Dario Saric is a Larry Bird impersonator.

[CoachBo]

What about Exum?  Nobody seems too concerned that he hasn't played against better competition.

Wrong. I am.

Drafting Saric at 6 is an "abandon all hope" pick. Disastrous.

Fortunately, there is still plenty of hope the 6 will belong to someone else in a month.

Saric. Ugh.

[footey]

What about Exum?  Nobody seems too concerned that he hasn't played against better competition.

Wrong. I am.

Drafting Saric at 6 is an "abandon all hope" pick. Disastrous.

Who does Coach Bo like at 6, if he can't trade it for Love?

[CoachBo]

What about Exum?  Nobody seems too concerned that he hasn't played against better competition.

Wrong. I am.

Drafting Saric at 6 is an "abandon all hope" pick. Disastrous.

Who does Coach Bo like at 6, if he can't trade it for Love?

In this draft, nothing.

But then, I don't get all lathered up about the prospect of drafting reaches and obsessing over them while they win 24 games. We've done that once before, and it failed. Miserably.

[footey]

d. Kevin O'Conner has studied Saric quite a bit, and has a considerably higher opinion than you, Roy, of Saric's current skill set, on both sides of the ball.   I know he is no Bird, but you seem to be very skeptical of Saric's prospects.  Wondering why.

Kevin's just one of many, many amateurs with an opinion. 

I think skeptical is the right word.  Every year, there are a few guys who play against inferior competition who always seem to shoot up draft boards.  What's the success rate on foreign players who haven't played in the NCAA since, say, the Darko draft?

2003 - Darko (bust), Pietrus (solid), Cabarkapa (bust), Pavlovic (disappointment), Pavlovic (bust), Barbosa (solid)

2004 - Podkolzine (bust), Khryapa (bust), Monia (bust), Vujacic (solid), Udrih (solid)

2005 - Vazquez (bust), Korolev (bust), Petro (disappointment), Mahinmi (solid)

2006 - Bargnani (disappointment), Sene (bust), Pecherov (bust), Freeland (solid)

2007 - Jianlian (bust), Bellinelli (solid), Fernandez (disappointment), Splitter (solid), Koponen (bust)

2008 - Gallinari (solid), Ajinca (disappointment), Ibaka (star), Batum (solid)

2009 - Rubio (solid), Claver (bust), Casspi (disappointment), Beaubois (bust)

2010 - Seraphin (disappointment)

2011 - Valanciunas (TBD), Vesely (bust), Biyombo (disappointment), Motiejunas (disappointment), Mirotic (TBD)

2012 - Fournier (TBD)

2013 - Adetokoubo (TBD, looks good), Nogueira (TBD), Schroeder (TBD), Karasev (TBD), Gobert (TBD), Jean-Charles (TBD), Nedovic (TBD)

In the last 11 years, that's 46 foreign players taken in the first round.  None have been all-stars, and only three have been above-average:  Ibaka, Gallinari and Batum.

So, part of my skepticism comes from the track record, and the failure of scouting.  The other part comes from Saric's game:  he appears too slow to be a SF, and too weak to be a PF.  He's not a great outside shooter, he's not particularly athletic, and he turns the ball over too much.  In the Eurocup, against mediocre competition, he was mediocre.  He shined in the Adriatic league, but that's the 9th best league in Europe, and beneath the quality of the NCAA.

Until I see him prove himself regularly against decent competition, I will continue to be a skeptic.  I think the hype is much too high.

I agree with a lot of this but since you only decided to look at first rounders, you missed some very good second rounders like Varejeo, Asik, Petkovic and Dragic, all of whom I would consider above-average.  I also consider Splitter above-average and better than Gallinari.  Counting the second rounders, your three and Splitter takes the tally eight.

Also, you can't simultaneously count players like Valanciunas in your overall tally, where he ranks as a non-above average player while being a TBD.  Just don't count the TBDs at all.

If Saric falls to the second round, I'm all for buying a pick to take him.

The point was that drafting foreign players hasn't yielded a lot of value.  Spending the #6 pick on a guy who is a big unknown seems unwise, when there are more proven guys still on the board.

On that basis,Roy, you would pass on Exum if he slides to 6.  Wow.

[footey]

What about Exum?  Nobody seems too concerned that he hasn't played against better competition.

Wrong. I am.

Drafting Saric at 6 is an "abandon all hope" pick. Disastrous.

Who does Coach Bo like at 6, if he can't trade it for Love?

In this draft, nothing.

But then, I don't get all lathered up about the prospect of drafting reaches and obsessing over them while they win 24 games. We've done that once before, and it failed. Miserably.

Let me rephrase: Who do you dislike the least at 6??  Throw me a bone, Bo.

[Who]

Seems more like Chandler Parsons.