse

Concurred. Russell is going to be a star at the NBA level. If I'm wrong, I'll be happy to admit it. He's got the 'it.' He'll make any teams that drafts him very happy.

 

FYI, Chandler was 225lb coming into the league, and now he is listed at 240lb, the same weight as present-day WCS. But Chandler has broader shoulders, so I agree that he is probably stronger. I'm sure WCS will hit the weight room and end up both heavier and stronger than Chandler in a couple of years though...

As for Russell, you probably know how I feel. Aside from his shooting, passing and craftiness, he just has 'it.' He's got an unique feel and distinct rhythm to his game that throws an opponent off balance. Mudiay looks like a great pick too, but honestly I want a center or small forward before either of these PG's.

 

again, IF russell can really play pg, then i get it. if not, i stay away. if i'm working him out, i'd have him handle against nba pressure and defend against nba quickness in the pick and roll as often as possible.

 

During last years workouts, I remembered they last PG's going up against each other when they came to workout. Obviously, they had shooting, testing vertical, but I don't remember them testing to see if Point Guards run the pick in roll. Then again, I'm not privy to what they do inside those workouts other than what is being reported through the internet and media.

That said, Clarkson didn't have the ability to run the pick in roll at Missouri that he has now. He fine tuned that practicing with Nash throughout workouts, in practices, and applied that in games. He wasn't even necessarily a 'point' guard.' Mitch called him a 'ball-handling guard,' but Clarkson is more of a combo guard, and that's what I think Russell will be; the unique thing is he has more pure point guard instincts than Clarkson and I can see that just by having watched Clarkson all season. He navigates the pick in roll just as well if not better than Clarkson right now. I agree, though; work him out in specific scenarios. Same goes for every other player, too.

 

Pretty much.

But if we break our team down by ability (not position) our most pressing need on the offensive end is perimeter shooting. It's rarely mentioned, but our 3-point shooting really sucks, especially from our projected starters. Clarkson/Kobe are below average, and none (except Kelly) of our bigs can spread the floor.

That's one of the reasons why I like Russell, with how our team is currently constructed.

 

You're hired.

 

Actually, I don't think we had bad shooters has much as 3-point shooting was just de-emphasized in an antiquated offense that heavily relied on mid-range jumpers. So, we had an offense that designed pin-downs around mid-range jumpers has well as an offense that didn't create much movement and we didn't get a lot of clean looks at the basket. It's more about changing the scheme than anything else, IMO.

 

Unfortunately injuries slowed him down, but if we grab a guard or big guy with the first pick and Hollis-Jefferson is gone, I could see us giving Anderson a look especially if he lasts until the second round.

"Justin Anderson Declaring for the NBA Draft"
http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Justin-Anderson-Declaring-for-the-NBA-Draft-4899/

 

I like Winslow for that reason too, but Johnson's perimeter defense is intriguing as well. Those two are a toss-up.

I'm talking 2016 and beyond.

Two of our starters are Clarkson and Randle. Both are great at taking it to the basket. I'm a firm believer that players should stick to their strengths while broadening their game. Alot of times, players develop so many different skills that they lose sight of what makes them most efficient. I want them attacking the basket. If we can get a couple of great/elite shooters in our starting lineup to keep the defense honest, our offense can transform into something really special, IMO.

 

Mudiay - based on what I read and seen he's nba ready as far as size and athleticism goes. He's also an above average defender. The only reason why he went to China was to help his family financially, so you could tell he has a good character already. His shooting mechanics is much better than john wall when he came to the league so he'll be fine.

 

http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcspo...an-justise-winslow-will-enter-2015-nba-draft/

No surprise here.