| Player | POS | AGE | Ht | mpg | PTS | TRB | AST | BLK | STL | 3P | Draft Position | | LeBron James | SF | 24 | 6-8 | 37.7 | 28.4 | 7.6 | 7.2 | 1.1 | 1.7 | 1.6 | 1st (1) | | Jason Richardson | SG | 28 | 6-6 | 33.5 | 16.8 | 4.4 | 2.0 | 0.4 | 1.1 | 1.8 | via trade | | Marc Gasol | C | 24 | 7-1 | 30.7 | 11.9 | 7.4 | 1.7 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 3rd (20) | | Kirk Hinrich | PG | 28 | 6-3 | 26.3 | 9.9 | 2.4 | 3.9 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 4th (12) | | Charlie Villanueva | PF | 24 | 6-11 | 26.9 | 16.2 | 6.7 | 1.8 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 1.1 | 5th (1) | | Anderson Varejao | PF/C | 26 | 6-10 | 28.5 | 8.6 | 7.2 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.2 | via trade | | Jeff Foster | C/PF | 32 | 6-11 | 24.7 | 6.1 | 6.9 | 1.8 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.2 | via trade | | Sebastian Telfair | PG | 23 | 6-0 | 27.9 | 9.8 | 1.7 | 4.6 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 1.0 | via trade | | Arron Afflalo | SG | 23 | 6-5 | 16.7 | 4.9 | 1.8 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.6 | via trade | | Ty Lawson | PG | 21(R) | 6-0 | | | | | | | | 9th (6) | | Dominic McGuire | SF/PF | 23 | 6-9 | 26.2 | 4.5 | 5.4 | 2.5 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 12th (3) | | Damien Wilkins | SG | 29 | 6-6 | 15.5 | 5.3 | 1.7 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 13th (1) | | Joel Anthony | C | 26 | 6-9 | 16.1 | 2.2 | 3.0 | 0.4 | 1.4 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 13th (21) | | Trenton Hassell | SG/SF | 29 | 6-5 | 20.6 | 3.7 | 2.8 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 14th (9) | | Darrell Arthur | PF | 20 | 6-9 | 19.3 | 5.6 | 4.6 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.2 | via trade |
3. Pictures and Roster Breakdown
Point Guard: Mr. Consistency
Kirk Hinrich, 6-3, 28 years old
9.9 ppg, 3.9 apg, 1.3 stl, 1.4 3-pts in 26.3 mpg
Hinrich is a solid point guard and above-average defender at his position. He was among a group of PGs we thought could (a) fit with Lebron James and (b) match up reasonably well against the other PGs in the east (CP3, Baron Davis, Calderon, etc). A career 38% 3-point shooter who shot nearly 41% last year, Hinrich also will help keep the lane free for our starting SF.
If there's one word that defines Hinrich's career it's CONSISTENCY. Despite loosing time to injury and ultimately his starting job to Rookie of the Year Derrick Rose (a testament to Rose, not an indictment of Hinrich), Hinrich's per36 min stats were nearly identical to the rest of his career numbers.
Shooting Guard: Slam Dunk Champ
Jason Richardson, 6-6, 28 years old
16.8 ppg, 4.4 reb, 2.0 ast, 1.1 stl, 1.8 blocks in 33.5 mpg
Big & athletic, solid 3-point shooter, Richardson has fallen a little under the radar after being exiled to Charlotte then traded to a dysfunctional Phoenix team. Joining the team midseason, Richardson was the low man on the totem pole after Nash, Shaq, Amare, and Grant Hill — but still put up strong numbers. With Shaq (and his shots) gone we think Richardson is about to remind people why he's one of the premier 2-guards in the league (in that 2nd tier group after Wade, Kobe, Roy and J. Johnson). His size and strength will give som eopposing SGs problems through the season.
It was just 2 years ago that he (with Baron Davis) led the Warriors to that great 1st round upset of the Mavericks. Richardson has shown he's at his best as a 2nd banana (i.e. to Baron Davis) rather than 1st (charlotte) or 4th (Phoenix) banana.
Small Forward: Reigning MVP
Lebron James, 6-8, 24 years old
28.4 pts, 7.6 reb, 7.2 ast, 1.1 blks, 1.7 stls, 1.6 3-pts in 37.7 mpg
Lebron James is the best player in the game & the reigning MVP. I don't think we need to say much else.
(seriously look at those stats again -- and his career averages are 27/7/7/1/1.8/1.4)
Power Forward: The enigma wrapped in a riddle
Charlie Villanueva, 6-11, 24 years old
16.2 pts, 6.7 reb, 1.8 ast, 0.7 blks, 0.6 stls, 1.1 3-pts in 26.9 mpg
Yeah, yeah, we know. Villanueva follows in a long line of multi-talented but frustratingly inconsistent bigs: Derrick Coleman, Rasheed Wallace, Raef LaFrentz, even Lamar Odom. And Detroit probably overpaid for him by $2-3 Million a year. But none of that should take away from the things he does do well: score and rebound. Plus, CV is a good 3-point shooter for his size (6-11, shot 34.5% last year, 32.7% for his career), making him a tough matchup for some teams.
