Re: Wistful

["j.hironaka" <j.hironaka@unesco.org>]

At 08:55 27/06/01 -0600, Gene Kirkpatrick wrote:
>Now that it appears that Gasol will go early, from 3 to 6, I find
>myself wishing we could have stolen him.  Of course, it took three
>weeks of teeth gnashing for most of us to come around to accept that
>he looks like the real deal.
>
>So, if we get Diop, Brown and Forte or Cook as Josh suggests, I don't
>see how we can help but be let down.  Missing out on the likes of
>Gasol, Johnson, White, when we were so close.  And there Atlanta is
>revamping their front line in a big way--not to mention the quantum
>leap the Griz could be taking.

Maybe it is just me, but Gasol and Chandler may not only have the biggest 
projected upside but quite possibly also the biggest potential downside "El 
Busto" factor.

Of the consensus top-ten, those two rank for me at the top of the high-risk 
or potentially overvalued picks. They seem to be four years from having NBA 
bodies, aside from all the other things that need to come together in order 
for them to succeed. Gasol seems to be such a far cry from 
Nowitzki....that's a staggeringly superficial comparison as far as I can 
tell. If there had never been a Nowitzki precedent, this guy would be 
barely on the cusp of the lottery if you ask me (whether or not he turns 
out to be a steal).

I guess Curry and Diop rank next in downside risk because of the 
uncertainty of age, and because Curry has been fat at so young an age while 
Diop has Ilgauskus/Walton issues.

Jason Richardson got schooled by Jefferson. I doubt Battier ever dominated 
a tournament defensively as much as Jefferson did last year.

Joe Johnson recovered very slowly from ankle surgery, and disappointed for 
most of his sophomore season. As Mark Berry said, he may have as much Walt 
Williams (a "5-tool" yet bland player) as Shawn Marion in him.

Battier? You've heard all the reasons. A good fit on a lot of teams with 
established scorers though, including Boston.

Eddie Griffin needs to add strength and also prove he's not a Derrick 
Coleman head case. To me, he is a franchise player if ever there was one. 
It is absurd that someone can nearly lead Division One in rebuilding AND 
shot blocks, while having a proficient shooting range out to the perimeter 
and lead his team in scoring. As a freshman no less. If he slides into the 
7th or 8th pick, I'd trade up to get him.

Kwame Brown may be the safest of high school picks EVER in terms of 
maturity and physical readiness.

Rodney White doesn't seem to add much in the boxscore other than points, 
kind of like Gasol but with more production or like how I felt about Glen 
Rice a few years back. White is also a year older than his freshman class. 
To me he seems like the poster boy of what Papile is refering to when he 
says there is barely any qualitative difference between the projected 1 
throuhg 12 picks.

Then you have Kedrick, Troy Murphy and Radman after the "consensus ten" (by 
that I mean the ten names that haven't changed in almost a month).

I cannot but conclude that Chris Wallace cut a deal with Tellum after the 
LA workout to lock Kedrick Brown in a cellar for a month, in exchange for a 
promise to draft him in the lottery. It is like Jerry West with Kobe 
Bryant. It makes no sense that Kedrick would refuse individual workouts 
through the entire draft. The Portland interest in Kedrick is trivial. No 
deal was cut, I'm quite sure.

Radman is a bit short and a bit skinnier than what would be ideal.

Murphy has the Billy Curley white boy stereotype to overcome.

I don't want to focus on the negative. This really could be one mother of a 
great draft.

Joe

p.s. To his credit, one cogent point Peter May did make in his mock draft 
was that nine NBA teams don't have a first round draft pick. There could be 
some late movement of teams getting in. This could really swirl up the 
projected draft order. It could also lead to a few big name veterans 
changing addresses.

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