Chad Ford Mock Draft 3.0: C's draft Royce White and CJ Leslie

[ctrey]

Moe Harkless SF from St. Johns. He has skill, upside, and improved against very good competition throughout the season. If we could snag him with either pick that would be solid.

[CFAN38]

i agree about crowder. he looks interesting and is projected to be around in the early second round.   

what to like? he is very strong, smart, determined, plays good defense, good shooter.

drawbacks? he is a bit short for pf (6'6"), and not a good enough ball handler for the ideal sf.

then again, ala powe and big baby, this might be the sort of player ainge picks up in the second round.

i really am curious how this draft will turn out. since the talent level, people say, is fairly even from the late-lottery into the early second round, ainge has lots of room to make moves and get a few good players.

I dont think Crowder will be an NBA PF. He will be a SF. To play the 3 you dont necessarily have to have great ball handling skills. I can see crowder growing into a Bruce Bowen type player just with 35lbs of additional muscle. He will make a great defensive 3 who sits in the corner to shoot 3s on offense and crashes from that corner spot for rebounds.

[Chris]

Moe Harkless SF from St. Johns. He has skill, upside, and improved against very good competition throughout the season. If we could snag him with either pick that would be solid.

I would much rather take a chance on a guy like Harkless than someone like White.  Harkless is very talented, and has NBA size and athleticism that I am not sure White has. 

I like the comparisons being made to Ariza with Harkless.  Ariza also was a very talented guy who went a lot lower in the draft than he should have, because he came out a year too early...but (and this is the key) he was just too early to get the buzz, he was not too early in a way that would actually hurt him in the NBA.  I think this is the same thing with Harkless.

[KCattheStripe]

i agree about crowder. he looks interesting and is projected to be around in the early second round.   

what to like? he is very strong, smart, determined, plays good defense, good shooter.

drawbacks? he is a bit short for pf (6'6"), and not a good enough ball handler for the ideal sf.

then again, ala powe and big baby, this might be the sort of player ainge picks up in the second round.

i really am curious how this draft will turn out. since the talent level, people say, is fairly even from the late-lottery into the early second round, ainge has lots of room to make moves and get a few good players.

I dont think Crowder will be an NBA PF. He will be a SF. To play the 3 you dont necessarily have to have great ball handling skills. I can see crowder growing into a Bruce Bowen type player just with 35lbs of additional muscle. He will make a great defensive 3 who sits in the corner to shoot 3s on offense and crashes from that corner spot for rebounds.

Watching Crowder for 2 years he's definitely a 3, but he'll be a Posey like 3 with the ability to guard the 2-4.

[jay]

Say you pick 20 and 25.

Do you go 20: Harkless and 25: Royce White or Kevin Jones

or do you go 20: Terrence Jones and 25: Kris Joseph or Cj Leslie


either way you are geeting a 6'8" 240 PF and 1 6'8" 210 SF.  That certainly provides depth at forward, but does it help where you need help the most? (center, or pf/c)

[Yoki_IsTheName]

CJ Leslie is a stud.  I believe if the Celts could draft Fab Melo and CJ Leslie, their front line would be very solid.

You lost all credibilty when you mentioned Fab Melo and solid.    7.8 PPG and 5 RPG are not solid.   He can block shots but that is about it.   He got ate alive in games head to head against good prospects like Drummond.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/player/_/id/51343/fab-melo

Fab = Bust

He's worth a gamble at around pick 25 though. He's still athletic and defensive minded.

Like the ROyce WHite pick but I'm not sure about CJ Leslie. If we're drafting a PF for our second 1st round, i'd rather have Andrew Nicholson (who are in the mynbadraft and nbdraft.net mocks).

[Boris Badenov]

i agree about crowder. he looks interesting and is projected to be around in the early second round.   

what to like? he is very strong, smart, determined, plays good defense, good shooter.

drawbacks? he is a bit short for pf (6'6"), and not a good enough ball handler for the ideal sf.

then again, ala powe and big baby, this might be the sort of player ainge picks up in the second round.

i really am curious how this draft will turn out. since the talent level, people say, is fairly even from the late-lottery into the early second round, ainge has lots of room to make moves and get a few good players.

I dont think Crowder will be an NBA PF. He will be a SF. To play the 3 you dont necessarily have to have great ball handling skills. I can see crowder growing into a Bruce Bowen type player just with 35lbs of additional muscle. He will make a great defensive 3 who sits in the corner to shoot 3s on offense and crashes from that corner spot for rebounds.

Watching Crowder for 2 years he's definitely a 3, but he'll be a Posey like 3 with the ability to guard the 2-4.

If Crowder gets drafted in the first round (and I think he will), he should send Kenneth Faried flowers.

[chambers]

Moe Harkless SF from St. Johns. He has skill, upside, and improved against very good competition throughout the season. If we could snag him with either pick that would be solid.

I would much rather take a chance on a guy like Harkless than someone like White.  Harkless is very talented, and has NBA size and athleticism that I am not sure White has. 

I like the comparisons being made to Ariza with Harkless.  Ariza also was a very talented guy who went a lot lower in the draft than he should have, because he came out a year too early...but (and this is the key) he was just too early to get the buzz, he was not too early in a way that would actually hurt him in the NBA.  I think this is the same thing with Harkless.

Ditto, Harkless is great. I'm thinking more towards taller, longer bigs to run the floor with Rondo. White is great at the college level but his size and weight (and mental state) are all to be questioned.
Someone like Moultrie who'll probably go a little earlier but has - giant wingspan, long legs, can get his head way above the rim. A potential superstar that can defend any position and rebound/run.

