2014 Re-Draft: The Top Ten

[crimson_stallion]

I think that you are taking the common criticism of Parker's weaknesses to an illogical extreme. Offensively, he is such an elite prospect- so skilled but also crazy strong, crazy smart, and more explosive than people seem to acknowledge... he's going to score and draw fouls like few others.

I don't think that's fair.

So far he has had absolutely no three point shot in the NBA (shot under 30% last year, and hasn't even taken a three this year), he's been completely incapable of getting to the foul line (Smart's Free Throw rate this year is 44% vs Parker's 8%), he's rebounded terribly (only 5.5 Rebounds Per 36 despite playing PF) and his defense, from what I've seen, has been far from impressive.

He will continue be compared to Paul Pierce and Carmelo Anthony as a pro.

I feel like a less athletic Tobias Harris might be a more realistic indicator of where Parker's ceiling lies at the moment.

I have never for an instant believed that he has Pierce / Melo potential. He might prove me wrong, but I doubt it.  I think realistically he'll probably end up aroud an 18 / 7 /3 guy in his prime, which is by no means bad...but also a long way from Pierce / Melo territory.

I'd much rather bet on a player like that to learn how to play respectable defense and round himself out than bet on, say, Zach Lavine to figure out how to make a leap in every respect (except the literal one-- he can jump really nice, haha).

Mmm...

Sorry to break it to you, but Lavine's putting up Per-36 numbers of 21.4 points, 5 rebounds. 6.3 assists and 1.3 steals while shooting 45% / 41% / 89%.

He is far, far better than Jabari Parker right now.  Like, it's not even remotely close.

To be fair Parker has only played about 30 games in the NBA so far so he deserves some time to adjust and hopefully catch up, but at  the current point in time Lavine is making him look pretty bad. 

[crimson_stallion]

This post just reminds me how depressing the 2014 draft class has been. Didn't we think we were getting 5-6 franchise players from this draft? We might not even end up with 5-6 regular starters.

Not surprised at all.

The only guys I ever saw as having star potential were Wiggins, Parker, Embiid, Smart, Exum and Vonleh.

Out of those guys Parker has disappointing dramatically, Exum has been held back by injury, Embiid might not ever have a career (sadly) and Vonleh's future is looking questionable.

That pretty much leaves Wiggins and Smart as the only ones in my initial list who actually have bright futures ahead - plus maybe Exum if he recovers ok, though to be honest i have concerns about his personality (he seems a bit too soft to ever be a star).

Even in the case of Wiggins, I question whether he'll ever be any better than a Derozan / Gay / Deng type guy.  I just don't see elite hyper-star in him. 

I feel the 2014 draft is going to be one of the less spectacular ones, once all is said and done. 

Honestly, right now the 2014 draft isn't really looking any better than the 2013 draft (Giannis / Oladipo / Noel), and that draft was considered by many to be one of the weakest in history.

I suspect this year's draft is going to be far better than the 2014 when all is said and done.

[MJohnnyboy]

The only "terrible" part about the 2013 draft was the #1 pick. After that, its a perfectly fine draft.