The mistake teams have made with guys like Villanueva & Coleman is ask them to lead their teams. On the Magics Charlie V will be asked to spread the defense, draw his defender from the lane giving Lebron room to drive & dish, and rebound. We're simplifying the game for him hoping for optimal results.
Center: Big & Ugly....and talented.
Marc Gasol, 7-1, 24 years old
11.9 pts, 7.4 reb, 1.7 ast, 1.1 blk, 0.8 stl in 30.7 mpg
Pulls off what most thought to be impossible: He's just as ugly as his older brother, Pau (but bigger & stronger). Joking aside, there's also a very strong possiblity that he develops into a bigger, slightly less offensively able version of Pau (as some suggested when defending Chris Wallace's Pau giveaway). A legit 7-footer, Gasol block shots, rebounds and can pass well for a big. We think we got a steal in the late 3rd round by getting a center of Gasol's talent and potential.
Gasol joins Brook Lopez, Al Horford, Biedrins, Bynum and Kendrick Perkins as the best young centers in the game. Don't believe us? Compare his rookie season to another CBD eastern conference big's 1st year campaign who's been hyped the last two years:
Gasol -- 24 years old, 11.9 pts, 7.4 reb, 1.7 ast, 1.1 blk, 0.8 stl in 30.7 mpg
Player x* -- 21 years old, 10.1 pts, 9.7 reb, 1.5 ast, 0.9 blk, 0.7 stl in 31.4 mpg
*Identity revealed at the end of our press conference.
The ORLANDO MAGICS bench
6th & 7th men: Anderson Varejao & Jeff Foster
Anderson Varejo, 6-10, 26 years old
8.6 pts, 7.2 reb, 0.8 blks, 0.9 stls in 28.5 mpg
Jeff Foster, 6-11, 32 years old
6.1 pts, 6.9 rebs, 1.8 ast, 0.7 stl, 0.7 blks in 24.7 mpg
Completing the deepest frontcourt rotation in the CBD Eastern Conference — and easily the ugliest frontcourt since the 1986 Boston Celtics -- are Jeff Foster and Anderson Varejao.
Varejao & Foster — who we got in 2 seperate trades -- will come in and do what they do best: rebound, hustle, flop, look ugly and scrap. They can each play PF and Center and will, with Gasol and Villanueva, wear down opposing big men. In addtion to all being ugly as sin, Villanueva, Gasol, Foster and Varejao were all in the top 45 in rebounds/minute last year.
Backup PG: Back for more
Sebastian Telfair, 6-0, 23 years old
9.8 pts, 4.6 asts, 1.0 stl, 1.0 3pt in 27.9 mpg
Telfair has grown into what many of us thought he would during his tenure in Boston: a very steady backup PG. He sported a 2.4 asst/to ratio last year and will provide a change of pace when he comes in the game. We don't need him to be "Bassy", just a solid backup.
Backup SG: De-fense!
Aaron Afflalo, 6-5, 23 years old
4.9 pts, 1.8 reb., 0.4 stls, 0.6 3pts in 16.7 mpg
Afflalo is a young athletic SG who will be asked to come in and play 15-18 mins of intense defense against opposing SG's giving Jason Richardson a breather. Fundamentally sound and not very flashy. The real Denver Nuggets have brough Afflalo in as Dahntay Jones' replacement.
Backup SF: Magics Swiss Army Knife
Dominic McGuire, 6-9, 23 years old
4.5 pts, 5.4 reb, 2.5 ast, 0.9 blk, 0.8 stl in 26.2 mpg
Minutes behind Lebron James will be scarce but McGuire is a guy who can come in and do just a little of everything without hurting the team. A good passer for a SF and a very good rebounder at his position, McGuire is another glue guy & strong defender off the bench. We envision Richardson and McGuire playing together and Lebron and Afflalo playing together.
3rd string guys -- we think we've built the deepest team in the East and possibly in the whole CBD. Most of these guys could/would be rotation players on other playoff teams in the East.
Darrell Arthur, PF (20 y.o.) -- 49th best rebounder per min as a rookie. Starting PF on the Kansas National Championship team. Will step into Foster's role in 2-3 years. If any of our 4 big men get injured Arthur is a more-than-capable fill-in.... think of him as our Leon Powe.
Trenton Hassell, SF -- A defensive specialist, people forget that just 5 years ago the now-29-year-old Hassell was the starting SF on the Timberwolves team that got to the Western Conference finals. He'll get minutes against teams like Philly and Boston who have dominant SG/SFs to give Lebron or JRich some extra rest.
Damien Wilkins, SG -- an athletic guard who can come in and score some points when asked to (11.4 pts/gm in 94 games as a starter)
Ty Lawson, PG -- Lighting quick rookie & natural leader who led the UNC Tar Heels to the NCAA title last year. Will be asked to come in and harrass faster PGs when necessary. Joins Arthur, Hinrich, Afflalo, and Villanueva as having gone deep in the NCAA tourney.