[Chris]

Moe Harkless SF from St. Johns. He has skill, upside, and improved against very good competition throughout the season. If we could snag him with either pick that would be solid.

I would much rather take a chance on a guy like Harkless than someone like White.  Harkless is very talented, and has NBA size and athleticism that I am not sure White has. 

I like the comparisons being made to Ariza with Harkless.  Ariza also was a very talented guy who went a lot lower in the draft than he should have, because he came out a year too early...but (and this is the key) he was just too early to get the buzz, he was not too early in a way that would actually hurt him in the NBA.  I think this is the same thing with Harkless.

Ditto, Harkless is great. I'm thinking more towards taller, longer bigs to run the floor with Rondo. White is great at the college level but his size and weight (and mental state) are all to be questioned.
Someone like Moultrie who'll probably go a little earlier but has - giant wingspan, long legs, can get his head way above the rim. A potential superstar that can defend any position and rebound/run.

Moultrie worries me the same way Johnson did last year.  When guys have ideal height, length, and athleticism, and are very productive in college, but are projected as late first round picks, it is a MAJOR red flag.  I have not seen enough of him to give a real scouting report, but just based on the fact that every measurable points to high lottery pick, and he isn't even a lock for the first round, I would really hesitate to go near him.

[slamtheking]

Moe Harkless SF from St. Johns. He has skill, upside, and improved against very good competition throughout the season. If we could snag him with either pick that would be solid.

I would much rather take a chance on a guy like Harkless than someone like White.  Harkless is very talented, and has NBA size and athleticism that I am not sure White has. 

I like the comparisons being made to Ariza with Harkless.  Ariza also was a very talented guy who went a lot lower in the draft than he should have, because he came out a year too early...but (and this is the key) he was just too early to get the buzz, he was not too early in a way that would actually hurt him in the NBA.  I think this is the same thing with Harkless.

Ditto, Harkless is great. I'm thinking more towards taller, longer bigs to run the floor with Rondo. White is great at the college level but his size and weight (and mental state) are all to be questioned.
Someone like Moultrie who'll probably go a little earlier but has - giant wingspan, long legs, can get his head way above the rim. A potential superstar that can defend any position and rebound/run.

Moultrie worries me the same way Johnson did last year.  When guys have ideal height, length, and athleticism, and are very productive in college, but are projected as late first round picks, it is a MAJOR red flag.  I have not seen enough of him to give a real scouting report, but just based on the fact that every measurable points to high lottery pick, and he isn't even a lock for the first round, I would really hesitate to go near him.

If the comparison in terms of projected NBA potential is JJJ, I'd have no problem with him.  In fact, I think he'll do much better than where he's projected to go and will look like a steal in a few years.

[JHTruth]

Yeah!! Two tweeners who will never see the floor!!

In all seriousness I like White but his awful shooting scares me. That means he cant play the 3 until he improves that and he's undersized for the 4. Classic tweener.

[Galeto]

I see Crowder getting talked about being a potential role-playing 3,  who provides defense and three point shooting but I don't think he's a lock to be a solid defender on the perimeter.  He played center most of the time for Marquette and while positions are very fluid in college, it still meant he basically never guarded quick wings.  If he had the athleticism of his hair doppelganger Kenneth Faried, then maybe, but he's only an average athlete.  I don't see him moving his feet well enough laterally to be that good of a defender.  Also, he plays hard but Faried's motor runs much higher.

Moultrie's draft status is an enigma.  At the same time, it's just mocks and he could end up going in the mid-first round. 

That aside, I think his age has something to do with it as, after transferring from UTEP and sitting out a year, he's four years removed from high school.  He also started playing at UTEP so while he was on draft radars for his athleticism and size, he didn't have as much helium and exposure coming into this season.  Other things: his motor can run hot and cold (it's not special), he's not a particularly skilled offensive player (I think his points are coming to come from dumps off around the rim, alley-oops, putbacks, maybe some jumpers), nonexistent shotblocker.  If he drops into the twenties, I wouldn't mind him for his potential to be a rotational big who are hard to come by, even second bigs off the bench.

He's different from JJJ though.  JJJ was even skinnier, a poor rebounder and overrated defender beyond his shotblocking.  JJJ is much more skilled though.  On paper, as second unit pairing, they fit pretty well.  One provides rebounding and garbage plays, the other the ability to make shots and better shotblocking. 

[goCeltics]

i like both players, but i would want a guards with one of the picks, guards are have a better history of working out and i can't imagine danny drafting 3 forwards in a row and all trying to compete against one another, if teague slides down especially to the second pick he should be a targeted or wroten or waiters or taylor from vandy who could possibly play as a big two

[KCattheStripe]

I see Crowder getting talked about being a potential role-playing 3,  who provides defense and three point shooting but I don't think he's a lock to be a solid defender on the perimeter.  He played center most of the time for Marquette and while positions are very fluid in college, it still meant he basically never guarded quick wing

This isn't true,  he only played center this year when both Otule and Gardner went down about half way through the season.. Most of the time Marquette ran a 4 guard offense with one of those two in the middle ( in fact they kept doing that when they had to put Crowder in the middle) and they would use Crowder to guard the other teams best perimeter payer, he'd d up a lot of PGs.

[Galeto]

I saw a bunch of Marquette games.  It sounds like you're a Marquette fan so maybe you know better but I did not see Crowder used as a all-purpose defensive marker used to check the opponent's best scorer.  No way.  And certainly not point guards.  His lateral quickness didn't seem to be too bad but I'm just reacting to the general idea that a player, just because he was heady and very good in college, can naturally slip into the 3 spot in the NBA and guard perimeter players who are as big as him and can create their own shots off the dribble when he's hardly done it before...well I don't think that's a given.