Joel Anthony, C -- Just when you thought our frontcourt couldn't get any deeper or uglier Joel Anthony and his big forehead comin' atcha! The Heat were 17-11 (.607) in the games Anthony started last year and 26-28 (.481) in the games he didn't start. For the season, Anthony averaged 1.4 blocks in just 16 min/gm.
4. Statement regarding drafting philosophy
Our philosophy breaks down this way:
1. Win the CBD Draft Lottery. Check.
2. With or without the #1 pick, Lucky and I's plan was to draft players that we thought would fit together and compete now. Secure in our scouting/drafting ability (based on last year's CBD) we planned amassing the most talent possible and use some guys as trade bait to fill holes. For examples, the trades that netted Foster and Varejao turned rebounding from a potential weakness to a potential strength.
Of the 18 players we drafted, 9 made the final roster, 2 were waived and 7 were traded for the other 6 players who ended up in MAGICS BLUE.
As you may remember we made 2 blockbuster trades prior to the draft that were the most shocking, future-altering deals in CBD history:
Orlando sends: 14th rounder (12) and 15th rounder (19)
Philadelphia sends: 14th rounder (27) and 14th rounder (28)
BUF sends: 14th rounder (29)
ORL sends: 14th rounder (30) and 10 TPs.
We also participated in the first 3-way deal:
ORL sends: 2nd rounder (10), 4th rounder (30), 5th rounder (19), 10th rounder (10), 10th rounder (12)
ORL gets: 2nd rounder (19), 4th rounder(3), 6th rounder (14), 8th rounder (27), 10th rounder (4), 12th roundre (4)
WAS sends: 2nd rounder (19), 4th rounder (3), 7th rounder(28), 8th rounder (27), 10th rounder (4), 12th rounder (4)
WAS gets: 2nd rounder (10), 4th rounder (30), 6th rounder (21), 10th rounder (10), 12th rounder (14)
PHO sends: 6th rounder (14), 6th rounder (21), 12th rounder (14)
PHO gets: 5th rounder (19), 7th rounder (28), and 10th rounder (12)
5. Toughest decisions
A. Trading Emeka Okafor for Jason Richarson — prior to the 5th round, for which we held the first pick, we worked out a deal for Jason Richardson with Philadelphia. Villanueva was a guy we'd talked about in the 4th round and when he was still there in the 5th we thought we could upgrade at the SG spot with a deal for Richardson (who both Lucky and I are high on. I drafted him last year and he eventually ended up on Lucky's Hawks). Ultimately we felt Richardson/Villanueva was a potentially a better SG/PF combo for this team (JRich and CV could both stretch the defense and open things up for Lebron) than Okafor/Rudy Fernandez-Roger Mason-Ronnie Brewer (the SG we were looking at drafting if we kept Okafor). We took a big risk by giving up Okafor's rebounding and defense, but think we got back enough in later trades to help make up for it.
B. Trading Francisco Garcia for Anderson Varejao & Aaron Afflalo — I had Garcia ranked in the mid 4th round on my draft board and was ecstatic when he slid to us in the 6th round. We got a lot of ridiculous offers for him; ridiculous considering he would have been the premier 6th man in the East and was one of only 4 players last year to average 1 blk, 1 stl, and 1 3pter (with Wade, Lebron and Granger). But when Toronto offered Varejao for him (and agreed when we countered with Varejao + Afflalo) we saw an opportunity to get a good defensive replacement in Afflalo, create the deepest frontcourt in the CBD, and weaken the frontcourt rotation of one of our conference rivals. Without Afflalo in the deal though we probably would not have made the trade.
As the draft progressed we identified rebounding as a need and both these trades were made to shore up a weakness and turn it into a strength.
6. Best/Worst move
Best Move -- winning the draft lottery 
2nd Best Move -- Hard to pick one, but turning 3 questionable big men (Wilcox, Etan Thomas and Jordan) into Jeff Foster and Sebastian Telfair was good if unspectacular.
Wilcox and Thomas are good big men but each have big question marks: Wilcox gives inconsistent effort and Thomas is still coming back from injuries; Jordan is very raw. We dealt them for Foster -- a great energy guy and terrific rebounder (27th most reb/min) -- and Melvin Ely, who we really didn't want (we asked for Shelden Williams before he became a Celtic). We then flipped Ely, who we might have waived, for a legit backup PG in Telfair.
Our unsexy bench trades -- which were made possible by the depth we created through the draft -- worked out thusly and we think rate a combined grade of "A" for the value we got:
| Players Added | Players traded | | Foster | Garcia | | Varejao | Wilcox | | Telfair | E. Thomas | | Arthur | Najera | | Afflalo | S. Livingston | | D. Jordan |
Worst Move -- probably reached for DeAndre Jordan in the 8th round over guys like George HIll, Lowry, Diop, Dooling.
7. Your outlook for this coming season
We honestly believe that we have the strongest team in the East (I haven't looked as closely at the West) and the best player in the NBA. We matchup well with the other Eastern Conf. teams we'll face on the way to the Finals. And while we don't expect it to be easy (a tough road like the Celtics 07-08 run), we do expect to be there. |
Topic: CB Draft '09 Mock Press Conference: Southeast Divison (Read 53364 times)